The San Antonio-El Paso Road
by Bob Miles
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’s 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 (1832-1902) 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 con-
tinued 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 fre-
quently 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
T
his road served as the
major lifeline of West
Texas and westering traf-
fic until the coming of the rail-
roads. The year 1848 was an
important one for far West Texas
with the signing of the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo ending the
Mexican War, confirming
Texas’s claim of the Rio Grande
as its boundary and giving a
14
large area of country to the
United States. Most of this land
was virtually unknown and
Texas had long sought a way to
tap into the lucrative Santa Fe-
Chihuahua trade.
Two expeditions were sent
out from central Texas to find a
practical route to El Paso. The
military expedition under Army
Lieutenant W.H.C. Whiting
Photo courtesy Archives of the Big Bend, Bryan Wildenthal Memorial Library, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas.
A portion of the original San Antonio-El Paso Road (now Front Street) that served as Fort Davis’ main
street until Highway 17 was built. Most of the buildings are still standing and in use.
opened the lower route that led
from San Antonio to El Paso by
way of the Davis Mountains.
Henry Skillman began carrying
mail between the two settlements
and on to Santa Fe and soon
began carrying passengers in
wagons. Losing the contract to
George Giddings, Skillman
worked with Giddings to contin-
ue the service.
In 1854, the Army estab-
lished Fort Davis to protect trav-
elers from hostile Apaches,
Comanches and outlaws.
Travelers and stagecoaches,
including the famed Butterfield
Overland Mail Company,
found this road provided better
military protection and more
water than the upper road.
Much of the original road is
now under modern paved high-
ways, but part survives in Fort
Davis. The longest unpaved
stretch of the original road still
in use follows Fort Street from
where it leaves the fort to Front
Street where it turns left to
Court Street. It continues west
of the County Courthouse
(recently paved to help keep
dust out of the restored build-
Cenizo
First Quarter 2013
ing) to State Highway 17.
This stretch served as Fort
Davis’s main street until Highway
17 was built. Most local business-
es were located along the route.
A drive along this section of the
road reveals a number of the old
buildings still standing. Along Fort
Street Daniel Murphy’s 1855
home, mercantile, freight yard
and hotel are long gone, but Nick
Mersfelder's home and barber
shop (now the Fort Davis
Historical Society's Overland
Trail Museum) and the home
next door that Nick bought for
his mistress (and her husband),
now a private residence, remain.
Then came the 1905 Cheap
Cash Store (gone), the 1907 meat
market (private residence), the
1908 Granger home (private res-
idence), and the 1905 Holloway
Blacksmith shop (gone). Turning
left onto Front Street, you pass
the 1911 Carmack mercantile
(private residence), the 1907
Chacon house (private resi-
dence), the 1884 Carlton mer-
cantile (Jeff Davis County Clerk's
Office), the 1885 Geegge house
(gone), the 1906 Masonic Lodge
(private residence), the 1884
Scobee house (private residence),
the 1883 Abstract office (private
residence), the 1880 Presidio
County Courthouse (gone), the
1911 Jeff Davis County
Courthouse, the 1884 Methodist
Church, the 1909 Frank Sproul
house (private residence), and the
1909 Rau home (private resi-
dence). The vast majority of the
structues are adobe.
The road has seen the move-
ments of frontiersmen, adventur-
ers, U.S. troops, gamblers, settlers,
forty-niners bound for the gold
fields, stockmen, outlaws, law-
men, stagecoaches, camels,
retreating Confederate soldiers
and the daily activities of the
local residents. The marker
stands today in front of the
Overland Trail Museum, Nick
Mersfelder’s old barber shop, on
Fort Street in Fort Davis.
With the end of the Indian
wars and the coming of the rail-
road, the road’s importance
faded. Businesses moved to the
new Highway 17, but the old sec-
tion of the San Antonio-El Paso
Road continues to serve residents
daily, as well as visitors looking for
a link to the past.