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Conrad Werner, the legendary Alpine saddle maker |
By LONN TAYLOR
Back in the mid-1960s my friend Jim Bratcher, who now lives in Bulverde, Texas, where he collects old knives and contributes occasional scholarly articles to esoteric journals like Notes and Queries, lived in Alpine. In addition to teaching English at Sul Ross, Bratcher liked to fool with horses and so he spent a few hours each week hanging around George Nix’s Big Bend Saddlery, talking about horses with the cowboys and ranchers who came in to get saddles repaired. It was at Nix’s saddle shop that Bratcher met legendary Alpine saddle maker Conrad Werner, who had been Nix’s mentor in the leather-working business. “Werner could do anything with a hide except put it back on the cow,” Bratcher once told me. |
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An encounter with Marfa’s mystery lights |
By ANASTACIO S. MILAN
As we grew up in the barrio during the fifties, we heard many interesting and fascinating stories. Those storytellers were our parents and grandparents. Many of these accounts were from actual experiences, while others dealt with the legends such as La Llorona, the girl who danced with the devil, lechuzas and those of the occult.
My father grew up in the vicinity of the Chisos Mountains and had much experience working in the mines and the rural areas. After moving to the town of Alpine, on many occasions he would spend days doing manual labor out in the rugged countryside setting up or mending fences. The duration time varied from a few days up to maybe a week. |
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Senator explores past and present West Texas wonders |
By U.S. Senator KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON
Representing Texas is a great honor, and I never enjoy that privilege more than when I am traveling through the state and meeting with Texans. Each year, during the Senate’s summer recess, I make a special bus tour through a region of our state. This August, I traveled 850 miles through West Texas to Big Bend. I was reminded once again of the diversity and splendor of the Lone Star State.
On this bus tour, I visited historic sites that preserve our unique heritage for future generations of Texans. On the first day, I stopped at Fort Davis, which gives visitors a glimpse of what life was like at an Army post during frontier times. Fort Davis played an important role in America’s western expansion after the Civil War. It was the home of one of the famed buffalo soldiers units. Many of the restored buildings are open to visitors, including a barracks for the enlisted soldiers and the commanding officers’ home. Children are allowed to lie on a cot to feel what it was like for the soldiers. The National Park Service is continuing the restoration of many of the other buildings at the fort, such as the hospital. I was privileged to have helped negotiate a land transfer to allow the fort’s 19th century vista to be preserved.
The Fort Davis area not only highlights our state’s history; it is also home to one of the brightest stars of our future – McDonald Observatory. A part of the University of Texas, McDonald Observatory outside of Fort Davis is considered one of the world’s premier astronomical research centers.
Leading astronomers from across the globe come here to conduct cutting-edge research, such as studying dark energy. The vast dark night skies of West Texas allow the McDonald telescopes to see far beyond our universe, opening new windows of knowledge about our home planet and those beyond our solar system. The observatory’s star parties are open to the public. After dark, McDonald staffers talk about the stars that are visible at that time of year.
In addition to these brilliant examples of our past and our future, I witnessed the natural beauty that exemplifies the West Texas landscape. Big Bend Ranch State Park is a 330,000-acre ranch that features miles of horse-back riding and hiking trails, Native American pictographs, and an abundance of wildlife and fauna. The park’s remoteness – it is a 27-mile trek on dirt roads from the entrance to the visitor’s center – makes it a hidden gem.
Texas Monthly Magazine recently said the drive from Presidio (near the state park) to Big Bend National Park should be on every Texan’s “bucket list” of things to see before you die. The cliffs, canyons, and mountains are as spectacular as any others in our nation. God truly blessed Texas.
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Kay Bailey Hutchison is the senior U.S. Senator from Texas and is the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. |
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