Canyons of the Texas High Plains [Hardcover]

Wyman Meinzer (Photographer), Frederick W. Rathjen (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2001

No one captures Texas like Wyman Meinzer, whether his subject is its skies, weather, wildlife, rivers, or what lies below the skyline of his native West Texas. Here, in this gem of a portfolio, are fifty vistas of those geological wonders that have fascinated artists, writers, and musicians from around the world for centuries and continue to hold spellbound a half million visitors annually. Through Meinzer’s eye the reader beholds the change of seasons beneath the Palisaded Plains skyline in Palo Duro, Tule, Caprock, and Cita Canyons. Framing Meinzer’s work in elegant historic context, preeminent Panhandle historian Frederick W. Rathjen gives us a rare appreciation of the topographic majesty of the Permian Red Beds that 230 to 280 million years ago lay below a shallow sea and through subsequent millennia and riverine deposit, erosion, and redeposit would gain “variegated walls and formations of gray, yellow, maroon, lavender, and orange shown most conspicuously in the lovely Spanish Skirts.” Only from high above can one grasp the totality of topographic relationships in the canyon lands and appreciate the massive complexes extending eastward from the escarpment of the Llano Estacado. Even a person of only slight imagination must be overwhelmed with this mighty work of nature, and must stretch both emotion and intellect to take in its magnitude. For more photo studies by Wyman Meinzer, see Coyote, The Roadrunner, and Playas: Jewels of the Plains

Product Details

• Hardcover: 88 pages
• Publisher: Texas Tech University Press (October 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 089672462X
• ISBN-13: 978-0896724624
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #952,346 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 stars The official portrait of the Llano Estacado canyons, March 19, 2010

By 

bukhtan (Chicago, Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Canyons of the Texas High Plains (Paperback)

This book is principally a collection of photographs of the canyons dissecting the canyons running off the Llano Estacado of the Texas Panhandle. Artistically, the photographs are second to none among those I have seen, in print or on the Internet, of these extraordinary features so unsuspected by casual travellers along the Panhandle Interstates. Meinzer's work evokes the reality of the landscape with unusual poignancy, and insight into the canyonscapes is heightened by the emphasis on the change of seasons; Winter, Summer, Fall and Spring are about equally represented, sun-blasting, snow, mist and flood.

There is a brief and informative introduction by Frederick W. Rathjen, author of the excellent history "Texas Panhandle Frontier". In this introduction, Rathjen concentrates on the history of the Panhandle, after a synopsis of the geology, granting equal validity to the Native Americans, the Spanish (Conquistadors and New Mexicans), the early Texan nationalists, and the Northern European (Anglo) settlers. There is an interesting remark toward the end of the Introduction:

" Now [Meinzer] directs his lens to the canyons of the High Plains, including privately owned and little-known sites in Palo Duro Canyon and Caprock Canyon State Parks. That he is Texas's official state photographer certainly unlocks gates that remain locked to others, and his respect for landowners' wishes keeps them unlocked. Those others might not be so excluded had some not betrayed confidences, intruded thoughtlessly, or invoked the lame rubric that explaining is easier than asking."

Anyone familiar with the great State of Texas is aware that Anglo-American concepts of private property are sometimes raised to the level of cult there, but such remarks are specially significant in light of attempts over the past decades to establish a National Park in the Panhandle. Moreover, anyone interested in this landscape may well think of Dan Flores, whose book "Caprock Canyons", originally published in 1990, has just come out in a new edition. Flores takes us into a lot of places, such as Tule Canyon, that we won't be able to get into because they are in private hands, and tells us about abuse suffered by these lands, as well as the genuine stewardship some Texans have practiced here. Rathjen's Introduction represents a traditional, though enlightened and intelligent viewpoint, Flores' book is a more critical take on what has happened since the Southern Great Plains became "Texas".