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Gc 976.4 P13t v. 1 1132467
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 02282 4624
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013
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Paddock
BECAME RECORD
1
NORTH AND WES
XAS %
LLUSTRATES
A Twentieth Century
HISTORY
AND
BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
OF
NORTH AND WEST TEXAS
CAPT. B. B. PADDOCK Editor
ILLUSTRATED VOLUME I.
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING CO. CHICAGO NEW YORK
1 906
,
1132467
PREFACE
That Americans are becoming aware of the fact that they have a history is a matter of frequent observation and remark among writers and men of affairs generally. It was one of the changes in American thought considered worthy of especial note by Hon. James Bryce, on his recent visit to this country after an absence of twenty-five years. This keen student of American institutions thus expresses the result of his observation: "Reverence for the past and a desire to maintain every sort of connection with it is a strong and growing force among educated people." Furthermore, this is one of the hopeful signs of the times. Well it is, for the nation as for the individual, when its career is anchored at both ends; is descend- ed from a sturdy and virile ancestry and looks forward to a not less worthy posterity; re- joices both in the memories of a splendid past and in the hopes of a brilliant future. Such a nation or individual holds true in the course of best ideals and endeavors, is in the line of progress of its greater destiny.
It is this growing reverence for the past that renders such a work as the History of North and West Texas both valuable and timely. Even now many of the personalities and achievements of the county's pioneers are matters of written record only, and, too often, those records are scanty and insufficient and difficult of access. To gather up and piece together in historical form and according to relative importance these records is the pur- pose of this work, in the preparation of which the constant endeavor has been to make a standard, comprehensive and authentic history, which, while narrating the wonderful story of the past, describes also the present, in its various aspects, with such thoroughness as to make this work a historical "base-line" from which all subsequent civic growth and prog- ress may be computed.
Closely interwoven with every present event of material and civic progress are the char- acter and activities of men. The Alamo lives forever because Travis and his comrades died there, and in their death gave birth to Texas Liberty. So, in only lesser degree, every town, every institution, every industry of North and West Texas exists and grows because men have devoted some portion of their energy and character to its upbuilding. It has been the purpose of this work to bring out this personal aspect of the history of North and West Texas; to mention events mainly in relation to the persons most closely connected with them ; to describe the country as far as possible through the careers of the men who have developed it. This is the true office of biography-to bring events into their proper
relation with persons. To carry out this novel and interesting plan of history writing sketches have been sought of representative men who have figured in the various phases of North and West Texas affairs up to the present time, and whose careers illustrate both local and general history.
In line with these purposes, it is believed that this work is a real and permanent contri- bution to the history of Texas. By observing historical proportions and setting the facts in a narrative form, it has been necessary to exclude irrelevant details that, however interest- ing in themselves, give bulk rather than symmetry; rather than make these volumes an en- cyclopedia of historical information, it has been thought best to pour over the rubble of facts the cement of literary narration. No effort has been spared to secure accuracy, and acknowl- edgement is due to the many who have heartily co-operated with and assisted the editorial staff in obtaining data for the history.
CONTENTS
GENERAL HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Beginning of Exploration and Discovery .- LaSalle's Colony 3
CHAPTER I.
Texas from 1700 to 1800.
CHAPTER II.
6
CHAPTER III.
Conditions at Beginning of Nineteenth Century .- Nolan's Expedition .- Neutral Ground. 10
CHAPTER IV.
History of Mexico .- First American Adventurers in Texas 13
CHAPTER V.
Affairs in Mexico .- The Austin Colony.
17
CHAPTER VI.
Relations between Mexico and Texas .- The Fredonian War 22
First Movements of Revolt against Mexico CHAPTER VII. 25
CHAPTER VIII.
Santa Anna in Power .- Events Leading Up to the Revolution .- Formation of a Provisional Government .- Siege and Capture of San Antonio.
27
CHAPTER IX.
