The Pinta Trail is a historic trail in Central Texas that was first traveled by indigenous tribes, and later explorers, settlers, soldiers, and travelers. The 19th-century Germans who settled the Texas Hill Country used part of the Pinta Trail on their journey northward from New Braunfels to found Fredericksburg. A historic battle between a Texas Rangers patrol and a band of Comanches is often said to have occurred near a ford where the Pinta Trail crossed the Guadalupe River. [1]
The Pinta Trail began in San Antonio and proceeded through the Texas Hill Country, crossing the Guadalupe River near Sisterdale and fording the Pedernales River east of Fredericksburg. [2] [3] [4] From there its route is not certain, but it appears to have continued north to the Llano River along a route shown on an 1847 survey map drawn by James P. Hudson. [5]
Historic maps and original Texas land surveys establish that north of San Antonio the trail traversed the Balcones Escarpment through a canyon that is now the route of the Northwest Military Highway. [2] [6] From there, the trail passed Comanche Spring before crossing Cibolo Creek at Post Oak Creek, below Balcones Creek. [7] [8] [9] The trail proceeded northwest to the Guadalaupe River near Sisterdale, crossing Spring Creek, Sabinas Creek, and Wasp Creek on the way. [2] [9] After fording the Guadalupe, the trail followed West Sister Creek to Jung Creek, then followed that stream to its headwaters before crowning a ridge and dropping into the Grape Creek drainage, then fording the Pedernales River about 4.5 miles east of today’s downtown Fredericksburg. [10] [11]
The Pinta Trail makes its first appearance in the journals of Nicolás Lafora and the Marqués de Rubí chronicling a 1767 inspection of Spanish frontier presidios. [12] [13] Leaving the Presidio San Saba, their expedition followed the San Saba Road (which was to the west of the Pinta Trail and was known to German immigrants as the Camino Viejo) [14] until the road reached the Guadalupe River. There, they followed the river until they came to the Pinta Trail ford near today’s Sisterdale, where they picked up the Pinta Trail and followed it to San Antonio. Neither Lafora nor Rubí (nor any other Spanish writer) gave a name to the trail, but geographical landmarks mentioned in Lafora’s journal mark the route clearly.
In April 1846, German settlers under the auspices of the Adelsverein colonization company ventured west from their initial townsite at New Braunfels and picked up the Pinta Trail north of San Antonio, following it to found their next frontier settlement at Fredericksburg. [2] [14] The trail was used by Ferdinand Roemer in January 1847, Lieutenant Francis T. Bryan in June 1849, and John Russell Bartlett in October 1850, all on journeys passing through Fredericksburg. [7] [9] [8] In 1854, Frederick Law Olmsted observed that the lower extent of the trail was overgrown and disused, having been abandoned in favor of a new road that passed through Boerne on the way to Fredericksburg via Welfare, with a branch offering an alternate route through Sisterdale. [15] [16]
In June 1844, a squad of Texas Rangers led by the legendary Captain Jack Hays fought a band of Comanche warriors led by Yellow Wolf in an engagement known as the Battle of Walker’s Creek. [17] The fight is notable for the rangers’ use of the new Colt Paterson 5-shot revolver. One participant in the battle places it at the Pinta Trail ford of the Guadalupe River; another places it about four miles east. Hays’s own report does not mention the Pinta Trail, even though he surveyed the trail at the ford five years earlier. [18] [19] [20]
The Pinta Trail above Sisterdale remained at least partly in use until 1879, but soon thereafter its upper reaches were eclipsed by a road passing through Luckenbach on the way to Fredericksburg. [21]
The only sections of the Pinta Trail that are resembled by modern roads are a short stretch of San Antonio’s Northwest Military Highway through the Balcones Escarpment and, 30 miles further north, two miles of Texas Farm-to-Market Road 1376 above the Guadalupe River. Most of the old trail is on land that is not open to the public. [2]
Though some legends state that the trail connected San Antonio to the abandoned Spanish Presidio San Sabá, there is no historical evidence to support that assertion; those legends, along with other accounts that have the trail passing through Boerne, Comfort, or Menard, confuse the trail with the San Saba Road, the Fredericksburg Road (a variation and extension of the San Saba Road) or other routes. [2] [22] Accounts that have the trail passing through Cain City, Fredericksburg, Luckenbach, or Mason confuse the trail with roads that emerged later. [23] [24] The Pinta Trail did not become the Emigrant Road to California or the Military Road to U.S. Army forts on that route; those roads were established after Fredericksburg was founded. [8] [9]
The Edwards Plateau is a geographic region forming the crossroads of Central, South and West Texas, United States. It is named in honor of Haden Edwards. It is bounded by the Balcones Fault to the south and east; the Llano Uplift and the Llano Estacado to the north; and the Pecos River and Chihuahuan Desert to the west. San Angelo, Austin, San Antonio and Del Rio roughly outline the area. The plateau, especially its southeast portion, is also known as the Texas Hill Country.
