A 1965 column in the San Angelo
Standard Times, “Water and Tourism
Benefit This Area,” states: “The tourist
trade is now considered Texas' most
The
promising growth industry.”
39th Governor of Texas, John
Connally (1963-1969), was a big pro-
ponent of tourism development in
Texas. In his 1969 dedication of the
Texas Mountain Trail he praised
tourism as “a big business.” He called
the 1963 move by the legislature to
draw tourists “a move into great
dimensions.” During Connolly's term
in office visitors to Big Bend National
Park doubled, reaching almost
200,000 in 1969.
It wasn't until the mid-60s that Glen
Pepper opened up the Villa De La
Mina to tourists, on the top of the
world between Terlingua and Lajitas.
Before then the only places for visitors
to stay were the cabins in the Chisos
Basin or a piece of desert amidst stars
and silhouettes.
Pepper came to Terlingua in 1962
prospecting for mercury. He and Gil
Felts, both from Sabinal, Texas,
bought a cluster of abandoned mercu-
ry mines and revitalized the operations
back to production. The price of mer-
cury was up, but not for long. Gil Felts
went on to build La Kiva, the leg-
endary bar on Terlingua Creek.
Pepper restored the rock houses of the
mine which is now known as Villa De
La Mina, and rented rooms to tourists.
After Park rangers floated Lady
Bird Johnson down the Rio Grande,
tourists were showing up looking for
river trips. Pepper purchased rubber
rafts, and commercial boating on the
lower Rio Grande was born.
“Two stewardesses showed up look-
ing for a free river trip in exchange for
publicity in their airline magazine,”
A magical
oasis in the
Chihuahuan
Desert
of Texas
Off the
Pinto Canyon Rd
near Ruidosa
says Glen. “We got more river trips
from that magazine than anything
else.” The Villa De La Mina offered
ten rooms, a swimming pool, a canti-
na, and when the candelilla wax facto-
ry was in operation with a work force
of 45 men, a company store. The Villa
was sold in the early 90s and has been
returning to the desert ever since. An
occasional squatter and hundreds of
visitors return to inspect the mine
shafts and sink hole, and wander
among the sprawling wind-blown
ruins.
Thus was formed the foundation of
an up-and-coming tourism industry in
Big Bend. Why do people like Glen
Pepper carve out an existence in what
seems like a harsh and unrelenting
landscape? Why do people drive from
whatever corner of the earth they
come from to find themselves roaming
over land that has been compared to
the surface of Mars?
The land is indescribably beautiful,
vast, drastic, surreal–any number of
words that don't do it justice. The peo-
ple of Big Bend are intricately etched
on the landscape, made of the same
grit, character, depth–and equally
enigmatic in nature. It is the combina-
tion of the immense character of a land
and its people which makes Big Bend
unlike any place on Earth. The value
of an experience in Big Bend has no
equation, it can't be reproduced in
another location. It is the result of
many generations of people loving
where they live, and through whatever
setbacks, hardships, or doing “with-
out,” living the way they love.
Visitors to the region have opportu-
nity to sleep in unique dwellings hand-
crafted by locals. In the last two years
the availability of overnight rentals,
through online sites like Airbnb, has
skyrocketed. Even with the explosion
of options for tourists, all sources
BEHIND EVERY PROJECT IS A
rustic lodging
camping
reservations
required
432.229.4165
chinatihotsprings.net
Dan and Dianna Burbach,
Managers
Graphic courtesy of Coyne Gibson
report that business is booming. In
fact, hotel receipts, according to tax
records in Brewster County, excluding
Alpine, went from $4 million in 1999
to $12 million in 2014. Many in the
hospitality and guiding business report
a 15 per cent to 25 per cent increase in
business every year since 2012.
People go on river trips, hunting expe-
ditions, mountain bike trails, jeep and
hiking excursions in increasing num-
bers every year.
In the ghost town in Terlingua, for
decades, boatmen and locals of every
diverse nature paid a very low month-
ly rate to live in a rock ruin with no
indoor plumbing and often no electric-
ity. Recently the trend has been for
property owners to add modern
amenities to these historic rock houses
and invite travelers to share in the
beauty of homes they carved over time
with love and patience. Cynta de
Narvaez bought her rock ruin on the
edge of the ghost town in 1996: five
small rock rooms, with two outdoor
patios and a goat pen. “I said no to
beer and a social life for the next 16
years and I built it back,” says
Narvaez. She began renting her cas-
tle-esque stone house nightly in 2012.
Teepees, restored airstream trailers,
domes, high-end tents, adobe houses,
historic hotels and ranches, among
other endless unique and artful accom-
modations, are available to the travel-
er visiting all areas of Big Bend.
As more tourists make the pilgrim-
age to the Big Bend, there builds a
greater understanding of the value of
wilderness areas and the subtle needs
nature satisfies in modern man.
Tourism promises a stable economic
future for Big Bend, as beauty, charac-
ter, and wildness become valuable
commodities.
301 N. 5th ST
432-837-2061
MORRISON HARDWARE
SERVING ALPINE & THE BIG BEND SINCE 1928
ALPINE, TEXAS 79830
www.morrisonhardware.com
Cenizo
First Quarter 2016
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