Highway 118

0.0 THE BASIN IN BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK TO ALPINE, 107 Mi.

0.0 AT THE BASIN IN BIG BEND. Be sure to fill with gasoline before you start. It’s 107 miles to Alpine. Not the kind of country in which you'd like to run out of gasoline.

Record your mileage here and add it to the figures in the margin below to get your speedometer reading at any point. Allow some mileage variation. Speedometers do vary and tire tread wear and inflation make a difference.

3.7 IN THE NEAR DISTANCE AHEAD, the Grapevine Hills, behind them the Rosillas Mts. Square top mountain in the distance is Santiago Mtn.

6.3 ROAD JUNCTION, turn left. Watch the sharp turn.

11.3 IF THE VEGETATION you see isn’t the green you’re accustomed to it’s because you’re making the trip during our 12-month “golden season.” After all, colors other than plain old green can be beautiful if you know how to look.

15.3 IF THAT PINNACLE direct to the right looks to you like a sphinx, you pass our imagination test.

15.9 CASTOLON - SANTA ELENA ROAD JUNCTION. A very scenic trip and of course, a Newell-Gulf Station there. The road is not recommended for heavy trailers.

16.5 THE MOUNTAIN MASS AHEAD IS BURRO MESA. We curve around the north edge in a fault zone. Rock to right was pushed up but harder lava flow cap on the mesa and erosion cause it to be higher now. That same lava flow caps Mt. Emory, El. 7835 ft., highest point in the Park.

19.0 THAT RIDGE far in the distance ahead to your left is the Sierra Ponce in Mexico and the right part is the Mesa de Anguila in the U.S. It’s 1,000 ft. high. The notch on the skyline is Santa Elena Canyon. Narrow, and up to 1,700 ft. high, three Washington Monuments could be piled on each other in there. The front of that ridge is a fault scarp, meaning that the rocks have broken and been pushed up. On the east side of the Park, the Santiago-Del Carmen range is behind a similar fault scarp so almost all of the Big Bend Park is in a sunken block. The Chisos Mountains in the middle of the block is a great volcanic intrusion pushed up from below. Due to its hardness it now stands far above the weathered-away surrounding rocks.

21.0 LOOK BACK AT THE CHISOS. Below Casa Grande you’ll see the notch. This is the window and behind it the Basin we just left.

23.8 TO THE RIGHT BELOW IS THE PAINTED DESERT of varicolored clays 70 million years old. There are dinosaur bones in these clays.

24.0 YOU DON’T NEED large sand dunes to have a desert. It’s an area with less than 8” of rain a year and this area qualifies. In fact, it is part of the Chihuahuan Desert. Vegetation is mostly creosote bush, sometimes called greasewood, lechugilla and cactus. Here the evaporation from an open water surface (if there were one) would be 96” a year - 12 times the rainfall.

24.4 GOING DOWN THE HILL note in the road cuts the gravel and clays washed down from the Chisos, also the Painted Desert clays.

25.3 LEAVE THE BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK. Come back another time. You haven’t seen all of it.

26.0 OVER THE HILL AHEAD you’ll find Henry Moore’s Gulf Station and store with cold drinks, camp ground, old graveyard, ice, film, spring water, groceries, and lots of good conversation.

26.6 STUDY BUTTE GULF STA. AND STORE - HENRY MOORE’S. Astronauts are sent to the Big Bend and especially this area to do their geology work in preparation for their trip to the moon. Ahead of you is Study Butte (pronounced “Stoodie”) and you can see the old mine workings and tailings.

27.6 THE MOUNTAIN AHEAD with steep cliffs is Bee Mountain and to the right Willow Mountain. Both are of intrusive volcanic basalt. Note the vertical jointing.

27.9 HIGHWAY Y and we go ahead on 118. The Diamond Shamrock Study Butte Mercury Mine is just to the right at the Y. There are 5 shafts, two of them active at 250-300 ft. The ore is Cinnabar (mercury sulfide) in trachite. Mine opened many years ago, abandoned after World War II, reactivated in 1966. Ore is heated in a kiln-type furnace, the mercury turns to vapor which is condensed as almost pure liquid metal and put into steel flasks which hold 76 lbs. Activity in this area depends on the price, which has ranged from $50.00 to $700.00 per flask over the years. It’s high now, about $550.00 per flask.

