In this Book

summary
The Big Bend region of Texas—variously referred to as “El Despoblado” (the uninhabited land), “a land of contrasts,” “Texas’ last frontier,” or simply as part of the Trans-Pecos—enjoys a long, colorful, and eventful history, a history that began before written records were maintained.

With Big Bend’s Ancient and Modern Past, editors Bruce A. Glasrud and Robert J. Mallouf provide a helpful compilation of articles originally published in the Journal of Big Bend Studies, reviewing the unique past of the Big Bend area from the earliest habitation to 1900.

Scholars of the region investigate not only the peoples who have successively inhabited it but also the nature of the environment and the responses to that environment. As the studies in this book demonstrate, the character of the region has, to a great extent, dictated its history.

The study of Big Bend history is also the study of borderlands history. Studying and researching across borders or boundaries, whether national, state, or regional, requires a focus on the factors that often both unite and divide the inhabitants. The dual nature of citizenship, of land holding, of legal procedures and remedies, of education, and of history permeate the lives and livelihoods of past and present residents of the Big Bend.

Table of Contents

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  1. Front Cover
  2. pp. 1-3
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  1. Title Page
  2. pp. 4-5
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  1. Contents
  2. pp. 6-7
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  1. Foreword
  2. pp. vii-viii
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. ix-xii
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  1. Introduction: Big Bend History and Prehistory
  2. pp. 1-16
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  1. I. Prehistory Meets History
  1. 1. Cradles, Cribs, and Mattresses: Prehistoric Sleeping Accommodations in the Chihuahuan Desert
  2. pp. 19-33
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  1. 2. Comments on the Prehistory of Far Northeastern Chihuahua, the La Junta District, and the Cielo Complex
  2. pp. 34-68
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  1. 3. The Rough Run Burial: A Semisubterranean Cairn Burial from Brewster County, Texas
  2. pp. 69-105
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  1. 4. The Río Conchos Drainage: History, Archaeology, Significance
  2. pp. 106-116
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  1. II. History Meets Native Americans
  1. 5. Native American and Mestizo Farming at La Junta de los Ríos
  2. pp. 119-131
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  1. 6. The Peyote Religion and Mescalero Apaches: An Ethnohistorical View from West Texas
  2. pp. 132-146
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  1. 7. Spanish-Indian Relations in the Big Bend Region during the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries
  2. pp. 147-156
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  1. 8. New Light on Chisos Apache Indian Chief Alsate
  2. pp. 157-174
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  1. III. Settlers & Settlements
  1. 9. Settlements and Settlers at La Junta de los Ríos, 1759–1822
  2. pp. 177-195
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  1. 10. Mexican American Traditional Foodways at La Junta de los Ríos
  2. pp. 196-217
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  1. 11. Naming Practices among the Black Seminole of the Texas-Mexico Border Region
  2. pp. 218-237
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  1. 12. Transient Clergy in the Trans-Pecos Area, 1848–1892
  2. pp. 238-275
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  1. 13. William Rufus Shafter with the Frontier Army in the Big Bend
  2. pp. 276-287
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  1. 14. Acculturation on the Rio Grande Frontier: The Founding of San José Del Polvo and the Family of Lucia Rede Madrid
  2. pp. 288-300
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  1. Glossary of Archaeological Terms
  2. pp. 301-304
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  1. Suggested Readings
  2. pp. 305-310
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  1. Contributors
  2. pp. 311-314
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 315-332
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  1. Back Cover
  2. p. 346
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