MONOGRAPHS OF KINNEY COUNTY’S ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE: Las Moras Spring, Part 1

Editor’s Note: The story of Las Moras Spring continues in next week’s Kinney County Post, tracing the spring’s role in the establishment of Fort Clark and its enduring place in the history of our community.

This bi-weekly feature examines the enduring unique architecture to be found here in Kinney County by spotlighting individual buildings and providing brief histories, complimented by period photographs. Our intent is to explore the past, inspire the present, and build the future by showcasing the remarkable associations and legacies of structures which have stood the test of time and continue to contribute so much to the exceptional heritage of Kinney County. Our next subject is “Las Moras Spring” included in the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 as part of the Fort Clark Historic District.

From “Fort Clark and Brackettville, Land of Heroes,” To this quiet pool of cool water in archaic times came predator and prey, mammoth, bison, camel, horse and the ancient Texan hunter-gatherers of the Lower Pecos region. Comanches habitually camped here on their annual trek into Mexico. In the late summer of 1590 the party of Spanish explorer Gaspar Castano de Sosa may have been the first Europeans to see the spring. An encounter between Conquistador Alonso de Leon’s expedition and a lone survivor of LaSalle’s failed expedition living among the Indians is thought to have occurred at the spring in 1688. “Las Moras” is first mentioned by the Spanish in 1767, naming the place for the mulberry trees lining the banks of the creek. A resting place for millennia, countless generations of Native American peoples, early Spanish explorers, emigrants moving west and soldiers protecting the frontier experienced the remarkable serenity of this site.

Las Moras Spring and its environs can claim over 400 years of recorded human endeavor and quite possibly stands alone in the diverse multicultural and military heritage of America. Several prominent scholars believe Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca traveled through the environs of Las Moras Spring on his epic 8 year wilderness journey to return to Mexico city, 1528-36. In the late summer of 1590 the party of Spanish explorer Gaspar Castano de Sosa may have been the next Europeans to visit the spring. May 1674 found Fr. Manuel de la Cruz participating in a pitched battle in the vicinity of the spring between warring Indian Tribes and afterwards visiting a rancheria at or near the spring. Just a year later, in May 1675, Lieutenant Fernando del Bosque and Fr. Juan Larios, on a mission to Christianize the Indians in the Coahuila Region north of the Rio Grande, crossed the river near present day Eagle Pass. Their journey roughly bisected what is now Kinney County, leading them directly to Las Moras Spring. On May 16, 1675, the party erected a cross and Fr. Larios celebrated mass on a portable altar for a curious congregation of nearly 1,200 native people. Ten years on, in 1685, rumors of Robert Louis LaSalle’s Fort St. Louis Colony on Matagorda Bay greatly disturbed the Spanish. In 1688 General Alonzo De León led thirteen soldiers across the Rio Grande in an effort to substantiate rumors of a Frenchman living among the Indians in the region around Las Moras Spring. It was at, or near Las Moras Spring, that De León found Jean Gery, who was leading a band of Coahuilitecan Indians. The general was greeted by a band of three hundred Indians arranged in military formation and by Gery in front of a buffalo skin house sitting upon a chair with cushions. Undaunted, De León convinced Gery to leave his group and he later lead De León to the Fort St. Louis Colony shortly after its destruction. Jean Gery later disappeared into the region where De León discovered him and was never heard from again.

“Las Moras” is first officially documented by the Spanish military party of Señor Marqués de Rubí, Field Marshall of His Majesty’s Armies, on his inspection of the interior presidios in 1767, naming the place for the mulberry trees lining the banks of the creek. On July 17, 1767 the site was named Las Cabeceras del Ojo de las moras – the Headwaters of the eye of mulberries or Parage de las moras – Parage of mulberries. Also in 1767, appears a description of Coahuila by Castillo y Terán: “On the other side of the Río Grande one finds the locations and springs of Las Moras, Loma Pinta, and San Felipe ...” Las Moras Spring first appears on a Spanish map of Coahuila Province, New Spain in 1771, by cartographer José de Urrutia and engineer Nicolas de Lafora, two members of Rubí’s military party.

Over half a century later, between 1830-1832, Dr. John Charles Beales and others received close to eighty million acres of land in Texas, eastern New Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley under the empresario system. On November 11, 1833 fifty-nine men, women and children sailed from New York as the vanguard of a proposed colony to be established on Las Moras Creek. They landed at Copano Bay on December 12, 1833 and traveled by ox-cart to their destination located several miles below Las Moras Spring. On March 16, 1834 the Anglo, German, and Spanish Americans established their settlement, naming it Dolores in honor of Beales wife; Maria Dolores De Soto. Despite the harsh environment and marauding Indians the settlers cleared stream beds, plowed and seeded fields, and even experimented with an irrigation system. The colony relied on the water from the spring throughout its short existence. A gristmill was constructed as well as a church and homes of jacal construction. Additional colonists arrived, but crop failures, drought and Indian depredations began to force the colonists to leave. The remaining settlers fled during the Texas Revolution. The colony was never re- populated and Beale was never able to legally re-establish his land claim with the Republic of Texas or  with the United States.

In retaliation for the Comanche raid on Linnville and the battle of Plum Creek, a force of 180 Texans made up of Companies A and B, 1st Infantry Regiment Republic of Texas, the Gonzales Rangers and Bexar Volunteers, all under the command of Major George T. Howard, attacked a large Comanche village at Las Moras Spring on October 13, 1840. Most of the Indians fled and were pursued by the Texans who killed only four of the warriors. The Texans returned to the village late that same afternoon.

It was a large town of well constructed tents, with a good supply of provisions. Howard ordered the Comanche winter quarters destroyed. Among the wigwams, the men found immense quantities of food, horses, mules and even a kind of fruit cake which they ate. Major Howard departed the next day with about 125 mules and horses from the village.

The years 1848-1852 proved to be perhaps the most historically significant in the existence of Las Moras Spring. Mary Maverick recorded in her memoirs for April 1848, “April 4. Mr. Maverick left with Mr. Tivy, deputy surveyor, and a considerable surveying party to have a pet location on Las Moras Creek surveyed. He located our headright certificate on the headspring ...” Now Sam Maverick, Texas patriot, politician and land baron, owned Las Moras Spring! Maverick returned to camp at Las Moras Spring on September 17th of that same year as a key member of the Hays-Highsmith Expedition searching for a suitable route to El Paso del Norte.

Editor’s Note: The story of Las Moras Spring is far from over. In Part 2 next week, we’ll follow the spring into a new era as military expeditions, wagon trains and westward expansion bring the U.S. Army to its banks, ultimately leading to the establishment of Fort Clark in 1852. From the unusual arrival of the U.S. Camel Corps to early efforts to harness and reshape the spring itself, the next installment explores how Las Moras became inseparable from the history of Fort Clark and the community that grew around it. And be sure to look for a collection of historic photographs offering a fascinating glimpse at how Las Moras Spring has changed through the years.

Monographs of Kinney County’s Architectural Heritage is written by Bill Haenn, FCHC Senior Historian. Fort Clark Heritage Council is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, established in 2023, to advocate for the preservation and protection of the architecture and other historic resources in the Fort Clark National Register Historic District for the benefit  of the visiting public and future generations, providing for the advancement and strengthening of heritage tourism initiatives by growing recognition of and visitation to the Fort Clark Historic District and being committed to endorsing and promulgating the rich history of Fort Clark by expanding upon related educational and research efforts. Find this article and more online at  KinneyCountyPost.com