Glenn Springs is an uninhabited place in the state of Texas, United States, which is of historical importance.[1] The Glenn Springs area was a natural spring providing water for Apache and Kiowa routing.

Glenn Springs, Texas
Ghost Town
Topo Map of Glenn Springs, Texas
Topo Map of Glenn Springs, Texas
Nickname(s): 
Glenn Spring, Texas
Glenn Springs, Texas is located in Texas
Glenn Springs, Texas
Glenn Springs, Texas
Location within Texas
Glenn Springs, Texas is located in the United States
Glenn Springs, Texas
Glenn Springs, Texas
Glenn Springs, Texas (the United States)
Coordinates: 29°09′40″N 103°08′51″W / 29.16111°N 103.14750°W / 29.16111; -103.14750
CountryUnited States
StateTexas
CountyBrewster
Elevation
2,447 ft (746 m)
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP codes
79834
Area code432
GNIS feature ID2034866

The rural settlement is located 11 miles (16 kilometers) south-southeast of the Panther Junction visitor center in what is now the Big Bend National Park, and is accessible only by high-clearance vehicle.[2] The National Park Service maintains a back-country campground at Glenn Springs.[3]

Military occupation edit

Glenn Springs was a military encampment, which was attacked by the troops of the Mexican General Pancho Villa on 5 May 1916, killing one civilian, three U.S. Army soldiers, and wounding several other troops.[4] The Glenn Springs Raid came 57 days after the famous attack on Columbus, New Mexico.

Wax Camp edit

During the Spanish Texas era, candelilla was harvested in the Big Bend and Chisos Mountains region of the Trans-Pecos.[5] The wax plant provided a malleable solid for candles used by the Spanish missions in Texas fulfilling the Franciscan and Jesuit orders.[6]

In 1914, W.K. Ellis and C.D. Wood established a wax factory on the embankment of Glenn Springs employing a population in the mountainous Chihuahuan Desert region. By 1916, the candelillero factory consisted of a boiler room with tall smoke stacks, six large extraction vats, and a water storage system for the production of candelilla wax.[7]

References edit

  1. ^ Kohout, Martin Donell. "Glenn Springs, Tx". TSHA Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
  2. ^ National Park Service March 2000
  3. ^ "Primitive Roadside Campsites — Glenn Springs". U.S. National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior.
  4. ^ Kohout, Martin Donell. "Glenn Springs Raid". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association.
  5. ^ Maxwell, Ross A. "Natural Uses Of Plant Life - Vegetation" [The Big Bend of The Rio Grande]. U.S. National Park Service - Texas Bureau of Economic Geology. The University of Texas at Austin. ISSN 0363-4132. OCLC 454903.
  6. ^ Wright, O.M.I., Robert E. "Spanish Missions". TSHA Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association.
  7. ^ "Wax, Men, and Money: Candelilla Wax Camps along the Rio Grande". Texas Beyond History. University of Texas at Austin.

External links edit