30.0 TO APPRECIATE this country completely there’s no substitute for several years study of geology but let’s try five minutes anyway. The rocks of the area are either Igneous which means formed from molten magma which came up from below, or Sedimentary which means laid down under water, usually an ocean. The igneous rocks are either intrusives, which intruded other rocks from below, solidified and were later on exposed by erosion, or lava flows which poured out in sheets on the surface, or ash which blew out of volcanoes into the air, solidified into small particles and settled to earth.

Some of the geographical features of the area are due to rock folding or to faults where the strata has fractured and one side has moved up or down compared to the other side. Most of the relief features are caused by inequalities in resistance of various rocks to erosion. Igneous rocks are generally harder, especially intrusives which often stand out as peaks, and lava flows which form hard caps for mesas. We’ll point out examples of all of these features as you travel north.

For the next 10 miles you go through an area of intrusive volcanic rock. Their hardness makes them stand out as mountains. Very few areas in the United States contain as many. The prismatic structure in the cliffs of Willow Mtn. to the right are caused by the slow cooling underground of the molten rock. The mountain north of Willow is Wild Horse Mountain.

33.1 HEN EGG MTN. in the distance to the left, El. 5002 ft., another intrusive.

37.0 ADOBE WALLS MOUNTAIN on the right.

40.0 PACKSADDLE MOUNTAIN on the left. El. 4661 ft. The large flat mountain ahead to the right is Nine Point Mesa. El. 5551 ft. It is capped by an igneous rock bed over 1,000 ft. thick. Cliff on this side, it slopes away to the east where it is cut by canyons.

41.4 BETWEEN YOU and the mesa, much closer to the road, you can see Camel’s Hump, an igneous plug.

45.1 THE LONG FLAT TOP MOUNTAIN ahead is Crosson Mesa, 5000 ft. El., with Elephant Mtn. El. 6230 ft. to the right. This road goes between them. Farther to the right and north of Nine Point Mesa in the distance ahead is Santiago Mtn. El. 6230 ft. Believe it or not, the top of this mountain is Progress City, Texas, surveyed into town lots and sold back east many years ago. Some of the buyer’s descendants are still paying taxes on it. Sorry, no progress in Progress City and no elephants on Elephant Mountain.

50.0 THE ROAD YOU‘RE DRIVING OVER is more than 900 million years old. At least that’s the age of the Pre-Cambrian reddish surfacing gravel which comes from a rock crusher west of Van Horn. It’s among the very oldest rocks in the world.

61.8 WE’RE GOING DOWN INTO GREEN VALLEY. That trace off to the right across the valley is the old Terlingua to Marathon road through Del Norte Gap. North of the gap are the Del Norte Mountains, south of the gap the Santiago Mountains.

62.6 THE NEAR MTN. AHEAD TO THE LEFT IS BUTCHERKNIFE HILL. El. 4009 ft., a basalt intrusive. We might mention a few other picturesque geographic names of the area - Smuggler’s Gap, Dagger Flat, Lefthand Shutup, Smallpox Spring, Whirlwind Springs, Dead Horse Mountains, Straddlebug Mountain, Rattlesnake Mountains, Fizzle Flat, Mule Ear Peaks, Dogie Mountain and Onion Spring. I like Pinks Peak.

63.0 YOU’RE ON A POORLY DEFINED DIVIDE. Water to the right goes to Calamity Creek, Dog Canyon and Maravillas Creek to the Rio Grande. Fifty miles west is the mouth of Terlingua Creek which flows down on your left.

65.0 YOU ARE DRIVING OVER light gray sedimentary flaggy limestone and shale laid down under the ocean.

79.5 ROADSIDE PARK coming up on the right. Cathedral Mountain, El. 6860 ft. is in the distance ahead. We are starting up the Calamity creek drainage. The large mountain on the left ahead is Clonega, El. 6850 ft. It’s another igneous intrusion and there’s an old Marble quarry on the west side.

80.4 BUILDINGS ON THE RIGHT, NEVILLE RANCH. They had a silver fox ranch here in the early 30’s. Now you get a better idea of the size of Elephant Mtn. with its lava flow cap.

