At the edge of Alamo Creek, Gilberto Luna raised a large family in a small jacal he built from rock, earth, and plant fiber. The dwelling was well adapted to desert conditions, and Luna irrigated the land he farmed with floodwater diverted from the nearby creek. He lived in the jacal until his death in 1947 at the age of 108 and was well known and respected among Big Bend residents. Jacal construction, sometimes called wattle and daub, used latticework walls of cane grass and ocotillo that Luna weatherproofed with mud plaster.