History of Buffalo Bayou continued

Did an English colony exist along Buffalo Bayou in the 1600's? If so, it’s origins are unidentified to history at this time. Approximately 40 graves were recently excavated in a small portion of a site near Buffalo Bayou at Allen Parkway. Dr. Ken Brown, professor of Archeology at the University of Houston, led a team of researchers who investigated the site. Ceramic pieces found in black earth graves date from the 1600's and are the type of ceramics used by English colonists of that period. Historically, black earth graves were mandated by law for persons who died from disease in 1563 in the City of London. The nature of this type of burial was designed to accelerate decomposition and retard the spread of disease. (This law was rescinded in 1685.) Further excavations found that the graves were aligned within an area bound by a moat ten feet wide and ten feet deep that is similar to a colonial pattern found in Charleston, South Carolina, and dating from the same period of English colonization.

During the 1600's and 1700's the Spanish were extremely sensitive to attempts by the French to enter Texas. The Spanish did little to settle the area since there was no evidence of gold; they had little need for the land since there was still plenty in Mexico for colonizing. They were, however, interested in preventing the French, who were trading with the Indians, from laying claim to the territory. In the 1680's, LaSalle established his fort near Matagorda Bay and many troubles ensued. La Salle’s ill-fated expedition from Matagorda Bay eventually took him eastward across the areas of the Buffalo Bayou and the San Jacinto River.

In 1686, Captain Alonzo de Leon of Spain entered Texas by land from Mexico to search for foreign intruders. Finding the ruins of La Salle’s compound, he had the remnants of the site burned. He then traveled up the coast, inland; crossing the Buffalo Bayou area on his way to establish Mission San Francisco de los Tejas just southwest of present-day Nacogdoches; however the tiny wooden compound was abandoned in 1693.

De Leon commented favorably on the lush greenery of this portion of the province, observing that the fields of the natives contained bounteous crops of corn, beans, squash, watermelons and cantaloupes. He was amazed at the abundance of bison and vast number of other unusual species.

French commander Jean Baptiste Benard de La Harpe sailed for Texas and established a trading post in 1719. Upon entering this area, he noted the fine prairie and forests along the rivers’ high banks. The native people entertained him in their camps, offering grain, roots and smoked meat. His party was especially welcomed by the Indians, who had begun receiving firearms supplied by La Harpe and other Frenchmen. These newly-acquired guns accelerated the killing of many species which led to their inevitable decline.

Indigenous people realized that their hunting skills and knowledge of native fauna could provide furs and skins sought by Europeans. It was to their advantage to use these commodities as barter. By 1730, the French were trading for bear, deer, and buffalo skins on a larger scale with tribes like the Orcoquiza along the San Jacinto River and Buffalo Bayou.

The Spanish governor soon became the unofficial lead trader for southeast Texas quietly buying goods from his French enemies. His troops delivered contraband merchandise to Indian villages on the San Jacinto, Buffalo Bayou, and Trinity Rivers in exchange for large quantities of furs and hides.

Which Indians occupied this general area when the early Europeans arrived is the subject of some speculation and debate and reliable information is rather meager. Buffalo Bayou seems to have been somewhat of a border land between the woodland tribes of the north, the plains Indians to the southwest and the nomadic coastal tribes to the east and south.

The introduction of new diseases brought by European explorers resulted in the remnants of different villages combining; old tribal organization was changed and eventually broken up.

The villages of the tribes were scattered over a broad territory, some of which was under the control of the French and the other under that of the Spaniards. The Indians were subjected to all of the adverse influences of these immigrant settlers and suffered from their wars, new diseases, and the intoxicants which the Europeans introduced. By the late 1700s some native American populations had nearly died out.

European squatters and roving frontiersman became common in East Texas and by the late 1700's, aggressive American expansionists were exploring Texas. Planters had their eyes on the region, but most of the new inhabitants of Texas were still squatters and trappers who continued to profit from the uncontrolled harvesting of wildlife.

European and Anglo-American merchants, interested in the Indian trade, financed volunteers willing to go to Texas in 1819 to develop the Texas frontier. They took advantage of new policies established in the declining days of the Spanish empire. Financiers petitioned the Mexican government for empresario contracts.

People from far and wide poured into Texas in the 1820s. In 1820, Moses Austin received an empresario contract from the Spanish government, but died before coming to Texas. His son, Stephen F. Austin, brought 300 families to Texas to plant cotton, just as Mexico was winning independence from Spain.

Cattle ranchers in East Texas brought families and animals by land from southwestern Louisiana. The old Opelousas-Atascosita Road ran from Opelousas, Louisiana, close to Buffalo Bayou and into South Texas.

Overland routes brought streams of Americans to Texas. Pioneers from the Mississippi Valley homesteaded in Texas establishing settlements in 1822.

Some colonists came by sea, porting at the mouth of the coastal rivers, and then moving inland to their homesteads. These included German merchants who settled hundreds of families in 1826 and again in 1828.

Frontiersman and families coming to the Buffalo Bayou area staked their fortunes and dreams on the opportunity. Many, who lacked the ability to become land owners in Europe and the United States, found such an opportunity in the grants issued to Texas settlers. Texas' unspoiled land and seemingly limitless game and fish populations from the woodland territories to the rolling prairies became world renowned. Adding to the land rush, word got out that crops like corn and cotton grew without much work. Prairies never before grazed by livestock provided unimaginably fertile pastures. Massive forests supplied abundant building materials. From the bayous, clear streams and untamed rivers, the Texas wilderness appeared to be a virtually unlimited, unchecked, unregulated, unrestricted and untapped wealth of nature.

Landscapes were being exploited, cleared, plowed and parceled, with little or no concern for conservation. If one homestead played out, it was easy to pull up stakes and move to another piece of land. Cotton, corn and cattle changed the native habitat. Wild creatures were driven out; signs of erosion and silting of waterways began. Denuded forests and prairies turned to dust and mud, then blew away or washed into waterways. Farmers and ranchers disrupted the native flora and fauna on a massive scale.

Slaves and equipment were being brought to Texas to plant and process cotton crops and raise livestock on an even larger scale. Plantation owners and ranchers increased exports of goods being shipped on schooners. Merchants sent farm products to New Orleans or to Mexican ports in exchange for materials and staple goods to expand plantations. Large sailing ships brought Texans commodities such as flour and tobacco. Texas supplied New Orleans with large exports of animal skins and bear grease traded by the Cushattas. Farmers and ranchers sent crops and cattle to New Orleans along with exports of bear grease, game and tens of thousands of furs and hides. Corn, butter and cotton were shipped out on small schooners and sloops from Galveston.

The potential magnitude of the lumber industry had been quickly recognized. Steven F. Austin predicted that timber operations would be very extensive through all of East Texas within a few years. Sawmills were already operating on Buffalo Bayou and the San Jacinto River.

Loggers were originally drawn to Texas by the tremendous stands of longleaf and loblolly pines. In later years, lumbermen also found profit in the hardwood forests, cutting the stately beech and cypress that once lined the waterways of the Big Thicket. Towns had sprung up throughout the region during the 1830's; however, the major denuding of the Texas wilderness was yet to come.