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Seminole Canyon State
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Seminole Canyon State Park
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PO Box 820
Comstock TX 78837
432/292-4464
History: Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site in Val Verde County, west
of Comstock, contains 2172.5 acres; the park was acquired by purchase from
private owners in 1973 - 1977 and opened in February 1980.
Early man first visited this area 12,000 years ago, a time when now-extinct
species of elephant, camel, bison, and horse roamed the landscape. The climate
at that time was more moderate than today and supported a more lush vegetation
that included pine, juniper, and oak woodlands in the canyons, with luxuriant
grasslands on the uplands. These early people developed a hunting culture based
upon large mammals, such as the mammoth and bison. No known evidence exists that
these first inhabitants produced any rock paintings.
By 7000 years ago, the region had undergone a climatic change that produced a
landscape much like today's. A new culture appeared in this changed environment.
These people were increasingly dependent on gathering wild plants and hunting
small animals and less dependent on hunting big game. They lived in small groups
since the land would not support larger social units for long periods.
Despite the struggle for survival, some of these prehistoric people found the
creative energy to paint the pictographs found in Fate Bell and other rock
shelters of the Lower Pecos River Country. The distribution of this distinct
style is limited to a district which includes a portion of the Rio Grande,
Pecos, and Devils River. More than 200 pictograph sites are known to contain
examples of their style of rock paintings ranging from single paintings to caves
containing panels of art hundreds of feet long. Although numerous figures or
motifs are repeated in different locations, the exact meaning of the paintings
is buried with the people who painted them.
The first known European in this area was Castano de Sosa, who set out from
Monciova Mexico, in 1590 and traversed much of present Val Verde County en route
to New Mexico. The U. S. Army was the first American presence in the Lower
Pecos. In 1851, Lieutenant Nathaniel Michler made a reconnaissance of the Rio
Grande above and below its junction with the Pecos for the United States and
Mexico Boundary Commission. After the Civil War, Lieutenant Bullis and his
Seminole-Negro scouts operated in the area, and Bullis blasted a wagon road into
the Pecos Canyon near the Rio Grande to provide the military with a shorter
route between Forts Clark and Davis.
In 1882, construction of the Southern Pacific Railroad reached the present park
location. The route to connect El Paso with San Antonio was begun after the
merger of the Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Railroads with the Southern
Pacific. The section of railroad in the canyon of the Rio Grande was finally
abandoned in 1892, when a new bridge spanning the entire breadth of the Pecos
River Canyon was completed. The present bridge was built at the same site during
World War II.
Activities: Hiking, mountain biking, camping, historical study, and
nature/interpretive attractions are enjoyed. Fate Bell Shelter, in the canyon,
contains some of North America's oldest Indian pictographs and is one of the
oldest cave dwellings in North America. Note: No hiking is allowed in the canyon
area without a guide (Contact the park for more information.) |
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