The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 6, July 1902 - April, 1903 Page: 85
401 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Southwest Boundary of Texas.
de Bexar, founded in 1718,1 as a protection to the mission on the
San-Antonio river. The small garrison at this point could control,
in a fairly satisfactory manner, the country as far west as the next
important natural dividing line, the Medina river. This, accord-
ingly, would be taken as the southwest boundary of the new prov-
ince. By 1700 Coahuila had extended her military posts near to
the right bank of the Rio Grande, where the presidio of San Juan
Bautista was established. A few years later her missions were also
established upon the left bank.2 Thus both banks of the Rio
Grande belonged to Coahuila by right of actual settlement, and the
unoccupied territory between the Rio Grande and the Medina seems
to have-been transferred to her bodily, as being the older province.
The Medina is distinctly called the boundary line between the two
provinces, April 4, 1721, by the Marqu6s de Aguayo. Very likely
it had been so designated previous to his journey, or this would not
have been stated so simply, without some word of explanation; as,
to quote his words, "entering the province of the Texas, Nuevas
Filipinas, which the river Medina divides from the province of
Coahuila, Nueva Estremadura."3 Such a statement from the man
who was governor of both provinces may be regarded as both dis-
interested and official. In a similar manner, doubtless by right of
previous independent organization, Nueva Vizcaya and Nuevo
Mexico extended their territory far east of the Rio Grande, and for
more than a century and a quarter their claims were recognized by
the Spanish authorities of Texas, as well as those of the other im-
mediate provinces and of the general government. Thjus. Texas
was to remain shut away from the upper Rio Grande, until a force
stronger than documentary evidence should enter into the solution
of the question.
The fact has been mentioned that the Medina was called the
'Talamantes, Historia .... de Texas hasts el ano de 1730, Par. 22. Histo-
ria 43, Archivo General.
2This was the dase of Mision de San Francisco Solano, afterwards trans-
ferred to the San Antonio and renamed Mision de San Antonio de Valero.
Talamantes, Par. 22. Portilla: Apuntes pcra la Historia Antiqua de
Goahuila y Texas, 292 et seq.
sDiario del Viaje de Marquds de San Miguel de Aguayo in Memorias de
Nueva Espaa, 28 11. It is interesting to note how the simpler native
name of the province has survived in each of these two cases, as well as
in most of the others.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 6, July 1902 - April, 1903, periodical, 1903; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101028/m1/89/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.