Did two Victoria men set Victoria County's record straight?
Victoria men work to find true route of historic trail
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WHAT'S NEXT?
Once Dunnam files his request, the U.S. Parks Service will determine if the men's work validates inclusion of Victoria County on the historic trail. No deadline for a decision is set.
In the meantime, Dunnam is filing ...
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WHAT'S NEXT?
Once Dunnam files his request, the U.S. Parks Service will determine if the men's work validates inclusion of Victoria County on the historic trail. No deadline for a decision is set.
In the meantime, Dunnam is filing for a state historical marker, one of those monuments travelers pull to the side of the road to view. The men want the landmark to draw visitors to the city.
Gary Dunnam and Robert Shook began one of their greatest adventures from a desk five years ago.
Dunnam, director of the county's Heritage Department, and Shook, a retired history professor and author, sought an elusive, historic distinction. They began in a quiet office, surrounded by large bound books, maps and scribbled notes. Their search led to remote fields, fast-running rivers and dusty pages filled with Spanish records.
A certain discovery could help to set Victoria County's record straight and maybe even draw tourists to the city. Did Dunnam and Shook uncover a treasure that remained hidden for decades?
El Camino Real de los Tejas - dubbed Old San Antonio Road or the King's Highway by some - was formed 300 years ago. The network of trails and roads linked Spanish entradas and military supply chains from Old Mexico to Texas and Louisiana. Historians consider El Camino Real the country's oldest so-called highway system.
The National Parks Service deemed El Camino Real a national historic trail in 2004. The federal government's map showed the trail poking into or through Goliad County, Bexar County and other nearby counties before veering east.
El Camino Real bypasses Victoria County, and so, too, do the tourists who wish to travel the trail. Dunnam and Shook set out to prove the trail blazes through Victoria County.
First, they researched Spanish trails. They presented Spanish ruins in Mission Valley and an old mission site at Tonkawa Bank in Riverside Park to members of the U.S. Parks Service. In May 2008, the Parks Service declined the men's request to amend its version of the historic trail to include Victoria County.
"So, it was back to the drawing board," Dunnam said. "We were trying to illuminate a quarter-century of Spanish colonial history that has never been explored in depth."
The men began a new 17-month hunt. They dug deeper into old deed records, historic maps and land surveys. They read thick books three times or more. They translated thousands of Spanish records into English. They found the historic trail veers southeast from San Antonio to Victoria, and heads northeast toward Nacogdoches, they say.
"The concrete proof is in the old Spanish archives, and only after close study," Dunnam said.
The men learned early settlers used natural landmarks to form trails. The current-day explorers traveled regional fields and riverbeds to find boulder patches, which barely peek above the ground, and muddy slides where pioneers likely crossed streams.
"Discovering those rocks in the prairies, that was proof you could put your hands on," Dunnam said. "Walking along and knowing, through GPS coordinates, that you were on a historic trail ... It was fascinating."
They discovered in Spanish records the governor of the Province of Texas deemed these Victoria County trails part of El Camino Real. This centuries-old declaration was a pinnacle moment.
"That means we've begun to make up for the neglect," Shook said. "All of us are guilty of that. Victoria County has a long history, and half of that is Spanish."
Dunnam presented the men's findings to the Victoria County Commissioners Court, and then to the El Camino Real de Los Tejas National Historic Trail Association in Castroville. The men want the blessing of both groups before submitting the amendment request to the National Parks Service.
"If and when this report is approved and Victoria County is a part of the national historic trail, we will have tapped into the heritage tourism network in a major way," Dunnam said. "Victoria County needs to make money off its history just like so many other tourist destinations across Texas."
Heritage tourism - which directs visitors to an area's unique history and culture - is one of the state's most lucrative industries. Tourism employs 534,000 Texans and generated $54 billion last year, according to the Texas Travel Industry Association.
Also considering other improvements, Randy Vivian said the city sits on the cusp of becoming a destination spot.
"My belief is after having lived here for 40 years, the city has never been marketed in an aggressive manner," Vivian, president of the Victoria Chamber of Commerce, said. "That's one thing this city council has mandated. I take it seriously and we're going to do it."
Shook said the heritage research provides the meat behind the marketing. "This is why people should be interested in Victoria County," he said.
Dunnam, who agreed, grew teary-eyed.
"This is the most important work we've done at the Heritage Department," Dunnam said. "I'd like to feel the truth is the truth, and you can't debate the truth."
