The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-12-20
SOUTHWEST TEXAS
 AND TIE MISSIONS Spanish Settlements Were Made for Military Purposes CR0Z0T WAS TIE PIONEER Grant of Land Was Made to the Frenchn1an Who Went Into Texas
 and Caused the Spanish
 to Colonze.
CR0Z0T WAS TIE PIONEER
By GEORGE A. scHRE,NER.

San Antonio, Tex, December 19-(Spe- cial.)-The Spanish settlements in south- west Texas were missions and presidios. The claim. so often made, that the Span ish endeavored to cvilize the Indian for his own sake Is a rather extravagant one when all is considered We see in the case Of southwest Texas that no missions were established until the French began to seriously encroach upon the territory of Castile, If, indeed the New Philippines or New Estramadura could be called this France had already adopted saner notions in international law, and claimed that discovery and settlement constituted & sounder claim to a territory than did the pull Of Pope Alexander, an arbitrary in- strument, based on neither reason nor logic. But the Spanish did not make set dement's for the purpose of meeting the French claim morally; their settlements were of an entirely military nature. For this reason we meet the presidio wher- ever We meet a mission soldiers wherever there are monks.
 It would be unfair to say, however. that there were among the friars not those who were really active in the cause or civilization. Father Marat, in TIP, tells us that Tt was necessary first to trans form these Indians into men, and after wards to labor to make them Christians. The views of the worthy friar are a lit- tie too ambiguous to permit us to know ex- actIy what he meant. But they throw a very Illuminating light on one point ana that is, that the Indian had to labor In order to become a Christian The nelds around the missions were tiled by the Yndios Reducidos to feed the soldiers who were to ward of both the Yndios Braves and the French
 Castillo operated rich gold and silver mines in northern New Spain, that is Mexico, and for years had thought the desert north of the Rio Bravo del Norte, the Rio Grande of today to be an effec- tive barrier against intrusion. But the French had shown that the three-fold terrors of the New Philippines meant nothing to them. Other methods had to be employed therefore. Marquis de La guna, and Count Monclava, vieeroys )f Mexico, had heard of the attempt of the French to settle in Texas, and the lat ter sent Capt. Alonzo de Leon to estab- fish the truth of the rumor. This off cer located Fort St. Louis, built by La Sale, in 1888, found two of the assassins of the great explorer, and a little while afterwards made settlement in its vii cinity. But this effort at settlement was
 
 founded had been abandoned Failure of crops and the unwillingness on the part of the Indians to be converted and made to work. proved too much for the Spaniard's zeal for colonization.
 The crozot Grant.
 To Anthony Crozot, a captain of in dustry of his time, Louis XIV. in TIA. granted all Louisiana for the purpose of commercial exploitation. Crozot had Ca dillac appointed governor and the latter sent Hucherau St. Denis a young and daring French Canadian, to penetrate the wilderness of Texas with a view of open- ing communication with northern Mexico and locate some gold and silver mines. The very romantic story of this young man will be told in some other chapter. and it slffices for the time being to state that he made the first settlement on the spot on which now stands the metropo- lis of Texas, San Antonio This was fin 1ll5. St. Denis reached Mexico and scared the Spanish into wholesale colonization. During the next few years large num- Der Of missions were established. Before naming them 1t may be well to note what these missions were like
 Many of them are today in an excel lent state of preservation. The ground plan of all of them was a large ouad- rangle. The outer wall of the buildings had no windows and only few strono doorways, and for this reason was easily defended. Around the enclosure formed were thus grouped the buildings of the missions. These consisted of the celIs of the rriars and the catechumens kitch- ems. refactorfes, granaries, here and there stables, and rooms for the Indian labor- CTS, sometimes apartments used bv the soldiers and various storerooms Tn inc center of the wall usually facing south 0Oof fod nIn
 cases enjoyed many architectural distjnc- tions over the rest of the structure. Ffab- crate windows and doorways were nro vided. A tower or two lent to the whole pleasing aspect. But more of this will be said in the individual descriptions of several of the best missions Stone and l adobe were the materials of construc- | tion.
 The Spanish Missions.
 The missions founded by the snanisb l friars were these:
 Nuestro Sonora Del Pillar, 1715. founded
 by De Alarconne. Did not prosper and
 was transferred to San Antonio.
 Nuestro Sonora de Los Dolores, 171s | founded by the Duke of valero Was also
 transferred to San Antonio.
 The Alamo (San Antonio de yalero, ln6, founded by the Duke of yaIero
 on the Rio Grande and later on trans, I ferred to San Antonio
 Conception La Purissima de Acuna 1729 l founded by the Marquis Casa Fuerta .t
 San Antonio.
 San Francisco de la Espada. 17s1. at 1 San Antonio.
 Nuestro Sonora de Guaoalupe. TIA 1 founded by Diego Ramon Its extensivo ruins are still to be seen in the Nissior [ valley.
 i La Bashia del Esprtu santo. 17ls. found-
 ed by Don Domingo Teran at Goliad | This is claimed to be the successor of tba
 Aranama, said to have been built in 1891 on the Trinity river
 La Trinidad, presumed to have bsen rounded also Tn l6ol, at a site now occu- claimed that one of the missions had a Trinity river
 Nuestro Senora de Lorette. 1712. found 1 ed by Ramon on Matagorda bay and later on transferred to San Antonio. Maestro Sonora de Nachogdocbss ,7,e also founded by Ramon. It's ,.1,ins at Natchitoches are still well presedved. This l mission and presidio served for many years as an outpost against the French. Nuestro Sonora de Orouixacco, 1715 founded by Ramon near San Jacinto Few remains Transferred to San Antonio in 1772.
 San Fernando. 17a2. Cathedral of San Antonio. Still in use. Was nucleus of presidio San Fernando which later be- came the San Antonio de Bexar of the Spanish and Mexcans and the San Anto- nio of today
 San Jose de Aguayo, 171S. Built by Agu- ajo and completed in 17Sl Located at San Antonio. Said to be most beautiful of all missions in America San Juan Capristrano, 1781, also built L. af Go Auto Irov ov,aI