The Texas Revolution .- The Alamo and the Goliad Massacres .- Independence Declared and the First Constitution of the Republic. 33
CHAPTER X. The Winning of Independence .- The Campaign of Santa Anna .- The Battle of San Jacinto and Its Results .. 38
CHAPTER XI.
Texas as a Republic .- Difficulties Confronting the Government .- Domestic and Foreign Relations .- Indian Wars .- The Regulators and Moderators .- The Mier Expedition .- Santa Fe Expedition. 43
History of the Annexation Movement. CHAPTER XII.
53
57
The State of Texas from 1845 to 1861. CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIV.
The Civil War Period .- Events Leading Up to Secession .- The Part of Texas in the War 63
CHAPTER XV.
The Era of Reconstruction .- Constitution of 1876. . . 70
HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.
The History of Peters Colony CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
The Indians as an Adverse Factor in the Settlement of North and West Texas .- The Contest between Civ- ilization and Barbarism .- Military Posts .- Indian Annals from 1848 to 1881. 85
CHAPTER III.
The Buffalo .- Its Close Connection with the Indians .- The Era of Extermination .- Fort Griffin. . ........ 110
CHAPTER IV.
North Texas from 1855 to 1870 .- The Progress of Settlement .- Economic, Industrial and Civic Conditions During and After the Civil War. ..... 116
The Range Cattle Industry
CHAPTER V.
146
CHAPTER VI.
The Railroad Era .- Railroad Building in North Texas up to 1880. 175
The History of Fort Worth.
CHAPTER VII.
191
Building of Towns and Development of Country. CHAPTER VIII. . ... 220
CHAPTER IX.
Building of Towns and Development of Country through Extension of Railroads .- The Texas and Pacific Railroad .- History of El Paso.
.... 253
CHAPTER X.
Railroad Building and General Development .- Fort Worth Becomes a Railroad Center .- The Railroad Era in Northwest Texas .. 264
CHAPTER XI.
Statistical and Descriptive Sketches of the Principal Counties of North and West Texas. . 310
INDEX
Abilene, 255, 316 Abney, Hamp P., 641 Acheson, Alexander W., 609 Albert Baldwin Sanatorium and Health Resort, 471 Alderete, Isaac, 653 Aldredge, George W., 490 Aldridge, Joseph A., 478 Aldridge, Leonard H., 478 Aldridge, S. J., 568
Alexander, E., 468 Alexander, Franklin G., 553
Amarillo, 269, 280, 305 Andrews, Benjamin F., 401 Andrews, Charles H., 402 Aranda, Maximo, 441
Arnold, C. M., 313
Arnold, Ripley, 87 Aurora, 267 Austin, Stephen F., 17
Baer, Daniel, 547 Bailey, D. H., 618 Baird, William C., 324 Baker, Benjamin M., 289 Baldwin, David G., 471 Barb wire, 303, 304 Barry, James B., 96 Barwise, Joseph H., Sr., 239 Batsell, Charles W., 636 Baylor County, 226, 315 Beall, Thomas J., 386 Beeman, John, 82 Belknap, 223 Bennett, Hilario F., 445 Bennett, Joseph F., 443 Bentley, Deforest E., 512 Bethard, Albert D., 625 Beville, Allen M., 338 Bird's Fort, 86 Birdville, 191 Blacker, Allen, 501 Blackford, Godwin L., 619 Bledsoe, Albert S., 352 Bledsoe, Joseph, 84 Blount, James P., 242 Boaz, W. J., 184 Boone, James H., 642 Booth, W. T., 610 Boren, Alexander B., 503 Bowie, 267 Brainard, Edward H., 643 Braswell, R. O., 394 Braun, George, 590 Bray, Edwin M., 543 Brazos Agency, 91
