The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 16, July 1912 - April, 1913 Page: 15
464 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Spanish Occupation of Texas, 1519-1690
made against the Cacaxtles, is the first expedition to cross the
lower Rio Grande of which we have definite record.'
Thus, by 1670 the Spaniards had barely broken over the Rio
Grande frontier below the Pecos. Now, however, another forward
step was taken on this border, the frontier of settlement pushed
northeastward, and missionary activity extended across the Rio
Grande, a movement that brought other important developments
in its train. As was often the case, the pioneers in this advance
movement were the missionaries; their leader was Juan Larios,
a native of Nueva Galicia and a friar of the Franciscan province
of Santiago de Jalisco.
The founding of Coahuila: the Larios-Bosque Expedition.-In
1670 Father Larios began missionary work on the troubled
Coahuila frontier, where he seems to have remained alone for
some three years. Returning to Guadalajara, in 1673 he went
again to Coahuila, accompanied by Father Dionysio de Pefiasco
and Fray Manuel de la Cruz, a lay brother. Aided by soldiers
sent by the governor of Nueva Vizcaya, they founded of the rov-
ing tribes two Indian settlements, one on the Sabinas River and
one to the north of that stream. On one of his missionary trips
made at this time Fray Manuel de la Cruz crossed the Rio Grande
to visit the interior tribes, and barely escaped capture by the Yer-
bipiames, a people who from that time till the day of their ex-
tinction gave untold trouble on this border. In the next year,
1674, Antonio de Valcarcel, appointed alcalde mayor of the
Coahuila district, founded on the site of the thrice abandoned
Almad6n a "city" called Nuestra Sefiora de Guadalupe, and as-
sisted Father Larios in transferring thither his temporary mis-
sions, which included numerous Indians from across the Rio
Grande. Meanwhile the friars had been joined by Father Dionysio
de San Buenaventura. In 1675 Valcdrcel sent Alf6rez Fernando
del Bosque, accompanied by Fathers Larios and San Buenaventura
across the Rio Grande to explore the country and reconnoiter the
tribes, and as a result of the report brought back four missions
lIbid., 228-230. There is a persistent tradition, found in many eighteenth
,century and nineteenth century official Spanish documents, that an expedi-
tion made in 1630 explored clear to the San Andr6s (Red) and Mississippi
rivers, and marked out the boundaries of the province of Texas, but the
story is not well substantiated, and contains so many conflicting and im-
possible elements that it is self-refuting.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 16, July 1912 - April, 1913, periodical, 1913; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101058/m1/21/?rotate=90: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.