During our most recent trip to the Big Bend to do research for our river guide, The Great Unknown of the Rio Grande, we explored more of the area along the Rio Grande near Terlingua Abaja and the Molinar Community, a settlement located about two miles upstream on Terlingua Creek. Each time we visit these remote spots, we notice new and interesting structures, artifacts and features. This time was no exception. Note the tiny structures in these photographs. What do you think they are? If you guessed "kid houses" or chiquiteros, you would be right.¹
    These very primitive structures, generally made of two or three flat stones standing upright and a piece of corrugated metal, a board or another flat stone laid across the top as a roof served as shelters for baby goats while the rest of the herd was grazing during the day. The ranchers generally used any materials that were available. These three styles are pictured here.
     According to W.D. Smithers, a writer and photographer who documented life in the Big Bend from 1916 until the area became a National Park in 1944, virtually every Mexican family in the Big Bend raised goats and every member of the family over the age of six was involved in caring for the herd. The younger children of herders made pets of the baby goats, calling them sanchos,² a term derived from Sancho Panza, Don Quixote's long suffering sidekick.³
    Herders and dogs guarded the goat herd which needed constant protection from predators including coyotes, eagles, bobcats and even rattlesnakes. Baby goats were the most susceptible to these predators as well as to the brutal sun. Thus the kid houses were a necessity of life for goat herders on the border.  The baby goats would spend the heat of the day napping inside the relative shade and comfort of their cosy little kid houses. When the rest of the herd came in for the evening, the kids would be returned to their mothers for suckling.
   There were literally hundreds of these structures scattered throughout the Big Bend, remnants of a time when the area along the Rio Grande was richly agricultural. Although the settlements are now abandoned, the kid houses can still be seen in various villages along the Rio Grande including Terlingua Abaja, El Ojito and Black Dike, among others. The most well preserved ones we have seen are at the Molinar Community, where these photos were taken.
    The large scale goat raising operation at Molinar is evident in the well organized rows of kid houses. A double row of about thirty kid houses lies on the gravel terrace about 50 yards southwest of the main house of the Molinar Community.

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1 Pearson, John, editor. Road guide to backcountry dirt roads of Big Bend National Park. Big Bend National Park: Big Bend Natural History Association, 1980. p. 29

2 Smithers, W. D. Chronicles of the Big Bend, A Photographic Memoir of Life on the Border. Austin: Texas State Historical Society, 1999. p. 96

3 "Sancho Panza." Wikipedia.<"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sancho_Panza>.

Photo credits: Top three small photos - Linda Gorski. Large photo - Louis F. Aulbach.