88.6 ROADSIDE PARK ahead on right.

89.9 WOODWARD RANCH, 2 mi. to the left is fascinating to all, but an absolute must for rockhounds. All kinds of agate, labredorite, fire opals. Only place in the world that red plume agate and pom pom agate are found. Big rock and gem store, largest west of Dallas, with samples from Mexico and all over. Camping, trailer park. Pick up your own agate for 25¢ a pound. Agate is formed when water percolates down through volcanic ash beds, dissolves silica and then deposits it in gas holes in the lava below. Impurities in the host rock give it distinctive colorations. Add 4.2 mi, if you make this side trip.

93.7 HIGH POINT TO THE RIGHT IS MT. ORD. El. 6804 ft. It is capped with a lava flow. Scarp slope to the left and dip slope to the right. There are caves on the limestone slopes under the lava, a favorite hangout of mountain lions as much as 8 ft. long. There are several radio communications relay stations on top.

96.2 THIS IS A DIVIDE. El. 5360 ft., over a mile high. Drainage ahead of you ends up in the Pecos River, 20 miles east of Pecos. Drainage behind you ends up in the Rio Grande just east of Big Bend National Park.

99.5 THE ALPINE VALLEY is ahead, splendid view but watch the curves.

101.0 THE BUILDINGS on the mountain ahead are Sul Ross College named after Sullivan Ross, early governor of Texas. Alpine is behind the mountain ahead to the left.

103.0 BREWSTER is the largest county in the largest unfrozen state in the U.S., 6,208 Sq. Mi., larger than Delaware and Connecticut combined. 128 Mi. N to S and 88 Mi. E to W. Elevation from 1700 ft. to 7835 ft. If you eliminate Alpine, there’s about 4 sq. miles for each person and you’ve seen many of them today - the miles that is. Average ranch size, 23,356 acres.

106.2 INTERSECTION with Hwy. 90 in ALPINE. El. 4485 ft. Pop. 5200. Two fine Newell - Gulf Service Stations here, the Sul Ross Gulf Station two blocks to your right and the Gulf Servicenter seven blocks to your left. They both have printed information for you about Alpine, the scenic Ft. Davis National Historic Site, McDonald Observatory and other points of interest.

Of course both of them have NEWELL - GULF ROAD LOGS FOR YOU HEADED EAST OR WEST. History, Geology, Geography, Points of Interest. They’re free to customers.

For the center of Alpine, turn left on Hwy. 90.

106.6 AT THE SIGNAL LIGHT IN ALPINE - end of this log. This type of Road Log is unique and I’d like to know what you think of it. If you have time, drop a note to Johnny Newell, Box 390, Alpine, Texas 79830 and give me your opinion. I like to make the logs but I have trouble letting people know they’re available for most highways in Texas west of the Pecos. Will you help spread the word?

YOU’LL ENJOY YOUR TRIP IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE SEEING.

GET YOUR NEXT FREE ROAD LOG AT ANY GULF SERVICE STATION IN WEST TEXAS

Copyright © W. J. Newell, 1969

Hwys. 118 - 170 - 67

The Basin in Big Bend National Park to Presidio and Marfa via Camino Del Rio.

These unique Road Logs are free to customers and are available at Newell-Gulf Service Stations west of the Pecos. They cover most of the highways in West Texas.

0.0 At the Basin in Big Bend. Be sure to fill with gasoline before you start. It’s 95 miles to Presidio and 155 mi. to Marfa. Not the kind of country in which you’d like to run out of gasoline.

Record your mileage here and add it to the figures in the margin below to get your speedometer reading at any point. Allow some mileage variation. Speedometers do vary and tire tread wear and inflation make a difference.

3.7 In the near distance ahead, the Grapevine Hills, behind them the Rosillas Mts. Square top mountain in the distance is Santiago Mtn.

6.3 Road Junction, turn left. watch the sharp turn.

11.3 If the vegetation you see isn’t the green you’re accustomed to it’s because you’re making the trip during our 12 month “golden season".” After all, colors other than plain old green can be beautiful if you know how to look.

