Falcon Reservoir

Credits & Sources

The Falcon exhibit was written by Mindy Bonine and TBH Co-Editor Susan Dial. Archeologist Chris Lintz also contributed to the Site Destruction section.

A Senior Project Manager for SWCA Environmental Consultants of Austin, Bonine received her MA degree in Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin, focusing her thesis studies on Spanish Colonial archeology and, specifically, two of the Falcon area rancho sites. In recent years Mindy has conducted several archeological investigations in the border area, including a survey of areas around the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site, research into the development of early irrigation systems in the Rio Grande Valley, and investigations of early Anglo American settlement in the border area. She has also undertaken a comparative analysis of artifacts from the Spanish Colonial rancho sites at Falcon Reservoir with artiacts from Rancho de las Cabras, a Mission rancho affiliated with Mission San Francisco de la Espada in San Antonio. 

Links

Jose de Escandon. Handbook of Texas Online article.

José de Escandón — the Father of South Texas. Texas General Land Office, Save Texas History.

Print Sources

Alonzo, A. C.
1998   Tejano Legacy: Rancheros and Settlers in South Texas 1734-1900. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

Bonine, Mindy
2001   Households in the Wilderness: An Analysis of Two Spanish Rancho Sites along the Rio Grande, Starr County, Texas. Unpublished Master's thesis in Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin.

Dary, D.
1981   Cowboy Culture, A Saga of Five Centuries. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Fleming, Sharon Elizabeth
1998   Building La Frontiera: The Form and Technology of Hispanic Ranch Architecture in Zapata County, Texas. Unpublished Master's thesis in Architecture, Texas Tech University.

George, Eugene
1975   Historic Architecture of Texas, The Falcon Reservoir. Texas Historical Commission and Texas Historical Foundation, Austin.

Graham, J.S.
1994   El Rancho in South Texas: Continuity and Change from 1750. University of North Texas Press, Denton.

Jackson, Jack
1986   Los Mesteños: Spanish Ranching in Texas 1721-1821. Texas A&M University Press, College Station.

Jones, O. L.
1996   Los Paisanos: Spanish Settlers on the Frontier of New Spain. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

Monday, J. C. and B. B. Colley
1997   Voices from the Wild Horse Desert, The Vaquero Families of the King and Kenedy Ranches. University of Texas Press, Austin.

Myres, S.
1969   The Ranch in Spanish Texas 1691-1800. Texas Western Press, The University of Texas at El Paso.

1999   Archeological Investigations at Area I, the Cabaseño Ranch (41ZP79), Falcon Reservoir. In: Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 70:327-338. Austin.

Perttula, Timothy K., Sergio A. Iruegas, and G. Lain Ellis
1996   An Assessment of the Threatened Prehistoric and Historic Archaeological Resources at Falcon Reservoir, Zapata and Starr Counties, Texas. Cultural Resource Management Report 9. Division of Antiquities Protection, Texas Historical Commission, Austin.

Perttula, Timothy K., Thomas R. Hester, and Sergio A. Iruegas
1997   Preservation of Spanish Colonial and Tejano Archeological Sites. Cultural Resource Management Report 11. Division of Antiquities Protection, Texas Historical Commission, Austin.

Robinson, W. B.
1979   Colonial Ranch Architecture in the Spanish-Mexican Tradition. Southwestern Historical Quarterly 83(2):123-150. Texas State Historical Association, Austin.

Tijerina, A.
1998   Tejano Empire: Life on the South Texas Ranchos. Texas A&M University Press, College Station.

Williams, L. W.
1982   Ranches and Ranching in Spanish Texas. American Press, Boston, Massachusetts.