THE LAND
"We speak of being "on" the Plains, a country possessing a sweep and expanse rivaled by few places on earth.  To the upright human eye it appears utterly flat, the plane formed between earth and sky, a perfect right angle.  Lie on your back and the sky on a clear day is an overarching bowl of fathomless blue; a glittering, pulsing dance of lights on a clear night, the horizon line encircles the periphery of your sight as if you lie in a vast dish.

In recorded time, the High Plains has borne many names.  The name that has stuck is Llanos, a Spanish word.  What is unique topographically about the Llanos is that its dramatic scenery lies below the general level of the country, rather than standing upon it as in mountainous areas.  The Llanos is a land where exposed, it falls away into the earth itself, a peculiar place of inverted mountains whose "peaks" are canyon floors, and whose sculptors are four rivers that sluice soil and rock apart to create the canyons and badlands.  This is a landscape formed by nearly 300 million years of erosion.Only from the air is it readily apparent that there is a series of sharply sliced gorges, tiered canyons, and blockily vertical badlands of rich coloring and an amazing variety of forms."  [Dan Flores, Caprock Canyon Lands,1990.]  A brief vision of the caprock and plains meet in the CROSBY COUNTY DIORAMA as interpreted by artist Connie Martin.                  

GEOLOGY
In West Texas, during the early Mesozoic Era, a large shallow lake occupied the Permian Basin.   Eventually waters from the Gulf of Mexico encroached and flooded West Texas beneath a shallow sea.  Dinosaurs roamed the land and shallow waters, and marine reptiles dominated the Mesozoic seas until the waters withdrew, near the end of the era.  Mesozoic strata are exposed extensively across West Texas.  Discover FOSSILS of the PHYTOSAUR, BUETTNERIA and MAMMOTH.