1.
Pecos River High Bridge
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The Pecos River High Bridge carries the Southern Pacific Railroad across the Pecos River gorge and is the second high-level crossing on this site. The first Pecos River Bridge, designed by SP chief engineer Julius Kruttschnitt, was built by the Phoenix Bridge Company, after strengthening and reinforcement in 1910 and again in 1929 which almost doubled its weight, it remained in place until 1949, five years after its replacement. The second Pecos River High Bridge, was completed by the Southern Pacific Railroad on December 8,1944, the current Pecos River High Bridge is a steel deck truss bridge on slip-formed concrete piers, ranging in height up to 275 feet. It was designed by Modjeski and Masters of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with foundations constructed by Brown and Root of Houston, because of material rationing during World War II, War Production Board approval was required before proceeding with fabrication. In addition to Union Pacific freight trains, this bridge carries Amtraks Sunset Limited between its stops at the Sanderson station and Del Rio station, Texas and New Orleans Railroad Railroad bridges in Texas Pecos High Bridge from the Handbook of Texas Online Historic American Engineering Record No. TX-75, Southern Pacific Railroad, Pecos River Bridge,8 photos,2 color transparencies,9 data pages,1 photo caption page Pecos Viaduct at Structurae
2.
Langtry, Texas
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Langtry is an unincorporated community in Val Verde County, Texas, United States. The community is notable as the place where Judge Roy Bean, Langtry was originally established in 1882 by the Southern Pacific Railroad as a grading camp called Eagle Nest. It was later renamed for George Langtry, an engineer and foreman who supervised the immigrant Chinese work crews building the railroad in the area, Roy Bean arrived soon after completion of the railroad and set up a tent saloon on company land. He later built a structure for his saloon, which he called The Jersey Lilly after the well-known British stage actress Lillie Langtry. She was a native of the island of Jersey, Bean used the saloon as his headquarters when authorized as a justice of the peace and notary public. He called himself the Law West of the Pecos, after a notable career as justice of the peace, Bean died in 1903. In 1884 the town was authorized a post office, in 1892 it had a general store, a railroad depot, and two saloons. Langtry began to decline after the highway was moved north in the early 1900s for a more direct east-west route. Once bypassed, the towns businesses lost revenue and jobs, when in the 1920s Southern Pacific moved its facilities away, more jobs were lost and the town population dwindled to 50. By the 1970s the population dipped as low as 40, tourism to the Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center continues to keep the town alive. In 1955, Robert Burton Willingham claimed an unidentified flying object crashed along the bank of the Rio Grande. The incident came to be known as the Del Rio, Texas UFO Crash, Willingham, a former Air Force Reserve pilot, stated that he was flying a North American F-86 Sabre jet fighter when he observed a UFO streak past him and crash near Langtry. No local residents have been located who could confirm Willinghams story, the Westerner, a film featuring Walter Brennan as Judge Roy Bean and Gary Cooper as a fictional interloper. It repeated the myth of the towns being named for Lillie Langtry, Lillie, a TV mini-series about Lillie Langtry produced by Britains London Weekend Television, also related the myth of the Texas towns name. Judge Roy Bean a western series set in Langtry but filmed in Pioneertown, California. The supporting cast included Jack Buetel, Jackie Loughery, and Russell Hayden, the Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, a film set in Langtry and starring Paul Newman, sparked new interest in Texas history. The Other Roswell, UFO Crash on the Texas-Mexico Border, non-fiction book about a reported UFO crash at Langtry, the town plays a major role in R. A. Langtry is mentioned in the Cormac McCarthy novel No Country for Old Men and it is implied that Langtry could be the hometown of the novels protagonist, Llewelyn Moss
3.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
5.
New Mexico
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New Mexico is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. It was admitted to the Union as the 47th state on January 6,1912 and it is usually considered one of the Mountain States. New Mexico is fifth by area, the 36th-most populous, inhabited by Native Americans for thousands of years before European exploration, New Mexico was colonized by the Spanish in 1598 Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain. Later, it was part of independent Mexico before becoming a U. S. territory and eventually a U. S. state as a result of the Mexican–American War. Among U. S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanics, the major Native American nations in the state are Navajo, Pueblo, and Apache peoples. The demography and culture of the state are shaped by these strong Hispanic and Native American influences and its scarlet and gold colors are taken from the royal standards of Spain, along with the ancient sun symbol of the Zia, a Pueblo-related tribe. New Mexico, or Nuevo México in Spanish, is incorrectly believed to have taken its name from the nation of Mexico. The name simply stuck, even though the area had no connection to Mexico or the Mexica Indian tribes, Mexico, formerly a part of New Spain, adopted its name centuries later in 1821, after winning independence from Spanish rule. New Mexico was a part of the independent Mexican Empire and Federal Republic of Mexico for 27 years,1821 through 1848, New Mexico and Mexico developed as neighboring Spanish-speaking communities under Spanish rule, with relatively independent histories. The states total area is 121,412 square miles, the eastern border of New Mexico lies along 103° W longitude with the state of Oklahoma, and 2.2 miles west of 103° W longitude with Texas. On the southern border, Texas makes up the eastern two-thirds, while the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora make up the western third, the western border with Arizona runs along the 109°03 W longitude. The southwestern corner of the state is known as the Bootheel, the 37° N latitude parallel forms the northern boundary with Colorado. The states New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah come together at the Four Corners in the corner of New Mexico. New Mexico, although a state, has very little water. Its surface water area is about 250 square miles, the New Mexican landscape ranges from wide, rose-colored deserts to broken mesas to high, snow-capped peaks. Despite New Mexicos arid image, heavily forested mountain wildernesses cover a significant portion of the state, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the southernmost part of the Rocky Mountains, run roughly north-south along the east side of the Rio Grande in the rugged, pastoral north. The most important of New Mexicos rivers are the Rio Grande, Pecos, Canadian, San Juan, the Rio Grande is tied for the fourth-longest river in the United States. Tourists visiting these sites bring significant money to the state, other areas of geographical and scenic interest include Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument and the Gila Wilderness in the southwest of the state
6.
