To Victoria County Historical Survey
Committee
SUMMARY REPORT
Of the finding to date of the Spanish on the Guadalupe River
The De Leon Ford
The Toncahua Indians
The Rock Bottom Ford
La Bahia Second Location
Mission Creek Dam
Mission Espiritu Santos de Zuniga:Second
Location
The Spanish Dam on the Guadalupe
In this, a short report of the finding to date both Archeological and Historical of the Spanish on the Guadalupe from 1726 to 1749.
I will state that all of the sites listed have in the most part been authenticated by historical research and all have been substantiated by archeological surveys, establishing beyond any doubt the locations. The historical source material and data are now being put in order regarding each site to include in a report to the State Historical Foundation. A report requested by the Hon. John Ben Sheppard.
The background of the Spanish Complex on the Guadalupe as we all know was on the Garcitas Creek where the Fort La Bahia and the Mission Espiritu Santos de Zuniga was established. Now it appears that the Spanish all ready had a Fort of some sorts on the Garcitas in 1721. At any rate we know that in 1722, the Fort there was reinforced and a real Fort established and that the Mission Espiritu Santos was also established there in that same year, 1722. It also appears that the mission was moved to the Guadalupe a short while before the Fort was moved which was in 1726. Some historical data place the location to which the mission moved to first on the Guadalupe about one mile below present Spring Creek where the priest from the Mission on the Garcitas began congregating the Indians and putting some land under cultivation. This would be the Toncahua Bank in the north end of the City Park. This is not to[o] important. The fact is they came to the Guadalupe and from the amount of work that was done on the Guadalupe, it looks as if they intended to stay [and] they did for over 23 years.
This old ford, the location of which was formerly 2 miles above the town of Victoria, but is now within the City Park was just below the high bluff which was known as the Toncahua Bank up to the turn of the 19th century. This ford was the one that Don Martin De Leon used when he brought his colonist to found Victoria in 1824. DRAWING
The Toncahua Indians found living at the Toncahua Bank and so named by Capt. Alonso De Leon (no relation to Don Martin De Leon) in 1689 were not the first tribe to occupy the site. A pre-historic tribe had lived there before the Toncahua. However the Toncahua lived there for well up in the 19th century (about 1850). In historic times the Toncahua had a large village at the bluff and all over the ridge which is now a part of the City Park. When Don Martin De Leon came along 135 years later after Capt. Alonso De Leon discovered them, he found the Toncahua farming some land [and they] had horses, cattle and could talk the Spanish language and they were the wards of the Fransiscian [sic] Fathers associated with La Bahia in Goliad.
In about 1726 or 1727, 500 feet back from the river on the very top of the ridge among the Indian huts, the Spanish built a stone Church or chapel out of limestone and caliche mortar for use as a adjunct mission. The building, or what is left of it showed to be by excavating the old foundations, 25 x 40 feet. The walls were 2 feet in width. Archeological surveys made [in] 1965 in and around this old building showed that it was used both as a church and also as an outpost for the fort in protecting the Indians that the mission had gathered around it for instructions and in Christian living. A Christian graveyard was found about 40 feet south of the church, both Indians and Spanish being buried there. The whole had a stockade and this stockade surrounded the church and the cemetery.
About 4 or 5 miles up the river from the Toncahua Bank and just a short distance below the site of La Bahia was one of the main Spanish crossings, one that the Spanish used as long as they was in this area. There has been Spanish artifacts found there such as spurs etc. It has been called the Governors Ford. It was also used by the Mexican and Anglo settlers and in later times was known as the Old Wiesager Ford.
About three-quarters of a mile further up the river and on the west side on a high ridge that terminates at the river with a limestone bank is the site where the second location of the Fort La Bahia was established. This site too is one where a large Indian village was located. The location had been in a field for many years, but is now turned back into grazing land. The site for this reason is one which we call disturbed, that is the artifacts are scattered over a large area, in this case caused by plowing etc. There has been no excavating done here for the reason that no point has as of this date been found to start the survey. The surface surveys made in 1965-66 show that a Spanish habitation was at one time on this spot. Spanish Majolica, pottery sherds, Indian pottery sherds, burned rock, lead pellets and lead balls have all been found here over a large area, caused as before mentioned by much plowing over many years. This has also obliterated the site of any old stone foundations which may of been there. However, it is believed that most of the buildings of [the] fort were made of timbers. There are some limestone rock scattered around over the old field and some of it has been hauled off and dumped near the river and showed that it had been burned on one side suggesting a chimney. (See connected notes on La Bahia) The majolica pottery found here at this site are the same kind that are found at the Goliad sites, even to the same decorating and design. Inhabitants in the Mission Valley area over 80 years of age have told me that their fathers said that the Spanish had a convent school or something at this site that was connected up with the Mission further up the river. This was of course the fort site. Legends are many in this old historic valley. Some are half truths and some are plain myths.
About 2 miles further up the river, we come to the mouth of a creek, called Mission Creek. Up this creek a little less than 3 miles, the Spaniards constructed a rock dam all the way across the creek to form a large reservoir of water from which they irrigated a field in the river bottoms. This water was brought from the reservoir by a little ditch, (ascequia) that followed the meandering creek to the fields below. The dam was built of limestone rock. There are 38 feet of the old dam left there as of this date. It was 14 feet high, 4 and ½ feet wide at the top and 12 feet wide at the base. A gate was made in the north end to open when water was wanted. The little ditch was rock lined and mortared and was 2 feet deep and 2 feet wide. This irrigation project was on the west side of the river and between the fort and the mission. DRAWING
Mission
Espiritu Santos de Zuniga
Second Location
One and one half miles further up the river, we come to the lower end of a large valley, (Mission Valley), about 8 mile from the Toncahua Bank. This site is the location of the Mission Espiritu Santos. The location is on the west side of the river and at the base of a high caliche hill the building set back from the river about one hundred yards, the building being made of limestone rock, (daub with limestone and caliche mortar) the walls were 2 feet in width as were also the stockade walls that surrounded the whole compound. There are some of the walls still standing at this time and are yet about ten feet in height in places. There have been only two test holes made here and surface inspections at this site. In 1935-36, the brush were all cut down around the buildings and a outline of all the stockade wall foundations that could be found [were] cleaned up to show up more clearly the whole site for the Centennial Year. A state maker was placed at the Mission site and that was all that was done. In cleaning up the site I found that the inside of the walls were plastered with a pink plaster that had black strips that caused a diamond shaped pattern on the walls. Arrowhead and treasure hunters have since been there [and] have dug holes all around the site and in the inside of the rooms undermining the old walls and foundations. I wish to state here that this mission as well as the adjunct chapel in the north end of the City Park could be restored and should be for the historical value that these sites amount to.
The Spanish Dam on the Guadalupe
On up the river and about 4 miles from the mission and at the north end of the valley, (14 miles from the Toncahua Bank in the City Park at Victoria), are the remains of a rock dam built by the Spaniards on the Guadalupe to divert water into a irrigation ditch to irrigate the valley below the dam. This dam was made of limestone rock and limestone and caliche mortar and layed [sic] on the solid rock foundation which formed the bottom bed of the river all of the way across at this point. The dam was 7 feet high, 6 feet wide at the top and butress[es] 4 feet wide placed every 12 feet apart on the down river side. There are 80 feet of this old dam still standing. Excavations made at the west end showed that the water was diverted around the west end into a ditch that ran parallel with the river and as the elevation dropped the ditch gradually left the river until the water was available for irrigation with the use of lifts in the form of diverting gates in the main ditch. Dam ordered constructed in 1728. DRAWING
John L. Jarratt, Sr.
Nov. 7, 1966