DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker tells it, this stretch of Texas was doing international business long before most folks knew there was a Texas to speak of. Here's what it says, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Somewhere out there, about four and a half miles west of where you're riding right now, the ground holds a secret that goes back to the mid-1700s.
That's when Indians of this region made their way to a trading ground near this site to meet with Frenchmen. And these weren't Frenchmen coming empty-handed. They brought manufactured goods — and sometimes, now here's where it gets interesting — guns and ammunition.
See, the Spanish held sovereignty over this land. They had the map, they had the claim, they had the authority. What they didn't have was the ability to plug every gap along that Louisiana border.
So while Spain was saying no to certain goods, the French were finding their way in anyway. The marker puts it plainly: Spain could not prevent intrusions from Louisiana. That trading ground near this site was living proof.
Fast forward to 1787. A Spanish explorer named Jose Mares came through on a road-mapping expedition, and what did he find? Evidences of the French.
Right here. Decades after those mid-1700s trades, the ghost of that commerce was still visible on the land. Then the nineteenth century rolls in, and this ground kept drawing notable company.
Captain R. B. Marcy of the U.S.
Army and Indian agent R. S. Neighbors — both of them figures worth remembering — camped nearby in 1854.
They weren't sightseeing. They were seeking a good site for an Indian reservation, looking at the same landscape that French traders and Spanish explorers had already written themselves into. Some ground just keeps calling people to it.
This is that kind of ground.
What the marker says
In the mid-1700s, Indians of this region met at a trading ground near this site with Frenchmen who brought them manufactured goods, sometimes including guns and ammunition--products denied them by the Spanish who held sovereignty, but could not prevent intrusions from Louisiana. The Spanish explorer Jose Mares on a road-mapping expedition here in 1787 saw evidences of the French. Among noted early-day visitors were Captain R. B. Marcy of the U.S. Army and Indian agent R. S. Neighbors, who camped nearby in 1854 while seeking a good site for an Indian reservation. (1974)