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PHOTO GALLERY of some locations in the books.
BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK
I'll Gather My Geese, by Hallie Crawford Stillwell, Texas A and M Press, College Station. 1991. ISBN 0-89096-478-5 (hardcover)
My Goose is Cooked, The Continuation of a West Texas Ranch Woman's Story, by Hallie Stillwell,
Sul Ross State University, Alpine. 2004. ISBN 0-97-77-0-2-8 (paperback)
In 1918, Hallie Crawford was not prepared for the difficulties she faced when she moved to her new home after she married rancher, Roy Stillwell. Together the two books tell Hallie's nearly 100 year story--from being a young schoolteacher on the Rio Grande to rookie ranch woman, to young widow, lecturer, and writer.
Places to visit: Hallie's Hall of Fame Museum; Alpine; Presidio; Marathon
Lizards on the Mantel, Burros at the Door, A Big Bend Memoir, by Etta Koch with June Cooper Price, University of Texas Press, Austin. 1999. ISBN 0-292-74339-4 (paperback)
Based on journals and letters written in 1944-46, this memoir tells the story of a young mother accompanying her filmmaker husband to the newly created Big Bend National Park. Originally from the city, she faces raising her family in an old rock house without plumbing or electricity, while her husband is away on photography expeditions for many months at a time.
Places to visit: The Basin, Lost Mine Trail, Persimmon Gap, Santa Elena Canyon, Hot Springs in Big Bend National Park; Study Butte.
Beneath the Window by Patricia Wilson Clothier, Iron Mountain Press, Marahon. 2003
ISBN 0-974507-1-5 (hardback). ISBN 0-9745048-2-3 (trade paperback)
The first pages of Patricia Clothier's memoir takes the reader back to 1936 and the drive from Persimmon Gap to author's new childhood home on the Wilson Ranch, one mile below "The Window." This is a child's view of growing up on land that would ultimately become part of the Big Bend National Park. In Oak Canyon, her family endured hardships of the Chihuahuan Desert, including drought, accidents, loneliness, and financial downturns in their efforts to raise goats and sheep.
Places to visit: The Window, Persimmon Gap, Oak Canyon, Boquillas, and the South Rim in Big Bend National Park; Alpine.
Tenderfoot Teacher, by Aileen Kilgore Henderson, Texas Christian University Press, Fort Worth, 2002. ISBN 0-87565-64-6 (trade paperback)
Looking for adventure, a young teacher takes the opportunity to teach at the new elementary school in Big Bend National Park in 1952. Her story of exploration, building friendships, and learning to live with wildlife is told through her letters to family and friends back east.
Before reading Tenderfoot Teacher, a caution is in order: it was written at a time when many people--including park staff--didn't fully realize the importance of strict preservation in the national park. Some of the practices described in the book, such as feeding animals, collecting rocks and fossils and archaeological artifacts are extremely damaging to the resources of the park. Advice for dealing with rattlesnakes and mountain lions has also changed over the years.
Places to visit: Panther Junction, Santa Elena Canyon, The Basin, Hot Springs,
Dog Canyon, and Mariscal Canyon in Big Bend National Park; Marathon, Alpine
HUDSPETH AND JEFF DAVIS COUNTY
Border Healing Woman, by Jewel Babb as told to Pat LittleDog, University of Texas Press, Austin. 1985. ISBN 0-292-71141-7 (paperback)
This is the story of Babb's early years as a young ranch wife through her elder years as a desert healing woman.
Places to visit: Sierra Blanca, Valentine
EL PASO
Where the Creosote Blooms, by Mary King Rodge, Texas Christian University Press, Fort Worth. 1999. ISBN 0-87565-193-3 (paperback)
Rodge tells the story of her family moving to El Paso in the 1920s, when the city's hot dry climate was a haven for tuberculosis patients. She tells tales filled with colorful and warm characters in El Paso, and gives a clear view of middle-class urban life in the 1920s and 1930s. While her memoir is warm and nostalgic, she also confronts issues such as terminal illness, suicide, sex and abortion.
Places to visit: Four Corners neighborhood, El Paso Railroad and Transportation Museum in El Paso; Hueco Tanks State Park
A Place in El Paso, by Gloria Lopez-Stafford, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. 1996.
ISBN 0-823-1709-x (paperback)
Lopez-Stafford tells her own story of growing up in the Segundo Barrio in El Paso in the 1940s and 1950s. Her young mother dies, leaving her in the care of her much older father, and ultimately in a succession of foster and temporary homes. This is an honest and beautifully written portrayal of a difficult, but wonder-filled childhood, and a girl’s search for identity.
Places to visit: Santa Fe bridge, Rio Grande, Chamizal National Monument,
St. Vrain Street in El Paso; Juarez, Mexico.
Join the Texas Mountain Trail Reading Group at Goodreads.com!
We've just started a bookclub to discuss the women's memoirs set in the Texas Mountain Trail region and invite you to participate. It's free! Just go to www.goodreads.com and sign up for your free, no-obligation membership. Then, click on their groups page, and search for the Texas Mountain Trail group.
Please consider purchasing these books at regional independent bookstores:
Front Street Books, 121 E. Holland Ave., Alpine, TX 79830 1-800-597-3360
And next to the Gage Hotel, Marathon, TX 79842 1-432-386-4249.
www.fsbooks.com
Marfa Bookstore, 105 South Highland, Marfa, TX 79843 1-432-729-3906
www.marfabookco.com
Terlingua Trading Company, 100 Ivey Street, Terlingua, TX 79852. 432-371-2234 (Next to the Starlight Theatre in Terlingua Ghost Town.) http://www.historic-terlingua.com/historic_terlingua_ghostown_010.htm
TOURS
Jan Forte of Big Bend River Tours conducts custom tours of the Big Bend area based on locations in women's memoirs. P.O. Box 317, Terlingua, TX 79852 1-800-545-4240
www.bigbendrivertours.com