YONDERINGS
Trails and Memories
of the Big Bend
by
Ben H. English
Genre: Memoir / Travel / Texas
Publisher: TCU Press
Date of Publication: November 17, 2017
Number of Pages: 221
It was a vast, empty land spotted by isolated ranch headquarters, a national park with few visitors, and the many ruins of a past shrouded in legend, lore, and improbable truths. Six generations of Ben H. English’s family have called this enigmatic region home. With his family headquartered at the old Lajitas Trading Post, he worked and lived on ranches and in places now little more than forgotten dots on yellowing maps. He attended the one-room schoolhouse at Terlingua, prowled the banks of the Rio Grande, and crisscrossed the surrounding areas time and again on horseback and on foot.
Some fifty years later he writes about those years, revealing along the way the history and legends of the singular land he knows so well, separating fact from fiction, and bringing the reader into a world that few have experienced. He also explores the lower Big Bend as it is found now, and the extraordinary vistas one can still discover just over the next rise.
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Excerpt from Yonderings: Trails and Memories of the Big
Bend
By Ben H. English
There are certain
places in this world that seize the soul of those who journey into their
environs. They tantalize our senses, both physical and otherwise, with a
thousand varieties of awe, wonderment, mystery, and exultation. Even though we
may only visit them but once, the mental snapshots we develop during the event
never seem to fade or go away, remaining firmly entrenched within our psyches
from that moment forward until death’s bed or beyond. Someone once said that
life is not a series of years, but a recollection of special moments. The same
can be said about those special places exemplified by the Big Bend of Texas.
These same moments
and places call for a more introspective look at ourselves and where we fit
into the larger scheme of things, which often enough leads us to questions
about those who came before. Did they truly see and appreciate what was here,
or were they so involved in their existential struggles as to not take much
notice of the rare natural beauty surrounding them? What did they learn from
this unique land, what enigmas did they unravel here? For many, we will never
know, as their stories have been irretrievably lost, trapped in a void of
forgotten memories or anonymity. They were too busy living history to have the
opportunity or inclination to leave written documents of it. Their implacable
enemy was time, or to be more accurate, the lack thereof.
As I have grown older the true value of time has become more apparent to
me, and far more precious. It is the one thing we cannot change, call back,
speed up, or slow down. With all of our advanced technological marvels and
attending vanities, time pays no more attention to our needs and schemes than
we of a tiny fleck of dust laying upon parched, barren soil. Time remains the
unchanging constant in our mortal continuance, unconcerned with nothing else
but its unrelenting march forward.
Yet this does not
mean we mere mortals don’t entertain fanciful wishes of being able to bend it
to our petty wills. As the decades have passed by, I have found myself wishing
that I had just one hour to talk with Aunt Mag about the Hot Springs, “Sis” Hay
concerning early Marfa, or Grandfather Cash regarding his days as an underaged
infantryman in Lajitas. Much more so, I wish I had just one more hour to sit
with my father and Papa English and hear their voices again. The two of them
prowled a big part of this region of the Big Bend, spurred on by a consuming
passion for this land and what there was to be learned from it.
No measure can be
taken of any land without speaking of those who make use of it. What they hold
to be true and inviolate sets the tone for what will happen to that ground in
the future. In this respect there are basically two competing groups and
philosophies, championed by those who think upon themselves as land owners
versus those who consider themselves more as people of the land. The latter have
a deep emotional attachment to what they stand upon and desire to keep it as
naturally pristine as possible. The former faction sees whatever land within
their grasp mostly in terms of how much wealth can be extracted from it; the
long-term results are of secondary importance.
Though some may find
this perspective to be overly simplistic or demeaning to one group or the
other, it nevertheless cuts straight to the heart of the matter. The Big Bend
country of Texas has had ample quantities of both breeds, as well as ample
evidence of where strict adherence to each of the two philosophies can lead. In
reality our nation needs both groups to successfully meet the unending
challenges we face as a society, but there should be certain locales set aside
that deserve the respect and the support of both parties for the mutual benefit
of all.
The Big Bend has
been repeatedly lauded by many of our fellows who profoundly care about this
land and intuitively comprehend just how special it really is. They understand
that God did not give us such splendor to have it defiled and abused, as so
many other areas in our part of Texas have been. We as a people should never
take this priceless gift lightly and need to pay proper homage to those with
the forbearance to see what was being lost, and the personal courage to go
forth and do what needed done to halt the ensuing blight.
For
myself I will enjoy the Big Bend as long as possible in the most intimate way
one can, on my own two feet--sometimes going where no trail has ever been known
to run. Early on I made a promise to myself not only to go and see, but to
write about what I learned and experienced. This book contains only a few of
the hundreds of stories I could tell about this country, and before I die I
hope for many more to come.
An eighth-generation Texan, Ben H. English was raised mostly in the Lajitas-Terlingua area. An honors graduate of Angelo State University, he served in the United States Marine Corps for seven years, was a high school teacher, and retired after twenty-two years in the Texas Highway Patrol.
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