Bridgers, William W., 468 Bristol, W. A., 633 Broadus, William, 334 Brooks, W. A., 680 Brown, William H., 562 Browning, James N., 272 Buchanan, William L., 533 Buck, John M., 583 Buie, L. M., 591 Burnett, Thomas F., 359 Burns, Rowland C., 328 Burnside, Sam H., 674
Butterfield Stage Line, 118
Bybee, Joseph, 557
Byford, James P., 700
Cable, Robert L., 470 Caldwell, John, 543 Campbell, James R., 640
Canfield, Henry T., 693
Caps, William J., 505
Carhart, Edward E., 654
Carhart, Isaac W., 282
Carlisle, William A., 648
Carson County, 319
Carter, C. L., 160 Carter, Richard E., 437
Carter, Sterling G., 283
Cattle-Raisers' Association of Texas, 160 Chamberlin, Anthony P., 623
Chidester, John T., 254
City of El Paso, 256 Clarendon, 268, 283
Clarke, Lafayette W., 585
Clay County, 223, 313
Clear Fork, 91
Clyce, Thomas S., 422 Cockrell, Jeremiah V., 402 Coffee, James G., 484 Coffin, Cameron O., 461
Coleman, Hugh M., 450 Coleman County, 224 Coles, Alfred P., 577 Colorado, Camp, 91 Comanche Reserve, 92 Conner, Truman H., 344 Cooke County, 311 Cooke, W. H., 663 Cooper, Camp, 91
Couch, George R., 595 Courchesne, Alfred, 626
Couts, J. R., 226
Craig, James N., 426
Craig, Samuel M., 552
Crane, R. C., 409 Crawford, Robert W., 664 Crump, William D., 649 Culberhouse, Thomas N., 650 Cummings, C. C., 206 Cunningham, John L., 346
Cunningham, John T., 669 Cunningham, John V., 615 Cusenbary, Elijah S., 659
Daggett, Ephraim M., 89, 184, 216
Daggett, Henry, 89
Daggett, Henry C., 101 Daggett, Sarah E., 101 Dalhart, 269
Dallam County, 320
Dallas Herald, 121 Dalton, Robert S., 371 Daniel, Samuel M., 500 Darnell, N. H., 182 Darter, William A., 210 Daugherty, James M., 168 Davis, Charles, 377 Davis, John L., 133 Davis, William L., 521 Deaf Smith County, 319 Dean, John M., 260 Decatur, 267 Denison, 178 Dickson, Campbell, 353 Dickson, Jo. A. P., 362 Diehl, Joseph N., 549 Doan, Corwin F., 237 Dodson, James E., 689 Donley County, 318 Dowdy, Henry F., 393 Dudley, J. B., 688 Dudley, R. L., 688 Dunn, Tobitha, 568 Dunne, Joseph, 450 Durack, Pat, 420 Duron, Robert D., 677
Eastland County, 224
Edwards, Maurice C., 452 Edwards, Peyton F., 378 Elbert, John L., 408 Ellis, Robert W., 611 El Paso, 81, 96, 255 El Paso County, 259 Ervay, Henry S., 497 Estlack, Alfred, 683 Eubank, John W., 647 Evans, Samuel, 246
INDEX
Farmer, James D., 215 Ferguson, Ben N., 360 Fisher, Irving R., 593 Flynt, Edgar I., 321 Foreman, David H., 520 Fort Belknap, 90, 119, 126 Fort Chadbourne, 91 Fort Elliott, 225 Fort Graham, 87 Fort Griffin, 91, 112 Fort Richardson, 91 Fort Worth, 87, 123, 181 Fort Worth Democrat, 195 Foster, Arthur C., 564 Franklin, 81 Freeman, Richard C., 329 Freeman, Thomason M., 682 Fuller, W. A., 416 Fuqua, W. Holder, 550
