Our Catlzolic Heritage in Texas
Because of the frequent floods the settlement of Reynosa and the Mission of San Joaquin del Monte were moved to higher ground in 1757. Fray Agustin Fragozo, who had temporarily given up his duties on December I I, 1754, because of a serious accident, had returned shortly afterwards and was still working with zeal, although advanced in years and infirm. There were at this time ninety-six families with more than three hundred persons living at the mission, all fairly well instructed, but lack of food made them go to the woods at times to search for food. One soldier had been assigned to the mission. Tienda de Cuervo, after his inspection, declared that they did not raise enough food, because they lacked the means and equipment and he recommended that two hundred head of cattle and ten mules should be given to the mission. 38 Extension of settlement into Texas. As in the case of Camargo, the settlers of Reynosa and the Mission of San Joaquin del Monte were granted fifty sitios (five leagues square) beyond the Rio Grande to the north. The chief tribe congregated in the mission was the Pintos, who lived and roamed north of the river and in whose search the good friar often went. It was the salt, furthermore, brought by mission Indians from a saline located about thirty-five leagues northeast, that had enabled the missionary to purchase the necessary corn for the maintenance of his wards. This same salt trade had likewise given the settlers a certain degree of prosperity. Their large herds of cattle, droves of horses, and flocks of sheep and goats were pastured regularly north of the Rio Grande, where many of the settlers had ranches to which they had moved. In 1757 they had almost three thousand horses, thirteen thousand sheep and goats, and twelve hundred head of cattle, a large part of which grazed in Texas in the area north of present McAllen and Pharr. It was but natural that a visita should have been established in this area to minister to the herders and their numerous Indian assistants. In 1761 Escandon reported that Reynosa had a considerable settlement of families on the north bank of the Rio Grande, whose ranches extended northward in the direction of the distant Nueces River. 39 Establishment of Dolores and its development to 1761. The thirq settlement founded along the Rio Grande in point of time was Nuestra »Tienda de Cuervo Inspection, Estado General de las fundaciones . . • ( Pr1bU- cacio,us del Archivo General de la Nacion, vol. 14, pp. 105-109.) S9/bid., XIV, 367-379; Escandon to the Viceroy, December 30, 1761. A. G. M., PrMJincias /nternas, vol. 110, pp. 161-162.
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