San Felipe Springs

The springs drew soldiers as well as travelers. Camp San Felipe was set up here in 1857 as an outpost of Fort Clark, and in 1876 it became a permanent post under Lt. J. M. Kelley and the Black troopers of Company E, Tenth Cavalry. When the government later ordered the post dismantled, everything movable and usable was sold at auction, the medical and hospital supplies went back to Fort Clark, and the reservation returned to the irrigation company that had granted it. The springs are now the sole water supply for Del Rio and Laughlin Air Force Base.

What the plaque says

San Felipe Springs Oasis for explorers, soldiers, freighters--from 1542 onward. In 1675 priests named the 7 Springs for King of Spain. In 18th century Comanches camped here on their war trail into Mexico. In 1808 a mission was established 3 miles downstream, on San Felipe Creek. By 1856-57, Springs were on the 1470-mile San Antonio-to-San Diego mail route and on Chihuahua Road for wagons hauling silver and gold from Mexico to Inidanola, then chief port on Texas Coast. After settlers came in 1864, irrigation "Mother Ditch" was dug; soon Del Rio was founded. (1966)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• San Felipe Creek — 0.8 mi
  The spring-fed creek that made Del Rio, rising from the third largest springs in Texas and running past swimming holes and a hike-and-bike trail through town.
• Whitehead Memorial Museum — 1.7 mi
  A village of old Del Rio buildings set along a working irrigation canal, from an 1870 store to a 1925 doctor's office, with Judge Roy Bean buried on the grounds.
• Val Verde Winery — 2.0 mi
  The family winery an Italian immigrant founded on Del Rio's irrigated land in 1883, which outlasted Prohibition by selling table grapes and kept Texas wine alive into the 1970s.
• Amistad National Recreation Area — 9.0 mi
  The American side of the reservoir the United States and Mexico finished in 1969 where three rivers meet, with painted shelters still reachable by boat when the water allows.

More markers nearby

• U. S. Army Camel Corps — 0.2 mi
• Val Verde County — 0.2 mi
• Camp Michie — 0.4 mi
• Cal Rodgers and the Vin Fiz — 0.5 mi