{"nrhp_refnum":"75000153","name":"Wilson, Homer, Ranch","other_names":["Blue Creek Ranch (Oak Canyon)"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"8 mi. S of Santa Elena Junction on Park Rte. 5, Big Bend National Park","address_restricted":false,"city":"Santa Elena Junction","county":"Brewster County","state":"TX","lat":29.215473787000036,"lon":-103.36782534989126,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-04-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 200-acre ranch district in Big Bend National Park, Brewster County, Texas, about 8 miles south of Santa Elena Junction on Park Route 5. It centers on the Blue Creek line camp of Homer Wilson's Oak Canyon-Blue Creek Ranch, developed from 1929.","why_significant":"The nomination calls the Oak Canyon-Blue Creek Ranch the best example of ranching within what is now Big Bend National Park, in a region described as the last outpost of large-scale ranching in Texas. It is assessed as locally significant as one of the largest ranches in the Big Bend area. Its structures and natural setting offer a way to interpret twentieth-century ranch life.","narrative":"Blue Creek Ranch is a cluster of ranch buildings in Big Bend National Park, built after Homer Wilson bought land west of the Chisos Mountains in 1929. Wilson, born in Del Rio in 1892, kept his headquarters at Oak Canyon but built a substantial secondary house at Blue Creek, which became the productive heart of the operation. The 24 by 60 foot house used local materials: stone, sand and gravel from the canyon, timber from the Chisos Mountains and reeds from the Rio Grande for the ceiling. A massive stone fireplace anchors the living room. Nearby are a small bunkhouse, storeroom, cistern, circular horse corral and dipping vat. Wilson died in 1943, and the family left by the January 1945 deadline after the land was deeded to Texas for park use. The ranch is valued as the best example of ranching within the park and as a setting for interpreting twentieth-century ranch life. The buildings are now unoccupied and weathering.","period_of_significance":"1929-1943","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Unoccupied and deteriorated; most doors, windows and interior fixtures are gone, and the storeroom and toilet are in poor condition. The remaining structures are described as structurally sound but deteriorating. The old ranch road is closed to vehicles and serves as a footpath.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.836932-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/75/9713/40971375/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/75000153.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000153/dde55c7066-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000153/dde55c7066-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"National Park Service","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Homer_Wilson_House_TX_NPS.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">National Park Service</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Homer_Wilson_House_TX_NPS.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971375","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Wilson_Ranch","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5890296"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/brewster-county/wilson-homer-ranch-75000153/"}