Pronghorn

Seen December 17th, just north of Marfa

Photo, courtesy Texas Historical Commission

A frequent sight around the region, pronghorn are among the Chihuahuan Desert's large mammals. The population is affected by drought, which we've experienced in recent years, so it is a delight to see a large group as we did this week.

Read more about the pronghorn on Texas Parks and Wildlife website, here.

Visit the Tom Lea Trail

Click on the image for a closer view!

Tom Lea (1907-2001) was a genius of the twentieth century whose extraordinary gifts as a muralist, illustrator, war correspondent, portraitist, novelist, historian and easel painter brought fame to himself and to Texas.

Our friends at the Tom Lea Institute in El Paso have put together "trail" of sites based on the life and work of Tom Lea. From the Tom Lea Institute's webpage:

"Tom Lea’s murals of the 1930s express the history and character of the Southwest on walls of public buildings from Washington, D.C. to Dallas, Texas, and are arguably the finest of the period. As an eye-witness artist correspondent for Life Magazine during World War II, Tom Lea traveled over 100,000 miles to record U.S. and Allied soldiers, sailors and airmen and their machines waging war worldwide. He wrote and illustrated bestselling novels—The Brave Bulls and The Wonderful Country—that were adapted into Hollywood movies, and a dozen other books about subjects as diverse as mountaineering in Wyoming, horse training in 16th century New Spain, and the history of the mammoth King Ranch. His paintings depict remote and exotic places from Ecuador to China, but primarily capture subjects found near his home on the border between Mexico and Texas."


Click HERE to view the Institute's page on the Trail...
 
There are sites in El Paso, Waco, Odessa, Seymour, Dallas, College Station, Galveston, Hebronville, Kingsville, Fredericksburg and Austin; and in New Mexico there are sites in Santa Fe, Las Cruces and Mesilla.

At the El Paso Museum of History,
The Arrival of the First Train in El Paso, 1881, 1956
Pen & Ink, 18 ½ x 15 ¾ inches
Gift of Pat & Henry Taylor

At the Larry Durham Center, UTEP
The Turning Point, 1966
Oil on canvas, 31 x 42 inches

At the El Paso Public Library,
Southwest, mural, 1956.
Oil on canvas, 5 ½ x 20 feet

Lt. Henry O. Flipper and Buffalo Soldier Historic Sites

Lt. Henry O. Flipper

Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper, the first African American graduate of West Point spent much of his life and career in our Texas Mountain Trail region.


African-American soldiers are important to our nation's and our region's history.  The term "buffalo soldiers" has come to mean the African American soldiers who served in the Army between the Civil War and World War I.  Buffalo soldiers were often stationed--and served bravely--at the leading edge of the western frontier.

While stationed at Fort Davis, Flipper endured a humiliating court-martial in 1882, which was driven by racism.  Flipper always maintained his innocence, and indeed, he was fully exonerated 100 years later with a full pardon by President Clinton.

After his court-martial and discharge from the Army, Flipper worked at a mining engineer, surveyor, and translator.  He lived for many years in El Paso,

Read more about his life here (on our Texas Mountain Trail site) and here (on the Fort Davis National Historic Site).  Click here to read about Flipper's life in El Paso.

Click here to read about Buffalo Soldier historical sites in our Texas Mountain Trail region.  A few are pictured below:

Fort Davis National Historic Site

Post Park, south of Marathon

Gate at historic El Paso Concordia Cemetery
honoring Buffalo Soldiers

Van Horn's Clark Hotel Museum

Today, we're sharing photos from Dan Baeza of the Clark Hotel Museum in Van Horn.  The museum chronicles the history of Culberson County and of Van Horn, with a special eye towards the traveler.  The building has been home to a hotel since the early days of that community.  Upstairs there are even exhibits of travelers' rooms.

 Originally, the "front door" of the hotel was on the north side of the building, as the train station was just steps away.  When the highway came to town, the "front door" of the Clark Hotel was moved to the south side of the building, where it is today, at Broadway Street (the main street in town).  Read more about it here.

Marfa Maid Cheese Making Classes!

