Camel Experiment Exhibit

The Camel Experiment Exhibit is a roadside wayside about the U.S. Army’s camel expeditions through Big Bend. It stands 4.5 miles south of Persimmon Gap Entrance, on the road to Panther Junction. The sign and open desert view make this a short stop on their own; the pullout also serves the separate Dog Canyon and Devil’s Den trailheads. NPS suggests the half-day Dog Canyon hike from here during cooler months.

At Jefferson Davis’s urging, the Army brought camels to Texas in 1856 to test whether they could carry supplies across the dry, rough Southwest. The Big Bend account gives them an impressive résumé: loads of more than 400 pounds, at least 72 hours without water, and creosotebush for food. Lieutenant Edward Hartz reported days of 20 to 34 miles over difficult ground, taking about 60 percent of the time men and horses needed.

In 1859, Lieutenants William Echols and Edward Hartz traveled south from Camp Stockton through Persimmon Gap and down Tornillo Creek to the Rio Grande. They spent a week exploring between Boquillas and Mariscal canyons. The second survey, in 1860, crossed by Fort Davis, Presidio del Norte and Santa Elena Canyon before reaching Alamo Creek, where Echols chose a site for a fort. The Civil War and a growing railroad brought the camel experiment to an end.

The view faces east across flat desert toward a mountain ridge about two miles away, split by a canyon. On the left cliff face, look for a pale limestone scar left by a 1987 rockfall. For a photo, keep the sign low in the frame with the ridge and canyon behind it; that shows both the exhibit and the country the camels crossed.