Pecos, New Mexico
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Pecos is a village in San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,441 at the 2000 census, growing faster than in other parts of San Miguel County. The village is built along the Pecos River which flows from the out of the Santa Fe National Forest. Notable locations nearby include Pecos National Historical Park, Glorieta Pass, Pecos Benedictine Monastery and it is also an entry point for hunting, fishing, hiking and camping in the Pecos Wilderness. The closest metropolitan area is the Santa Fe metropolitan area, approximately twenty six miles to the west, Pecos is located at 35°34′51″N 105°40′43″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has an area of 1.7 square miles. As of the census of 2000, there were 1,441 people,542 households, the population density was 830.3 people per square mile. There were 628 housing units at a density of 361.9 per square mile. The racial makeup of the village was 68. 91% White,0. 21% African American,1. 39% Native American,0. 21% Pacific Islander,26. 51% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 80. 08% of the population. 24. 2% of all households were made up of individuals and 6. 1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.15. In the village, the population was out with 29. 7% under the age of 18,10. 1% from 18 to 24,29. 6% from 25 to 44,21. 8% from 45 to 64. The median age was 32 years, for every 100 females there were 99.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.0 males, the median income for a household in the village was $30,549, and the median income for a family was $33,828. Males had an income of $28,625 versus $22,500 for females. The per capita income for the village was $13,306, about 13. 0% of families and 15. 9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19. 2% of those under age 18 and 22. 6% of those age 65 or over. Pecos Independent Schools serves the Village of Pecos as well as areas in western San Miguel County. National Park Service, Pecos National Historical Park U. S. Forest Service, pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District Pecos Conference San Miguel County Plan Pecos, New Mexico travel guide from Wikivoyage
7.
Rio Grande
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The Rio Grande is one of the principal rivers in the southwest United States and northern Mexico. The Rio Grande begins in south-central Colorado in the United States, along the way, it forms part of the Mexico–United States border. According to the International Boundary and Water Commission, its length was 1,896 miles in the late 1980s. Depending on how it is measured, the Rio Grande is the fourth- or fifth-longest river system in North America. The river serves as part of the border between the U. S. state of Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León. A very short stretch of the river serves as part of the boundary between the U. S. states of Texas and New Mexico. Since the mid–20th century, heavy consumption of farms and cities along with many large diversion dams on the river has left only 20% of its natural discharge to flow to the Gulf. Near the rivers mouth, the heavily irrigated lower Rio Grande Valley is an important agricultural region, the Rio Grande is one of 19 Great Waters recognized by Americas Great Waters Coalition. The Rio Grandes watershed covers 182,200 square miles, many endorheic basins are situated within, or adjacent to, the Rio Grandes basin, and these are sometimes included in the river basins total area, increasing its size to about 336,000 square miles. The Rio Grande rises in the part of the Rio Grande National Forest in the U. S. state of Colorado. The river is formed by the joining of several streams at the base of Canby Mountain in the San Juan Mountains and it then continues on a southerly route through the desert cities of Albuquerque, and Las Cruces to El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. In the Albuquerque area, the river flows past a number of historic Pueblo villages, including Sandia Pueblo, below El Paso, it serves as part of the border between the United States and Mexico. The official river border measurement ranges from 889 miles to 1,248 miles, a major tributary, the Rio Conchos, enters at Ojinaga, Chihuahua, below El Paso, and supplies most of the water in the border segment. Other well-known tributaries include the Pecos and the smaller Devils, which join the Rio Grande on the site of Amistad Dam. Despite its name and length, the Rio Grande is not navigable by ocean-going ships, in New Mexico, the river flows through the Rio Grande rift from one sediment-filled basin to another, cutting canyons between the basins and supporting a fragile bosque ecosystem on its flood plain. From El Paso eastward, the flows through desert. Although irrigated agriculture exists throughout most of its stretch, it is extensive in the subtropical Lower Rio Grande Valley. The river ends in a small, sandy delta at the Gulf of Mexico, during portions of 2001 and 2002, the mouth of the Rio Grande was blocked by a sandbar
8.
