1917 Map of Santiago Peak

About this map

Santiago Peak anchors this West Texas landscape, serving as a prominent landmark for early twentieth-century ranchers and travelers in Brewster County. Surveyed by Arthur Stiles and others during the First World War era, the map reveals a remote pastoral economy defined by isolated outposts like the Combs Cattle Co Ranch and Schuler Ranch. The terrain is dominated by the dramatic spine of the Santiago Mountains and the Cochran Mountains, where intermittent drainages like Chalk Draw and Maravillas Creek dictate the movement of livestock and people. Historic tracks leading to Terlingua and to Boquillas connect these scattered operations, illustrating the vast distances and geographical barriers, such as Black Mtn and E Mesa, that shaped life in the Big Bend region before modern development.