Old King s Highway Joins Present to Romantic Past; l,v Conceived by Adventurous Frenchman as Bond ot Trade Union Between Richest Colonies of France and in in New World, ...Span Tali authorities. Salat. ; Denis, after spending some time in 1 preparation for his Journey, finally struck out boldly aero charted wilderness in a search of his goal, with a company of twenty-four men under his command. He appears to have spent about six months with the Texas Indians on the Angelina River, where lie found memories of La Salle’s presence in that region some thirty years bc-foi \ and also of Father Hidalgo. Spain in New World, oral years among the Indians and ». it a , ,/ /-> 10 whom they were very much at- It Was Actually Es- £ labiished as Means 10 search of Father Hidalgo, \vho\-al reported to he at the mission of .San Juan Bautista on the Rio Grande. After passing the Brazos they encountered a band of hostile. ! Indians and defeated them, after which most of the party turned back, while Saint Denis, with a few I companions pushed on and reached I the Rio Grande early in 1715. Goes to Interview Viceroy. commandantc at San Juan ' Diego Ramon, must considerably amazed Keep Apart. The following historic.il sketch dealing with tho events woven about the establishing of the old King's highway, or J51 ('amino Real, one of tho most famous highways of the Southwest, was written . ..... by Rev. George Louis Crocket, rector of v.autista Don Chrlsl Church! Sun AUKUSlIno. To*. Tho /..."i old Texas lurvn of San Augustine i, hi. that has flB- u,is sudden apparition of a vivacious the trend of rcnchman dropping almost miraou- t rail breakers. to put ...... .seems to ________________________________ I. BY GEORGE LOUIS CROCKET, 10 h*s Project and permitted him to go to Mexico City to interview tlio The King’s highway, El Camino viceroy. We can not go into the Real, stretches across the state of biirnis’ adventures in Tovaq from Fnirle Pass on tho Rio *co- Quince it to say that his Texas Irom Lagie 1 ass on in. nio main proposition was soon aban-Grandc to the old mission of Adaes Jdoned. because the Spanish govern-near Robeline, La., a distance of ment held a jealous monopoly of all - .some lour hundred miles. 11 also Ito'^adnrht Arival!'” ''he'"To stretches back into the past lor (impressed the authorities as to in-200 years in a right royal period ,duce them to establish a combined of romance and adventure, and was 'mission and military post on the ired by chevaliers and dons monk* j™v:?l» tKSfo” i^SS.1 and missionaries, representing the ;French explorers. Captain Domingo conflicting claims of two of the'Ramon, son of the commandante. was greatest kingdoms of the lime U fet D^niS^Slk? ShS? adv?nlui°or was conclcvcd as a commercial bond ,of romance, had fallen in love with of union between the richest colonies the beautiful granddaughter of Don of France and Spain in the new and had married. her, and now world, but was actually established lo „llol to ^ho^fand ^“thc as a means to keep them definitely Texas. With them went twelve friars and forever apart. It has witnessed f,’om the rival colleges of Quercta.ro the solemn ceremonial of eeeleslas- p" (her AntSSo Margll ',1'‘jesus^ni tical processions and the pomp ol the former under Father Hidalgo, religious ritual intended to win the who was happy in the approaching hearts of the aboriginal savages, JM5? .lon», cbe,’ished and has also resounded to the tramp rcstf of the compan?°collstated of armed legions calculated to oyer- .of two married men with their fam-awe their hostility. Along its Mlics. thirteen unmarried men. seven course have swept hack and forth I'""™'1 Jr,0?'?1!'1' " lves„of revolution and repression, the rude- ° ?malIcr iv armed levies of liberty and the fi' ? Indians trained soldiery of tyranny, wrest- j ,l t0lTU>lctc colonj In embryo, ling for the possession of one of the . Gifts Are Exchanged, fairest provinces under^ the sun. j The departure from the Rio Grhndo the 27th of April. 