15.9 Castolon - Santa Elena Road Junction. A very scenic trip and of course a Newell-Gulf Station there. The road is not recommended for heavy trailers.

16.5 The mountain mass ahead is Burro Mesa. We curve around the north edge in a fault zone. Rock to right was pushed up but harder lava flow cap on the mesa and erosion cause it to be higher now. That same lava flow caps Mt. Emory, El. 7835 ft., highest point in the park.

19.0 That ridge far in the distance ahead to your left is the Sierra Ponce in Mexico and the right part is the Mesa de Anguila in the U.S. It’s 1,000 ft. high. The notch on the skyline is Santa Elena Canyon. Narrow, and up to 1,700 ft. high, three Washington monuments could be piled on each other in there. The front of that ridge is a fault scarp, meaning that the rocks have broken and been pushed up. On the east side of the Park the Santiago-Del Carmen range is behind a similar fault scarp so almost all of the Big Bend Park is in a sunken block. The Chisos Mountains in the middle of the block is a great volcanic intrusion pushed up from below. Due to its hardness it now stands far above the weathered-away surrounding rocks.

21.0 Look back at the Chisos. Below Casa Grande you’ll see the notch. This is the Window and behind it the Basin we just left.

23.8 To the right below is the Painted Desert of varicolored clays 70 million years old. There are dinosaur bones in these clays.

24.0 You don’t need large sand dunes to have a desert. It’s an area with less than 8” of rain a year and this area qualifies. In fact, it is part of the Chihuahuan Desert. Vegetation is mostly creosote bush, sometimes called greasewood, lechugilla and cactus. Here the evaporation from an open water surface (if there were one) would be 96” a year - 12 times the rainfall.

26.0 Over the hill ahead you’ll find Henry Moore’s Gulf Station and Store with cold drinks, camp ground, old graveyard, ice, film, spring water, groceries, and lots of good conversation.

26.6 Study Butte Gulf Sta. and Store - Henry Moore’s. Astronauts are sent to the big Bend and especially this area to do their geology work in preparation for their trip to the moon. Ahead of you is Study Butte (pronounced “Stoodie”) and you can see the old mine workings and tailings.

27.9 Highway Y and we go left on No. 170 - Camino del Rio. The Diamond Shamrock Study Butte Mercury Mine is just to the right at the Y. There are 5 shafts, two of them active at 250 to 300 ft. The ore is Cinnabar (mercury sulfide) in trachite. Mine opened many years ago, abandoned after World War II, reactivated in 1966. Ore is heated in a kiln-type furnace, the mercury turns to vapor which is condensed as almost pure liquid metal and put into steel flasks which hold 76 lbs.

29.3 Cross Terlingua Creek which flows into the Rio Grande at the mouth of Santa Elena Canyon.

30.2 On your right the remains of the old 248 mine.

31.4 Every city has its airfield and Study Butte is no exception. There it is on your left.

32.7 Road to old Terlingua on your right, and I strongly recommend you look it over. On.y 1.5 mi. round trip. A true ghost town, population was once over 2,000, now zero. First mining attempts in 1893, the big find was the Chisos Mine here at Terlingua and between 20 and 30 million dollars worth of mercury was produced up to 1946 when the mine was abandoned. Mexicans worked the mines 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for a dollar a day with no safety considerations as the pitiful cemetery testifies. Note the commissary, theater and jail. That red pot contains a candelilla plant which grows in the area. A very fine wax is made from the plant and much is smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico as the price is better here.

The Great Chili War was fought here in Terlingua Oct. 21, 1867 and promises to be renewed each October. Wick Fowler, noted Texas Character, was challenged by H. Allen Smith, famous humorous author who has adopted Alpine as his home. Over 500 chili heads flew in from all over the United States for the contest to decide which was World’s Champion Chili Cook. With the vote of the judges one for each contestant, the third judge declared that the chili had burned out his taste buds so the contest was declared a draw.

35.8 You can visit an old mercury mine to the right. Allow 4.4 mi. on the log if you do. The 30-minute easy walk through the mine costs $1.00, 50¢ for children, no climbing. Also a shop and store.

41.9 Large mountain mass to the left is the Mesa de Anguila, California Mountain is to the right with old mercury mine workings on the slope.

