[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 836 Referred in House (RFH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 836


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 22, 1993

             Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
 To amend the National Trails System Act to provide for a study of El 
 Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (The Royal Road of the Interior Lands), 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro 
Study Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro was the primary route 
        for nearly 300 years that was used by clergy, colonists, 
        soldiers, Indians, officials, and trade caravans between Mexico 
        and New Mexico;
            (2) from the Spanish colonial period (1598-1821), through 
        the Mexican national period (1821-1848), and through part of 
        the United States Territorial period (1840-1912), El Camino 
        Real de Tierra Adentro extended 1,800 miles from Mexico City 
        through Chihuahua City, El Paso del Norte, and on to Santa Fe 
        in northern New Mexico;
            (3) the road was the first to be developed by Europeans in 
        what is now the United States and for a time was one of the 
        longest roads in North America; and
            (4) El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, until the arrival of 
        the railroad in the 1880's, witnessed and stimulated great 
        multi-cultural exchanges and the evolution of nations, peoples, 
        and cultures.

SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF TRAIL.

    Section 5(c) of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(c)) 
is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(36)(A) El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the 
        approximately 1,800 mile route extending from Mexico City, 
        Mexico, across the international border at El Paso, Texas, to 
        Santa Fe, New Mexico.
            ``(B) The study shall--
                    ``(i) examine changing routes within the general 
                corridor;
                    ``(ii) examine major connecting branch routes; and
                    ``(iii) give due consideration to alternative name 
                designations.
            ``(C) The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to work 
        in cooperation with the Government of Mexico (including, but 
        not limited to providing technical assistance) to determine the 
        suitability and feasibility of establishing an international 
        historic route along the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.''.

            Passed the Senate July 21 (legislative day, June 30), 1993.

            Attest:

                                             WALTER J. STEWART,

                                                             Secretary.