U.S. Route 290 is an east–west U.S. Highway located entirely within the state of Texas. Its western terminus is at Interstate 10 southeast of Segovia, and its eastern terminus is at Interstate 610 in northwest Houston. It is the main highway between Houston and Austin and is a cutoff for travelers wanting to bypass San Antonio on Interstate 10. Throughout its length west of Austin, US 290 cuts across mountainous hills comprising the Texas Hill Country and the Edwards Plateau; between Austin and Houston, the highway then travels through gradually hilly grasslands and pine forests comprising the Gulf Coastal Plains.
Colorado Bend State Park is a 5,328.3-acre (2,156 ha) state park located in the Hill Country region of the U.S. state of Texas, mostly in San Saba County. It was purchased by the state in 1984 and opened to the public in 1987. It is representative of the karst features typically seen in the Hill Country, with many sinkholes, caves, and springs.
Los Adaes was the capital of Tejas (Texas) on the northeastern frontier of New Spain from 1721 to 1773. It included a Franciscan mission, San Miguel de Cuellar de los Adaes, and a presidio, Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Los Adaes. The name Adaes derives from the indigenous Adai people, members of the Caddoan confederacy of Indians who were the people the missionaries aimed to convert to Christianity. The presidio and mission were established to counter French influence in Louisiana territory and defend New Spain from possible invasion or encroachment by the French. In 1763 Louisiana came under the control of Spain and the Los Adaes outpost was no longer necessary for defense. In 1773 the Spanish closed the mission and presidio and forced the population to move to San Antonio.
Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1519 until 1821. Spain claimed ownership of the region in 1519. Slave raids by Spaniards into what became Texas began in the 16th century and created an atmosphere of antagonism with Native Americans (Indians) which would cause endless difficulties for the Spanish in the future. Spain did not attempt to establish a permanent presence until after France established the colony of Fort Saint Louis in 1685. In 1688, the French colony failed due to internal dissention and attacks by the Karankawa Indians. In 1690, responding to fear of French encroachment, Spanish explorer Alonso de León escorted several Catholic missionaries to east Texas, where they established the first mission in Texas. That attempt to establish a Spanish colony failed due to the hostility of the Caddo Indians.
The Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, also known as the Silver Route, was a Spanish 2,560-kilometre-long (1,590 mi) road between Mexico City and San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico, that was used from 1598 to 1882. It was the northernmost of the four major "royal roads" that linked Mexico City to its major tributaries during and after the Spanish colonial era.
The Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos metropolitan statistical area, or Greater Austin, is a five-county metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Texas, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget. The metropolitan area is situated in Central Texas on the western edge of the American South and on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, and borders Greater San Antonio to the south.
The Neighbors Expedition, led by Robert Neighbors was one of several expeditions sent by the military to explore the area between San Antonio and El Paso with the purpose of opening a practical road to the west, which could be used by settlers and stages. The Neighbors Expedition, along with that led by Col. John C. Hays of the Texas Rangers in 1848, and that of Lieutenants William Henry Chase Whiting and William F. Smith of the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 1849, were the most important of these expeditions.
Spur 345 is a 5.1-mile-long (8.2 km) route in Greater San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas, maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). It follows a former route of U.S. Route 87 (US 87) through Balcones Heights and northwest San Antonio. Known locally as Fredericksburg Road, it is a major arterial for the cities of San Antonio and Balcones Heights, providing access to the headquarters of United Services Automobile Association (USAA) and to the South Texas Medical Center.
The Presidio Nuestra Señora de Loreto de la Bahía, known more commonly as Presidio La Bahía, or simply La Bahía is a fort constructed by the Spanish Army that became the nucleus of the modern-day city of Goliad, Texas, United States. The current location dates to 1747.
