The Washington herald., 1921-01-30
ROBERT, r. PEN,
In the Dallas NepS.)

wv INC I[uiIoS NCUS/
Texas terra incognita" may great
reaches of the Rio Grande between Preside
and Del Rio be termed, for hardly any
where is there to be found today land
that more fully fills the description OF
unknown land" unless it be just across
the river in the desert reaches of Mexico.
Yet in this practically unknown region of
Southwest Texas there are majestic peaks,
pine-topped, with beautiful streams flow
ing through picturesque canyons.
No region of the country holds greater
interest for the scientist or for the trav-
eler with an exploring bent, and few hold
more of scenic interest than this vast and
now inaccessible portions of Texas, DR..
Robert t. Hill, geologist, of Dallas declared.
More than twenty years ago DR.. Hill went
through the Rio Grande's rock-walled can
yons on an exploring trip, studying the
region from a scientific standpoint, and
recently he made additional studies which
he is Incorporating in an extensive mono
graph for the publications of the United
States Geologic Survey.
Not only is this section generally termed
as the big Bend Country" remote and
inaccessible and unknown to Texans, but
science ITSELF and particularly that branch
pertaining to geography, has little accurate
knowledge of it, DR.. Hill said. For in
stance, practically all of the published
maps of the State during the last twenty
years have shown the Big Bend as a shall
low "V," whereas it actually is composed
of two deep "Vs" with their prongs at
right angles. The commercial maps are
in error by at least GOO square miles in
this case alone, and even the maps of the
United States Geologic Survey have not
he ~, he h
lished within <he last year.
Structural Peeuliarities.
One of the structural peculiarities of
this region is that it is virtually the meet
ing place of the Appalachian system with
the Davis Mountains, having low hills
toward the east which are at right angles
to the Davis Mountains and to the Guada-
lupe range toward the north. These
ranges formerly were considered the south
ern extensions of the Rocky Mountains,
but DR.. Hill considers them more properly
PARTS of the Cordileran system in Mexico.
AS in the case of the error, as to the
river-an error that is hard to explain,
because through the Big Bend the stream
flows in an Interchangeable course cut
through walls of solid rock-current geog-
raphies also show marked errors as to
the mountains themselves. Most of them
give the height OF Guadalupe Peak, Texas
highest mountain, up near the New Mexico
line, at $500 feet, whereas it really is only
$500 feet high, but quite a peak at that.
Baldy Peak or Mount Livermore, in the
Davis Mountains is shown correctly on
the maps as $3.50 feet being the second
highest Texas mountain.
The formations of all of this section
hold enthrslling stories of ages ago which
are yet to be worked out in detail by the
biologists. Furthermore, many of the
peaks and the deep, almost cavernous can
yons through which, the Rio Grande and
the Pecos Rivers flow are beautiful beyond
description, DR.. Hill declares, comparing
favorably with the Grand Canyon of the
Colorado and other scenic wonders which
are better known and more popular. In
the Santa, Helena Canyon, the Rio Grande
flows for many miles through the rocky
precipices more than 1000 feet in height.
AS the river flows toward the south and
east the canyon, gradually becomes shall
lower until in the neighborhood of Del Rio
it disappears
How Canyon Came.
Many thousands of years ago, the Rio
Grande flowed quietly along the surface
of the plesteaus. After the river was we'll
established, an uplift, caused by forces that
have never been satisfactorily explained
began in that portion of the earth's crust.
Through additional thousands of years, the
uplift continued, but the river was there
first and determined not to change its
course, and as the uplift was very slow,
the stream had ample time to eat its way
downward into the mounting masses of
limestone and lava rock. This it did and
so, although the uplift totaled thousands
Of feet the river maintained practically its
same level. Thus the canyon was. cut out
directly across the great mountains of
solid rock.
In his trip by boat down the river from
Preside to Del Rio, through chasms that
were impossible to any except boats
handled by men who knew the dangers of
the river. DR.. Hill. saw many beavers and
many of the works of those enterprising
little engineers. Generally, the beaver is
considered an inhabitant of northern lands,