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

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-IBS mMr Page 19

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M OLINO Cliff, so called because of its well¬ shaped stone mortars, rises to the right of the Terlingua road, about seventy-three miles south of Alpine. A ledge of varying depth runs horizontally across the face of the cliff for a distance of two hun¬ dred feet or more. This shelf of rock about one hun¬ dred and fifty feet above the road is protected by the overhanging cliff, which rises perpendicularly a hun¬ dred feet, making the ledge inaccessible except from a point several miles away. It is an ideal spot for Indian habitation, for it afforded not only this protected ledge, but a shelter known as the Chief’s Room, a cave, and a source of water supply in the desert below. Evidently the Indians recognized its advantages and made it their abode for many years. An interesting evidence of their life there is a smooth, worn spot on the rock be¬ side one of the pot-holes, an imprint left by the body of the women who pounded their corn in one of the sixteen mortars ground deep in the living rock. Page 18

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Old Indian Cave LD Indian Cave is located in the beautiful historic canyon of Musquiz, in Jeff Davis County. It is only about eighteen feet deep and forty feet long. A man of average height could easily stand, in most places within the shelter, but here and there he would be compelled to stoop. The unusually large pot-hole outside and the several smaller ones inside indicate plainly that this was just another one of the numerous caves that served as shelter to Indians. This cave, however, is of great interest because of its connection with the so-called Musquiz stage-stand, whic h was really Seiior Manuel Musquiz’ old ranch house, the ruins of which may still be seen on the highway to Fort Davis. In 1854 he had settled in this beautiful canyon thinking that with the coming of troops to Fort Davis he would be protected. Don Manuel made frequent trips to Presidio del Norte, and it was during one of these absences that old Nicolas, the chief of the Apaches, with two hundred and fifty warriors attacked the ranch, killing three members of the Musquiz household, and driving away all the cattle. In all probability the old Indian Cave had served as a hiding place for the warrior chief and his braves before the attack.