Camino de los Tejas; Route Through Austin

Below is an excerpt from (McGraw et.al, 1991, p. 187) detailing what is thought to be the the route through Austin of the Camino De Los Tejas trail [1]

• [Starting near] Center Union Church in Buda [the route parallels] a county road west of IH 35, crossing Onion Creek (Arroyo de los Garrapatas) and Slaughter Creek about where the county road crosses these streams. The route continues up present South Congress Avenue in Austin to Pleasant Hill School. The path then turns east crossing IH 35 near Williamson Creek and follows a relatively flat area towards US 183 to a crossing of Carson Creek south of Montopolis. From there, the route continues to the Colorado River east of the US 183 bridge. The route connects with present Old Manor Road heading east and then follows the Southern Pacific Railroad to Manor.

The map below tries to plot this route; caveats / assumptions noted below.

While not specifically mentioned in this excerpt, the locations shown in the map reflect these assumptions:

• The county road referenced is 117, which is also known as Old San Antonio Road
• The trail passed by Manchaca Springs, which today sits west of Old San Antonio Road, in Hays County, just south of the Hays/Travis county line. As an aside, Google maps location of the springs may be incorrect.
• Whether the trail passed on the north or south side of Williamson Creek is not clear from the excerpt.
• The excerpt does not mention passing through McKinney Falls State park. It's included here as the Marques de Aguayo entrada of 1719-1722 is said to have passed this way (McGraw et.al, 1991, p104).
• The Carson Creek crossing is not specific.
• The crossing of the Colorado ("east of the US 183 bridge") is not specified. I've place the location near Thompson Lane based on the National Historic Trail Association map (below). This crossing may have been known later in Austin history as the Thompson ford / ferry.

 

National Historic Trail Association Map

Below is a map published by the El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association showing the trail segment that runs through Austin. It is no doubt a more thoroughly researched route than the map I did above (understatement), but one thing surprised me about the route shown here. After crossing the Colorado, east of the U.S. 183 bridge, it shows the trail veering west, as opposed to simply following Walnut Creek north, which is the "path of least resistance" elevation wise. I've not followed up to find out why the trail association thinks it veered west.

 

Footnotes

[1] El Camino Real through Texas was not a single trail, but a network of trails. In McGraw et.al, 1991, my understanding is that the term "Camino de los Tejas" is used to refer to one specific branch of El Camino Real which ran through what is now Austin. What I find a bit confusing is that the National Historic Trail, which represents the ensemble of trails in Texas, was called El Camino Real de los Tejas. In this post I'm referring to the "Camino de los Tejas" as defined in McGraw et.al.