Location
Located in Brewster County, Big Bend National Park is easily found
by going to Marathon, Texas, and the going south to the North Entrance
of the park.
Attractions
Camping, fishing, backpacking, biking, and swimming are just a
few of the things to do in Big Bend.
La Vista RV Park and Pecan Grove RV Park are nearby, so you can
easily take your Rv with you and never leave the comforts of your
'home away from home'.
History
The Indians said that after making the Earth, the Great Spirit
simply dumped all the leftover rocks on the Big Bend. Spanish explorers,
less intimate with the landscape, merely dubbed this "the uninhabited
land."
Native Americans made their homes here at about 10,000 years ago
and perhaps earlier. These people were not farmers but hunters and
gathers who took only what this country offered on its own. Later
on, trade introduced farming techniques and foods such as corn,
beans, squash to add to their diets.
In the 1500s, the Spaniards enslaved the Native Americans and
substantially changed their culture. the Spanish did not start crossing
the river much until the next century, to look for gold and silver.
Exploration of the river itself came only in 1852, with a boundary
survey conducted by U.S. Army Major William H. Emory. Some farming
had been done on the river's floodplain starting with Mexican settlers
on both banks around 1900. Anglo-Americans joined in the farming
after 1920, when the Mexican-American boundary unrest ended. Cotton
and food crops were grown around Castolon and what is now Rio Grande
Village even after the park was established in 1944.
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