Customer Reviews

Canyons of the Texas High Plains

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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".