I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2271
To amend the National Trails System Act to designate El Camino Real
de Tierra Adentro as a National Historic Trail.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 17, 1999
Mr. REYES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Resources
A BILL
To amend the National Trails System Act to designate El
Camino Real de Tierra Adentro as a National Historic Trail.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘El Camino Real de
Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (the
Royal Road of the Interior), served as the primary
route between the colonial Spanish capital of Mexico
City and the Spanish provincial capitals at San Juan
de Los Caballeros (1598–1600), San Gabriel (1600–
1609) and then Santa Fe (1610–1821).
(2) The portion of El Camino Real de Tierra
Adentro that resided in what is now the United
States extended between El Paso, Texas and present
San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico, a distance of 404
miles;
(3) El Camino Real is a symbol of the cultural
interaction between nations and ethnic groups and
of the commercial exchange that made possible the
development and growth of the borderland;
(4) American Indian groups, especially the
Pueblo Indians of the Rio Grande, developed trails
for trade long before Europeans arrived;
(5) In 1598, Juan de On˜ate led a Spanish mili-
tary expedition along those trails to establish the
northern portion of El Camino Real;
(6) During the Mexican National Period and
part of the U.S. Territorial Period, El Camino Real
de Tierra Adentro facilitated the emigration of peo-
ple to New Mexico and other areas that would be-
come the United States;
(7) The exploration, conquest, colonization, set-
tlement, religious conversion, and military occupa-
tion of a large area of the borderlands was made
possible by this route, whose historical period ex-
tended from 1598 to 1882;
(8) American Indians, European emigrants,
miners, ranchers, soldiers, and missionaries used El
Camino Real during the historic development of the
borderlands. These travelers promoted cultural inter-
action among Spaniards, other Europeans, American
Indians, Mexicans, and Americans;
(9) El Camino Real fostered the spread of Ca-
tholicism, mining, an extensive network of com-
merce, and ethnic and cultural traditions including
music, folklore, medicine, foods, architecture, lan-
guage, place names, irrigation systems, and Spanish
law.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION.
Section 5 (a) of the National Trails System Act (16
U.S.C. 1244 (a)) is amended—
(1) by designating the paragraphs relating to
the California National Historic Trail, the Pony Ex-
press National Historic Trail, and the Selma to
Montgomery National Historic Trail as paragraphs
(18), (19), and (20), respectively; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(21) 
EL
CAMINO
REAL
DE
TIERRA
ADENTRO.—
‘‘(A) El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
(the Royal Road of the Interior) National His-
toric Trail, a 404 mile long trail from the Rio
Grande near El Paso, Texas to San Juan Pueb-
lo, New Mexico, as generally depicted on the
maps entitled ‘United States Route: El Camino
Real de Tierra Adentro’, contained in the re-
port prepared pursuant to subsection (b) enti-
tled ‘National Historic Trail Feasibility Study
and Environmental Assessment: El Camino
Real de Tierra Adentro, Texas-New Mexico’,
dated March 1997.
‘‘(B) MAP.—A map generally depicting the
trail shall be on file and available for public in-
spection in the Office of the National Park
Service, Department of Interior.
‘‘(C) ADMINISTRATION.—The Trail shall
be administered by the Secretary of the Inte-
rior.
‘‘(D) LAND ACQUISITION.—No lands or in-
terests therein outside the exterior boundaries
of any federally administered area may be ac-
quired by the Federal Government for El Ca-
mino Real de Tierra Adentro except with the
consent of the owner thereof.
‘‘(E) VOLUNTEER
GROUPS; 
CONSULTA-
TION.—The Secretary of the Interior shall—
‘‘(i) encourage volunteer trail groups
to participate in the development and
maintenance of the trail; and
‘‘(ii) consult with other affected Fed-
eral, State, local governmental, and tribal
agencies in the administration of the trail.
‘‘(F) COORDINATION OF ACTIVITIES.—The
Secretary of the Interior may coordinate with
United States and Mexican public and non-gov-
ernmental organizations, academic instititions,
and, in consultation with the Secretary of State,
the government of Mexico and its political sub-
divisions, for the purpose of exchanging trail in-
formation and research, fostering trail preserva-
tion and educational programs, providing tech-
nical assistance, and working to establish an
international historic trail with complementary
preservation and education programs in each
nation.’’.
Æ