Gaal, Ignatius G., 493 Gafford, Benjamin F., 637 Gainesville, 79, 264 German, F. M., 488 Gilbert, E. E., 576 Gilbert, Mabel R., 531 Goodnight, Charles, 150 Graham, 223 Graham, E. S., 223 Graham, Edwin S., 229 Graham, Gustavus A., 342 Graham, Malcom K., 231 Gray, James L., 349 Grayson County, 78, 125, 311 Grayson, James M,. 104 Grayson Oil and Cotton Co., 448 Green, Samuel A., 427 Griffis, John W., 435 Grube, August, 465
Hackley, John P., 365 Hale County, 320 Hale, Thomas C., 442 Hall County, 318 Hall, Florence J., 457 Hankins, Marshall M., 337 Hall, Robert W., 275 Hall, Roswell G .. 704 Hanna, John M., 667 Hardcastle, Charles, 526 Hardeman County, 317 Hardin, John G., 326 Hardisty, John, 136 Hardwick, W. P., 391 Hardwicke, Samuel P., 624 Harris, Abe, 87 Harris, Leasil B., 357 Harris, William T., 630 Ilarrison, Thad S., 475 Hartman, Helen V., 629 Haskell County, 317 Ilatfield, James M., 699 Hawkins, Harvey F., 534 Hawkins, Livingstone G., 278 Hays, Jack, 97 Hays, Moses W., 338 Iledgecoke, Agent, 79 Hefley, James M., 525 Hemphill County, 290, 317 Hendricks, Harry G., 350 Hendry, Robert E., 360
Hensley, Hickman, 241 Heyck, Theodore, 411 Hill, Frank H., 301 Hirshfield, J. S., 184 Hoben, Tom, 333 Hoffman, Joseph A., 598 Hogg, Alexander, 213 Hollis, Lawrence W., 414 Holloway, Henry C., 374 Holloway, Mrs. H. C., 89
Holt, Joseph J., 644 . Honssinger, John W., 674 Hood, A. J., 128 Hosack, James A. H., 336 Houston, Sam, 43 Howard, Cornelius H., 661 Howeth, William W., 233 Huffman, W. A., 197 Hull, Benjamin P., 596 Hunt, George M., 323 Hunt, Irvin L., 323
Jack County, 125, 222, 314 Jarvis, James J., 189, 193 Jenkins, Benjamin F., 481 Johnson County, 310 Johnson, Joshua F., 296
Johnson, M. T., 88 Jones County, 316 Jones, James L., 627 Jones, Ozias D., 516 Jones, William J., 297 Jowell, George R., 299
Kelsay, Curtis W., 331 Kemp, Wyndham, 463
Kennard, Anthony D., 540
Kennard, Marcus L .. 540
Kennedy, Sydney C., 613
Kindred, James M., 280 Kneezell, Edward, 451 Krueger, Rudolph E., 574 Kutch, William C., 138
Lallier, Leon, 622 Lemond, Robert W., 480
Lightle, Isaac S., 508 Lindsay, James M., 236 Lipscomb County, 318 Lochridge, James W., 382
Locke, Newton F., 298
Loomis, Albert M., 445 Love, James R., 657 Loving, J. C., 161 Loving, Solon A., 339 Loyd, M. B., 100, 179, 193, 219 Lubbock County, 320 Lytle, John T., 173, 201
Mackenzie, Charles W., 339
Maddox, R. E., 198 Magoffin, Joseph, 245 Manton, William J., 660
Markham, Winston B., 640 Marr, James L., 433 Marrs, Lon D., 285 Martin, Nathan C., 286 Martinez, Felix, 385 Maxey, Rice, 515 Maxwell, Corwin L., 495 Mays, Charles E., 594 Mead, John A., 284
Medlan, Archibald B., 143 Metcalf, George, 369 McCaulley, R. L., 276 McClelland, J. Bruce, 322 McClelland, T. Stanhope, 322 McConnell, Benjamin R., 363 McConnell, H. G., 548 McCool, Samuel L., 537 McCord, J. E., 129 McCoy, Isaac C., 547 McCoy, John C., 81 McCracken, David P., 566
