The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 6, July 1902 - April, 1903 Page: 88
401 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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88 fxas Historical Association Quarterly.
de Leon, and its boundaries run to the river of Medina, which is its
terminus for the north."'
By comparing the dimensions of Texas, as given above, with
thost previously given for Coahuila and Nuevo Leon, it will be seen
that they are far broader. Nueva Vizcaya at the same time had a
length of about one hundred and eighty leagues, while the distance
from the royal presidio of El Paso to Santa F6 allowed a length of
about one hundred and thirty leagues only for New Mexico,2 the
scattered settlements of which were hemmed in by unsubdued In-
dians. Although the extensive province of Texas at that time con-
tained only four widely scattered settlements,3 all writers agree in
stating that its resources were sufficient to maintain a vast popu-
lation. So it follows that, even if restricted to the Medina as its
western boundary, it possessed more territory, and territory of a
&reater value, than any of its neighbors.
Front the above excerpts it will be seen that three Spanish offi-
cials, high in authority, had in the course of twenty-five years pre-
vious to 1748, made separate statements concerning the southwest
boundary of Texas, and that all had concurred in placing it at the
Medina. It.seems only reasonable to say that we are justified in
assuming that this river was the officially recognized boundary, at
that time, between Texas and Coahuila, and that this delimitation
was commonly accepted by the people of 'the two provinces.4 It
remains only to fix the boundaries of Texas below the province of
Coahuila. This question was settled by the pacification of the sav-
age Indians of the coast, by General Jos6 Escand6n, between the
years 1748 and 1755. Texas acquired a new neighbor, Nuevo San-
tander; a new limit in that quarter, the Nueces; and her western
boundary, at least for a Spanish province, may be regarded as fairly
complete.
The junta general of war and finance had authorized Escand6n
to conquer "a hundred leagues or more from south to north and
about seventy or eighty from east to west on the coast of the Mexi-
'Theatro Anericano, II 306.
2Altamira, Yoakum, I 384.
'Theatro Americano, II 320.
4Yoakum, I 77, says, "At this period the Medina seems to be well under-
stood as the western limit of Texas."
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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/m1/92/?rotate=270: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.