171G. of two Over it have passed both devoted (was made self-denial In the service of the cross and after a tedious joun and licentious rapine in the pursuit months the cavalcade «llllv...i on of pleasure and lawless gain. And :Jnnc 20 at the spot on the \oehes finally it became the artery of where Father Hidalgo had labored in peaceful commerce and of the so- ifiOO. where tlicv were met bv a del-cial intercourse of a civilized poo- vgation Gf Indian ciiiefs. There apple. pears to have been much flaunting Frenchman Proposes Route. -of banners and firing of salutes, after j In 1711 Sieur Louis Juchereau de which they smoked the pipe of peace Saint Denis, a Frenchman of noble an , received*- gifts 01 maize, water-birth. who had led an adventurous melons and tamales in return for j life on the upper Mississippi and cloth, hats and dishes. The result of the Great Lakes, was engaged In t|’,s Powwow was the establishment the service of Antonie Crozat, the cf six missions lour among the newly appointed governor of Louis- Texas, one in the allied tribe of the iana. Crozat had received tho gov- A'es a|- Present town of San ornorship as a commercial venture. Augustine, and one among the Adacs having been granted a monopoly of ,ieai.’ RObeiinc, La. the trade of Louisiana for fifteen Texas missions were San years. He therefore listened will- Francisco on the east side of the Jngly to the proposal of Saint Denis Nechcs near the present town of to open an overland trade route Alto. La rurissima Concepcion near from the Mississippi River to the I he Linnwood crossing of tho An-Spanish province of Mexico, and geiinn, and San Joseph on one of gave him a commission to explore Die tributaries of Shawnee Creek the route and negotiate a treaty •lGtl11’ the northern line of Nacogdoches County. These thro~ —1--------------------------------------------- niss ions wore assigned 10 me yuerctaran friars, and were abandoned In 1727. so that no trace of them remains today. The other mission of the Texas Indians was that of Xuestra Sonora de Guadelupe at Nacogdoches. These four were established during the autumn of 1710 before the winter season compelled a suspension of i activities. In the early spring of ! 1717 the mission of Xuestra Sonora ! de Ios Dolores de los Ais was established on the Ayish Bayou near the present town ol’ San Augustine, and i a little later the mission of San • Miguel de Linares was planted near ' Uobeline. La., within about seven ' leagues of the French post of . Natchitoches. In 1713 the mission of San Antonio de Valero was cstab-I lished on the San Antonio Klver to ! serve as a supply station between {San Juan Bautista on the Rio Grande and the distant settlement near the eastern border. Thus everything was settled to the eminent satisfaction of all parties. The Indians had been honored by the establishment of the missions; the Spanish bad as-■ sumed possession of the territory: 1 and the French had so maneuvered - that their opponents had opened the ’overland route which Saint Denis had proposed, and had planted a settlement with which they might trade , even though they must do it clandestinely. { No Settled Trail for Years. ! It would be an error, however, to I I conclude that the highway was laid I out and established by those jour- ! ncyings to and fro. From the river to San Antonio to the Rio Grande i there seems to have been but one | route, probably an Indian trail lead- | lug to the pass on the river. At the other end of the road between I the Neelies and Sabine and on as! far as the Adaes were Indian trails from villiage to village, which the! traveler naturally followed. But I between the Neelies and tlic San An - I tonic there was no settled trail for j many years. A few years after the > establishment of tlic missions the French during a brief war with I Spain, made a raid from Natchitoches I which so terrified the colonists that they scuffled off incontinently to the shelter of the mission at Bexar. When the Marquis de Aguayo two years later-led an expedition to re-' establish the abandoned missions lie traveled far north of the highway, as it was afterward defined. Other travelers seem to have gone each a different route. It is probable the section between San Antonio and the Nechcs was settled by custom along the trail which was afterward known as El Camino Real or the Royal road. As the years went on. however, it became a well-defined trail, and the boundaries of old Spanish grants in the beginning of the last century wore marked by its trace. It was not a road in the proper sense of the word, but was a mule trail, winding around hills, over valleys and across prairies, and crossing the streams at the most accessible fords and ferries. Along its course would wind the long trains of pack mules bearing . supplies from Mexico for the lonely missions in the East: their loads 'containing provisions for the priests