Sul Ross State University - Brand Yearbook (Alpine, TX)

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The Garden of the Gods T HE Garden of the Gods lies between quaint and colorful Terlingua, and busy, modern Alpine. Massive rocks, colored by the brush of a master-painter, tower toward the sky and hide with their far-flung shadows the caves where Indians lived and died. Beyond these columned spires, upon the dis¬ tant southern horizon, rise the ghostly outlines of the Chisos range, where Alsate, chief of the Apache tribe, made his last stand within its many hidden caves. The great peak of Santiago looms high against the sky-line, guarding its tale of sudden death and bloody battle. For here, at the foot of Santiago, in 1880, a marauding, horse-stealing band of Indians were slain by a pursuing posse of Mexicans, from the Hacienda de Orientales. When evening descends upon this garden of the deities, and shadows begin to creep among the gaunt, great rocks, then can man believe in the pagan gods and demons. And looking far below, he is cheered to see the goat-herds amble across the road, or to watch the freighters, on their tedious overland trip from Terlingua to Alpine, following the white ribbon of the road, as it winds through the Garden of the Gods.

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Comanche Springs C omanche springs has high, white walls of stratified limestone, that rise far above the limpid trickle of the springs. Geo¬ logically, this place is a marvel. Great dikes of one-time boiling quartz have thrust themselves up between huge flat-lying slabs of limestone. But it is as an Indian camping-place and battle¬ ground that Comanche Springs is most inter¬ esting. Here the Comanche and the Apache fought many battles for the possession of its priceless waters and for its wonderful shelter. Skeletons of the red men, with various imple¬ ments of warfare, have been found here, as mute testimony of its bloody carnage. And against the lower limestone walls, protected by an over¬ hanging ledge of rock, are row upon row of Indian paintings in red and black. Some por¬ tray the chief going into battle with his war¬ riors; others tell stories, doubtless, of important events in the Indian’s life, though the laymen can only guess at their meaning. Here and there may be found the imprint of a natural hand, as though the artist had chosen thus to sign his work. The waters of the spring flow placidly on¬ ward, unheeding the swift passing of time, and the going hence of the red men who drank here in the long, long ago.