Posted on 03/23/2005 5:54:39 AM PST by Arrowhead1952
Senator hopes designation will increase tourism
By Miguel Liscano
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
SAN MARCOS -- Following in the footsteps of American Indians, explorers, settlers and Davy Crockett, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison passed through Central Texas on Tuesday to draw attention to the oldest trails in Texas.
El Camino Real de los Tejas, considered the oldest series of passages in the state, was a network of American Indian trails dating to the 1700s that explorers and colonists later expanded into roads stretching more than 2,500 miles from the Rio Grande to Natchitoches, La.
Hutchison, R-Texas, sponsored legislation last year designating El Camino Real a National Historic Trail -- one of 24 in the nation -- and President Bush signed the bill into law in October.
The designation means more money for signs and booklets to promote the trail. Hutchison said she does not know how much money will be earmarked for protecting and marking the trail, but she hopes the designation will boost tourism in the towns and cities along the route.
"I want there to be guidebooks that show every city on this trail and what is in that town that people might like to see," Hutchison said.
A portion of the trail passes east of Austin and through San Marcos and San Antonio.
Hutchison began her trip Monday in Milam and plans to take the road to Eagle Pass, near the point where the trail originally entered Texas from Mexico. She's expected to end her trip today on horseback in the middle of the bridge connecting Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Coahuila.
Hutchison and other lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, have tried for several years to get the trail designated as historic by the National Park Service. But, she said, questions about private property rights caused delays.
"There are some areas where the trail goes through a private ranch or farm, and those people deserve to have . . . protection," Hutchison said.
In planning a set route for tourism, the National Park Service will have to work around private property. Owners will not be forced to open their property to the public.
The trail includes four main paths that were used for exploration and colonization and as a strategic route during the Texas Revolution. It's the route that Davy Crockett took to get to the Alamo, said Debbi Head, a spokeswoman for the Texas Historical Commission.
Jere Krakow, a superintendent of the national trail system for the National Park Service, said there are still places in East Texas where remnants of the original road can be spotted.
But most of it has been swallowed up by newer transportation routes, such as Interstate 35.
"Much of it is paved and underneath modern roads," Krakow said. "It was a historic trail, and then they made it into a highway."
Texas history ping.
A portion of the trail passes east of Austin and through San Marcos and San Antonio.Hutchison began her trip Monday in Milam and plans to take the road to Eagle Pass, near the point where the trail originally entered Texas from Mexico. She's expected to end her trip today on horseback in the middle of the bridge connecting Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Coahuila.
Ah! San Marcos! My birthplace, and the small town in which George Strait kicked off his singing career.
That trail runs along SH 21 and portions of it are on my dads farm. I remember the wagon ruts in the red clay, right next to "Deadman's Water Hole" and the "Hanging Tree".
Deadman's Water Hole was an artesian well that ran 24/7/365 and was named that after a man died while watering his horse and drinking water.
The Hanging Tree is a very large pin oak that still stands on the north side of SH 21 next to a dry creek. Both are about 1/4 mile west of Manheim store.
Thanks for that info.I suppose that they called that "The Hanging Tree"
for obvious reasons? ("Git a rope!").
Trans Texas Corridor ping.
The proposed TTC map keeps changing depending on who is lying to whom. ;)
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