Harral Ayres, ten years Managing Director, now President, was decorated by Don Pablo de Ubarri in the none of the King of Spain with the Cross of a Knight Commander of the Royal Order of Isabel la Catolica of Spain, at a diplomatic ceremony at San Antonio, Texas, The modern highway has cost to date (1S32), including funds in hand for present work, over §100,000,000. Complete paving across the continent is close to completion All bridges are completed except two in Louisiana, the Mississippi .River and Berwick Bay; both of these are under construction, XII EUR TRADING AND MINES The French developed the riches of fur-trading, planting their trading posts on the rivers. Overland trails developed to connect them. The Spaniards gathered riches from the mines of Mexico and the Southwest. They develop-•the missions in the West as a part of their benevolent policy for uplifting the natives and developing the country. But when Spain took possession of Old Louisiana she fell in step with French trading works in preference to building mission establishments there. XIII PIONEER PATHS Many trails developed in the present Louisiana from New Orleans to the French trading posts. In Texas, trails developed from San Antonio to the Texas and Louisiana settlements.and from San Antonio northwestward to Santa Fe^ the Spanish capital in northern New Mexico,....and westward between San Antonio and SI Paso,,...and between San Antonio and Chihuahua, Mexico by a roundabout route thru West Texas, for carrying supplies to that rich Mexican mining State and! bringing the wealth of the nines to San Antonio and the coast for shipment. Northward, a Spanish trail thru Utah connected the California missions and Santa FeJ New Mexico, XIV LA FLORIDA The whole southeastern territory including Old Louisiana v/as the Spanish country of La Florida. Spain failed in important- development there altho she sent to La Floricla some of the strongest expeditions in New World history-— names like Ponce de Loon, Aylldn, Narvaez, De Soto, Luna y Arellano, Menendez, and others are noted in southeastern story. That, v/as a country of powerful and partly civilized' Indian tribes. The early Spaniards abused the Indians and the natives repaid by defeating Spanish attempts at colonization and development. It was a country Spaniards would have loved. The fine harbors along the Gulf of Mexico and! the Atlantic- Coast offered opportunities for important cities, shipbuilding and commerce. The inland country was inviting for the gay life of the Spanish people. The climate, the hills, forests, rivers and bays were often complimented. It was near the Spanish home-lands. There were no minerals to mine for wealth but fur trading was a source of riches. The great haciendas, the herds of livestock, agriculture, orchards, and other developments so common in other Spanish provinces would have flourished in La Florida. Saint Augustine was their only important settlement. Mission works spread northward and westward from Saint Augustine. Stone did not exist for such majestic churches as in Texas, Mexico and the West, and few relics remain. On the Atlantic Seaboard one or tv/o minor type missions of oyster shell cement were built. Tv/o centuries passed before the French same to this Gulf' country. The oppressions of the early Spanish explorers and the aroused valor of the Indians changed the course of an empire. The French found riches in fur trading throughout the Mississippi Valley, and up the Mobile River and other central waterways and their affluents. The French Jesuits of Canada were their mission workers. The vast Mississippi Valley became French instead of Spanish and the Florida territory awaited the Anglo-American conquest. XV CALIFORNIA Spain was late in getting her standards planted in California. Pacific winds and storms were persistont obstacles to the littlo sailing ships. The desert lands of the Southwest prevented overland approach. Poor living condition;-in California could not save the intrepid men that did reach that country from the scurvy and siclcness that stalked with them. The Revolutionary War v/as close on the Atlantic Seaboard when Spain at lost in 176? safely established on the western coast. They did not find the gold of that country but they did bring in, over long and fearsome trails, livestock, seeds and shrubs and transformed it into a land of' green fields and haciendas alive with vast herds of livestock. Missions and homes dispensed open-handed hospitality to the wayfarer. The Indian tribes of California v/ere weak. Spanish genius for development had relatively uninterrupted opportunity. Their achievements during that half century in California are among the marvels of pioneering. Spanish power in California crumbled when Mexico achieved her independence.