The Comanche Trail, sometimes called the Comanche War Trail or the Comanche Trace, was a travel route in Texas established by the nomadic

Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...

nation.

Description

The route ran from the

summer hunting grounds to the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

, where the Spanish had established a line of missions and presidios during the eighteenth century in what was then called

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...

, which the

would raid. Although called a "trail," the Comanche Trail was actually a network of parallel and branching trails, always following sources of good water. By 1857 parts of the trail had been named and appeared on maps. Following water sources, the primary trail ran north from two starting points on the Rio Grande River, one at Boquillas and the other at Presidio, with crossings of the river at both locations. The legs of the trail met at

Comanche Springs The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in Law ...

, near

Fort Stockton, Texas Fort Stockton is a city in and the county seat of Pecos County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 10 in Texas, Interstate 10, future Interstate 14, U.S. Highways U.S. Route 67 (Texas), 67, U.S. Route 285 (Texas), 285, and U.S. R ...

and

Las Moras Springs Las Moras Springs,"''The Mulberries''" in Spanish, are a group of springs near Brackettville in Kinney County, Texas. Las Moras Springs are located on the grounds of Fort Clark in Brackettville and were the reason for the location of the fort an ...

near Fort Clark. The trail continued north to cross the

Pecos River The Pecos River ( es, Río Pecos) originates in north-central New Mexico and flows into Texas, emptying into the Rio Grande. Its headwaters are on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County north of Pecos, New Mexico ...

in the vicinity of

Horsehead Crossing Horsehead Crossing is a ford on the Pecos River in Crane County, south of Odessa, Texas. Historically, it was a major landmark on the trail west as one of a few fordable sections of the Pecos in West Texas, and as the first reliable source of wate ...

, bending northeast to the area of

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

and

Big Spring, Texas Big Spring is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Texas, United States, at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 87 and Interstate 20. With a population of 27,282 as of the 2010 census, it is the largest city between Midland to the west, A ...

. From there the Comanche Trail ran east past the

Caprock Escarpment The Caprock Escarpment is a term used in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico to describe the geographical transition point between the level High Plains of the Llano Estacado and the surrounding rolling terrain. In Texas, the escarpment stretch ...

and on across the

Llano Estacado The Llano Estacado (), sometimes translated into English as the Staked Plains, is a region in the Southwestern United States that encompasses parts of eastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas. One of the largest mesas or tablelands on the North A ...

by two separate routes. One branch ran to the vicinity of Lubbock and along the

Double Mountains (Texas) Double Mountains is the name of a pair of flat-topped buttes located southwest of Aspermont in Stonewall County, Texas. While the '' Handbook of Texas'' gives their elevation as either or , United States Geological Survey maps give the elevatio ...

fork of the

Brazos River The Brazos River ( , ), called the ''Río de los Brazos de Dios'' (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 11th-longest river in the United States at from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater Dr ...

to near the present site of Abernathy, to near Littlefield, then via a series of springs to the

near Fort Sumner. A separate fork ran from

to near

Plainview, Texas Plainview is a city in and the county seat of Hale County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 22,194. Geography Plainview is located at (34.191204, –101.718806) and is located on the Llano Estacado. According ...

, rejoining the other route to the east of Muleshoe. Northern branches of the trail ran through the Texas Panhandle into

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, Colorado and Kansas. Southern branches extended into northern Mexico through

Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to: Places *Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state **Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state **Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state **Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state **Chihuahua Mun ...

Coahuila Coahuila (), formally Coahuila de Zaragoza (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza), is one of the 32 states of Mexico. Coahuila borders the Mexican states of N ...

and

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

to Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi, while an eastern fork ran from

southeast to Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. The Comanche Trail was noted as a beaten path as much as a mile wide. Much of the southeastern leg of the main trail runs through what is now

Big Bend National Park Big Bend National Park is an American national park located in West Texas, bordering Mexico. The park has national significance as the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert topography and ecology in the United States, and was named after ...

, leaving the park through Persimmon Gap in the Santiago Mountains in the northern portion of the park.

U.S. Route 385 U.S. Route 385 (US 385) is a spur of U.S. Route 85 that runs for 1,206 miles (1,941 km) from Deadwood, South Dakota to Big Bend National Park in Texas. Route description , - , TX , 545 , 877 , - , OK , 36 , 58 , - , CO , 317 , 510 ...

follows the same route through parts of the park.

References

External links

The Comanche Trail
at Big Bend National Park
Comanche Trail
at the Handbook of Texas Online
Detailed color map of the Great Comanche War Trail
{{coord missing, Texas Historic trails and roads in Texas Trails and roads in the American Old West

Description

See also

References

External links