DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, not every man earns a thank-you from the governor upon his passing — but Louis Juchereau de St. Denis wasn't every man.
This Canadian Frenchman, the marker tells us, played an important role in the very beginnings of Texas. And that is putting it mildly. Pull up a chair, because this one winds through rivers, deserts, and back rooms in Mexico City before it's done.
It starts, as so many Texas stories do, with a letter. In 1711, Spanish Father Francisco Hidalgo, out in East Texas, wrote to the French Governor Cadillac over in Louisiana. He was seeking French assistance in the religious conversion of the Caddo Confederacy.
Now, Governor Cadillac received that letter and made a decision — he'd send a trader named St. Denis to handle it. Practical man, that Cadillac.
So St. Denis sets out, makes the long journey east — only to find that Father Hidalgo had already packed up and returned to Mexico. So what does St.
Denis do? He follows him. That brings him, in July of 1714, to the Presidio San Juan Bautista del Río Grande.
And that is where things take a turn. He was arrested. Sent to Mexico City.
Now here is where a lesser man folds — but St. Denis, he had something the Spanish authorities wanted. He had vast knowledge of the rivers and the terrain of Spanish Texas.
He gained their trust. He helped produce what became known as the noted Olivan map of 1717. The Spanish needed him and they knew it, even if they didn't entirely like it.
By 1716 he was back in East Texas, this time serving as guide and ambassador for the Ramón-Espinoza-Margil expedition. That expedition founded a total of six missions and a presidio. Six missions and a presidio.
Not a bad season's work for a man who had been under arrest two years prior. St. Denis settled in as commandant at Natchitoches and kept busy — supplying goods to Spanish missionaries and soldiers during dire times, trading actively with the Caddo tribes.
The Spanish authorities, for their part, kept forbidding his trading in contraband goods. And St. Denis, for his part, kept right on going, because they had little control.
Archaeologists have located one of his trading campsites in this very vicinity — so when the marker says he passed through here, the ground itself tends to agree. Through all his traveling, St. Denis contributed to the expanded geographical knowledge of New Spain.
The marker tells us he was the first European to travel the entire length of El Camino Real from Louisiana to Mexico City. The whole length of it. And yet — and here is the part that tends to stick with people — all that expertise with the native Indians, all that knowledge, all that usefulness, managed to make the Spanish grow to loathe the man.
So when St. Denis finally died, the Governor in Mexico City is said to have declared, and I am quoting the marker now: 'St. Denis is dead, thank God.' That's a legacy, right there.
Not a statue, not a ceremony — just a governor somewhere in Mexico City breathing a long sigh of relief. The kind of man they couldn't live without and couldn't wait to be rid of. Louis Juchereau de St.
Denis. Remember that name.
What the marker says
Canadian Frenchman Louis Juchereau de St. Denis played an important role in the beginnings of Texas. In 1711, Spanish Father Francisco Hidalgo in East Texas wrote a letter to the French Governor Cadillac in Louisiana seeking assistance from the French in the religious conversion of the Caddo Confederacy. In response, Governor Cadillac sent trader St. Denis who found that Father Hidalgo had returned to Mexico. Following him, St. Denis arrived at the Presidio San Juan Bautista del Río Grande in July 1714 and was arrested and sent to Mexico City. There he gained the trust of the authorities with his vast knowledge of the rivers and terrain of Spanish Texas and he helped to produce the noted Olivan map of 1717. St. Denis returned to East Texas in 1716 as a guide and ambassador for the Ramón-Espinoza-Margil expedition that founded a total of six missions and a presidio. St. Denis became the commandant at Natchitoches and provided goods and supplies to the Spanish missionaries and soldiers during dire times and actively traded with the Caddo tribes. Spanish authorities continued to forbid his trading activities of contraband goods but they had little control. Archeologists have located a St. Denis trading campsite in this vicinity. Through his travels, St. Denis contributed to the expanded geographical knowledge of New Spain, and he was the first European to travel the entire length of El Camino Real from Louisiana to Mexico City. Because of his expertise with the native Indians, the Spanish grew to loathe St. Denis and upon his death, the Governor in Mexico City is said to have declared, “St. Denis is dead, thank God!” (2013)