Big Bend Texas Galleries & Artists 2016 | Page 17

Big Bend : A Homesteader ' s Story , by J . O . Langford

This modest volume records the history of one of the earliest Anglo settlers in the Big Bend . I read it by lantern light in my tent , the first time I camped alone in the Big Bend . It ' s a fine story and a great introduction to life in the early Bend .

In 1909 , J . O . Langford , his wife , and daughter headed south from Marathon to make a home on isolated , forbidding land he had purchased on the Rio Grande . The land included the spot where Tornillo Creek flowed into the river .

Most first-time visitors to the Big Bend are taken with the history and lore , as well as the natural beauty , of our area . They flock to regional bookshops , hungry for information , and find many dozens of books on the Bend , both fiction and nonfiction . Where to start among so many ?

I have a strong recommendation : Start with the oldest and the best book : Chronicles of the Big Bend : A Photographic Memoir of Life on the

The nearby hot springs were already widely known for curing all manner of ills . Since Langford had bad lungs , the springs , along with the dry climate , were perfect for the young family .

They built their simple adobe house themselves , situating it on a high bluff above the springs . There they lived for many years , in the rugged and spectacularly beautiful landscape that they made their own .

After getting well settled in , the Langfords built a bath house over the springs and advertised in the

Border , by W . D . Smithers . It ' s a classic and is absolutely fascinating .

Smithers was a multitalented fellow who was born in St . Luis Potosi , Mexico , " at summer ' s end in 1895 ." The area was a rich silver-mining center and Smithers ' father kept books for a smelting company there . " Our years there were strongly Mexican in local papers . They built basic rock rooms for guests along a river bluff and had a profitable business for years .

Perhaps the best parts of the book relate events and stories of odd things that happened in that desolate place over the years . Life was anything but dull : hunting for deer in the Chisos Mountains ; Bessie , his wife , giving birth to a new baby ; a spectacular meteor plunging to earth at night ( of course ) just a few miles from the house ; Bessie having a close call with

orientation ," Smithers wrote ; " Mexican rural enterprise surrounded us , and many of our family habits reflected not American but Mexican tradition ."

His years in Mexico gave the boy a deep appreciation and empathy for the culture that was , of course , spilling north over the Border into the lower Big Bend .

He never forgot Mexico , though he spent many years elsewhere . His first glimpse of the Big Bend occurred in

BIG BEND BOOKS

a black bear while she was alone upriver fishing , one of her favorite activities .

People had warned the Langfords that the isolation of river life would ultimate drive them away , but it happened that their lives were full and happy .

Their story is filled with warmth and heart , and is unforgettably told with the help of accomplished author Fred Gipson ( Old Yeller , Hound Dog Man ).

Chronicles of the Big Bend : A Photographic Memoir of Life on the Border , by W . D . Smithers

Alpine

A gallery of fine Western , Southwestern and Wildlife art

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1916 , when he was teamster on a packmule train , and it captured his imagination to such an extent that he determined to chronicle the region and its people with stories and photos . He had the intelligence to know he was witnessing a remarkable place and time , and he devoted the rest of his life to recording it .

Smithers has been called a " genius who was looking for a calling ," and he found it in the Big Bend . Chronicles is one of the most affecting books I have ever read , and I re-read it periodically and find it compelling every time .

Book reviews by Jean Pittman , Front Street Books , Alpine .

“ Beware of the person of one book .” - Thomas Aquinas

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BIG BEND GALLERIES AND ARTISTS / 2016 17