Excerpt from Presidios of the Big Bend Area Today historians, anthropologists, and the National Park Service look with increased interest at the historical background of the Big Bend National Park area. Part of this interest results from the development of the historic resources of traditionally natural parks such as Big Bend. Preparations for a major celebration of the 5o0th anniversary of the European discovery of the New World in 1992 have contributed additional interest. As part of this celebration, scholars propose an international appraisal of the effects of Columbus's landing. The appraisal would include studies of the history of New Spain, such as historical and archeological research dealing with specific sites of international significance. Among the sites being considered for such research are two in northern Mexico on the south side of the Rio Grande River near Big Bend National Park. They are the ruins of two military posts constructed during the later years of the Spanish Empire, the presidios of San Vicente and San Carlos. In 1772 the Spanish government constructed the two presidios as part of a new alignment of frontier defenses. The new line of presidios extended from the California coast to the Gulf of Mexico. It housed troops moved from forts closed down by the realignment. This shift in the defenses resulted from a debate within the government over frontier policy for New Spain and strongly affected subsequent events, including future relationships with the new nation of the United States. Although San Carlos and San Vicente presidios were not exceptional parts of the new frontier when they were established, time has immensely increased their significance. Because of changing frontier management policies, they were abandoned after ten years and have been Virtually undisturbed since that time. As a result, they contain an almost untouched archeological record of the daily activities and culture of the late-eighteenth-century frontier presidio. This information, if combined with the extensive military and historical records of the period, would produce an unequaled picture of the operation and life of these presidios. Because of this, they are of unique interest in terms of both historic and archeological potential. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This investigation of the sites of presidios of the Big Bend area was to determine the archeological research potential of the sites and to evaluate the potential interpretive features of international interest.

The 1848 treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the Mexican-American War described a boundary between the two countries that was to be ascertained by a joint boundary commission effort. The section of the boundary along the Rio Grande from Presidio to the mouth of the Pecos River was arguably the most challenging, and it was surveyed by two American parties, one led by civilian surveyor M. T. W. Chandler in 1852, and the second led by Lieutenant Nathaniel Michler in 1853. Our understanding of these two surveys across the greater Big Bend has long been limited to the official reports and maps housed in the National Archives and never widely published. The discovery by Orville B. Shelburne of the journal kept by Dr. Charles C. Parry, surgeon-botanist-geologist for the 1852 party, has dramatically enriched the story by giving us a firsthand view of the Chandler boundary survey as it unfolded. Parry’s journal forms the basis of From Presidio to the Pecos River, which documents the day-to-day working of the survey teams. The story Shelburne tells is one of scientific exploration under duress—surveyors stranded in towering canyons overnight without food or shelter; piloting inflatable rubber boats down wild rivers; rising to the challenges of a profoundly remote area, including the possibility of Indian attack. Shelburne’s comparison of the original boundary maps with their modern counterparts reveals the limitations of terrain and equipment on the survey teams. Shelburne's book provides a window on the adventure, near disaster, and true accomplishment of the surveyors’ work in documenting the course of the Rio Grande across the Big Bend region.

Given in honor of District Governor Hugh Summers and Mrs. Ahnise Summers by the Rotary Club of Aggieland with matching support from the Sara and John H. Lindsey '44 Fund, Texas A & M University Press, 2004.