Val Verde County, Texas
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Val Verde County is a county located on the southern Edwards Plateau in the U. S. state of Texas. Its county seat is Del Rio, in 1936, Val Verde County received Recorded Texas Historic Landmark number 5625 to commemorate its founding. Val Verde, which means valley, was named for a battle of the American Civil War. In 1862, soldiers of Sibleys Brigade took part in the Texas invasion of New Mexico Territory, the battle is memorialized both in the name of the county and a small settlement in Milam County. The Del Rio, TX Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Val Verde County, first inhabitants were 6, 000–10,000 years ago and later came to include Lipan Apache, Coahuiltecan, Jumanos, Tamaulipans and Comanches. 1590 Spanish explorer Gaspar Castaño de Sosa leads an expedition of 170 who pass through Devils Draw. He refers to a stream by the name of Laxas, which is believed Devils River,1673 Juan Larios opens a mission school at between Del Rio and Eagle Pass. 1675 Traveling Franciscan priests celebrate Mass at San Felipe Springs,1736 Lt. Miguel de la Garza Falcón leads 100 soldiers along the Devils River in pursuit of Apaches. 1834 James Grant and John Charles Beales establish settlement on San Felipe Creek, 1850’s Military bases to protect against Indian attacks include Camp Blake, Camp Hudson and Camp San Felipe. 1860 Population of 2,874, includes 108 blacks and 1,103 foreign-born,1868 San Felipe Del Rio community is established on San Felipe Creek next to Camp San Felipe. 1869 through 1882 Seminole Negro Indian Scouts under John Lapham Bullis, namesake of Camp Bullis,1883 Galveston Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway is completed. Frank Qualia establishes Val Verde winery,1884 Langtry community established, named by Judge Roy Bean after Lillie Langtry. 1885 Val Verde County is organized from Crockett, Kinney, Roy Bean elected justice of the peace in Langtry, operating out of the Jersey Lily Saloon and becoming renowned as “the Law West of the Pecos”. 1886 Juno and Devils River communities established,1904 Lillie Langtry visits the community of Langtry. 1942 Laughlin Field/Laughin Army Air Field opens to train World War II pilots,1952 Laughlin Field reopens as Laughlin Air Force Base, and serves as a secret U2 unit. Major Rudolf Anderson, a U-2 pilot from Laughlin, is the only casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis,1969 Amistad Dam and Reservoir complete. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 3,233 square miles. U. S. Highway 90 U. S. Highway 277 U. S, the population density was 14 people per square mile
9.
Del Rio, Texas
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Del Rio is a city in and the county seat of Val Verde County, Texas. It is 152 miles west of San Antonio, as of 2015, the city had a population of 40,549. Del Rio is connected with Ciudad Acuña via the Lake Amistad Dam International Crossing, Del Rio is also home to Laughlin Air Force Base, the busiest United States Air Force pilot training complex in the world. U. S. development on the shore of the Rio Grande did not begin until after the American Civil War. The San Felipe Springs, about 8 mi east of the Rio Grande on the U. S. side of the border, the developers sold tracts of land surrounding the canals to recover their investment and show a profit. The initial investors formed the San Felipe Agricultural, Manufacturing, the organization completed construction of a network of irrigation canals in 1871. Residents referred to the developing town as San Felipe Del Rio because local lore said the name came from early Spanish explorers who offered a Mass at the site on St. Philips Day,1635. In 1883, local residents requested a post office be established, the United States Postal Department shortened San Felipe del Rio to Del Rio to avoid confusion with San Felipe de Austin. In 1885, Val Verde County was organized and Del Rio became the county seat, the City of Del Rio was incorporated on November 15,1911. The San Felipe community was started by the Arteaga family, Arteaga Street and Arteaga Park are named after them. Many history items from Del Rio, particularly from the 19th century, are preserved at the Whitehead Memorial Museum downtown, legendary deejay Wolfman Jack operated XERF in the 1960s, using a Del Rio address to sell various products advertised on the station. In 1942, the Army Air Corps opened Laughlin Field 9 mi east of Del Rio as a base for the Martin B-26. As the Cold War pressures built, along with new border control issues, Laughlin Field was rebuilt and it was again used as a home for flight training. SAC soon transitioned to the high-altitude U-2 Dragonlady and based all of them in Laughlin AFB, in 1962, Laughlin-based U-2s took the first photographs of land-based medium-range ballistic missile sites being constructed in Cuba. The presence of these missiles precipitated what became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, Laughlin AFB currently provides training in the T-1A Jayhawk, the T-6A Texan II, and the T-38 aircraft. Laughlin plays a part in the Del Rio community as the areas largest employer. The Border Patrol is the citys second-largest employer, at one time, Del Rio was in the running to become the home of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center for agents of the U. S. Border Patrol and Federal Air Marshal Service, but lost to the current site in Artesia, the proposed site was located on property belonging to Laughlin AFB
10.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
