[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 89 (Wednesday, July 8, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7680-S7681]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. LANDRIEU (for herself and Mr. Breaux):
  S. 2276. A bill to amend the National Trails System Act to designate 
El Camino Real de los Tejas as a National Historic Trail; to the 
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.


    el camino real de los tejas national historic trail act of 1998

 Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, today I introduce legislation on 
behalf of myself and Senator Breaux that is very important to the 
States of Texas and Louisiana, as well as to our neighboring country of 
Mexico. This bill will designate the El Camino Real de los Tejas Trail 
in Texas and Louisiana as a National Historic Trail. This legislation 
is the culmination of efforts by interested parties in Texas, Louisiana 
and Mexico, including legislators and members of academia, to study the 
feasibility and suitability of designating this exceptional complex of 
roads as part of the National Trails System.

  El Camino Real, comprised of economically important roads in Mexico 
and the United States, was used by Native Americans and the colonial 
powers of Spain, France and England during the seventeenth, eighteenth 
and nineteenth centuries. These viceregal roads were used for 
exploration, conquest, mission supply, settlement, cultural exchange 
and military campaigns, connecting a series of Spanish missions and 
posts between Monclova, Mexico and Los Adaes, the first capital of the 
province of Texas, now located in the Red River Valley of Louisiana. In 
the late seventeenth century, French interests expanded westward from 
the Mississippi River Valley into Spanish Texas. The official Spanish 
response was retaliatory. As a result, routes were extended from Mexico 
north and east into Louisiana. The historic remnants of these efforts 
can be found today at the Spanish outpost of Los Adaes in northwest 
Louisiana and the French frontier post of Fort St. Jean the Baptiste 
near Natchitoches, Louisiana.
  El Camino Real de los Tejas, named for the Indian tribes living in 
what is now east Texas and northwest Louisiana, begins in Maverick 
County, Texas and extends into Sabine and Natchitoches Parishes in 
Louisiana. Historically, the trail was composed of several routes, 
including Camino Pita, Upper Presidio Road, Upper Road, Lower Road, 
Lower Presidio Road, Camino de en Medio, and the Laredo Road. These 
roads were established beginning in 1689. The Old San Antonio Road, 
sometimes called the Camino de Arriba, the nineteenth century route 
between San Antonio and Natchitoches, is a separate road system that in 
part followed El Camino Real and overlaps it in many segments. It was 
used by famous politicians and expansionists, such as Sam Houston and 
Davy Crockett. Altogether, the roads in the United States make up 
approximately 2,500 miles of changing routes in Texas and eighty miles 
in Louisiana. As an important observation, there may well be evidence 
procured in the future that will show that El Camino Real de los Tejas 
extended all the way to the Natchez Trace.
  In July, the National Park Service will complete its study of the El 
Camino Real de los Tejas with a positive determination of suitability 
and feasibility for establishment of a national historic trail. This 
comes after enthusiastic support from the Natchitoches

[[Page S7681]]

community, including Northwestern State University and the Louisiana 
Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism. Strong support and 
contribution to the research and potential of trail designation came 
from the Texas Department of Transportation, the Texas Historical 
Commission, consultants, and many others. Trail designation would make 
possible coordination of activities along the length of the trail. It 
also would mean increased opportunities for coordination with the 
Mexican government on respective resource preservation and research, as 
well as enhanced opportunities for cooperative educational programs and 
tourism related to El Camino Real de los Tejas. The study anticipates 
little, if any, federal acquisition of private land, and only on a 
willing seller basis. Instead, the management of the trail would depend 
on cooperative partnerships between the National Park Service and other 
administering agencies, interested property owners or land managers, 
and other entities.
  Mr. President, this bill represents truly successful efforts on 
behalf of the National Park Service and State and local governments and 
associations to commemorate the settlement of Texas and Louisiana. The 
El Camino Real de los Tejas will make a fine addition to the National 
Trails System, and I urge its speedy consideration and approval by this 
body. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill 
be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 2276

       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 los Tejas 
     National Historic Trail Act of 1998''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds that--
       (1) El Camino Real de los Tejas (the Royal Road to the 
     Tejas), served as the primary route between the Spanish 
     viceregal capital of Mexico City and the Spanish provincial 
     capital of Tejas at Los Adaes (1721-1773) and San Antonio 
     (1773-1821).
       (2) 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 in this immense area.
       (3) The future of several American Indian nations, whose 
     prehistoric trails were later used by the Spaniards for 
     exploration and colonization, was tied to these larger forces 
     and events and the nations were fully involved in and 
     affected by the complex cultural interactions that ensued.
       (4) The Old San Antonio Road was a series of routes 
     established in the early 19th century sharing the same 
     corridor and some routes of El Camino Real, and carried 
     American immigrants from the east, contributing to the 
     formation of the Republic of Texas, and its annexation to the 
     United States.
       (5) The exploration, conquest, colonization, settlement, 
     migration, military occupation, religious conversion, and 
     cultural exchange that occurred in a large area of the 
     borderland was facilitated by El Camino Real de los Tejas as 
     it carried Spanish and Mexican influences northeastward, and 
     by its successor, the Old San Antonio Road, which carried 
     American influence westward, during a historic period which 
     extended from 1689 to 1850.
       (6) The portions of El Camino Real de los Tejas in what is 
     now the United States extended from the Rio Grande near Eagle 
     Pass and Loredo, Texas and involved routes that changed 
     through time, that total almost 2,600 miles in combined 
     length, generally coursing northeasterly through San Antonio, 
     Bastrop, Nacogdoches, and San Augustine in Texas to 
     Natchitoches, Louisiana, a general corridor distance of 550 
     miles.

     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 los tejas.--
       ``(A) In general.--El Camino Real de los Tejas (The Royal 
     Road to the Tejas) National Historic Trail, a combination of 
     routes totaling 2,580 miles in length from the Rio Grande 
     near Eagle Pass and Laredo, Texas to Natchitoches, Louisiana, 
     and including the Old San Antonio Road, as generally depicted 
     on the maps entitled `El Camino Real de los Tejas', contained 
     in the report prepared pursuant to subjection (b) entitled 
     `National Historic Trail Feasibility Study and Environmental 
     Assessment: El Camino Real de los Tejas, Texas-Louisiana', 
     dated ______