We spent this morning touring the Big Bend Museum on the campus of Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas. It was fascinating and very informative. The exhibits dealt primarily with the human history of the Big Bend National Park. Beginning with the ancient peoples who left impressive pictographs on cave walls, there were excerpts from Cabeza de Vaca's (earliest Spanish explorer of the region in about 1517) journal, reflections on the mixing of native and European cultures, Native American conflicts in the Big Bend area, the activities of the "Buffalo Soldiers" in protecting settlers, stagecoach and railroad transportation, ranching, mining, the Pancho Villa raids, and the creation of the National Park in 1944.
As we were preparing to leave, I was struck by the following message, on the wall near the exit:
In case you find it hard to read, it says "According to Indian legend, when the Great Creator made the earth and finished placing the stars in the sky, the birds in the air, and the fish in the sea, there was a large pile of rejected stony materials left over. Finished with His job, He threw this into one heap and made the Big Bend." -- Ross Maxwell, geologist and first superintendent, Big Bend National Park.
Great minds -- ancient Indians', Ross Maxwell's, and mine -- run in the same channel, don't you think?
