Big Bend Real Estate Guide February 2020 | Page 13

Photo by W.D. Smithers- currently part of Camp Mitre. Archives of the Big Bend - Sul Ross State University.
staff remembers inspecting these bones
as a camper when she was a young
scout. In a 1960 article in the Odessa
American, Barry Scobee describes a
hidden spring found in the area, known
as "ojo escondido de agua." Scobee
writes, "It had been hidden by Indians
with a sort of cement composed of
caliche earth, animal blood and ashes,
and trash, as it was the redman's
practice to conceal water from pursuing
calvarymen and their horses."
In spite of efforts like these, the
Frontier Battalion, in conjunction with
the Federal Indian Campaign of 1874-
75, were successful in the removal of
native peoples from the area. Around
1880 the newly-formed Texas Rangers
erected a camp across from Mitre peak
where the Girl scout ranch is now
established. Ranger camps such as
these, combined with U.S. Military
posts, were the boundary of the
frontier. As native people were no
longer a threat to emigration, the
Rangers’ main concern at this time and
in the years to come were “bandits,
cattle thieves, stage and train robbers
WestTexasMoves.com • BigBendRealEstateGuide.com
which emerged from the wave of
settlers, drifters, and speculators in
Texas
at
the
end
of
Reconstruction.”(The Texas Rangers,
1935)
At the turn of the 19th century, Mitre
peak and its adjacent canyons were
part of the Walbridge Ranch, famous
for its hospitality and abundance of
homegrown food. According to Voices
of the Mexican Border (1933), "Each
Sunday, weather permitting, strings of
buggies, hacks and wagons filled with
happy crowds could be seen driving
from Fort Davis, Marfa, and Alpine to
the Walbridge ranch. It is safe to say
they served more free meals during the
'Nineties' than any other family."
When the ranch sold in 1911, the new
owners, Jack and Molly Tippits,
continued dispensing this famous
hospitality.
In 1913, when the Tippits received
the first guest at their boarding house
for adventurers and nature lovers,
parks and recreation was as nascent a
concept as the recently established
railroad carrying the first tourists to
the Big Bend region. The National
Park Service wasn't established until
1916, and Big Bend National Park not
until 1944. Jack Tippits lead hikes up
Mitre Peak and introduced folks from
around the country to the flora, fauna,
watering holes, canyons, hot springs,
archeological sites, and the remote
cultures of the Big Bend, as a visionary
and founding father of the outdoor
recreation industry.
What Jack and Molly Tippits
pioneered in building their boarding
house and the business they later
named Mitre Peak Park, is only one
piece of a herculean accomplishment,
that to this day may be unparalleled in
the Big Bend and elsewhere. Not only
were they innkeepers, tour guides,
cooks and musicians; they also
produced a vast majority of the food
they, their visitors, and guests
consumed—as well as supplying meat,
vegetables, and a multitude of fruit for
sale at market.
Continued page 20
13