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By Mary Ann Bengtson Et r in 1e is id as re id of r, 1h 1e estimation of Domingo Teran de los Rios, leader of the expedition. Other Indian peoples had camped and hunted the same lush, wooded, well-watered lands on the north side of modern San Antonio for thousands of years. Artifacts and Indian mounds have been found by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word and by amateur historians such as William Corner and C.D. Orchard. The early Spaniards were preoccupied as they pushed past the Head of the River, intent as they were on making their way through 250 miles of wilderness to secure their fragile East Texas outposts against the French. In 1716 Captain Domingo Ramon crossed the Rio Grande River near the site of present-day Eagle Pass with a company of 65 men, following the same long trail to the east taken 25 years earlier by Teran — this time to re-establish mis sions since abandoned. He described the scenery along the nearby San Antonio River as “‘very beautiful, for there are pecan trees, grape vines, willows, elms and other timbers.”’ The party crossed the river at a shallow spot (The water “reached to our stirrups’’) and ‘‘went up the river looking for a camping place and we found a very fine location,’’ Ramon wrote 250 years ago, continuing, ‘‘There were beautiful shade trees and good pasturage, as we explored the head of the river. Here we found. . . hemp nine feet high and flax two feet high. Fish were caught in abundance for everyone, and nets were used in the river with facility. By the time of the Ramon expedition, the name ‘San Antonio”’ had attached itself to the river that starts on the Incarnate Word property in the Ol mos Basin. Winding its way through the city, the river connects the five missions founded by Franciscan missionaries between 1718 and 1731. The name was given originally to the place near San Pedro springs which both Teran and Father Damian Massanet, who accompanied the Teran expedition, named San Antonio de Padua ‘‘be cause it was his day.’’ Each made similar diary notations for June 13, 1691. Civil Settlement On April 9, 1718, another expedition crossed the Rio Grande, this one counting seven families among the 72-member force, and also including six droves of provisioned mules, cattle, sheep, chickens and 548 horses. This entrada was headed by Governor Martin de Alarcon. May 5, 1718, saw the Alarcon expedition take formal possession of San Pedro Springs, ‘‘about three-fourths of a league from the principal river.’’ The site was named Villa de Bejar and it was “‘henceforth destined for the civil settle ment.’’ The villa (or village, later fortified as a presi dio) and mission at San Antonio from this date, the founding date of the city, became the most important settlement in the frontier territory, known then as the Province of Texas or New Phi lippines. The near-mythical Kingdom of the Texas Nation began to acquire a more ordinary aspect as the area became better known and the western boun dary was extended to include San Antonio On May 6, 1718, Alarcon departed with two groups to supply the East Texas missions...‘‘After having gone about a league, we stopped at the spring of water where the river of San Antonio rises.” It was a large group that sat down for a picnic that day, with Alarcon perhaps laying out his personal silver service under oaks that still shade the Incarnate Word property. It is known that Alarcon traveled with his silver service since the diarist noticed that it was lost in late November or early December, 1718, on the return trip to San Antonio, when the expedition attempted to cross a swollen creek near the Trin ity River. ‘‘The kitchen, the clothing, and the cook ‘the whole thing sunk,’’ the diarist notes, ‘nothing having been saved except the negro cook.’’ He adds that ‘‘the salvaging of the silver could not be effected.’’ The bedraggered expedi tion finally arrived back in San Antonio in Jan uary, 1719. From San Antonio’s earliest days, water from the Head of the River and from San Pedro Springs supplied drinking water and water for irrigation and household use to the growing number of missions and the developing civil settlement in the Town of San Fernando which developed ar ound the Presidio de Bejar. ‘No attempt to describe the spring can succeed wrote Alexander Sweet, who lived on this property as a boy in the 1850s. ‘‘The water that bubbles up is so wondrous clear, that the move ments of even the smallest fish can be discerned. ‘The finest Artesian Well of the State is the natural one formed by the Springs of the Head of the San Antonio River,’’ writes Wiliam Corner. ‘This water comes from an enormous depth being of an even temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit the year round. It affords the purest possible drinking water, and is San Antonio’s chief bless ing.” Today we are still noting the blessings of this water as observed by Indians and Spaniards and historians. And today as one tramps through the tall grasses and pauses beside the rippling water, it is not hard to imagine their presence hundreds of years ago. (Incarnate Word has applied for historical designation for lands which include the sites of four known Indian mounds.) Information compiled by Incarnate Word College HEADWATERS of the San Antonio River were encased in concrete at some point in the past. The purpose of the octagonal enclosure is lost with its builder. FLOWING from the artesian spring, the crystal waters begin their long trip to the Gulf of Mexico through concrete funnel. PHOTOS BY BUSTER DEAN
Newspaper Details
San Antonio Express News
San Antonio, Texas, US
Sun, Aug 10, 1975
Page 124
Full Page
Clipped by
David P.
USA 10 Jan 2026
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