Shot in the Big Bend area of west Texas in the late 1930s - shortly before the region's national park designation - we believe this is one part of an original film surveying the Big Bend region and its surrounding communities. Little is otherwise known about this film or the Miller Brothers, its producers. The segment documents the Fort Davis area - its fort ruins, the McDonald Observatory, and views from the surrounding Davis Mountains - and culminates with scenes in and around Big Bend. In addition to views of and from the Chisos Mountains, the Big Bend footage features a pack-mule expedition into the mountains as well as an audacious crossing of the Rio Grande in a hand-built cable lift.

Fort Davis Jeff Davis County Brewster County

Big Bend Texas Big Bend National Park borderlands Trans-Pecos Davis Mountains Rio Grande River horses antelope desert

deer mountains telephone poles telephone lines grasslands ghost town mine mining gravestone cemetery

graveyard inscription Fort Davis Ft. Davis McDonald Observatory telescope mule packmule camping hiking

Chihuahua Desert ruins cactus cacti Santa Elena Canyon Davis County Brewster County Chisos Mountains survey tower

bridge cable basket canyon agaves TFC