Big Bend Snapshot: The US Army Camel Experiment -- US 385 N of Big Bend NP TX - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

This sign of history is located about 35 miles south of Marathon along the US 385, on the way to Big Bend National Park.

The sign reads as follows:

"BIG BEND SNAPSHOT: The US Army Camel Experiment

[inset]

Camels in Texas by Tom Lowell (courtesy of the petroleum Museum, Midland, Texas)

This painting depicts the 1860 expedition of Lieutenant William H Echols, whose journal entries appear below.

June 30, 1860:
“Left the Pecos at camp this morning with the intention of making our way across the country to Fort Davis . . . Whilst ascending to the Mesa to camels fell and burst into of the Eggs and injured several others, wasting about 40 gallons of our most appreciated loading. The animals I believe are not injured. One of them lost its foothold, fell, and pulled the others from the trail by the rope attaching the train. Others might have suffered the same fate but for the timely assistance of Lieutenant Holman, who cut the lead line. During the ascent they had to resort to their feet of walking on their knees, which they do when the inclination of the trail is very great and heavily laden, to throw the center of gravity equally over the four legs, or on a sloping trail when their feet slip from under them. Marched 15.4 miles.”

July 4, 1860:

“This is the fifth day since leaving the Pecos; the mentor on foot, with half amounts of water; marched 120 miles, thermometer about 100° in shade . . . Over the most rugged country known, the last days made about 30 miles. The meals were watered only twice on half allowance and on the sixth day from water, the camels stood at well. To-day, however, for mules gave out before reaching camp, 2 of which managed to reach camp after the command; the others abandoned. It was strange to see how eagerly they would seize a canteen whenever they were near it and try to tear it to pieces . . . The men were cautioned about permitting them to drink too much of the time, as it sometimes proves fatal.”

CAMELS IN THE BIG BEND

The ancestors of camels first appeared in North America approximately 40 million years ago. Modern camels migrated to Asia over a land bridge that submerged when sea level rose at the end of the last Ice Age. Camels, along with many other large mammals, became extinct in North America about 13,000 years ago.

In 1848, previously disputed parts of Texas and most of the American Southwest became part of the United States of America following the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with Mexico. That same year, gold was discovered in California and the US Army was tasked to map the new territories. Early survey expeditions into the Western Desert used horses and mules. In 1856, Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce, advocated the import of more than 70 camels from North Africa and the Middle East. After their arrival at the Gulf port of Indianola, Texas, they traveled overland to Camp Verde, northwest of San Antonio, headquarters for the US Army Camel Experiment. From there several expeditions were conducted to determine their suitability for navigating Western desert regions.

Initial tests with Arabian, one hump and the stoner Bactrian on, to hump camels, were positive. They proved to be quite strong and able to move easily across terrain which horses found difficult. Horses and mules could pack between 150 and 300 pounds. Camels could comfortably carry 600 to 800 pounds and survive without water for more than a week.

The US camel experiments were interrupted during the Civil War, and some camels changed hands between Union and Confederate troops as control of various headquarters shifted from North to South and back again. After the Civil War camels fell into disfavor, to partly to the negative attitudes of soldiers and mules Skinners who worked with them. The remaining US Army camels in California and Texas were sold at public auction in 1864 and 1865, to individuals, zoos, circuses, mining and freighting companies. The last captive offspring of the government camels died in 1934 at Griffith Park zoo in Los Angeles, California.

1st Expedition – 1857
Edward Beale conducted the first long-range camel experiment, with mules and horses, in 1857 under government contract to find a route from Fort Defiance in what is now Arizona, to the Colorado River and then into California, along the 35th Parallel. The caravan departed from Camp Verde and stopped at many Texas forts including Fort Stockton and Fort Davis on the way West that would become the southern route to the goldfields.

2nd Expedition – 1859
in the summer of 1859, US Army Lieutenant Edward Hartz and Lieutenant William Echols departed from Camp Verde on a military survey to map the lower Trans-Pecos and southeastern Big Bend region from Camp Hudson to Fort Stockton and then on to the Rio Grande at Presidio Del San Vicente. Teams of camels, pack mules and horses were used in comparative trials, in an effort to locate critical water sources in the rugged mountainous areas along the eastern Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache raiding routes leading into Mexico.

3rd Expedition – 1860
Again in the summer of 1860, under the command of Lieutenant William Echols, a military survey team from Camp Bertie mapped the territory between the San Antonio to El Paso Road, the Rio Pecos, and the Rio Grande, and much of the Southwestern Big Bend area from Fort Davis to Presidio Del Norte, and Lajitas crossing on the Western Comanche Trail. Camels carried much of the food in gear and all the water, including enough for the horses and mules. The camels, however, only drank from waterholes and springs, and managed to survive by eating desert plants unpalatable to horses and mules."

Group that erected the marker: Brewster County Tourism Council URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link] Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: US 385 south of MarathonTX

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Date Logged Log   12/26/2016 Benchmark Blasterz visited it