'mr. Big Thicket' Was Radically Different From His Contemporaries

SOUTHEAST TEXAS TALES In the early part of the 20th century, young men living in Southeast Texas either drilled oil or played football. But Lance Rosier, an acclaimed naturalist and descendant of early Hardin County settlers, was radically different from his contemporaries. Historians say Rosier must have walked hundreds of miles in the Big Thicket, gaining an encyclopedic knowledge of the area's plants and wildlife. He was a soft-spoken man of slight stature, but considered to be the region's official, self-taught naturalist, according to historical documents recently collected at the Lamar University library.