05 Luna's Jacal

Luna's Jacal was the residence of Gilberto Luna, a pioneer Mexican farmer who made a living in this remote area by goatherding and farming along the moist banks of Alamo Creek. He sold goats to his neighbors and nearby miners, and he also sold wood cut in the Chisos. Luna was a well-respected resident and known far and wide throughout the Big Bend.

The jacal (hah-KAHL), a low dugout dwelling, is a great example of a primitive Mexican house-shelter characteristic of early pioneer settlement in the Big Bend area. The house backs up to a large boulder and is remarkably suited to the desert environment. The roof was made of ocotillo branches weighted down with earth and stones.

Luna arrived in 1916, and raised a large family at this site. His farm was one of several along Alamo Creek. His house still stands as a testament to his impressive ability to adapt to the harsh environment of the region and to his diplomatic skills in a frontier and border society.

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Bluebonnet up a Really Dry Wash
Luna's Jacal on Old Maverick Road
Big Bend National Park, Texas
March 3, 2021
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Luna's Jacal, not much else out here
Luna, lived in this self made jacal in the middle of the desert for over 60 years. Raised a family there and lived to 108! Off the main roads but drivable. One of the most interesting sites in Big Bend!

This small 3-4 foot high building is Gilberto Luna’s Jacal (a Jacal is a wattle and daub structure used as a home, typically found in the Desert Southwest).

Gilberto Luna built his Jacal some time around 1900 and lived and raised a large family there until his death at 109 years of age in 1947. Some accounts say that he raised upwards of 58 children and step-children, with most being raised in Mexico, prior to him moving into the Big Bend Area.

Luna’s Jacal is made out of limestone and sandstone blocks with a large flat boulder at the rear of the building. The roof is made out of ocotillo branches held up by larger poles. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 8, 1974. In reviewing their records online, it says that the use of soil cement on the roof was “discordant and blatantly not a faithful restoration of the structure,” but you’ll get the idea of what it’s supposed to look like when you go visit.

One thing you’ll notice when you go inside is the temperature difference. With his Jacal built into the ground like it is, the temperature varies fairly dramatically between the hot sun outside and the cool shade on the inside.

Mr. Luna eked out a living here by irrigating the land with floodwater diverted from the nearby Alamo Creek. Since rainfall is such a rare occurrence in Big Bend National Park, a large part of his time was spent hauling water for his crops in a mule-drawn wagon from a spring several miles away. The water was collected in an old oil drum, and upon his return, each plant watered individually from a gourd dipper to conserve water. (Source: Exploring the Big Bend Country, by Peter Koch and June Cooper Price)
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Read all about the Luna Jacal
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