West Texas
is
the stuff of Wild
West fantasy:
parched deserts,
ghost towns, looming
mesas, and above all
a sense of utter
isolation. Although
the area south from
the Panhandle down
to Del Rio on the
Rio Grande is, for
convenience, also
known as West Texas,
the fantasy really
begins west of the
River Pecos; you can
drive for hours
without a sign of
life to El Paso ,
Texas's shabby
westernmost city.
Most travelers only
venture into the
desolation to
explore Big Bend
National Park ,
nearly three hundred
miles southeast of
El Paso in
the curve of the
Rio Grande.
Minimal rainfall and
harsh land were not
the only hindrances
to settlement. The
Apache & Comanche
, though accustomed
in the 1820s to
trading with
Mexican
Comancheros , were
infuriated when
hapless white
pioneers began to
trickle in during
the 1830s. With
their horsemanship
and ability to find
scarce water
supplies, the Native
Americans posed a
real threat; upon
statehood, a string
of cavalry forts was
set up with the help
of federal money to
protect Mexican and
Anglo settlers from
attack. As trading
posts and cattle
ranges began to
spring up after the
Civil War, the
paramilitary Texas
Rangers were sent
out on violent
vigilante missions.
Eventually, as in
the Panhandle, a
brutal program of
buffalo slaughter,
supported by the US
Army, starved the
natives out. Not
long afterwards, oil
was discovered in
West Texas and boom
towns appeared, with
all the attendant
lawlessness, gunslinging and
brawling.
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