The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 27, July 1923 - April, 1924 Page: 185
344 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Location of La Salle's Colony On Gulf of Mexico 185
I was seeking was on Keeran ranch, and that I must see Mr.
Claude Keeran, owner of the ranch and a lifelong resident of
the place. I made bold, therefore, to call him up by telephone,
introduce myself, and tell him of my errand. He was interested
at once, and generously volunteered to co-operate. At his sug-
gestion I rode out seven miles that night in a wagon with Mr.
Vickers, who was boring a well on the Keeran ranch, spending
the night in the camp as Mr. Vickers' guest. Next morning as
we were eating breakfast, Mr. Keeran, accompanied by his fore-
man, Mr. Charles Webb, came in his automobile, and together
we spent the forenoon going over Cardenas' ground, with copies
of his map and the accompanying report in hand.
Conversation at Placedo with Mr. J. S. Webb, who for years
had ridden the Keeran ranch, had elicited the fact that on a
bank overlooking the Garcitas river were ruins known in the
neighborhood tradition as "The Old Mission," but otherwise un-
explained. Mr. Keeran confirmed this report, took me to the
spot, and informed me that, like most "old sites" in the South-
west, it had long been an object of attention to treasure seekers.
It is exactly where Cardenas' map shows La Salle's settlement,
on the west bank of the Garcitas river, about five miles above its
mouth, and on the highest point of the cliff-like bank of that
stream. The place is between Malden Mott and Letts's Mott,
but considerably nearer the former than the latter. The spot is
the vantage point of all the country round. To the south, west,
and northwest, stretch indefinitely the great level prairies, now
sprinkled with a recent growth of mesquite, but in La Salle's
day an open prairie dotted with buffalo herds. In front lies a
beautiful little valley through which winds the Garcitas river, a
good sized stream, from a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet
in width, and still navigable with a launch for a number of miles
above its mouth.29 On the other side the valley is hemmed in
by a range of low hills which, off to the northwest, fade away
into the great plain lying east of Victoria. The choice by La
Salle of the spot for his colony is no cause for surprise. A care-
ful comparison of the topography of the valley with Cardenas'
map and description showed that he had delineated correctly
"Mr. Keeran runs a launch on the river, his landing being a mile or
more above the site of the fort.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 27, July 1923 - April, 1924, periodical, 1924; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101086/m1/191/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.