Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Traveling overland in the punishing climate of the desert southwest during the mid-nineteenth century took its toll on the US Army.

12—Following the Mexican-American War, political and military minds had seen the lack of water on the western frontier. They were truly losing soldier, horses and mules because of dehydration.

Doug Baum, is owner/operator of the Texas Camel Corps, a business that offers camel treks through Monahans Sandhills SP and Big bend SP, under conditions similar to what the original camel corps experienced.

10—As early as we were fighting at the Alamo…this idea was proposed. And it would be twenty years, before camels were actually purchased and unloaded on the coast of Texas.

On May 13, 1856, the first group of camels arrived from Tunisia at the Port of Indianola in Lavaca County. After some training, the army caravanned the animals to their permanent home at Camp Verde, between San Antonio and Kerrville.

03—They arrived in 1856 and promptly went to work.

Camels’ ability to go long distances without water, and in sweltering Texas heat, allowed the army to successfully explore the Big bend Region.

The Corps operated until the end of the Civil War, when it was disbanded and the camels sold to private citizens and the circus.

That’s our show…for Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 29th, 2011 at 12:00 am and is filed under Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.