DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the French in Texas, out here in Bowie County. Now, most folks think of Texas as Spanish country, maybe Mexican, eventually Republic and then Lone Star state — but there's a chapter that doesn't always get its due. For roughly a century, the French were out here too.
Explorers and traders, working the rivers and the tribes and the borderlands, and they weren't shy about it. It starts on the coast. As early as 1685, a man named La Salle established Fort Saint Louis — a French colony planted right there on coastal Texas.
Spain already claimed this land, mind you. Claimed it loud and legal. Didn't seem to discourage anybody.
Now fast forward to 1719. A French captain named Benard de La Harpe comes up the Red River and establishes a second Fort Saint Louis — this one among the Nassonite Indians, just a few miles northwest of where this marker stands. Two forts, same name, different centuries, different rivers.
The French liked that name, apparently. La Harpe's fort was no lonely outpost. It became a genuine center for trade.
The Cadodacho — the Caddoes of northeast Texas — were part of it. So were the Wichita, the Tawakoni, the Tonkawa, and other tribes of North Texas. This was a hub.
A crossroads. And the ground around here remembers it — over two hundred and fifty thousand French and Caddo Indian artifacts have been found near this spot. Two hundred and fifty thousand.
And among them, two millstones, used in an actual flour mill near the fort. Someone was grinding grain out here while empires argued over the map. Spain, as I mentioned, claimed Texas the whole time — during La Harpe's era, before it, and after.
But the French kept right on trading. They pushed as far south as the mouth of the Trinity River. They weren't leaving until Louisiana was ceded to Spain in 1762.
That's when the music stopped. But of all the French figures working this corner of the continent, the one the marker calls the chief French influence in east Texas is the Cavalier Saint Denis, born 1676, died 1744. He controlled the Red River area of Louisiana and came into Texas frequently.
Early on he prospected for silver and gold, same as the Spanish had done. Then he found that trading with the Indians was considerably more profitable, and he leaned into that. And here's the thing about the French and the Indians — the French had no policy against trading guns to the tribes.
The Spanish did. And partly for that reason, the marker tells us plainly, the French were more popular. For about a century, they worked these rivers and these relationships, leaving behind trade routes, two forts with the same name, a flour mill, and a quarter million artifacts sleeping in the East Texas soil.
Not a bad run for a country that never officially held the place.
What the marker says
Were explorers and traders for about a century. Claimed coastal Texas early as 1685 when La Salle established his Fort Saint Louis colony. Another Fort Saint Louis, among Nassonite Indians, a few miles northwest of this marker, was founded in 1719 by a French captain, Benard de La Harpe, who came up the Red River. This fort was a center for trade with the Cadodacho (Caddoes) of northeast Texas and the Wichita, Tawakoni, Tonkawa and other tribes of North Texas. Over 250,000 French and Caddo Indian artifacts have been found near here-- including two millstones used in a flour mill near the fort. Although Spain claimed Texas earlier and during the time of La Harpe, this did not discourage the French; they traded as far south as the mouth of the Trinity until Louisiana was ceded to Spain in 1762. The chief French influence in east Texas was the Cavalier Saint Denis (1676-1744), who controlled Red River area of Louisiana, frequently coming into Texas. At first he prospected for silver and gold, as Spain had done. Later he found trading with the Indians was very profitable. The French had no policy against trading guns to Indians; partly for that reason they were more popular than the Spainards. (1966)