SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 97 
Cruzate, of the province of Nuevo Méjico, to explore the kingdom of 
the Tejas Indians. According to his very clear journal, he came there 
from Antelope Spring, south of Marfa, and on leaving it followed 
Leoncito Draw to Comanche Spring (now Fort Stockton) and the 
Concho River at the present San Angelo. (Turn to sheet 15.) 
The famous short-cut “‘smugglers’ trail,’’ which came from the Rio 
Grande, passed around the foot of Mount Ranger (now called Twin 
Peak), just west of Alpine and down Alpine Creek. The Davis 
Mountains, west and north of Alpine, were a great resort for the 
Indians, so that in 1854 Fort Davis (named for Jefferson Davis) 
was established at a point 20 miles northwest of Alpine. At this 
post food supplies and forage for horses were obtained with difficulty, 
so Mexican cattle were smuggled in from the great haciendas in Mexico 
to supply the troops at Fort Davis and Fort Stockton. In 1855 
Secretary of War Jefferson Davis had camels introduced into this 
region as a means of transportation, but as they did not prove satis- 
factory to frontiersmen accustomed to horses and mules, they were 
turned loose and finally died in the Big Bend country. In 1854 the 
Government let a contract for monthly mail service between San 
Antonio and Santa Fe by way of El Paso in two-horse coaches, through 
in 25 days. The compensation was set at $16,750, but Indian depre- 
dations led Congress to increase this to $33,500. In 1857 another 
contract was signed for fortnightly mail between San Antonio and 
San Diego for $149,800. Two years later this line was costing the 
Government nearly $200,000 a year, with receipts of $601. The trip 
was about 1,500 miles long, consumed 22 to 26 days, and cost the trav- 
eler $200 with meals. Indians constantly attacked mail carriers and 
emigrants, the trail from San Antonio to El Paso being described as 
one long battleground. When the Civil War broke out Fort Davis 
was occupied by Confederates, but soon it was deserted and the entire 
Big Bend country was left to the Indians. After the Civil War 
Fort Davis was enlarged and reoccupied as an Army post until 1891. 
The region is now famous for its cool summer climate, fine fruit, and 
thoroughbred Hereford cattle. 
It was intended to build the Southern Pacific Railroad through 
Fort Davis, but difficulty in obtaining a right of way led to its location 
farther south, through Paisano Gap. 
Three miles west of Alpine the railroad enters a gorge in the voleanic 
rocks that constitute the Davis Mountains. These rocks are in a 
succession of thick sheets lying nearly horizontal or dipping at low 
angles (as shown in fig. 14 and pl. 14, A.) At the base, in this part of 
the area, is a massive bed of agglomerate, probably the result of a 
great mud flow during an eruption. It consists of huge fragments 
of lava, mostly angular, mixed with finer volcanic material. There 
are many irregular erosion forms, notably Mitre Peak, shown in 