McGaughy, W. F., 429
McMurray, Robert E., 562 Midland, 255 Mikels, Frank, 629 Miller, John K., 604 Montague County, 125, 223, 313 Mooar, J. Wright, 247 Mooar, John W., 111, 395
Morehead, C. R., 256
Morris, John D., 662 Mounts, Thomas A., 345 Munson, Thomas V., 605
Munson, William B., 612
Murphy, Timothy J., 614
Napier, John S., 273 Neathery, Allen G., 582 Neece, Andrew M., 457 Newman, George T., 455
Newman, J. F., 518
Newman, John S., 590
North Texas Female College, 522
Ogden, William H., 696
O'Keefe, C. A., 166 Oliver, Eli P., 586 Ordener, John F., 348
Overland Southern Pacific Mail
Route, 118
Paddock, B. B., 217
Palo Duro, 151 Palo Pinto County, 125, 222, 314 Panhandle, 268
Panhandle City, 280
Parker, Adolphus H., 499
Parker, Ann, 93 Parker County, 117, 128, 311
Parker, George A. F., 287 Parker, Isaac, 93 Parker, Morris B., 474
Parker, Quanah, 93 Parr, Lorenzo J., 560
Parramore, James H., 607 Parsell, Albert A., 370 Pattillo, Charles M., 601 Paul, James C., 279 Paxton, G. B., 418 Payne, Thomas J., 573 Payne, W. Floyd, 383 Peak, Carroll M., 88 Pearce, Edwin A., 412 Peery, Samuel H., 670 Penick, R. L., 308 Perryman, Levi, 701 Peters, W. S., 77
. Phantom Hill, 90 Pickens, John H., 523 Pickett, George B., 102 Pierson, Marshall S., 559
Pitman, Park W., 259, 473 Plummer, Oliver T., 356 Poindexter, William, 291 Potter County, 319 Powell, George W., 406 Powell, Thomas J., 367 Prater, John T., 428 Preston, 79 Prosser, James F., 682 Purvis, Duff H., 140
Quanah, 267
Race, Charles T., 430 Radford, James M., 638 Ragland, R. A., 404 Rand, Noyes, 261 Randall County, 319
Redick, John H., 579 Reed, J. Fleetwood, 415 Reid, Walter A., 509 Rheinheimer, William, 455 Roberts County, 318 Robertson, A. B., 162 Robertson, Findley N., 625 Robertson, William, 685 Robinson, Archie, 88 Robinson, Robert L., 507 Rogers, Joseph N., 227 Rone, T. J., 458 Ross, L. S., 92 Ross, S. P., 92
Royal, Dallas J., 575 Rumage, William T., 528 Russell, William S., 638 Rutledge, William C., 597
Sanborn, Henry B., 302 Sanders, William E., 655 Sandidge, J. Q., 184 Saunders, Bacon, 130 Schneider, Alfred C., 678 Schuster, Michael P., 469 Scott, James C., 326 Scott, Samuel E., 556 Scott, Samuel W., 572 Scott, Thomas A., 183 Scurry County, 321 Seay, Edward L., 624 Shackelford, 225 Shackelford County, 125 Simmons, Frank B., 447
INDEX
Simpson, Williamson B., 631
Slaughter, William B., 509 Smith, Benjamin L., 588
Smith, Erwin J., 633
Smith, James A., 483
Smith, J. P., 184, 197 Smith, J. Peter, 89, 188 Smith, Samuel L. S., 592 Snyder, W. H., 398 Sorenson, John, 467
Sparks, B. E., 588 Spiller, George, 364 Spivey, Langdon S., 517 Stallings, James T., 535 Stamford, 307 Stanfield, J. A., 449
Stanfield, Leander G., 679
Stanfield, William H., 678 Stanton, Marvin W., 658 Stark, Sil, 335 .
