Ross Maxwell, namesake of the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive through the western side of Big Bend National park, is memorialized on this interpretive sign along the road that bears his name, as follows:
"CHISOS MOUNTIANS
Volcanic Heart of the Big Bend
The mountain mass rising out of the desert was once molten rock. Study the shapes of the peaks to make sense of the geologic battleground, this jumble of corruptions and underground flows.
Angular blocks like Casa Grande our stratified layers of lava and ash - remnants of flows from nearby volcanoes. Rounded features like Ward Mountain were subterranean domes of magma that became prominent as erosion scraped away thousands of feet of overlying sedimentary layers.
[photo]
Lava at Kilauea, Hawaii. lava like this flowed across Big Bend at temperatires of about 1800*F.
[Inset photo]
Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive commemorates Big Bend’s first superintendent, Ross Maxwell, who published classic studies of the area’s geology."
From the NPS website: (
visit link)
"Ross Maxwell: The first superintendent
The First Superintendent
Ross Maxwell (1904–1993) served as the first superintendent of Big Bend National Park, from the establishment of the park in 1944 through 1952.
Born near Sparks, Oklahoma on June 9, 1904, Ross Maxwell attended the University of Oklahoma and earned two degrees there. He received a Ph.D. in geology from Northwestern University in 1936, and later that year moved to the Big Bend to participate in a geological survey of the region for the National Park Service. Following the closure of the CCC camp in Big Bend in 1937, Maxwell worked at National Monument sites in Arizona.
Well versed with the area, Maxwell was seen as a logical choice to serve as the first superintendent of Big Bend. When he arrived on the job in July 1945, he supervised four employees and had an annual operating budget of $15,000. In the words of his successor, Maxwell presided over "the real rough-and-tumble beginnings of park establishment." At the time, the park had no paved roads, no electricity, and the nearest telephone was 100 miles away. While superintendent, Maxwell laid out the route of the road today named in his honor to highlight the more spectacular geologic features on the west side of the park.
After leaving the National Park Service in 1952, Maxwell taught at the University of Texas until his retirement. Until the end of his life Maxwell maintained a relationship with the Big Bend, and is remembered for his vocal support for the region."