Seminole Canyon, located nine miles west of Comstock, Texas off US 90, features native petrography painted over 4,000 years ago. When Egypt was beginning to build its pyramids, the shamans of the local native gatherers would paint their dreams on the walls and ceilings of the shelters along this canyon.
His favorite color was red: a mixture of ocher rock, manioc juice or sotol, and deer fat. Due to darkness and sheltered from wind and other elements, much of the petrography has survived to this day. They were painted on limestone. Their once bright colors have been hidden by soot and smoke from many fires started by the natives in these shelters.
Many shamans are depicted holding an atalatl. They have human or animal feet. Some have the head of a puma and the antlers of a deer. Their arms are outstretched and they have medicine bags hanging from their wrists. Sometimes her arms are depicted as wings.
Two plants were the shaman’s favorites to cause hallucinations and visions: peyote and datura. The peyote cult was represented as red or black balls. Holding a plant, he represented the cult of Datura.
A circle always represented the entrance to the spirit world. A wavy line shows the way. On the other side is usually a monster of some kind. The monster has a spear stuck in it.
Many of the petrographs have succumbed to the elements and limestone stains and the ravages of man.
Tours of this petrography are given daily. Plan on allowing about two hours for the tour: an hour and a half for the tour itself and another half hour to return to the visitor center. The descent into the canyon is over 800 feet, down uneven stone stairs. Then you have to ascend to the two refuges. There are places to rest along the way. Drink water and dress in layers.
Another twenty-five miles to the west is the small town of Langtry. Judge Roy Bean called this city home. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace with the help of the Southern Pacific Railroad, which ran from New Orleans to San Francisco. He delivered justice swiftly under the Western Pecos Law. He ran a salon called Jersey Lilly, named after British actress Lillie Langtry. He was in love with her photo and wrote her many letters inviting her to visit. He even told her that she named the town after her. When he arrived for the visit in 1904, Judge Bean had been dead for four months and was buried in Del Rio, Texas.
When a prisoner was brought in, Judge Bean would close the saloon, select a jury from among his clients, and conduct the trial, with the Texas Revised Statutes of 1879 and a pistol on his desk. He assumed the reputation of “The Hanging Judge”. Records, however, show that he never hung anyone. For a cattle or horse thief, the punishment was expulsion from Langtry and the confiscation of his horse, gun, and all other property. If the person ever returned, then he would be hanged. Few survived crossing this wasteland without horses and firearms.
In the modern visitor center there is a fifteen minute film describing the life and times of Judge Roy Bean. Jersey Lilly’s lounge and billiards room, and the Roy Bean Opera House hall and Seat of Justice (his home) where he wanted Lillie Langtry to perform for him. An interpretive trail of the cactus garden completes the attractions of this site.
Langtry is a bustling town of thirty people. Meals are almost non-existent. So bring your own or stop in Comstock or further west.
Be sure to stop at the Pecos River Overlook. Looking south you see where the river empties into the Rio Grande and the hills of Mexico. To the north is Highway 90 and the sheer bluffs along this mighty river. Along US 90, Border Patrol agents are seen in their cars searching for illegals who have crossed the river and are attempting to cross the Sonoran desert.
