165
Escandon and Settlement of Lower Rio Grande, I738-I779
Senora de los Dolores, ten leagues southeast of present Laredo, on the east bank of the river. In this respect it was the first of those established by Escandon located wholly within the present limits of the State. The pioneer settler and real founder, however, was Jose Vasquez Borrego, a sturdy cattle baron of Coahuila. Before moving beyond the Rio Grande, Vasquez Borrego had established a large hacienda called San Juan del Alamo, twenty-five leagues northeast of Monclova in the vicinity of San Juan Bautista, but finding that the Indians consistently raided his large herds, he had sent scouts to locate a more suitable site. In view of the favorable reports concerning the lands beyond the Rio Grande in the new province being settled by Escandon, he decided to establish a ranch there and carried out his intentions independent of Escandon's colonization plan. But in order to escape the payment of taxes to Coahuila, he sent his son in July, 1750, to propose to Escandon that his lzacienda be incorporated in the new colony as one of its settlements, agreeing to settle a number of families and asking in return a grant of land and exemption from all dues for a period of ten years, which was being accorded to new settlers. Escandon readily agreed to the proposal and on August 22, 1750, formally granted him fifty sitios for a settlement to be called Nuestra Senora de los Dolores. He particularly recommended the good treatment of the natives and urged upon the new settlers their conversion, entrusting the spiritual administration to the missionary of the neighboring Villa de Revilla, ten leagues to the southeast along the river. Vasquez Borrego had offered to maintain a ferry on the Rio Grande to enable those going to Texas or La Bahia to cross the river without difficulty. When in 1753, Escandon visited the settlement, the founder of Dolores presented a petition for a grant of fifty more si,tios of land, alleging that he had maintained two boats on the river since 1750 for the convenience of traffic and that this service had been free to royal officials and couriers, travelers, convoys, herds, and missionaries. In granting him his request, Escandon declared that "out of consideration for the maintenance of four peones at the crossing of the river to assist traffic, he be allowed to charge a reasonable fee for the services rendered to those using the ferry." By 1755 almost all the traffic to La Bahia San Antonio, and Los Adaes was by this crossing, the old road by San Juan Bautista having been partly abandoned for a more southern route because of the frequent raids of the Apaches and other hostile Indians. When Escandon made his first detailed report on Dolores in 1755. he
Powered by FlippingBook