The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 74, July 1970 - April, 1971 Page: 224
616 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
dust" mine." In Mexico City, Austin met a former resident of San
Antonio, Salvador Carrasco, who probably told him what he also told
the emperor of Mexico on May 25, 1822: "at a distance of about forty
leagues, a' little more or less, from the city of Bdjar, is a major deposit
of ore that is not developed because of the hostility of the barbarous
[Indian] nations . . . this ore deposit, named Los Almagres, is found
in the territory of Sansava [sic]."* In response to Carrasco's petition
to the emperor, the governor of Texas sent Joseph de la Baume and
two soldiers to inspect the mine. Although it appears that La Baume
did go into the Hill Country to make his investigation, it is not cer-
tain that he went to the correct place."
One landmark that could have led him to Los Almagres is the creek
flowing near the mine. The mineral deposit was probably not consid-
ered rich enough to be noted on Spanish maps, but as early as 1788
the creek was shown as Arroyo de los Almagres. Although by Austin's
time the original significance had apparently been lost, the stream
retained the name Almagres throughout the Anglo colonizing period,
and Austin and his surveyors included it on their maps of Texas. In
1829 the legendary "lost" San Saba silver mines began to appear on
Austin's maps, probably to help sell Texas to potential colonists. His
well-known map of 'Texas made about 1829 is very similar to one he
made in 1827, but in place of the presidio of San Sabi he substituted
the words "silver mines." Henry S. Tanner of Philadelphia used Aus-
tin's 1829 map to make his famous map of Texas, first published in
1830. Wide distribution of the Tanner maps resulted in a rash of maps
"George P. Garrison (ed.), "Journal of Stephen F. Austin on His First Trip to Texas,
1821," Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, VII (April, 1904), 295.
'Petition of Salvador Carrasco in Mexico City, May 25, 1822, Bexar Archives, micro-
film (Archives, University of Texas Library, Austin), Roll 71, frame 0714. That Austin
and Carrasco were acquainted is shown by the contract they signed in Mexico City on
August 2o, 1822, concerning the shipping of wool from Texas to New Orleans. Eugene
C. Barker, The Austin Papers (3 vols.; Washington, 1924-1928), I, Part 1, p. 537-
6Jose Flix Trespalacios, Governor of Texas, to Gaspar L6pez, November 13, 1822,
Bexar Archives, microfilm, Roll 73, frames 0519-0520; L6pez to Trespalacios, Novem-
ber 20o, 1822, ibid., frames 0576-0578; Trespalacios to L6pez, December 11, 1822, ibid.,
frame o694. See also Robert Sturmberg (comp.), History of San Antonio and of the
Early Days in Texas (San Antonio, 1920), 25-26.
Charles Wilson Hackett (ed.), Pichardo's Treatise on the Limits of Louisiana and
Texas (4 vols.; Austin, 1931-1946), I, 498; and the following maps from the Stephen F.
Austin Collection (Archives, University of Texas Library): "Mapa geografica de la
Provincia de Texas par Don Estevan Austin," 1822, SA 11; "Map of Texas by S F
Austin," August 8, 1827, SA 37; "Mapa del pais de los Comanches. Formado por el
C[iudadano] Estevan Austin pa. esplicar el plan de campafia contra dhos Indios,"
August 28, 1827, SA 38; map of Indian tribes along the Colorado and Brazos rivers,224
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 74, July 1970 - April, 1971, periodical, 1971; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101200/m1/236/?rotate=90: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.