44.0 That graded area parallel to the road on the left is the Lajitas airport. About 1775 the Comanche Indians of northern Texas and Oklahoma discovered that northern Mexico was becoming civilized and turned their attention southward. At first it was horses they were after, later on slaves and cattle became the prize booty, as buffalo were being killed out. This continued 105 years with the peak year being 1845 when an estimated 10,000 head of livestock were plundered. The Great Comanche War Trail, over 1,000 miles long, crossed the Pecos at Horsehead Crossing, came through Comanche Springs (Ft. Stockton), east of Marathon, through Persimmon Gap and flowed south in two branches east and west of the Chisos Mountains. The western branch crossed the Rio Grande at the ford at Lajitas, and went as far south as Durango. The full moon of September, which came to be known as the Comanche Moon was a time of terror until the frontier forts put an end to this “free trade” economy about 1880.

44.8 Lajitas (means flat rocks) Trading Post on your left. Patronized mostly by Mexicans from across the river on account of the ford. Buildings to the west were occupied by U.S. troops during the Pancho Villa troubles. Pancho reportedly didn’t bother this area because it was too valuable to him as a supply point.

49.9 Contrabando Creek. From 1900 to 1930 smugglers were pretty active, in both directions, across the Rio Grande. Wax and liquor (in goat bladders on burros to be bottled on this side) came north, manufactured goods went south. During the hoof and mouth disease quarantine, before any roads were built, a hardy band of river riders patrolled this area either on foot or by mule.

57.3 Relax, the Comanches have long gone and those teepees are just a Roadside Park.

57.6 You are climbing Big Hill, also called Penacho Point. Road grade is 17%, steepest in Texas. This means that for each 100 ft. forward you go up 17 ft. or over 3 ft. per car length. Good picture location at the top.

64.9 Look closely to the left for a narrow canyon opposite a road dip. This is variously called Poquito Canyon, Lost Canyon, Closed Canyon or Eagle Crack. It’s worth a stop and a walk over into it.

75.6 True civilization at last. Note junked cars on left!

78.9 Redford, Texas, called Polvo (dust) by the Mexicans. Name from the red rock in the Rio Grande ford. A long town for its size.

88.4 The cable overhead carries a trolley to lower flow-measuring devices into the river.

91.7 Fort Leaton ruins on your left are to be restored as a state monument. Originally the Mission de lo Julimes, built in 1684 by Padres with the Mendoza expedition, bought by Ben Leaton in 1848 and made into a fort to protect his fields and cattle from the Indians. Ben traded with anyone. Some claimed he sold guns to the Indians and bought their stolen booty. Ben claimed that his influence with the Indians saved many settlers’ lives. This was an important stopping point on the Chihuahua Trail which came north through here, then up Alamito Creek and eventually to the Texas coast. Silver and lead went north, hardware and frontier supplies came south. Very active 1848 to 1860. Fort Leaton was used by U.S. troops as a supply point and strong point in the Indian fights.

92.7 The Presidio flood plain at left is irrigated from the river and 60 to 70 wells. Parts of it have been farmed for over 400 years. Cotton, feeds, cantaloupe, Persian melons are raised on about 6,000 acres. West of the Concho river which comes in from Mexico at Ojinaga, the Rio Grande is usually almost dry, the water having been taken out for irrigation near El Paso. The flow there is about 20,000 acre ft. per year compared to 530,000 acre feet below the Concho mouth. The word flood in flood plain is not used casually. Twice in the past 10 years there has been 8 to 10 ft. of water over that valley. Presidio gets only 8.39” of rain a year but it sure is wet the day they get it.

94.0 Cross the Santa Fe RR which joins the Chihuahua al Pacifico RR in the center of the Rio Grande bridge to the left. The Santa Fe goes up Alamito Creek to Paisano Pass, Alpine, Ft. Stockton, and San Angelo. This is actually the shortest rail route from Kansas City to the West Coast.

95.1 Presidio and intersection with Hwy 67 north to Marfa. Gulf Dealer Station is across the Y and since there are no service stations in the next 60 miles north we suggest that you fill up and let Milt tell you about Presidio. This town is famous as often the hottest spot in the U.S. but the humidity is so low that it’s a healthy heat. No one has ever had heat prostration or frostbite in Presidio.

