DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker at Tonkawa Bank tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to honor every word. Now, you want to talk about a piece of ground that kept its secrets for a long time — this is the place. It starts, as so many Texas stories do, with trouble blowing in from somewhere else.
Word reached New Spain that the French had planted a settlement somewhere in Texas. And that word hit like a thunderclap. Eleven expeditions — eleven — went out by land and by sea to find that settlement and destroy it.
Eleven tries before they finally got their man. Or rather, got his outpost. On April 22, 1689, Spanish Governor General Alonso de Leon and his troops came upon the place.
And what they found was... nothing. Nobody home. The French outpost had been deserted.
De Leon's orders were to find it and destroy it. He figured finding it was close enough. So his men buried La Salle's eight cannons right there in the ground and turned around and rode back to Mexico City.
Now, a year later — a year, mind you — De Leon came back. This time he wasn't leaving anything to chance. He burned the French structures down, and then he pressed on to East Texas to establish the first missions there.
Whatever La Salle had built on this ground, it was gone. But the ground itself? The ground remembers.
In 1722, the Spanish built the original Presidio La Bahia right on top of the remains of that French outpost. And just across Garcitas Creek, in what is now Jackson County, they established the original Mission Espiritu Santo. Two institutions, one on each bank, rising out of the ashes of what the French had left behind.
But the same problems that had doomed La Salle's colony started gnawing at the Spanish too. So the missionaries — led by Father Ignacio de San Jose y Baena — picked up and moved to a new site, twenty-five miles away, on the east bank of the Guadalupe River. They got there by 1725.
And that's where our marker stands. That site — Tonkawa Bank, as it would later be known — had what a settlement needs to survive. Fresh water from Spring Creek.
Stone and timber close at hand. The Spanish built their complex from what the land offered, and they even put up a sizable earthen dam to help irrigate crops below the mission site. By any measure, this was a serious operation.
But it wasn't serious enough. They outgrew it. Again.
So they moved eight miles upstream, to the area now known as Mission Valley. From 1726 all the way to 1749, the mission held the west bank of the river, with the presidio two miles downstream on the opposite bank — close enough to matter, far enough apart to cover more ground. And then, by November of 1749, even that wasn't the final word.
The mission and the presidio packed up one more time and relocated to the San Antonio River, near what we now call Goliad. From Garcitas Creek in 1722 to the San Antonio River in 1749 — that's the long walk of Presidio La Bahia and Mission Espiritu Santo through the Texas wilderness. And right in the middle of that journey, for a stretch of years that shaped what came before and after, sat this quiet bend of river called Tonkawa Bank.
Buried cannons. Burned outposts. Dams and missions and a creek that never ran dry.
This ground didn't just witness Texas colonial history — it was where that history kept stopping to catch its breath.
What the marker says
Reports of a French settlement somewhere in Texas sent a shockwave through New Spain. Eleven expeditions by land and sea were launched to find La Salle's settlement and destroy it. On April 22, 1689, Spanish governor General Alonso de Leon and his troops discovered the deserted outpost. Considering their orders fulfilled, they buried La Salle's eight cannons and returned to Mexico City. One year later, De Leon returned, burned the French structures, and proceeded on to East Texas to found the first missions there. In 1722, the original Presidio La Bahia was built atop the remains of the French outpost. The original Mission Espiritu Santo, was established across Garcitas Creek in present-day Jackson County. The same problems which doomed La Salle's colony also plagued the Spaniards, necessitating a move. Missionaries led by Father Ignacio de San Jose y Baena were operating at a new site, twenty-five miles away on the east bank of the Guadalupe River by 1725. Tonkawa Bank, as it would later be known, had a reliable supply of fresh water (Spring Creek), as well as stone and timber which were used to construct the Spanish complex. A sizable earthen dam was constructed to aid the irrigation of crops below the mission site. Quickly outgrowing the site, Spanish agricultural and missionary activities relocated once again, eight miles upstream, to the area now known as Mission Valley. From 1726 to 1749, the mission occupied the west bank of the river, supported by the presidio two miles downstream on the opposite bank. By November 1749, the mission and presidio relocated to the San Antonio River near present-day Goliad. The migration of Presidio La Bahia and Mission Espiritu Santo from Garcitas Creek (1722) to the San Antonio River (1749) is a vital chapter in the Spanish colonial history of Texas. (1970, 2011)