The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 40, July 1936 - April, 1937 Page: 24
348 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
ing to the cliffs, which are covered with cedar, oak, and elm.
These cliffs, with the hills rising gradually back of them toward
the north, resemble the Black Forest. Through the bottom land
flows the Comal River, which, gushing out of the rock in seven
large springs, shortly reaches a width of twenty paces and, be-
coming larger and larger, rushes along a swift mountain stream.
Its water is very deep and clear as crystal.4'
From San Antonio Prince Solms rode to Seguin on March 16,
met Zink and von Coll there the following day, and on the 18th
forded the Guadalupe at the place where the San Antonio-Nacog-
doches road crossed it. On the morning of the 19th he and his
small company of men were reminded of home because of snow
which had fallen during the night. On the 20th he inspected that
part of the Comal Tract lying north of Comal Creek and described
the view from there as "enchanting." Late in the afternoon of
March 21, 1845, Prince Solms greeted the immigrants at the
ford on the Guadalupe and went into camp with them on the
east bank of Comal Creek. Here, then, Prince Solms founded the
Society's first principal settlement and named it New Braunfels
in honor of his own estate, Braunfels, on the Lahn River, a trib-
utary of the Rhine. He fortified the camp by the erection of
palisades on three of its sides, the fourth being protected by the
high, steep bank of the creek, and marked the site of the fort
which was to be built for the protection of the settlement.42
When he made his last report on April 30, 1845, Prince Solms
was able to say that half-acre town lots and ten-acre farm lots
had been given to each head of a family and each single man
over seventeen years. Most of the settlers had begun to build
their homes and nearly all of them had started the cultivation of
their gardens and their farm lots. To each of the three subordi-
nate officials-Zink, von Coll, and Koester-Prince Solms gave
one hundred acres of land in the Comal Tract, subject to approval
by the directorate. On April 28 he laid the cornerstone of the
fort which he named the Sophienburg in honor of the princess of
Salm-Salm. Very little work had as yet been done on the build-
ings for the Society because of a shortage of laborers. The report
41S-B A., XL, 87-91; Kalender filr 1916, pp. 61-62; Comal County Deed
Records, E, 58.
"S-B A., XL, 87-91; Kalender fir 1916, pp. 61-62. This report was dated
Camp on Comal Creek, March 27, 1845.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 40, July 1936 - April, 1937, periodical, 1937; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101099/m1/32/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.