In the stage coach days from San Antonio to San Diego there were stations at Brackett-ville, at Camp Hudson and at Comanche Springs (Fort Stockton), also Tunas Springs. An old stone corral still remains at Tunas Springs; over on the meadow the last of the stone stage stations is visible from the highway. The Treaty following the Mexican war of 1846-47 required the United States to prevent the northern Indians from invading Mexico. Forts and garrisons were built at these watering places from San Antonio to San Diego. Seventy years previously the Spaniards built a string of presidios (forts) and missions near the Rio Grande and westward to the Gulf of California as their northern fortifications against the Indians.
The old trails to Chihuahua, Mexico, crossed the Pecos River above Camp Lancaster and turned southward at Leon Springs near Fort Stockton then through the Paisano Pass to the mouth of the Conchos River on the Rio Grande. From this Fort Stockton country northward the old Counelly trail of 1839 led to Arkansas.