DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Las Moras Spring, out there in Kinney County. Now, if you want to understand why a place matters, sometimes all you have to do is follow the water. And out here in the dry brush country of southwest Texas, water doesn't just matter — it commands the whole story.
Las Moras Spring. The ninth largest springs in the state of Texas. The largest in Kinney County.
And that name — Moras — carries a Spanish translation meaning mulberries, for the mulberry trees growing right along the bank. This spring discharges an average of twelve to fourteen million gallons of water. Per day.
Every single day. You start to understand why people kept showing up here. And people have been showing up for a long, long time.
Flint points and burned-rock middens found here tell us that prehistoric people frequented Las Moras — artifacts out of the earth itself, testifying to more than eleven thousand years of human life supported by this one spring. Eleven thousand years. Let that sit with you a moment while we drive.
In the historic period, the Coahuiltecan — hunter-gatherer tribes of the lower Pecos region — were here. Apache were here. Comanche were here.
These groups stopped at Las Moras Spring while on their trails down into Mexico. It was a waypoint, a relief, a place you did not pass up. The Europeans came too.
The Annals of New Spain, covering 1590 to 1771, record names like Gaspar Castaño de Sosa, Fernando del Bosque, General Alonzo de León, and Field Marshal Señor Marqués de Rubí — all of them traveling to this spring. Four centuries of recorded comings and goings, and the water just kept flowing. Then came a darker chapter.
On October 13, 1840, Republic of Texas troops under Major John T. Howard attacked and destroyed a large Comanche village here at the spring. The marker does not let that pass in silence, and neither should we.
By 1848, Texas patriot Sam Maverick had claimed Las Moras Spring as part of his headright survey. And the very next year, travelers on the New Military Road from San Antonio to El Paso were using the spring as a regular resting place — wagon trains rolling west, bound for California, stopping right here to draw breath and water. Then the army moved in for good.
Fort Clark was established on June 20, 1852. In 1902, the U.S. Army walled the spring pond and created a swimming pool fed by the spring itself.
And then in 1939, the Works Progress Administration constructed a new pool for the army — the largest pool ever built on any military post. That pool is still there. Eleven thousand years of human life, all of it orbiting this one extraordinary source of water.
The spring doesn't care who's in charge. Prehistoric hunter, Spanish explorer, Republic soldier, California-bound settler, U.S. Army post — Las Moras just kept pouring out its twelve to fourteen million gallons a day, and the story of Texas kept pouring right along with it.
What the marker says
As the ninth largest springs in Texas and the largest springs in Kinney County, Las Moras Spring is significant due to its location and invaluable natural resources. Moras, meaning "mulberries" in one Spanish translation, refer to the mulberry trees found along Las Moras bank. The spring discharges an average of 12-14 million gallons per day. Archeological objects such as flint points and burned-rock middens demonstrated that prehistoric people frequented Las Moras. In historic periods, the area was occupied by Coahuiltecan indians, hunter-gatherer tribes in the lower Pecos region, Apache, and Comanche. These groups stopped at Las Moras Spring while on trails into Mexico. The Annals of New Spain 1590-1771 record Europeans such as Gaspar Casta��o de Sosa, Fernando del Bosque, General Alonzo de Le��n and Field Marshal Se��or Marqu��s de Rub�� traveling to the spring. On October 13, 1840, Republic of Texas troops under Major John T. Howard attacked and destroyed a large Comanche village here at the spring. In 1848, Texas patriot Sam Maverick claimed the spring as part of his headright survey. By the next year, travelers on the New Military Road from San Antonio to El Paso were using the spring as a regular resting place for wagons bound for California. Fort Clark was established on June 20, 1852. The U.S. Army walled the spring pond in 1902 and created a swimming pool fed by the spring. The present pool was constructed for the army in 1939 through the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and is the largest ever built on any post. Las Moras Spring, supporting more than 11,000 years of human life, demonstrates the role of ecology in Texas" development. (2013)