State National Bank, 532 Stephens County, 125, 225 Stephens, John H., 293 Stephenson, D. A., 388
Stevenson, Herbert E., 513
Stewart, Walter P., 235 Stewart, William T., 390 Stilwell, Arthur E., 384 Stratton, C. B., 429
Strawn, Stephen B., 244
Stuart, James N., 651
Sweeney, Joseph U., 486
Talbott, Marcellus G., 506
Tankersley, Robert L., 692
Tarrant County, 122, 191, 310
Tarrant, Edward H., 191
Tarrant County Railway Construc- tion Co., 183 Tascosa, 268
Taylor County, 126, 316
Terrell, Ed., 86
Terrell, Joseph C., 126 Terry, Nat, 95, 206
Terry, Randolph, 438 Thompson, Frank D., 378 Thompson, Joseph H., 579 Throckmorton, J. W., 83, 192 Tidball, Thomas A., 207 Tobin, Patrick H., 618 Tom Green County, 320 Tone, Harry, 694 Trammell, Thomas. 529
Trimble, James W., 431 Turner, Stephen T., 464 Turney, W. W., 161
Van Zandt, Khleber M., 123, 141, 184
Wadlington, John Y., 546
Waggoner National Bank, 279
Walker, Amos C., 209
Walker, A. J., 192
Walker, John S. B., 511
Walker, Richard S., 209
Walker, Wade H., 325 Wallace, Howson H., 358
Walthall, Anderson M., 430
Warren, David B., 351
Washburne, D. W., 255
Watson, Francis M., 684
Weatherford, 117, 221
Webb, Guilford P., 557
Weber, Max, 380 Webster, Marcus L., 78, 80
Wheeler County, 226, 317 Wheelock, Frank E., 646 Whitaker, George P., 655 White, James H., 439
Wichita County, 315 Wilbarger County, 315
Wilfong, J. E., 544 Willet, John F., 697
Williams, David E. C., 603
Williams, Eliza A., 621
Williams, George W., 690
Williams, J. A., 672
Williams, J. H., 542 Wilson, Charles M., 487
Wilson, LaFayette A., 138
Wimberly, George C., 482 Winn, William H., 634
Winter, William H., 447
Wise County, 125, 222, 311
Witherspoon, Coleman G., 290
Woodruff, C. P., 406 Woody, Sam, 203 Woolfolk, Joseph A., 232
Wulfjen, J. D., 695 Wylie, James F., 453
Wylie, James J., 620
Yeager, Cornelius F., 374
Yocom, J. D., 609 Young County, 119, 223, 314
Zane, Cetti, 184, 186
,
HISTORY OF TEXAS
CHAPTER I.
BEGINNING OF EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY-LA SALLE'S COLONY.
The story of Texas begins with the time of the forest and the plain had not reached the when the first civilized man beheld its low- state of mental and social development which plains of Mesopotamia and in the Nile valley three thousand years before. lying shores from the blue waters of the gulf, or , had been attained by races from the far-away for purpose of exploration or in quest of habita- tion and settlement set foot upon its soil. It is true, for centuries before the caravals of Columbus set forth toward the unknown occi- dent, the wild roving tribes passed and re- passed over what we now know as Texas, setting up their beehive huts on the broad prairies or in the shade of the woodlands, rudely scratching the fertile soil and planting and harvesting their crops of grain, hunting with bow and arrow the shaggy buffalo or spearing and netting the abundant fish, and marauding and making war on their near or distant neighbors. They had their joys and their sorrows, their loves and their hates; among them were degrees of skill and stupidity; they recognized that some must command and the rest obey; and mingling with the few realities was the thread of the mysterious, the awe and terror of the over- powering elements about them, and a certain faith or superstition concerning their fate after death.
