If I Could go Back in Time

Snow skiing is my favorite vacation activity. I love it. Many will enjoy skiing on a good mountain, during pleasant weather and tolerable conditions. I am the type who will enjoy skiing whenever and wherever—and my family can testify to that.

The problem is that I live no where near the slopes. During a good year, I maybe get a short week of skiing. Oh well; that’s life. I am blessed to be able to ski when I can; and I am more blessed that my family seems to enjoy it also. One day a year of skiing bliss is more than I deserve.

What does this have to do with time travel? A lot. It’s all about time travel. It’s about a decision made in 1850 that irks me every day.

I can’t blame those who made the decision because it seemed perfectly logical at the time. You see, Texas became an independent country, the Republic of Texas, in 1836. Most of the population of Texas centered around the primary rivers in central Texas and followed the paths of those rivers to the Gulf of Mexico. This land is very fertile [good for farming and ranching], and the rivers provided highways for the movement of goods for trade. West and North Texas were mostly empty. The land was not very hospitable to travel during the 19th Century pre-rail era.

So, Texas putters along as an independent country until late 1845, very early 1846 [depending on how one counts these things], when Texas joined the United States. I used the word “putter” because Texas carried significant debt from its days as the Republic of Texas. Therefore, in order to get this debt paid off, Texas exchanged a bunch of land to the United States, and the United States agreed to assume [and therefore, pay] Texas’ debt. Seemed like a good idea, especially when we look at the land Texas transferred to the US.

Texas’ boundaries were in some dispute from 1936 until 1948, but by 1948 it became generally established that Texas had rights to all land East/North of the Rio Grande, all the way to the beginning of the Rio Grande [which is much farther North than one may think], and a slip of land extending North from the start of the Rio Grande. As a practical matter, I wonder whether any Texans even knew in 1848 that much of the northern portions of this land was part of Texas. It’s not like one could visit very easily, unless one enjoyed long treks across dry, flat land without roads, water, food, and occupied by increasingly hostile Indians. The Texas Wiki page has a handy map of what Texas looked like prior to 1850. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas

So…to the average Texas politician the exchange seemed like a great idea. Get the US to assume Texas’ lingering debt, and hand over a bunch of land that no one has ever seen. Texans don’t go there; and if any did, they are on their own because Texas law enforcement is not going to visit.

The problem is that when we look at the land today it includes many of the best ski resorts in the US, including, I kid you not, just off the top of my head, Taos, Vail, Snowmass, Beaver Creek, Aspen, Crested Butte, and Powderhorn.

Now you see why I get frustrated. If Texas had held off on the sale, or if they had at least kept the mountain areas, I could go skiing without ever leaving the State. Texas would be a "ski State," with some of the best slopes in the world, and I would qualify for discounted ski lift tickets for local state residents.

Ugggg!!!!!