DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and friend, it is worth every mile to hear. Now, before there were the great Spanish missions — the ones you see on postcards and in history books — there was this one. Small.
Rushed. Two rooms on a hill, about seventeen miles south of what is now Ballinger. Some historians argue it sat even farther south, closer to Junction, but that argument is for the scholars.
What isn't argued is the year: 1684. One of the first missions in all of Texas east of the Pecos River. In fact, the first one known to have been established there at all.
The men who built it were Juan Dominguez de Mendoza and Fray Nicolas Lopez. They named it San Clemente, after the river beside it — which was actually the Colorado, whatever anyone was calling it at the time. And here is the part that stops you cold if you think about it: this mission was not forced on anyone.
The Jumano Indians had asked for it. They desired Christianity, the marker says, and the friendship of the Spanish. So Mendoza and Lopez came.
The structure they put up was probably logs — nothing grand. The lower story served as a chapel. The upper story served as a lookout post.
Which tells you right there that peace and watchfulness had to share the same roof. They stayed from March the fifteenth to May the first. That is it.
Not even two full months. But in that window, they were waiting — waiting on envoys from forty-eight tribes. Forty-eight.
And while they waited, they baptized many among the several thousand Indian allies who had gathered with them. Then the Apaches attacked. Hostile, the marker says, and you believe it, because what happened next is Mendoza turning his men around and heading back to El Paso — arriving six months after he had left.
Now. Here is where the story gets wider than one mission on one hill. Mendoza did not know it when he rode back west, but that same year — 1684 — the French explorer La Salle had landed on the Gulf Coast.
And when Mendoza filed his report, it mentioned something unsettling: he had seen a French flag among the Indians. That detail, combined with the news of La Salle's landing, moved quickly. It led to other Spanish expeditions being sent out to chart the Texas wilderness.
So this small, hastily built two-room structure — this log chapel with a lookout on top, out on a hill south of present Ballinger — it did not last. But the report of what Mendoza saw there? That echoed.
That sent men riding into the unknown. The mission itself was gone before summer. The ripples it started kept going.
What the marker says
The first mission known to have been established in Texas east of the Pecos River, San Clemente was a hastily built, two-room structure located on a hill about 17 miles south of present Ballinger. (Some historians place the site farther south, near Junction.) Although earlier than the great Spanish mission movement, this was one of the first (1684) in Texas and was founded by Juan Dominguez de Mendoza and Fray Nicolas Lopez. Named for the San Clemente River (actually the Colorado), the mission was founded at the request of the Jumano Indians, who desired Christianity and the friendship of the Spanish. The buildings was probably constructed of logs, its lower story serving as a chapel and its upper story as a lookout post. Though they stayed only from March 15 to May 1, awaiting envoys from 48 tribes (bands), the Spaniards baptized many of their several thousand Indian allies. Finally, being attacked by hostile Apaches, Mendoza returned with his men to El Paso six months after he had left. Although Mendoza did not know it, French explorer La Salle had landed on the Gulf Coast, 1684. This fact, plus Mendoza's report of seeing a French flag among the Indians quickly led to other Spanish expeditions being sent to chart the Texas wilderness.