In other words, the Indians existed. But the day circumscribed all their acts and purposes. Institutions they had not, there was none of the fabric of organized society. They were in the various stages of barbarism. At the begin- ning of the sixteenth century these creatures
Thus the places which these red men in- habited were as they had been for ages. The comings and goings of the aborigines did not make for progress. Their abodes and their society were swept away in the same hour which noted their own departure-no architec- ture, no art, no industries, no laws, descend from these races as a heritage to bless and ele- vate humanity. Therefore they have no proper history, and the regions that knew them once know them no more. The red man through- out American history figures very much as his compeer, the wild animal-something to be reckoned with by civilized men as an element of danger or assistance, but not as an equal nor as a foundation upon which might be erected stable society and system of institu- tions. Indeed, as will be noticed hereafter, every attempt by the Spanish or the French to transfer the civilization and governmental in- stitutions of Europe and impose them upon the Indian tribes of America found the barbarians unequal and unable for the change, and all such Utopias and American empires were from the first doomed to collapse. The red men could not amalgamate with or form a part of new world civilization, and even now after
1
2
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
centuries of association and training cannot, and they had to be pushed aside and dis- regarded by the enterprising men of the old world.
Therefore, despite the presence of Indian hordes, Texas was, from the standpoint of historical narrative, one vast barren before the dawn of the sixteenth century and the advent of the European to the gulf coast. And even then, two centuries were destined to pass be- fore any other than a chance explorer should seek this vast region for purpose of occupa- tion. Indeed, during the last year of the seven- teenth century the impression prevailed among such eminent Frenchmen as La Salle that the Red river was the northern boundary of Mexico, thus entirely eliminating from the geography of the time that country of imperial magnitude which we now call Texas.
In a very vague and general way the land bordering the Gulf of Mexico became known to Europeans in the sixteenth century. By virtue of the discoveries of Ponce de Leon and others all this country was claimed by Spain and was known by the name Florida, compris- ing all the region westward from the present state of that name to Mexico, and including the portion since called Texas, but which at that time was almost a terra incognita, without name, boundaries or attention.
The first well authenticated visit of Euro- peans to Texas is that of the Panfilo de Nar- vaez expedition, which started to explore the gulf coast from Florida. This enterprise met with disaster, and it was the lot of one Cabeza de Vaca, with several companions, to first cross a large part of Texan territory. His, route lay from the mouth of the San Antonio river to the Rio Grande, and thence to the Pacific coast. This happened about 1535. Some ten years later it is probable that Coro- nado, in quest for gold or wealthy kingdoms, crossed northern Texas. There is some reason to believe that Hernando de Soto, on his ill- fated march to the Mississippi, also penetrated some portion of North Texas. The fact that Spain was in actual possession of Florida from 1565 and much before that time had conquered
and established an empire in Mexico, makes it certain that expeditions again and again passed between the two seats of settlement, and thus repeatedly trod the soil of Texas.
Also until the very last years of the seven- teenth century Texas is nearly bare of an- nals. Spanish ambition and greed were in 'the meantime pushing north from the central kingdom of Mexico, and the expeditions of priest and soldier added somewhat to the knowledge of the region to the east of the rich pueblos and mines of New Mexico. Vari- ous adventurers, for personal aggrandizement or other base designs, invented fabrications concerning the wealth, magnificence and civili- zation of the country northeast of Mexico, but in 1686 Alonso Paredes rendered a report, honest and fairly accurate, describing the status and geography of the country. He pro- nounced the wealthy kingdoms to be fiction, but told of tribes of Indians living along the coast who subsisted by agriculture and were superior to the roaming tribes further west ; also speaks of various rivers, although the many streams flowing toward the gulf make such references in early Texas history confus- ing. Along certain of these rivers, probably between the Colorado and the Trinidad, men- tion is made of a race of superior Indians, the Tejas, and as this is the first reference to the name which later was used to designate our great state, it will be well to speak here of the source of the designation by which the Lone Star state is known to the world.
In regard to the name, Texas, various inter- pretations and origins have been assigned, some fanciful and traditional, but the one most generally accepted by historians is well set forth in the following paragraph from Ban- croft :
"Tejas (Tehas) was the name of one of the tribes in the south, as the Spaniards understood it from their neighbors, rather than from the people themselves. This word, or another of similar sound, was probably not the aboriginal name of the tribe, or group of tribes, but a descriptive term in their language or that of their neighbors. Indeed, there is some
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