THE WHOLE DAMN CHEESE
MAGGIE SMITH BORDER LEGEND
by
BILL WRIGHT
Genre: Biography / Texana
Publisher: Texas Christian University Press
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Publication Date: October 12, 2018
Number of Pages: 160 pages with B&W photos
Anecdotes about Maggie Smith abound, but Bill Wright’s The Whole Damn Cheese is the first book devoted entirely to the woman whose life in Big Bend country has become the stuff of legend. For more than twenty years, Maggie Smith served folks on both sides of the border as doctor, lawyer, midwife, herbalist, banker, self-appointed justice of the peace, and coroner. As she put it, she was “the whole damn cheese” in Hot Springs, Texas. A beloved figure serving the needs of scores of people in Big Bend country, she was also an accomplished smuggler with a touch of romance as well as larceny in her heart. Maggie’s family history is a history of the Texas frontier, and her story outlines the beginnings and early development of Big Bend National Park. Her travels between Boquillas, San Vincente, Alpine, and Hot Springs define Maggie’s career and illustrate her unique relationships with the people of the border. Vividly capturing the rough individualism and warm character of Maggie Smith, author Bill Wright demonstrates why this remarkable frontier woman has become an indelible figure in the history of Texas.
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EXCERPT FROM THE WHOLE DAMN CHEESE
BY BILL KNIGHT
The family’s life near Sierra Blanca continued to be intertwined with Mexico. It is understandable that even at an early age, surrounded by Mexican cowboys, Maggie became an accomplished Spanish speaker, a skill that was very valuable for her in later life.
Maggie’s daughter, Madge, related a story about an incident that happened when Maggie was living on the Sierra Blanca ranch. She said that one afternoon about eighteen Mexicans rode up to the ranch headquarters and asked Maggie, who was standing in front of the house, if they could feed their horses. The men looked travel worn, tired, and thirsty; Maggie said it would be okay. She wisely did not ask them where they came from or where they were going. Maggie’s father came out of the house and appraised the situation. He told her to fix the men something to eat, and she went into the kitchen and got them some food. The men ate, then mounted their horses, and the leader of the group apologized to Maggie and her father, saying he didn’t have any money to pay for the horses’ feed and their meal. But he wore a beautiful pair of silver spurs, and even though he was mounted, he reached down, took them off, and gave them to Maggie. “Who is giving me these spurs?” she asked.
The man said, “Pancho Villa.” The men turned their horses and continued on whatever mission had brought them to Texas.
Before Maggie died, she insisted that her daughter, Madge, give the spurs to her own son, who at that time lived in Dallas, and she did.
Maggie was a great help to her father. In addition to knowing the domestic duties of women on the frontier, she also acquired outdoor skills. Maggie would ride with her father to Mexico to buy cattle for the ranch. She learned the cowboy ways of living and working in
the unforgiving Chihuahuan Desert. On her way to Mexico with her father, they followed trails beaten down from the sparse vegetation by hundreds of years of animals going toward water and food and with Indians moving back and forth across the Rio Grande when it was all one land with no political boundaries.
She learned to build fires without matches, and to cook—with a single pot no less—a full meal for a hungry father, herself, and her sister, who usually accompanied them. She and her sister knew how to saddle horses in the mornings and hobble them to graze at night. Then, after organizing items for breakfast, they lay down on the rocky ground in their bedrolls and watched the stars parade across the heavens in the steel-clear night sky, dreaming of what the future had in store.
Even though at this time the revolutionary climate was building in Mexico, Maggie, her sister, and her father continued buying cattle in Mexico and bringing them to the Texas ranch to fatten and sell. In the past they had always maintained a good relationship with people of all political philosophies in Mexico because they wanted to be friends with everyone. It was not only their personal philosophy, it was a business necessity when you lived and worked on the border.
For thirty-five years Bill Wright owned and managed a wholesale and retail petroleum marketing company. In 1987 he sold his company to his employees and since then has carved out a remarkable career as an author, fine art photographer, and ethnologist. He has written or contributed to seven books, and his photographs appear in Fort Worth’s Amon Carter Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
VISIT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:
| 10/17/18 | Excerpt | Texas Book Lover |
| 10/18/18 | Character Interview | All the Ups and Downs |
| 10/19/18 | Character Interview | Max Knight |
| 10/20/18 | Author Interview | That’s What She’s Reading |
| 10/21/18 | Review | Hall Ways Blog |
| 10/22/18 | Scrapbook Page | StoreyBook Reviews |
| 10/23/18 | Review | The Book Review |
| 10/24/18 | Excerpt | Reading by Moonlight |
| 10/25/18 | Review | Forgotten Winds |
| 10/26/18 | Review | The Clueless Gent |
