Decibel
The Trail that Wrote Texas History
Clip | 6m 36sVideo has Closed Captions
Learn about El Camino Real de los Tejas and how it impacted Texans on and off the roads.
The Camino Real de los Tejas is a trail that stretches back to the first residents of the state, and it's still directing the paths Texans take today. Local researchers believe a branch may cut through Dove Springs, but can they preserve this piece of history before it's lost to rapid development?
Decibel is a local public television program presented by Austin PBS
Funding for Decibel is provided in part by Texas Mutual and Roxanne Elder & Scott Borders
Decibel
The Trail that Wrote Texas History
Clip | 6m 36sVideo has Closed Captions
The Camino Real de los Tejas is a trail that stretches back to the first residents of the state, and it's still directing the paths Texans take today. Local researchers believe a branch may cut through Dove Springs, but can they preserve this piece of history before it's lost to rapid development?
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[Brian] It's not easy to find where those old paths were.
I'm still stuck in the old way of like looking at where the creeks bend and where the roads are and what, old path could have possibly been a road.
So I love that.
You know.
[Steven] They refer to people like us as rut nuts.
You're looking for those old ruts, those old swales physical remnant of the road right.
[Brian] We're crossing underneath Pleasant Valley.
I'm Brian Beattie.
I'm a musician and a record producer and a songwriter.
And, uh, Austin history nerd.
I'm Steve Gonzales.
I'm executive director of El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association.
[acoustic guitar plays] The Camino Real de los Tejas is the road that led to the founding of Texas.
There are multiple routes that had different names historically.
Originally, it was a Native American footpath that was later followed by Spanish explorers, French explorers, Anglo settlers coming into Texas, even African-Americans seeking freedom from slavery in the American South.
[cars driving by] [Steven] Lots of roads that we know nowadays are part of the trail.
That 35 corridor between San Antonio and Austin, I mean, that is a prime example of that old footpath turning into a massive modern superhighway.
[Brian] ...just continue with the walking because there's a couple of interesting things up on this side.
But this is a it's a it is a fascinating... [Brian] I had heard the Camino Real described as it goes through Austin.
I just mostly was fascinated with the fact that this wasn't explored very commonly in Austin's self image.
[Steven] I don't know how well you can see this but here is a map.
Right?
And so-- [Brian] - -We're right right here, right here... [Brian] it goes right through the edge of Dove Springs.
[Steven] And that's that pretty much aligns with the study route we're looking at, that could become an official part of the trail.
[Brian] - Yeah.
[Steven] This is Slaughter.
There's William Cannon.
And then you can see this study route right here connecting in with the currently congressionally designated route.
And then right up here is the Montopolis crossing.
We're confirming physically on the ground what we've learned in the written record.
[Brian] Yeah, it's so exciting.
[upbeat acoustic guitar plays] [Steven] Well, this is an interesting place.
There's even some terracing over there... [Steven] When you're looking for old roads, it's really doing that historic research, and then getting there onto the ground and doing archeology as well, which can confirm what you're seeing in the written record.
[Steven] That looks like the classic swale.
It's the indention.
It's this U-shape, right?
[Steven] That is the physical remnant of the road.
[Brian] Oh, yeah, that's one too.
And see, those are... [Steven] But there are other things that can tie into these things as well.
we can see living fence rows, which are trees that have been planted along these old roads.
[Brian] ...you see the edge of the fence?
[Steven] Nails can be dated to all kinds of different periods.
[Steven] This is an old tree.
[Steven] Old pecan trees and things that are probably at least 100, 150 years old.
Then we might find some Native American artifacts, we might find Spanish artifacts.
Who knows what we'll find?
[Brian] In a way, it gets less and less photogenic.
But that's also of what is interesting about it.
[Brian] It's fascinating to me that it's all there and there's actual physical evidence on the ground of ancient stuff, and it's very quickly all the land is getting gobbled up.
There was a big mound on the bluff between Onion--between Williamson Creek and Onion Creek.
And it was right beyond it on the Horton Line.
And that's this place right here, so, you know, I-- there--it's the C-Mart.
At the C-Mart.
I don't know.
[Steven] A lot can be lost, unfortunately, if people are unaware of what they actually have in their possession.
[melancholy guitar plays] [Steven] Well, I'm interested to see the maps and then hopefully get a little peek at what some of this looks like on the ground as well.
[Brian] We have a more of a sense of the Camino in some of the smaller towns and in San Antonio.
But for some reason, people don't talk about it here quite as much.
So all we are right now is like zooming into the future, you know, like more tall buildings that I didn't see yesterday, you know, [traffic noise] [trucks idling] [construction noise] [Steven] we cannot try to stop people from developing their private land, but we can try to work with them proactively so that they can protect that archeological site, that historic resource.
And suddenly that place that is so mundane it can come to life in a different way.
[Brian] This here, this area, that is the heart of Dove Springs... [Steven] Right now, we're actually working to create a report that will focus on the trail between San Antonio and Austin that will be shared with elected officials, planning departments, parks departments, developers, so that they can see and understand, look, there's something here.
And even though we might develop this small stretch of property, we can protect this archeological remnant and actually benefit from it.
[soft music plays] [Brian] I think there's a certain amount of magic to the place.
And you can see that the history of this area is a lot richer than, you know, the abbreviated story we've been told.
[Steven] Trails, they bring people and places together.
It's a Native American footpath followed by Spanish, French, Anglo settlers, African-American people coming into Texas.
And so if we understand that we all have a piece of that history, it shows that we have commonalities that we may not know.
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Decibel is a local public television program presented by Austin PBS
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