DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the marker at this Cameron County stop tells it, and I'll do my best to honor every word. Now, about ten miles east of where you're sitting right now, there used to be a place called Paso Real — a ferry crossing on the Arroyo Colorado. The name probably meant The King's Pass, and friend, that is a name that earned its weight.
Stagecoaches were rolling over that Paso Real Ferry as early as 1846. But it was in the 1860s that the place took on a kind of importance that went well beyond the local and the ordinary. We're talking international importance.
Because Paso Real sat right along the cotton road — and the cotton road, the marker tells us plainly, was the lifeline of the Confederacy. Here's the situation. Federal coastal blockades had cut off imports and exports for the entire South.
Every port, sealed up. So how does a war machine keep running with no way in and no way out? You find another road.
And this was it. Cotton went south, down through Paso Real, across to Matamoros — and what came back? Guns.
Ammunition. Medicines. Cloth.
Shoes. Blankets. All those vital goods that a fighting force cannot do without.
The whole exchange ran right through that ferry crossing on the Arroyo Colorado. And it wasn't just cotton wagons kicking up the dust. The stagecoach connection at Paso Real drew Confederate businessmen and foreign businessmen both.
Government agents. Diplomats. Army personnel.
You'd have had quite a crowd in that coach if you'd known who to look for. Of course, not everyone on that road had official business. Bandits watched those stages and cotton wagons, looking for something worth taking.
Army deserters did the same. And then there were the mysterious travelers — the ones the marker describes just like that, mysterious, no further explanation offered — sometimes with a pursuing sheriff riding hard on the very next stage behind them. Whatever they were carrying, or running from, they knew the road to Paso Real.
Of the thirty-one stagelines operating in Confederate Texas — hauling mail, soldiers, and civilians across a state at war — not one was considered more vital than this line through Paso Real. And not one, the marker is happy to add, was more interesting to travel. The King's Pass.
Ten miles east of here. Where cotton kept a Confederacy breathing, and the next stage might be carrying anything — or anyone.
What the marker says
About 10 miles east of this site during the Civil War was Paso Real, ferry point on Arroyo Colorado. As early as 1846, stagecoaches had gone over Paso Real Ferry (the name probably meant "The King's Pass"). In the 1860's, the spot had international importance. It was a crossing for the cotton road, lifeline of the Confederacy. When Federal coastal blockades had cut off imports and exports for the entire South, this road moved cotton down to Matamoros so that it coud be exchanged for guns, ammunition, medicines, cloth, shoes, blankets and many other vital goods. Besides the prized cotton loads that went past Paso Real, the stagecoach connection there was of importance to Confederate and foreign businessmen, government agents, diplomats and Army personnel. This was an area of conflict and intrigue. Bandits and Army deserters watched the road for stages and cotton wagons to pilfer. Mysterious travelers went this way--sometimes with a pursuing Sheriff on the next stage. Of 31 stagelines in Confederate Texas (hauling mail, soldiers, civilians), no other was more vital nor more interesting to travel than this through Paso Real. (1965)