DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, if you were standin right here on the shore of Canyon Lake, lookin out at that water, you might not guess what's underneath. But the marker knows.
Beneath that lake — beneath all that calm Texas water — lies the ground where German pioneers first put down roots in this part of the world. The first settlers in this area weren't just passin through. They came to stay.
And the story of how they got here is something worth slowin down for. A society of nobles — the Mainzer Adelsverein — sponsored the emigration of seven thousand three hundred and eighty Germans to Texas. Seven thousand three hundred and eighty people, packed up everything they knew, and crossed an ocean.
All of that happened between 1844 and 1847. Now, these weren't folks wanderin blind into the wilderness. They founded New Braunfels in 1845.
Then, movin west — always west, because that's what you do in Texas — they established Fredericksburg in 1846. And here's where the story takes a turn that even a tall-tale teller couldn't improve on: they negotiated a Comanche Indian treaty that opened three million eight hundred thousand acres to peaceful settlement — land lying between the Llano and Colorado rivers. Three point eight million acres.
Let that number sit with you a moment. These were farmers and artisans, scholars and scientists. They weren't a single kind of people; they were every kind of people.
And they faced epidemic. They faced privation. They triumphed over both.
The lake may have covered the ground they walked, but it hasn't covered what they built. All of Texas — and the West beyond it — carries some of what those seven thousand three hundred and eighty people carried here.
What the marker says
In this area, now covered by Canyon Lake, German emigrants were the first settlers. A society of nobles (Mainzer Adelsverein) sponsored the emigration of 7,380 Germans to Texas from 1844 to 1847. They founded New Braunfels in 1845. Moving west, they established Fredericksburg in 1846. Their Comanche Indian treaty opened 3,800,000 acres between the Llano and Colorado rivers to peaceful settlement. Farmers and artisans, scholars and scientists, they triumphed over epidemic and privation to help build Texas and the West. (1968)