DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way back in 1650 — and let that year sink in for a second, 1650 — two Spanish captains set out from Santa Fe on a journey that would end up mattering a whole lot more than even they probably reckoned. Their names were Hernán Martín and Diego del Castillo, and the expedition they led would carry their names down through the centuries.
The Martin-Castillo Expedition. Now, thirty-two miles north of where this marker stands, they explored the Concho River. That alone would've been a story worth tellin' around a fire.
But they weren't just sightseeing. They were gatherin' information on the Jumano Indians, and they were searchin' for pearls. Pearls, out here in this country.
You heard right. Setting out from Santa Fe, those two captains traveled about six hundred miles to reach Jumano territory. Six hundred miles, on foot and horseback through country that did not care one bit whether they made it or not.
And once they got there, they didn't just pass through. They stayed. Six months among the Jumano people, learning, watching, gathering the kind of knowledge that only time and presence can give you.
But then they pushed further still. Their travels took them all the way to the edge of the Texas nation — and here is where the story gets its weight — where they obtained the first information definitely recorded about the tribe that gave Texas its very name. Think about that.
The name we drive through, live in, say a hundred times without a second thought — the first hard knowledge of the people behind that name came back with Martín and Castillo. Now, the marker puts the word discoveries in quotation marks, and that's worth honoring. Because to the Jumano and the Texas nation, none of this was a discovery — it was their home.
But what those captains brought back — the pearls, and word of the Texas nation — sparked later important Spanish expeditions to East Texas. One journey, two men, six hundred miles, six months. And ripples that kept moving long after 1650 was just a number on a page.
What the marker says
Explored the Concho River, 32 miles north of here, gathering information on Jumano Indians and searching for pearls, 1650. Setting out from Santa Fe, Capts. Hernan Martin and Diego Del Castillo traveled about 600 miles to the Jumano territory, where they stayed for 6 months. Further travels took them to the edge of the Texas nation, where they obtained the first information definitely about the tribe that gave Texas its name. The "discoveries" of their journey -- pearls and the Texas nation -- sparked later important Spanish expeditions to East Texas.