BLUE CREEK (BREWSTER COUNTY) BLUE CREEK (Brewster County). Blue
Creek rises from a spring in the Chisos Mountains about three-
quarters of a mile southwest of Emory Peak in Big Bend National
Park (at 29°14' N, 103°19' W) and runs west-southwest for
eighteen miles, descending from the Chisos through rugged and
beautiful Blue Creek Canyon, then issuing onto the Rio Grande
floodplain, and finally running into the Rio Grande about 6½
miles below the mouth of Santa Elena Canyon (at 29°08' N,
103°32' W). Downstream, the creek crosses gravel and silt
deposits where have been found a number of mammalian tooth,
skull, and skeleton fragments, and also a sizable quantity of
skeletal turtle remains, all dating from around the late Eocene.
Blue Creek, the major drainage system in this area, drains the
southwestern Chisos Mountains and the lands between the
mountains and the Rio Grande. Much evidence suggests that the
area was occupied for thousands of years by Indians, who
depended upon the creek as a water supply. In rece