CHAPTER V
COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN SANTA FE AND SAN ANTONIO*
Like two isolated bastions on the far-flung northern frontier of New Spain stood Santa Fe and San Antonio, guarding jealously but somewhat ineffectively the vast dominion ·of Spain in North America against foreign encroachments. Advanced posts had been set up in East Texas from San Antonio to check the French of lower Louisiana, and similar tentacles spread to the north and east of Santa Fe. But the enterprising fur traders, who followed the waterways, had by 1750 penetrated to the distant capital of New Mexico by ascending the Mississippi, the Red, the Canadian, and the Arkansas rivers. The far-sighted and shrewd advisor of the viceroy, the Marques de Altamira, urged in 1751 that steps be taken to establish direct communication between the two main outposts as an indispensable measure in the defence of the northern frontier. In the mountains and valleys of the intervening country lived numerous native tribes and nations who had gradually become known to the Spaniards, partly through the efforts of the missionaries, partly through trade relations, and partly through the preying activities of hostile tribes. In search of neophytes and converts, or in pursuit of marauding tribes the country had been entered at various times and irregularly explored, now from one point and now from another. But until well past the last half of the eighteenth century, officials and travellers alike who wished to visit San Antonio had to make a long, unpleasant, and dangerous detour by way of El Paso to Nueva Vizcaya, hence to Monclova or San Juan Bautista in Coahuila, to enter the Province of Texas and eventually reach San Antonio. Several hundred miles of equally dangerous and unsettled country had still to be traversed to reach the lonely outpost of Los Adaes, opposite the thriving and bustling French post of Natchitoches. Spanish officials fully realized the impor- tance of establishing direct communication between Texas and New Mexico. This consideration was one of the determining factors in the founding of San Saba in 1757. It was earnestly hoped that the new mission center and outpQst would eventually form a basis for direct com- munication and commerce between the two provinces. But to the hardships *This chapter was originally read as a paper before the Texas Geographic Society and has been published in the Texas Geographic tJlagas;ine. Vol. s, No. 1. [ 145]
Powered by FlippingBook