The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 65, July 1961 - April, 1962 Page: 511
663 p. : ill., maps (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Notes and Documents
hundred wagons going and coming, between this and Clark. From
all appearance this border commerce must be "on the mend,"
especially as I learn freights are now just double what they were
in December last.25
Friday, April. 9. Last night very cold. A heavy white frost this
morning. Reached Castroville, a little German settlement on the
Medina River. Pushed on to Medio, 12 miles from San Antonio,
where we went into camp at 3 P.M. Tomorrow we ought to reach our
journey's end. Feldman, who was anxious to see his wife and chil-
dren, left me here and walked into town. Buddy amused himself
shooting birds on the way today, bagging 29 doves and plover. They
are very gentle, the doves especially collecting in little squads of
five or six along the road, offer an easy aim for the "Desperado."
Saturday, April io. A "red letter" day, for we pulled into San
Antonio, safe and sound at 12 o'clock, high noon. I am glad to say
too that I have had no difficulty with any man in the return party.
I apprehended trouble and it was predicted but I avoided it by
keeping whiskey out of camp and stopping always away from the
seductions of frontier posts and towns. There was never a serious
quarrel on the whole trip. I congratulate myself.
Arrived at San Antonio, I went to Robard's house,20 donned
civilized garments once more, saw Col. Andrews, and settled all my
affairs as treasurer of the expedition satisfactorily and slept the peace
of the just. Thus ends my connection with the R. R. Mining & Ex-
ploring party to the Chinati Mountains' B. G. DUVAL
25At this stage of the return trip Duval ran into the heavy traffic on the eastern
leg of the Chihuahua Trail meeting "prairie schooners" from out of San Antonio and
Indianola, bound for Mexico. Principal operators were John Monier, Froboese and
Santleben, C. Villemain and Martin Muench. The "prairie schooners" were intro-
duced to trail bosses by A. Staacke of San Antonio. These wagons weighed four
tons, were twenty feet long, with the wooden parts painted blue and were equipped
with heavy brakes for negotiating mountain roads. Oxen had given way to mules
by the time Duval met them in such force. There was also a Chihuahua Wagon
made in Mexico, much like the old Conestoga Wagons and the later prairie
schooners.
20Camp Robards, Duval's friend, was a cotton operator who lived in San Antonio.511
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 65, July 1961 - April, 1962, periodical, 1962; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101195/m1/571/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.