[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2271 Introduced in House (IH)]







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 Representatives 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 Onate led a Spanish military 
        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 people to New Mexico and other 
        areas that would become the United States;
            (7) The exploration, conquest, colonization, settlement, 
        religious conversion, and military occupation of a large area 
        of the borderlands was made possible by this route, whose 
        historical period extended 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 interaction among Spaniards, other Europeans, 
        American Indians, Mexicans, and Americans;
            (9) El Camino Real fostered the spread of Catholicism, 
        mining, an extensive network of commerce, and ethnic and 
        cultural traditions including music, folklore, medicine, foods, 
        architecture, language, 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 Express 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 Historic Trail, a 404 
                mile long trail from the Rio Grande near El Paso, Texas 
                to San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico, as generally depicted 
                on the maps entitled `United States Route: El Camino 
                Real de Tierra Adentro', contained in the report 
                prepared pursuant to subsection (b) entitled `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 inspection in 
                the Office of the National Park Service, Department of 
                Interior.
                    ``(C) Administration.--The Trail shall be 
                administered by the Secretary of the Interior.
                    ``(D) Land acquisition.--No lands or interests 
                therein outside the exterior boundaries of any 
                federally administered area may be acquired by the 
                Federal Government for El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro 
                except with the consent of the owner thereof.
                    ``(E) Volunteer groups; consultation.--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 Federal, 
                        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-governmental organizations, 
                academic instititions, and, in consultation with the 
                Secretary of State, the government of Mexico and its 
                political subdivisions, for the purpose of exchanging 
                trail information and research, fostering trail 
                preservation and educational programs, providing 
                technical assistance, and working to establish an 
                international historic trail with complementary 
                preservation and education programs in each nation.''.
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