The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 6, July 1902 - April, 1903 Page: 90
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90 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
the founding of fourteen settlements, three of which were to be
beyond the Rio Grande. The royal audiencia of the City of Mexico
approved of his plans, amplified his powers, and gave him permis-
sion to found the new settlements.1 Already, in 1749, he had sent
a detachment of his forces from Coahuila across the Rio Bravo at
San Juan Bautista, with orders to proceed to the mouth of the
Nueces and the bay of Espiritu Santo. He also gave orders to
Captain Basterra, then in command of the troops at that point, to
proceed to form a settlement at a suitable place on the left bank
of the Nueces.2 He also proposed to remove the presidio from the
bay of Espiritu Santo near to Camnargo, where it would be more
useful against the warlike Lipans and Apaches. By the next year,
however, Escand6n learned that the place selected on the Nueces
was not suitable for a settlement, and after eight months of hard-
ships, the prospective settlers were located below the Rio Bravo,
where they formed the villa of Soto la Marina.3
In sending this expedition beyond the Rio Grande, Escand6n
had, in a measure, exercised control over the territory crossed, and
with the approval of the Mexican authorities, although not to the
extent of actual settlement. The latter was accomplished indi-
rectly by him through private enterprise. In 1750 there was estab-
lished, on the left bank of the Rio Grande, a hacienda of consid-
erable importance, called Dolores. The founder of this, Don Jos6
Vasquez Borrego, on learning of Escand6n's conquests and that his
settlement was within the limits assigned the latter, presented him-
self to that leader in the villa Santander and offered his co-opera-
tion in subduing the territory on the far side of the Bravo. Escan-
d6n accepted his offer, appointed him captain and administrator of
that portion of the colony, and gave him fifty sitios of land for
pasturage. Four years later the settlement, Dolores, had a popu-
lation of a hundred and twenty-five.4
Towards the end of 1754, another hacendado of Coahuila, Don
Tomas Sanchez by name, crossed the Bravo and established himself
about ten leagues to the north of Dolores. Sanchez also proposed
'Prieto, 160, 161.
2Ibid., 135.
sIbid., 167.
'Ibid., 175.
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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/m1/94/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.