Cayetano Maria Pignatelli Rubí Corbera y San Climent was a Spanish nobleman. Rubí was commissioned by the King Charles III of Spain to inspect the presidios on the northern frontier of New Spain and make recommendations to improve defense against raids by Indian tribes, especially the Apache. From 1766 to 1768, Rubí visited 23 presidios scattered from the Gulf of California to present-day Louisiana, traveling overland about 7,600 mi (12,200 km) in 23 months. He wrote a report on his travels which is a valuable source of information about conditions on New Spain's northern frontier. His recommendations, later implemented, were that Spain withdraw from some presidios on its far northern frontier, including Louisiana and eastern Texas, and strengthen others which were in a poor state of readiness. He recommended that San Antonio replace Los Adaes as the capital of Spanish Texas. To combat the Indian threat, he recommended an offensive war against the Apaches and an alliance with the Comanche to subdue the Apache.
Mission Santa Cruz de San Sabá was one of the Spanish missions in Texas. It was established in April 1757, along with the Presidio San Luis de las Amarillas, later renamed Presidio of San Sabá, in what is now Menard County. Located along the San Saba River, the mission was intended to convert members of the Lipan Apache tribe. Although no Apache ever resided at the mission, its existence convinced the Comanche that the Spanish had allied with the Comanche's mortal enemy. In 1758 the mission was destroyed by an estimated 2,000 warriors from the Comanche, Tonkawa, Yojuane, Bidai and Hasinai tribes. It was the only mission in Texas to be completely destroyed by Native Americans. The Indians did not attack the nearby presidio.
The San Antonio–El Paso Road, also known as the Lower Emigrant Road or Military Road, was an economically important trade route between the Texas cities of San Antonio and El Paso between 1849 and 1882. Mail, freight, and passengers traveled by horse and wagon along this road across the Edwards Plateau and dangerous Trans-Pecos region of West Texas.
Cherry Spring is an unincorporated farming and ranching community established in 1852 in Gillespie County, in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located on Cherry Spring Creek, which runs from north of Fredericksburg to Llano. The creek was also sometimes known as Cherry Springs Creek by residents. The community is located on the old Pinta Trail. The Cherry Spring School was added to the National Register of Historic Places Listings in Gillespie County, Texas on May 6, 2005. The school was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1985.
Presidio San Luis de las Amarillas, now better known as Presidio of San Sabá, was founded in April 1757 near present-day Menard, Texas, United States to protect the Mission Santa Cruz de San Sabá, established at the same time. The presidio and mission were built to secure Spain's claim to the territory. They were part of the treaty recently reached with the Lipan Apaches of the area for mutual aid against enemies. The early functioning of the mission and presidio were undermined by Hasinai, also allied with the Spanish, attacking the Apaches. The mission was located three miles downstream from the presidio by request of the monks at the mission to ensure that the Spanish soldiers would not be a corrupting influence on the Lipan Apaches the monks were trying to convert to Christianity. The original presidio and mission were built out of logs.
Grapetown is an unincorporated farming and ranching community 9.5 miles (15.3 km) south of Fredericksburg, situated on South Grape Creek in Gillespie County, in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located on the old Pinta Trail. Grapetown is noted for being the site of the first annual Gillespie County Bundes Schützenfest. The school was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1984, Marker number 10048.
Hermann Lungkwitz was a 19th-century German-born Texas romantic landscape artist and photographer whose work became the first pictorial record of the Texas Hill Country.
The Presidio of San Sabá was the second presidio established at the site of present-day Menard, Texas on the San Saba River. The first was the Presidio San Luis de las Amarillas, established by Colonel Diego Ortiz Parrilla in April 1757, the same time that Mission Santa Cruz de San Sabá was also founded by Fr. Alonso Giraldo de Terreros some three miles downstream. Initially, both the presidio and mission were enclosed by a wooden stockade. About 2,000 Comanche and Wichita warriors attacked and destroyed the mission March 16, 1758, but did not attack the presidio. Colonel Parrilla led a punitive expedition against the hostiles about one year later, but was defeated in the Battle of the Twin Villages at a large Wichita village on the Red River. Colonel Parrilla was relieved of command as a consequence of this setback and replaced by Captain Felipe de Rábago y Terán.
This is a compendium of information on springs in Travis County, Texas, especially those with prehistoric or historic links to Texas Native Americans. Information is based primarily on Gunnar Brune's report to the Texas Water Development Board, "Major and Historical Springs of Texas", and his book, Springs of Texas. Additional sources are cited with associated springs.
Pilares was a village located in northwest Presidio County, Texas, United States, on the southern boundary of the Sierra Vieja near the Rio Grande. The river village was 1.25 miles (2.01 km) south of the confluence of Quinn Creek and the Rio Grande while bearing 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of Porvenir, Texas. The uninhabited site is in the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas with a southern panorama of the Chihuahuan Desert and northern Mexico.
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