19 WINTER TEXAN TIMES www.wintertexantimes.com NOVEMBER 16, 2022 home to an estimated million wild horses in the early 1800s. Another interesting part of the Valley landscape is La Sal Del Rey. La Sal Del Ray is one of three salt lakes that is part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. It is without an inlet or outlet, but fills with runoff from heavy rains that gradually evaporates each summer forming a salt layer crust. Gonzalez also discussed the handdug water wells needed first by the Spanish settlers. Later the rancheros dug them in the early 19th Century to make cattle ranching possible. Remnants of some of the 30-footdeep wells are found in northern Hidalgo and southern Starr Counties. The best preserved is located on Old San Isidro Road for visitors to see. Two final very old objects mentioned were the estimated 4.5-billion-year-old La Villa meteorite of nearly 44 pounds found by a farmer plowing his field, which now resides at the UTRGV planetarium in Edinburg, where it can be seen by the public; and Old Monty, considered the oldest living organism in the RGV at 900 years old. The Montezuma Cypress tree normally is along a riverbank, but Old Monty is in a farm field about a mile from the Rio Grande River due to shifting river channels. The symposium also included lectures on the “Alamo Roots,” stretching back 400 years of Spanish grant migration, for Brownsville Schools CISD architect Manuel Hinojosa’s family; following two mixed-race couples and their families was the focus on “Pathways to Freedom” before the Civil War by UTRGV Professor Roseanne Bacha-Garza, and the hard life of sharecroppers in the first half of the 20th Century by STHA President Carroll Scogin Brincefield. Native Americans also figured prominently in the presentations along with an exhibit of Indian art created by Nora Marston, of the Pawnee and Arikara tribes, now living in Alamo. She began drawing seriously in the late 1970s when she was in her mid-40s. Her artistry included a number of different articles made for her children and other family members, as she followed in her mother’s talented footsteps. Among the speakers were Enrique Gonzalez, of Alamo, covering the Karankawa Indians and Dr. Robert Soto, vice chairman of the Lipan Apaches from McAllen, who explained their history, which is one of 10 Apache tribes. Soto also led the closing powwow ceremony. *The book Ancient Landscapes of South Texas is available at the bookstore on the UTRGV campus in Edinburg. LANDSCAPES From pg. 17 breeding grounds in northern Alberta’s Wood Buffalo National Park to the coastal marshes of Texas each year. The migration south to Texas can take up to 50 days. During their migration, whooping cranes seek out wetlands and agricultural fields where they can roost and feed. The birds often pass large urban centers like Dallas-Fort Worth, Waco and Austin. Though whooping cranes rarely stay in one place for more than a day during migration, it is important that they not be disturbed or harassed at these stopovers. As a federally protected species, it is illegal to disturb or harass these birds. With sandhill crane and waterfowl hunting seasons opening and whooper migration in full swing, TPWD urges hunters to be extra vigilant. Whooping cranes are sometimes found in mixed flocks with sandhill cranes, which are gray and slightly smaller. With their all-white body plumage and black wingtips, whooping cranes may also resemble snow geese, which are much smaller and have faster wing beats. A video detailing the differences between snow geese and whooping cranes can be found on the TPWD YouTube Channel. There are several other non-game species that are similar in appearance such as wood storks, American white pelicans, great egrets and others, but a close look will reveal obvious differences. More information on look-alike species is available online.
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