Downtown San Angelo Summer '25 - Magazine - Page 13
Sometimes, looking at this rough
country with its thorny flora, poisonous
vipers and capricious weather,
landlocked and far from any great city,
you wonder why anyone decided to
settle here, and how they began to
carve something that resembled a town
given the scarce resources. Even
more–granting that a certain kind of
man relished the challenges of untamed
wilderness and hostile bands of
Indians, Mexicans and renegades for a
chance at making his fortune–how
were women persuaded to give up
comfortable surroundings and the
gentile society of city life to follow
their men and set up housekeeping in
this inhospitable region?
Like the Spanish explorers before
them, settlers anticipated discoveries of
precious metals and stones, or at least
rich farm and grazing lands that would
support their communities. However,
this westward expansion meant the
displacement of native American
Indians, and because of hostilities
between settlers and natives, frontier
forts were often the forerunner of new
settlements. The proximity of
well-armed soldiers and well-stocked
garrisons were a measure of protection
and lawfulness in wild territories. Forts,
also, were prey to raiding parties,
sometimes with losses only of livestock
and provisions, but often with loss of
life on both sides.
Individual reasons vary, of course, but
there are some common motivations to
be found in the confluence of several
factors. Texas became part of the US in
1845, and settlers were moving ever
north and west from Galveston and
San Antonio, then the most populated
Texas cities. Immigration into Texas
significantly increased after the
conclusions of the Mexican-American
War in 1848 and the Civil War in 1865.
Back when Fort Concho was established
in 1867, two small settlements sprang
up along with it, one about five miles
south of the fort on the east bank of
the South Concho, and one to the
north of the fort’s location at the
juncture of the main and middle
Conchos.
These rivers were of the greatest
importance in selecting the site for the
fort, providing the most important
resource of all, fresh water. The rivers
could be deadly, too. The settlement
below the fort on the South Concho
was called Ben Ficklin and is
remembered today because of the flood
that destroyed it in 1882, killing 65
people. Ben Ficklin supplied water to
the fort and was a stop on the mail
line from San Antonio to El Paso, and
then on to California.
A report from San Antonio via the
Weekly New Mexican newspaper, May
19, 1868, offers some insight on the
importance of the frontier forts, mail
lines, conditions for traveling and the
hopes of those emigrating west. Under
the header “The Mail Line from El Paso
to San Antonio, Texas,” the article says:
Weekly New Mexican
EST. 1863
Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory
May 19, 1968
The Mail Line from El Paso
t o S a n A n t o n i o , Te x a s
“The following information with regard to this mail route–so important to the people of Western
Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Northeastern Mexico–will be valuable and interesting to our
readers, and also to who may contemplate emigration to California, or new enterprises in the
wonderfully rich gold, silver and copper mines of New Mexico, Arizona and Chihuahua. The route
from San Antonio to El Paso is one of the best roads for the distance that the sun shines on.
At El Paso are stationed two Companies of the 35th Infantry . . . Fort Davis is garrisoned
by three Companies of Cavalry and two of Infantry . . .One Company of Cavalry at Pecos Station,
to explore the staked plains for a shorter and better route across to the Concho. One Company of
Cavalry at Camp Charlotte, on the head of the Concho . . . Fort Concho–four Companies of Cavalry
and two of Infantry. Fort McKavett–four Companies of Cavalry and two of Infantry . . . From Fort
Mason to San Antonio, being through a settled country, no special protection will be needed.”
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