“From the camp he went on to Sanderson and actually raised [[241]]an expedition to go back and find the canyon of buffalo. But he never could find the way back across to it. He says that he knows now that the only way ever to reach it is to enter it from the Rio Grande, up that narrow gorge.”
[1] Says Carl Raht in his The Romance of Davis Mountains, El Paso, Texas, 1919, p. 25: “According to these authorities [“Bandelier and other writers who have examined the records of the early Spanish explorers”]—and present-day research has failed to refute their statements—the buffalo never frequented the Rio Grande in the Big Bend region.” “I never saw a buffalo west of the Pecos”: quoted from an old buffalo hunter in Frontier Times, March, 1924, p. 1. [↑]
[2] Stevens, Walter B., Through Texas, St. Louis, 1892, pp. 28–29. [↑]
A TRADITION OF LA SALLE’S EXPEDITION INTO TEXAS
By Alex. Dienst
The original of the letter that follows is in my possession, having been given to me by Governor George C. Pendleton, to whom it is addressed. It is my impression that the writer of this letter was, in 1891, connected with the Department of Statistics, History, and Insurance, at Austin. De León could not have been “Governor of Texas and Coahuila” in 1688, for the states were not united until long afterward.[1]
Austin, Texas,
September 9th, 1891Hon. Geo. C. Pendleton,
Belton, Texas.
Dear Mr. Pendleton: You will please accept my thanks for your note of the 5th inst. I appreciate very highly your promise to obtain for me such information as you can in reference to La Salle. I would however, be very sorry to give you any trouble about the matter.
I have obtained a copy of the official report made by Gen. Alonzo De Leon, Governor of Coahuila and Texas, to the Spanish Government. This report contains the account of a Frenchman who was reported to be living in Texas where he had congregated several thousand Indians together and had acquired such authority over them that they not only recognized him as their chief, but treated him with the greatest reverence; always kneeling when in his presence. Gen. De Leon alarmed lest the authority of this Frenchman might be used by the [[242]]French Government to assert a claim to Texas organized an expedition for his capture. After traveling in a northeast direction for forty leagues from what is now Monclova, Mexico, they reached the Rio Grande and twenty-five leagues beyond that stream, still in the direction of northeast, they found the Frenchman, whom they, with the use of a good deal of diplomacy and artifice succeeded in persuading to accompany them back to Mexico. This occurred in May, 1688; and this Frenchman is said to have been the last survivor of La Salle’s Expedition. I have translated from the Spanish the account of this Frenchman and De Leon’s Expedition. It is a very curious and interesting incident in the early history of Texas, and it was in connection with it that I wished to ascertain if there was any tradition of La Salle having been killed in Bell County as the Frenchman indicates.…
Yours Most Respectfully,
Betty B. Brewster.