[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 983 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 983

To amend the National Trails System Act to direct the Secretary of the 
   Interior to study the El Camino Real Para Los Texas for potential 
    addition to the National Trails System, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                May 19 (legislative day, April 19), 1993

  Mr. Johnston (for himself and Mr. Krueger) introduced the following 
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the National Trails System Act to direct the Secretary of the 
   Interior to study the El Camino Real Para Los Texas for potential 
    addition to the National Trails System, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``El Camino Real Para Los Texas Study 
Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds--
            (1) El Camino Real Para Los Texas was the Spanish road 
        established to connect a series of missions and posts extending 
        from Monclova, Mexico to the mission and later Presidio Nuestra 
        de Pilar de los Adaes which served as the Spanish capital of 
        the province of Texas from 1722 to 1772;
            (2) El Camino Real, over time, comprised an approximately 
        1,000-mile corridor of changing routes from Saltillo through 
        Monclova and Guerrero, Mexico; San Antonio and Nacogdoches, 
        Texas and then easterly to the vicinity of Los Adaes in present 
        day Louisiana; and constituted the only major overland route 
        from the Rio Grande to the Red River Valley during the Spanish 
        Colonial Period;
            (3) the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth 
        century rivalries among the European colonial powers of Spain, 
        France, and England and after their independence, Mexico and 
        the United States, for dominion over lands fronting the Gulf of 
        Mexico were played out along the evolving travel routes across 
        this immense area; and, as well, the future of several American 
        Indian nations were tied to these larger forces and events;
            (4) El Camino Real and the subsequent San Antonio Road 
        witnessed a competition that helped determine the United States 
        southern and western boundaries; and
            (5) the San Antonio Road, like El Camino Real, was a series 
        of routes established over the same corridor but was not 
        necessarily the same as El Camino Real; and that from the 
        1830's, waves of American immigrants, many using the Natchez 
        Trace, travelled west to Texas via the San Antonio Road, as did 
        Native Americans attempting to relocate away from the pressures 
        of European settlement.

SEC. 3. STUDY OF TRAIL.

    Section 5(c) of the National Trail System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(c)) 
is amended by adding the following new paragraph at the end thereof:
    ``(36)(A) El Camino Real Para Los Texas, the approximate series of 
routes from Saltillo, Monclova, and Guerrero, Mexico across Texas 
through San Antonio and Nacogdoches, to the vicinity of Los Adaes, 
Louisiana, together with the evolving routes later known as the San 
Antonio Road.
    ``(B) The study shall--
            ``(i) examine the changing roads within the historic 
        corridor;
            ``(ii) examine the major connecting branch routes;
            ``(iii) determine the individual or combined suitability 
        and feasibility of routes for potential national historic trail 
        designation;
            ``(iv) consider the preservation heritage plan developed by 
        the Texas Department of Transportation entitled `A Texas 
        Legacy: The Old San Antonio Road and the Caminos Reales', dated 
        January, 1991; and
            ``(v) make recommendations concerning the suitability and 
        feasibility of establishing an international historical park 
        where the trail crosses the United States-Mexico border at 
        Maverick County, Texas, and Guerrero, Mexico.
    ``(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 detemine the suitability and 
feasibility of establishing an international historic trail long the El 
Camino Real Para Los Texas.
    ``(D) The study shall be undertaken in consultation with the 
Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and the Texas 
Department of Transportation.
    ``(E) The study shall consider alternative name designations for 
the trail.
    ``(F) The study shall be completed no later than two years after 
the date funds are made available for the study.''.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary 
to carry out this Act.

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