San Antonio-El Paso Road

Lt. Col. Joseph E. Johnston opened the wagon road through these mountains in June 1849. It became a main route for Forty-Niners bound for California and for freighters hauling from Indianola through San Antonio to Chihuahua. In the summer of 1854 at least ten herds of longhorns, most of about a thousand head, passed through Limpia Canyon on their way to California, and some 2,000 emigrant wagons used the road in 1858. Skillman's stage stands in what is now Jeff Davis County were at Barrilla Springs, Barrel Springs and El Muerto Spring.

What the plaque says

San Antonio-El Paso Road Westward expeditions opened trails from San Antonio to El Paso in the late 1840s. Two routes, called the upper and lower roads, converged at the Pecos River to traverse the Davis Mountains. Henry Skillman (1814-1864) began a courier service along the road in 1850 and was awarded a U. S. Government contract to carry the mail. He formed a partnership with George H. Giddings (1823-1902) in 1854, and they established relay stations along the route, including one at the new U. S. Army Post at Fort Davis. During the Civil War, control of the area passed to the Confederates, and Giddings continued mail service for the new government. By 1867 Fort Davis was occupied by four companies of the 9th U. S. Cavalry. After Federal reoccupation, stage and courier routes were more frequently utilized, with travelers often accompanied by Army escorts from Fort Davis and other posts. After the arrival of railroads in West Texas in the 1880s, use of overland roads declined sharply, though the trails did provide access to new settlers and were still used by the army as links between forts. Vestiges of the Old San antonio-El Paso Overland Road can still be seen in Fort Davis and surrounding areas. (Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Davis National Historic Site — 0.3 mi
  A frontier post of 1854 to 1891 on the San Antonio-El Paso Road, garrisoned after the Civil War by Black regiments, with its buildings restored to their 1880 look.
• Davis Mountains State Park & Indian Lodge — 2.6 mi
  A 1933 Civilian Conservation Corps park above Fort Davis, with the CCC's Skyline Drive, the white adobe Indian Lodge and a trail down to the old fort.
• Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Gardens — 5.1 mi
  The Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute's grounds south of Fort Davis, with an 18-acre botanical garden, a cactus museum and trails into the desert foothills.
• McDonald Observatory — 9.5 mi
  The University of Texas observatory on Mount Locke, founded with a Paris, Texas banker's fortune, with star parties three nights a week under some of the darkest skies in the country.

More markers nearby

• Fort Davis — 0.2 mi
• St. Joseph Catholic Church — 0.3 mi
• Hotel Limpia — 0.4 mi
• Old Fort Davis C. S. A. — 0.4 mi