CENTUIUES OF ROMANTIC EXI'LORATIO PRESERVING ROADSIDE BEAUTIES The Old Spanish Trail connects the playgrounds of Florida with the playgrounds of California and links the playgrounds that lie between. It will bring to the cities and towns along the way a continual tide of tourist and automobile travel and a permanent pleasure to the people. It will revive and keep alive the remarkable history of old Spanish days, a history on the northern continent that reaches from Florida to California and oilers historical associations more romantic than anything in the land. Those were the days of Spanish splendor, of Cavalier and Conqueror, of Columbus, Cortez and Piznrro, of Ponce de Leon, De Soto and Coronado and of the great orders of priests whose missions are scattered along the Trail. The romance and riches of Mexico drew prince and peasant. From Mexico the old trails and their daring carried them into the South and Southwest: into the New Spain of their hopes. The Spaniards dreamed of gold and glory, and with expeditions worth a King's ransom they struggled through jungles, deserts and mountains to despair and death while the phantom of riches raised others to follow. In South America they sought for the land of the Gilded Chief whom they called El Dorado; they searched for the Temple of the Sun and the Enchanted City of the Caesars. In North America they searched thru Arizona and New Mexico for the fabled Seven Cities of Gold, and for the realms of the Gran Quivera in Texas and Kansas; they sought the Great Kingdom of the Tejas, the Mountain of Silver, the Streams of Pearls, the Provinces of Wealth and the Fountain of Youth. They added luster to their period and won new empires and lost them. Today the Floridas and the New Spain of those days are the winter retreats of the people of the North American continent. ^OOOOq^ HEADQUARTERS; SAN ANTONIO. TEX THE OLD TRAILS St. Augustine, 15G5, the oldest city in the United States, is the beginning of the Old Spanish Trail on the Atlantic coast. San Diego (Saint James), 17G9, the beginning of California, is the terminus of the Old Spanish Trail on the Pacific const. Midway lies San Antonio (Saint Anthony), 1718, Headquarters of the Old Spanish Trail and anciently an important mission and military center for New Spain West from San Antonio is El Paso (El Paso del Norte—the Pass of the North), rich in the history of the earliest days. North of El Paso lies Santa Fe (Holy Faith), first mission built in 15G0, second oldest city in the United States, first seat of missions, colonizing and government. Pensacola, El Paso and other places also lay claim to earliest’ settlements. Old Mexico was conquered by Cortez in 1519. From Mexico City northward, like the ribs of a fan, trails dating from the days of the Aztecs developed into “Camino Reals” (King's Highways) of the Spaniards; one northeastward thru San Antonio, then to Nacogdoches and Natchitoches and on to Mobile and Pensacohf and to St. Augustine; one thru El Paso to Santa Fe and the New Mexico territory ; one thru Nogales and Tucson to the Arizona country, then westward thru Yuma to San Diego and California. Up the California coast is the Camino Real of California song and story where those twenty-one missions were built and their hospitality oirered It. the wayfarers in that wild land. From these trails or highways others branched until all the Southern Borderlands thrilled to the romance and tragedy of conquerors ami explorers, settlers and missionaries, adventurers and dreamers—all a part of the great games of empire that for three hundred years were played to win and lose. The Old Spanish Trail of today is a project that has woven old trails and new ways together to open anew th Southern Borderlands to the modern day explorer. truckloads of advertisin.- ;£n< Promoting roadside beauties sixteen nio section of the OlcP Wi„u‘V-S b?,en removed from the San An to-removed from other sections 0rh,)Jr?1.1'. M-'ny truckloads have been inK. Property ownersu„°dmefreh-mt .,Kh'Vny- lh'' work j advertising. The Old Sn-n; u»r‘ir finding the interest verv irenniti Jrad.Department of Beautification Travelers can heln nrSISJ !uttnd K,nc°ro. ers from destruction, and lreea fr°m mutilation and the fi«-'"' men whore place.* of huainaw a?o°nUrac