La Salle County

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll carry it the rest of the way. Picture a road so old it hardly remembers being new. The Presidio Rio Grande Road brought travelers through this stretch of South Texas for centuries, long before anyone thought to draw county lines or name a seat of government.

People passed through, and kept passing through, because the land demanded it. Then, in 1852, the U.S. Army decided passing through wasn't good enough.

They built and garrisoned Fort Ewell, right here, for protection. That's the Army way. Put something solid in the ground and call it civilization.

But forts are one thing. Settlers are another. The first permanent settler, a man named William A.

Waugh, opened a rancho near the Cibolo Crossing on the Spanish Road in 1856. One man, one crossing, one rancho. That's how a county begins to breathe.

Two years after Waugh put down roots, on February 1, 1858, the county was created. And they named it for a man who never saw a county line in his life. Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle, born in 1643, dead in 1687, the first French explorer of Texas.

A man of that kind of reach tends to get things named after him, even things he never touched. The county's first post office didn't open until 1871, out at the Guajuco Crossing. Then county government was organized on November 2, 1880, at Crarey's Rancho.

Various courthouses came and went before 1883, when Cotulla finally became the county seat and things settled into something resembling permanence. Centuries of travelers, one fort, one settler, one explorer's borrowed name, and eventually, a county seat. La Salle County took its time, but it got there.

What the marker says

The Presidio Rio Grande Road brought travelers to this area for centuries. In 1852 the U. S. Army built and garrisoned Fort Ewell, for protection. The first permanent settler, William A. Waugh, opened a rancho near the Cibolo Crossing on the Spanish Road in 1856. On Feb. 1, 1858, the county was created and named for Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle (1643-1687). The first French explorer of Texas. The county's first post office opened in 1871 at the Guajuco Crossing. County government was organized Nov. 2, 1880, at Crarey's Rancho. Various courthouses existed before 1883, when Cotulla became county seat.