DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way back, early Spanish settlers started something right here in Bexar County that was equal parts necessary and dangerous — a powder mill. Now, before you picture some tidy little operation, let me walk you through what went into making gunpowder out here on the Texas frontier, because the ingredients alone are a story.
You needed charcoal, and they made that from the wood of the hill country. You needed saltpeter, and they got that from bat guano — pulled right out of caves like Longhorn Caverns. And you needed sulfur, which came rolling in by ox-cart or wagon all the way from Mexico.
Three ingredients. Blend them together and what you've got is highly explosive. That is not my editorial, friend — that is just chemistry.
Now, the workers knew this. They dampened the powder during the grinding to keep things calm. And yet — fires at the mill were not uncommon.
Not uncommon. You sit with that phrase a moment. These folks were grinding explosive powder by hand, dampening it as they went, and fires still broke out with enough regularity that somebody thought it worth putting in the record.
That right there is what frontier necessity looked like. When the Civil War came — 1861 to 1865 — this mill didn't slow down. It supplied powder to state troops, frontier troops, and the home guard.
And here's the part that'll stay with you: the workers keeping that operation running were young boys and men past military age. The ones in between had gone off to war. So it fell to the very young and the no-longer-young to keep the powder flowing, in a mill where fires were not uncommon.
That's the story this ground holds.
What the marker says
Started here by early Spanish settlers; for making powder to hunt meat and resist Indians. Used charcoal made of wood of hill country. From bat guano in such caves as Longhorn caverns, got saltpeter. Sulphur came by ox-cart or wagon from Mexico. These ingredients blended were highly explosive. Though powder was dampened during the work of grinding it fine, fires at the mill were not uncommon. In the Civil War, 1861-1865, supplied powder to state and frontier troops and the home guard. Workers young boys and men past military age.