Editing Brewster County, Texas (section)

===Early explorations===
[[File:FouquieriaSplendens 2006 BigBend.jpg|thumb|260 px|Chihuahuan Desert landscape in Brewster County]]
Spanish explorers [[Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca]] in 1535 and [[Antonio de Espejo]] in 1583 crossed Brewster County on their way to La Junta de los Ríos, the junction of the [[Rio Grande]] and the [[Conchos River|Rio Conchos]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Folsom |first=Bradley |title=La Junta de los Ríos |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ryl01 |work=Handbook of Texas Online |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |date=July 23, 2015 |access-date=December 13, 2010}}</ref>

In 1684, [[Juan Domínguez de Mendoza]] camped at Kokernot Spring and wrote the earliest recorded description of it.<ref name="Kokernot Spring">{{cite web |last=Kohout |first=Martin Donell |title=Kokernot Spring |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rpk02 |work=Handbook of Texas Online |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |access-date=December 13, 2010|date=June 15, 2010 }}</ref>

[[Pedro de Rábago y Terán]], [[Governor of Coahuila]] in the 1740s, led an expedition to La Junta de los Ríos.<ref>{{cite web |last=Chipman |first=Donald E |title=Pedro de Rábago y Terán |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fra02 |work=Handbook of Texas Online |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |access-date=December 13, 2010|date=June 15, 2010 }}</ref>

Northern Mexican military governor Lt. Col. Hugo Oconór led a 1772 expedition to locate sites for forts on the [[Comanche Trail]] along the Rio Grande.<ref>{{cite web |last=Blake |first=Robert Bruce |title=Hugo Oconór |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/foc04 |work=Handbook of Texas Online |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |access-date=December 13, 2010|date=June 15, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Comanche Trail |url=http://www.nps.gov/bibe/historyculture/comanche_trail.htm |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=December 13, 2010}}</ref>

In October 1851, [[Danish people|Danish]]-born Col. Edvard Emil Langberg, Mexican commandant of [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]], visited southern Brewster County.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hewitt |first=Harry P |title=Edvard Emil (Emilio) Langberg |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/flapv |work=Handbook of Texas Online |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |access-date=December 13, 2010|date=June 15, 2010 }}</ref>

Surveyor [[William H. Emory]] in 1852 sent M. T. W. Chandler to survey what is now the heart of Big Bend National Park. Chandler explored Santa Elena Canyon, the Chisos Mountains Mariscal Canyon, and Boquillas Canyon.<ref>{{cite book |last=Klepper |first=Dan |title=100 Classic Hikes Texas: Panhandle Plains / Pineywoods / Gulf Coast / South Texas Plains / Hill Country / Big Bend Country / Prairies & Lakes |year=2009 |publisher=Mountaineers Books |isbn=978-1-59485-075-2 |pages=170–172}}</ref>

An 1859 expedition of the [[U.S. Camel Corps]] under 2d Lt. Edward L. Hartz explored the Comanche Trail through Persimmon Gap and down Tornillo Creek to the Rio Grande. A year later, a second camel expedition under 2d Lt. William Echols also explored along the Rio Grande.<ref name="Brewster County, Texas"/>