Swales left by the wheels of countless carretas (heavy wooden Spanish ox carts) and all the myriad travelers along the El Camino Real are identified and interpreted at Mission Tejas State Park in Grapeland TX.
The ruts are marked with an identification sign from the 1960s, while a newer sign (added 2015) interprets them as follows:
"HISTORIC PATHWAYS
East Texas forests and rivers have sustained local communities for hundreds of years.
River corridors
Rivers and creeks in the piney woods region were important sources of food and transportation for both native peoples and Anglo settlers. In the mid-1800s, East Texas rivers became major commercial arteries for the transportation of goods by steamboat.
A Texas and southeastern railroad log train at Diboll, circa 1910. The completion of an extensive railroad network in this region fueled a logging bonanza from 1876 to 1917.
Steamboats like the Neches Belle, above, also carried passengers on moonlight excursions on East Texas rivers and on the Texas coast.
Railroads
The population of Texas grew rapidly during the late 1880s. Spurred on by state land grant of over 30,000,000 acres, the rapid growth of railroads provided faster and cheaper transportation for both people and products into the piney woods region.
Overland trails
El Camino Real de los Tejas was a lifeline for Spanish missions and other outposts. This 2500 mile route from Mexico City to Northwestern Louisiana followed established Indian trails and trade routes.
Once a supply lifeline for Spanish missions, El Camino Real de los Tejas was later a conduit for further exploration, migration and settlement throughout the piney woods region."
The El Camino Real de los Tejas has been designated a National Historic Trail through the states of Texas and New Mexico. (
visit link)
"From the Rio Grande to the Red River Valley
Come on a journey that will carry you through 300 years of Louisiana and Texas frontier settlement and development on a Spanish colonial "royal road" that originally extended to Mexico City, Mexico.
You are about to travel 2,500 miles, from Mission San Juan Bautista Guerrero, Mexico to Fort St. Jean Baptiste Nachitoches Parish, Louisiana."