Note III'-1 — Chapter III · ITINERARY, CONCLUDED: THROUGH TEXAS TO NATCHITOCHES ON THE RED RIVER OF LOUISIANA, JUNE 1ST-JULY 1ST, 1807.

Pike is now seen to have been all the while on the old Spanish trail from Coahuila into Texas—for it was the "old" trail of his day, a century ago. The place is 40 m. below Eagle Pass or old Fort Duncan, and 90 m. above Laredo or old Fort McIntosh. It is thus the middle one of three places on the river within easy striking distance of San Antonio, Tex. From each of the three roads still converge to the latter point; but this most historic place on the lower Rio Grande has in the course of time fallen between two stools, so to speak. For now one railroad runs from San Antonio nearly S. to Laredo, by the way of Pearsall, Derby, Cotulla, Encinal, Webb, and Sanchez, and another comes W. to Laredo from Corpus Christi on the Gulf; while a third railroad connects San Antonio with Eagle Pass by way of Castroville, Salinal, and Brackettville (Fort Clark). The last named one is that which Pike kept so close to on his way out of Mexico; the one from Laredo runs in Nuevo Leon to Monterey and so on. Eagle Pass is roundly 500 m. up the Rio Grande, by any practicable road, but less than half as far from the Gulf in a direct line. Forty years ago it had a population of 300, and Fort Duncan, which adjoined the town, was our uppermost military post on the river. On the other side the Mexicans had their similar establishment at a place called Piedras Negras or Black Rocks. A fine view of this place is given on one of the engravings of the U. S. and Mex. B. Survey, supposed to be bound opp. p. 72. The Ciudad Porfirio Diaz is there or thereabouts now, and another settlement called Fuentes is in the neighborhood; but Fort Duncan has disappeared, except from history. Fuentes is on a small river which falls in just above; higher up on the same is San Fernando de Rosas, or Zaragoza, a point whence various roads radiate. Laredo or Loredo is a very old place, whose history dates back to the early Spanish occupation of the country. Emory writes that in his time, say 1850, it was a decayed place of 600 inhabitants, having been ravaged by savage hordes, and being then supported mainly by old Fort McIntosh, which was built a mile above the town. He thinks that the countless herds of horses which had been stampeded and stolen by the Indians were the progenitors of the mustangs which roamed the plains of Texas thence N. and E. Laredo is now a focal point of roads from every direction, including two railroads; and a place called Nuevo Laredo is established across the river. At 61 or 62 m. by the road below Laredo, and thus opposite the mouth of Rio Sabinas (which takes the undesirable name of Rio Salado below its forks), a fortified trading-post was built, and called Bellville. This name appears on maps of 40 years ago, but has lapsed, like that of Redmond's Ranch by which it was once known, and there is nothing on the American side to show for what would supposably be a marked place—the confluence of so large a river with the Rio Grande. But there is a town of Carrizo a few miles below, on the Texan side. The Mexican town of Guerro or Guerrero is located on the N. bank of Rio Salado, 4 m. up; and 3 m. further are the handsome falls, a colored plate of which should be found opp. p. 65 of the Report last named. Forty miles below this confluence, Rio Alamo, also known as Rio Alcontre, falls in on the Mexican side, and 4 m. up this river is the town of Mier, on its S. bank. Mier, or a town of that name in this vicinity, must be an old place; Pike marks a Mier on the Texan side. The Mier of the Mexican War became a celebrated place, during the Texan invasion of 1840, when a desperate fight occurred on its plaza. It was then a town of 2,000 or 3,000 inhabitants, and had many stone buildings among the straw-thatched huts. It made much history, and was a point of strategic importance, being the starting-place of the shortest and most direct road to Monterey. Military operations on the Rio Grande during the American occupation of Mier are said by Emory to have altered the channel of the river, with the result of throwing the island of Los Adjuntos over to the Mexican side, and thus changing what had been the United States and Mexican boundary. About 5 m. further down the Rio Grande stands Roma, a town on the American side, notable as the head of ordinary steamboat navigation. Below this, at the distance of 16 or 17 m., are the adjoining localities of Rio Grande City and Ringgold Barracks. These notable places are opposite the mouth of the San Juan r., on some of whose headwaters Pike was found in the country W. of Saltillo, and which is the first considerable stream that falls in on the Mexican side above the Gulf. The town of Camargo is built on its E. bank, about 4 m. up. The original establishment of Fort Ringgold is old (for our young history on the Rio Grande); it was a mean place in 1850, when Rio Grande City had a population of about 300, but came into prominence during the years of the Boundary Survey, when it was a base of various operations, and a point of observation: distance from the sea, 241 m. by the river; alt. 521 feet; lat. 26° 22´ 27.79´´ N.; long. 98° 46´ 32.85´´ W. (Emory, l. c.). All the points here in mention, between and including Ringgold Barracks and Laredo, are in Texas or in Tamaulipas; for Nuevo Leon is cut off from the Rio Grande by the Tamaulipan "Panhandle" which runs up to Coahuila. To return now from our trip up and down the river to the famous place where we left Pike: The name of Presidio Rio Grande which Pike uses is not yet entirely obsolete, but the place is now better known as Presidio Salto—that is, "Fort Falls," or the Mexican military post which was established near the falls of the Rio Grande. Las Isletas, or The Islets, is the name of the place in the river where the usually impassable falls or rapids occur, and just above these is the crossing. The scene is well shown on the plate opp. p. 68 of the Report cited. The latitude of Las Isletas was determined by Michler in 1853 to be 28° 16´ 11.5´´ N.