Ojinaga, named after a Mexican general, across the Rio from Presidio, is a spot you must visit. El. 2750 ft. Pop. 8500. It was a hot spot in the 1910-1914 revolution which was climaxed with a battle on Jan. 10, 1914, when Pancho Villa drove the 3500 government troops and 1000 women and children across into the United States where they were taken into custody by American troops, marched to Marfa and sent by rail to El Paso. This is the terminus of the famous Chihuahua al Pacifico railroad to the west coast of Mexico with both Pullman and diesel electric passenger trains on the most exciting rail trip you’ve ever taken. Canyons greater than the Grand Canyon of the Colorado in Arizona, mountains up to 11,000 ft., 72 tunnels, great food on the train. Less than 24 hours to the West Coast and round trip for several days including all but meals costs only about $75.00. Check the Big Bend Travel Agency in Presidio or Marfa for full information. They’ll take care of your car while you’re gone. In any case, don’t fail to cross into Ojinaga and look it over. It’s unspoiled by us Americans as yet. Try a meal at the fine new railroad station - fresh Pacific Ocean seafood.

0.0 Leave Gulf Dealer Station in Presidio. We’ve started the mileage over since your side trips may have the mathematics sufficiently confused by now. Head north on Hwy. 67.

16.3 On your left Chinati Mountain, El. 7,730. There is a drop of 5,000 ft. from the top to the Rio Grande, of which 3,500 ft. is in 3 miles.

18.9 One of the mine shafts and dump. The Presidio Mine was opened in 1883 and operated almost continually until 1942. Eighteen million dollars of metal was produced, including 32,730,000 ounces of silver, 5,900 ounces of gold and some lead. Main shafts are west of the hill. Deepest workings are at 700 ft. and there are between 150 and 200 miles of underground passages.

19.0 Entering Shafter with the ruins of the mill on right. Once the home of 1,500 people, the population is now about 25, most of whom live on social security checks. Read the legend on the historical monument. Milton Faver with his vast cattle herds had a more lasting effect on the area than Ben Leaton. The Catholic church in Shafter, built in 1896, is quite interesting.

24.4 Elephant Rock is coming up on your left. Use your imagination.

37.5 Roadside Park on left. You are starting down through Frenchman Hills. Ahead and to the right are the Davis Mountains, the Chinatis behind you. Bounded by these, and running almost to Van Horn on the west, is what is called the Marfa Basin, an area of potential oil production. The volume and thickness - up to 16,000 ft. - of marine sediments are capable of being source beds for oil, and reservoir rocks are present. In fact the basin and its structures are similar to the Delaware Basin near Pecos which is so productive. More exploratory drilling is needed.

53.7 The prominent mountain ahead is Old Blue, El. 6,373 on the edge of Ft. Davis. Goat Mtn, El. 6,725 is directly to your right.

58.9 Fort D. A. Russell to your left. Built for border protection in Pancho Villa times, it was a cavalry post. Also used for chemical warfare units and for a few prisoners of war during World War II. It was sold, and officer’s row on the hill became a residential area. Border Patrol headquarters for the area are here and warehouses are used to store cotton.

59.7 Marfa, El. 4,690, Pop. 3,000. At the signal light the Webb Bros. Newell-Gulf Station has more logs like this one for you covering Hwy. 90 east or west. They helped make these logs possible and they’d like to fill your tank and give you further information on Marfa and the Davis Mountain area with its scenic beauty, National Historic Site, State Park, etc. A fascinating area.

It was quite a job, climbing all those mountains to measure the elevations and arranging the interviews with Cabeza de Vaca, Antonio de Espejo, Ben Leaton and the others, but I’ve enjoyed it and I hope you have enjoyed the result. This type of Road Log is unique and I’d like to know what you think of it. If you have time, drop a note or card to me, Johnny Newell, Box 390, Alpine, Texas 79830 and give me your opinion. We like to put these logs out but we have a problem letting people know they’re available. Will you please help me spread the word?

GET YOUR NEXT FREE ROAD LOG

AT

WEBB BROS. NEWELL-GULF STATION

IN MARFA

Copyright © W. J. Newell, 1968