The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 15, July 1911 - April, 1912 Page: 192
382 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Texas Historical Association Quarterly
3. Tie Pedernales River Plan.-Father Santa Ana, president
of the San Antonio missions, had resolved to undertake the long
journey to Mexico City in order to make a personal plea for
Apache missions. He arrived there in the latter part of 1749,
or in January of the following year, and about the middle of
February made a proposition differing materially from that which
had been made by Father Dolores. Father Santa Ana's proposal
was a radical one. Without making the usual lengthy introduc-
tory remarks in his communication to the viceroy, he asked that
orders should be given for the removal of the presidio of San
Antonio de Bexar, with its entire garrison, to the Pedernales
River (or to a more distant location if necessary), in order that
a Spanish pueblo might be formed under its protection, and that
a mission might be founded for the Apaches. The site should
be chosen, with the co-operation of the chiefs who wished to
"congregate," at a distance of two or three leagues from the
presidio, and there the Apaches should encamp until the actual
establishment of the mission. Upon the completion of these ar-
rangements, a detailed account should be sent to the viceroy in
order that the necessary permission might be secured.-
The region in which Father Santa Ana proposed to found the
mission was the mountainous section along the Pedernales River,
which was then frequented by the Apaches, especially during the
buffalo season. The Pedernales has been reduced in modern geo-
graphical nomenclature to the rank of a creek, but it is a stream
of fairly good size, flowing into the Colorado about twenty miles
northwest of Austin. The fact that this region was selected is
significant, for it indicates that the missionaries were beginning
to see that it was advisable for the Apaches to be given missions
in their own country.
The somewhat indefinite and altogether radical nature of Father
Santa Ana's proposal did not favorably impress the auditor, to
whom the communication had been sent on February 13. That
official immediately raised a number of objections, beginning his
'Santa Ana to the viceroy, in "Memorias de Nueva Espana," XXVIII,
if. 131-133. The date is probably February 13, 1750. Bonilla (Breve
Compendio, 23) says that Father Dolores proposed the Pedernales plan
and later the Guadalupe plan. He has the chronology reversed and his
account is very inaccurate.192
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 15, July 1911 - April, 1912, periodical, 1912; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101056/m1/197/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.