Early this fall, we took one of Marfa Maid Goat Cheese's cheese making classes (which was GREAT fun) and now we learn they're offering gift certificates as holiday presents!  Interested?  Email marfamaid (dot) dairy (at) gmail.com for information or to purchase a gift certificate!  More info here, too!

It all starts with the goats, lovingly cared for and milked every day.  The class takes you through every step of cheese making in their beautiful facility just east of Marfa.  Though there are many more steps involved, we wanted to show you a few images from the class.

Looking at documentation
of pasteurization

Culture and rennet
added to the goat milk

Class member scoop cheese into
cheesecloth

Chevre!

Chopping fresh herbs to add to the chevre

Three kinds of chevre--roasted garlic,
chipotle, and fresh herb--made during class with some to take home!

We loved the class at Marfa Maid, and documented the process for our Texas Mountain Trail  heritage foodways project with Texas Folklife.  If anyone on your holiday list is a foodie and interested in artisanal food, consider a gift certificate for a cheese making class with Marfa Maid!

Montezuma Quail

Yesterday, we were treated to a BEAUTIFUL Sunday in the Texas Mountains, crisp and cold early rising to the 40s and 50s in Fort Davis.  We headed north 10 miles past McDonald Observatory (24 miles north of Fort Davis) to the Nature Conservancy's Madera Canyon Trail, since it is open to the public every day of the week, and has easy (and free) access at the Lawrence E. Wood Picnic Area off Hwy 118.

The Madera Canyon Trail is 2.4 miles (rated moderate) and is a site on the Far West Texas Wildlife Trail, a collaborative project between our own Texas Mountain Trail and Texas Parks and Wildlife.  Would you like your own map?  Click here for purchase information.

Owned and maintained by the Nature Conservancy's Davis Mountains Preserve, it is open to foot traffic 365 days a week. (To protect the sensitive landscape, pets are not allowed on the trail.)

The Nature Conservancy offers this description of the trail:

"A moderately difficult hike, the trail offers views of Madera Canyon, Pine Peak, Mount Livermore (the highest peak in the Davis Mountains), Sawtooth Mountain and the whole of the upper watershed for Madera Creek.  At one point, the trail drops down into Chico Canyon, where it follows the creek and takes hikers past a historic stock tank.

Hikers traverse stands of stately ponderosa pines, pinion-juniper woodlands and grassy meadows.  Wildlife that may be present, particularly at dawn or dusk, includes gray foxes, ringtails, western scrub jays, acorn woodpeckers, Montezuma quail, golden eagles, Davis Mountains cottontails, javelina, white-tail and mule deer, mountain short-horned lizards and, rarely, mountain lions.  At dawn, visitors may listen for the bugling of elk in the fall or the chorus of coyotes any time of year.

 

We were lucky enough to see Montezuma Quail...first one, then two, then several right at the trailhead, and later in the hike at elevation, we saw many more.  The wonderful birding website from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology says this about the Montezuma Quail:

"The Montezuma Quail usually crouches and stays still when danger threatens, and then explodes into flight from a leaping start if the danger comes too close."

That's EXACTLY what happened to us...as we hiked along we never saw them in the grass, then as we approached....all of a sudden, there was an "explosion" of birds taking to flight.  What fun!

More views of the trail:

Yesterday's Lighted Christmas Parade and Pecan Dessert Contest in Van Horn

Yesterday was Van Horn's annual holiday celebration, one of the best events in our home community and also one of the best small-town holiday events anywhere.  The community comes out in force for the annual Pecan Dessert Contest and the Lighted Christmas Parade, as well as a "Show and Sell" event downtown, and a gallery opening.

We've got a GREAT Saturday, looking for something to do?

There's lots of terrific holiday fun to be had in our Texas Mountains today, click here to get to our events calendar! 

Van Horn's Lighted Christmas Parade

Fort Davis' Shoppers Treasure Hunt

El Paso's Magoffin Home Holiday Open House

Desolate, yet weirdly beautiful

The WPA Guide to Texas, published in 1940, describes Hwy 54 between Van Horn and the Guadalupe Mountains (now Guadalupe Mountains National Park) as one of the "most desolate yet weirdly beautiful stretches of country to be found in Texas.  The view sweeps almost level reaches, gray-green with sage and greasewood, dotted here and there with prickly pear, yucca and ocotillo."

