Lost architecture of the Rio Grande borderlands / W. Eugene George ; foreword by Ricardo Paz Trevino ; color photographs by W. Eugene George.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

George, W. Eugene, 1922-2013.

Series:

Fronteras series ; no. 7.

Fronteras series ; no. 7

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Historic buildings--Falcon Reservoir Region (Mexico and Tex.).

Historic buildings.

Architecture--Falcon Reservoir Region (Mexico and Tex.).

Architecture.

Salvage archaeology--Falcon Reservoir Region (Mexico and Tex.).

Salvage archaeology.

Falcon Reservoir Region (Mexico and Tex.)--Antiquities.

Falcon Reservoir Region (Mexico and Tex.).

Texas--Antiquities.

Texas.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (132 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

College Station : Texas A&M University Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Mexican settlers first came to the valley of the Rio Grande to establish their ranchos in the 1750s. Two centuries later the Great River, dammed in an international effort by the U.S. and Mexican governments to provide flood control and a more dependable water supply, inundated twelve settlements that had been built there. Under the waters of the new Falcon Reservoir lay homes, businesses, churches, and cemeteries abandoned by residents on both sides of the river when the floods of 1953 filled the 115,000-acre area two years ahead of schedule. The Smithsonian Institution, the National Park Service, and the University of Texas at Austin conducted an initial survey of the communities lost to the Falcon Reservoir, but these studies were never completed or fully reported. When architect W. Eugene George came to the area in the 1960s, he found a way of life waiting to be preserved in words, photographs, and drawings. Two subsequent recessions of the reservoir--in 1983-86 and again in 1996-98--gave George new access to one of the settlements, Guerrero Viejo in Mexico. Unfortunately, the receding lake waters also made the village accessible to looters. George's work, then, was crucial in documenting the indigenous architecture of these villages, both as it existed prior to the flooding and as it remained before it was despoiled by vandals' hands. Lost Architecture of the Rio Grande Borderlands combines George's original 1975 Texas Historical Commission report with the information he gleaned during the two low-water periods. This handsome, extended photographic essay casts new light on the architecture and lives of the people of the Texas-Mexico borderlands.

Contents:

""Contents""; ""Illustrations""; ""Notes about Illustrations""; ""Foreword""; ""Preface The Story of the Story""; ""Introduction Reasons for Caring""; ""1 The Settlements in Nuevo Santander""; ""2 The Land and Its Utilization""; ""3 Building Technology""; ""4 Descriptions of Life in the Borderlands""; ""5 Site Notes""; ""6 Homeland Lost""; ""Epilogue Guerrero Viejo""; ""Appendix Cultural Inquiry""; ""Notes""; ""References""; ""Index""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [99]-102) and index.

ISBN:

1-60344-401-7

OCLC:

680627842