The road, then called Hwy 90, today looks almost as it did in 1940, as the area has seen very little development.  It remains one of the most remote and yes, most beautiful drives in the state. 

It also is the route of our original Texas Mountain Trail, and our heritage bike route, the El Capitan to El Capitan, as it connects Van Horn's historic Hotel El Capitan to the most impressive feature of Guadalupe Mountains National Park, the geologic uplift known as El Capitan.

Here's how the area looked in 1910, much as it does today!
Photo from the collection of Van Horn's Clark Hotel Museum

The Guadalupe Mountains' El Capitan in the background

Morning Along Highway 54

One of the loveliest roads along the original 1960s scenic driving route, our own Texas Mountain Trail, is Hwy 54 heading north from Van Horn to Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  We thought we'd share the sunrise with you from along that road...so very pretty!

(More about this road tomorrow...lots of history there...and it is a great cycling road as well as a scenic drive for motorists!)

About the state's heritage trails program (THTP), of which our Texas Mountain Trail is one of 10 independent non-profit organizations, each serving our own region:

"The THTP is based around 10 scenic driving trails created in 1968 by Gov. John Connally and the Texas Highway Department (now the Texas Department of Transportation) as a marketing tool. The trails were established in conjunction with the HemisFair, an international exposition that commemorated the 250th anniversary of the founding of San Antonio.

In 1997, the State Legislature charged the THC to create a statewide heritage tourism program. The THC responded with a program based on local, regional, and state partnerships, centered on the 10 scenic driving trails. These trails serve as the nucleus of 10 heritage regions, and include heritage tourism attractions and communities both on and off the trail.

The program began with the establishment of the Texas Forts Trail Region in 1998. Other heritage regions made a formal application to the program, demonstrating knowledge of area attractions and broad support from organizations and local government. The suite of heritage regions was completed in 2005 with the additions of the Texas Pecos and Hill Country Trail Regions.

The THTP received national recognition with the Preserve America Presidential Award in 2005. This award was given for exemplary accomplishment in the preservation and sustainable use of America's heritage assets, which has enhanced community life while honoring the nation's history. The following year, the program was awarded a Preserve America grant for developing the Heritage Tourism Guidebook and for providing heritage tourism training across the state."

Fort Davis' Downtown Shoppers Treasure Hunt!

Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center's
Leapin' Lizards Gift Shop!

Fort Davis' Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a neat program this week, the Shopper's Treasure Hunt!

Through Saturday, December 14th, you can pick up a “Treasure Map” (from the Chamber office or any participating area retailer) and visit each one listed below. The retailer will stamp your Map and when it is complete, just turn it into the Chamber office for your chance at that drawing for a weekend getaway to El Paso. Even if you don’t have time to visit all 12 retailers, we have several consolation prizes including T-shirts from Texas Parks and Wildlife, Christmas Ornaments, Coffee Mugs, Art Prints and gift certificates to Just Because Gift Baskets & More and the Fort Davis Drug Store for those who at least visit some of the stores. No purchase is necessary but each retailer has special Christmas Deals for area shoppers and all without long lines or the stress of crowded malls.

Hotel Limpia

Here are the merchants participating:
Just Because Gift Baskets & More
Limpia Hotel Gift Shop
Javelina’s & Hollyhocks
Hebert’s Caboose Ice Cream Shop
Hebert’s Heirlooms & Resale
Grand Companions Thrift Store
Roadrunner Nursery
Blue Agate Rocks & Gifts
Along the Trail Antiques & Gifts
Fort Davis Outfitters
Indian Lodge Gift Shop
CDRI Gift Shop

The Chamber offices will be open this Saturday from 10:00am-5:00pm with the new 2013 Christmas Ornaments featuring the 75th Anniversary of the McDonald Observatory and other Fort Davis Merchandise for sale. These make great Christmas gifts for family and friends who have moved away so stop by the office and take advantage of the “Frontier Christmas” sale prices.

Good luck in the Treasure Hunt – you can turn in your entry forms at the Chamber office anytime. The drawing will take place at 6:00pm this Saturday, December 14th and we will announce the winners on our Facebook Page and website. www.fortdavis.com .

The full event listing is on our Texas Mountain Trail events calendar, HERE.