Manchaca Springs, Stage Stop on the Old San Antonio Road

NOTE: Manchaca Springs deserves preservation and a historical marker. If you agree please let the Buda, TX know!

E-mail Buda City Council or Chamber of Commerce

(A word of clarification: Manchaca Springs, after which the town of Manchaca is named, is actually located near Buda, Texas ..)

Manchaca is ten miles southwest of Austin in southwestern Travis County and takes its name from nearby Manchaca Springs, where José Antonio Menchaca once camped.  Though the town remains, Manchaca Springs has all but vanished from current maps.  I first discovered the existence and location of Manchaca Springs on the Austin US GS survey taken in 1895-1896 [Austin Folio 1902]; see below.  Manchaca Springs was apparently a stage stop of some importance along the Old San Antonio Road between Austin and San Antonio.  From The Hays County Free Press, January 20, 1994 :

  • For many years, a stage line had run from Austin to San Antonio. In Hays County, it roughly followed the “Old San Antonio Road” out of Austin, ran along the southeast side of Onion Creek, through Mountain City, south along Stagecoach Road into San Marcos. There were mail stops at Manchaca Springs, Onion Creek, Mountain City (near Hays High School), and on the Blanco River.

The Austin History Center's website has a good overview of Manchaca and Machaca Springs, including the old photos shown here, and the following excerpt from Frederick L. Olmstead's book,  A Journey through Texas, 1857 :

  • "At the end of an afternoon's ride, mostly over bare prairies, we reached Manchaca spring. A lucky accident compelled us to stop at the house we found there, and for once we were obliged to confess that quarters within were better than any canvas we could have set up without…

    We found a plantation that would have done no discredit to Virginia. The house was large and well-constructed, standing in a thick grove, separated from the prairie by a strong worm-fence. Adjacent within was the spring, which deserved its prominence of mention upon the maps. It had been tastefully grottoed with heavy limestone rocks, now water-stained and mossy, and the pure stream came gurgling up in impetuous gallons to pour itself in a bright current out upon the prairie. The fountains of Italy were what came to mind, and 'Fontana de Manciocco' would have secured a more natural name.

    Everything about the house was orderly and neat. The proprietor came out to receive us and issued orders about the horses, which we felt from their quiet tone would be obeyed without our supervision. When we were ushered into a snug supper-room and found a clean table set with wheatbread, ham, tea, and preserved fruits, all waited on by tidy and ready girls, we could scarce think we had not got beyond the bounds of Texas. We were, in fact, quit for some time to come of the lazy poverty of Eastern Texas."

Again from the  the Austin History Center's website, an excerpt from the Austin American (newspaper), August 15, 1915 :

  • "An old stage line extended from Austin to San Marcos in 1848, and at that time was owned by the firm of Brown and Tarbox.  Austin headquarters were maintained in what was known as the Swisher Hotel, which was located at the northeast corner of Sixth Street and Congress Avenue…

    The stage coach, after leaving the hotel, proceeded to the foot of Congress Avenue, at the south end, where it was transported by an old-style ferry boat across the river…[After crossing Williamson Creek and Slaughter Creek] we passed a long, high embankment…and about two miles further we crossed Onion Creek...and one mile further we came to the celebrated Manchaca Springs.

    These waters are said to have been the favorite camping ground of the Indians during the early times. They were owned by Colonel John Weir, and it was here that one of the stage stands was situated.

    It was also in this vicinity that the stables for horses were located. The crumpled ruins of what remains of the building, which once furnished shelter to the faithful animals that drew the stage, are still standing."

Below is a photo of the stables, presumably those mentioned in this article.



 

Camino De Los Tejas, Indian Encounters

This segment of the Old San Antonio road corresponds to the Camino De Los Tejas; see reference [A Texas Legacy, The Old San Antonio Road and Caminos Reales].  This trail was one of the older segments of the Camino Real and was no doubt an Indian trail long before the Spanish arrived.  The Camino De Los Tejas ran up and down the Balcones Escarpment, from spring to spring including San Pedro Springs in San Antonio, Comal Springs in New Braunfels, Aqua Marina Springs in San Marco, and Barton Springs in Austin.  Manchaca Springs was, as noted in the Austin American article above, another common watering hole on this trail.  It's no surprise that encounters with Indians took place here.  In October 1845, while on a collecting trip, Oscar von Claren, naturalist, and his companion, Friedrich Wilhelm von Wrede, were killed by Indians near Manchaca Springs.

In the San Antonio Daily Express of Sunday Morning, June 1, 1902, in an article headed "San Antonio in the Forties," Col. George H. Giddings related another incident at the springs:

  • " .. [after leaving Austin] we reached Manchaca Springs, about fifteen miles west of Austin, we found that a band of about fifty Indians had killed a family of German immigrants and were in the act of plundering their wagons. We came in sight of them about 500 yards from the road. When the savages saw us they mounted their ponies and chased us for twenty-five miles to the Blanco river. As we fired a parting volley at them we rode on to New Braunfels which was then the headquarters of the German emigration company whose agent was the Baron Meusebach. Some of his descendants are living now in San Antonio. We reported the killing of the German family by the Indians and he sent out a party to bring in the dead .. "

Locating the Springs Today

This map  segment from [Austin Folio 1902] shows the Old San Antonio road from Austin heading into Buda (red line), and the springs (circled in red).  IH-35 today lies just east of the springs.

The map-segment below shows their location on a modern map; red circle is Buda, Texas (the springs are actually closer to Buda than to Manchaca, Texas).  The dotted line is the trace from my GPS as I drove along the Old San Antonio road.

Photos

Today you could drive by the springs in a flash, and never know their importance in Texas History.  These photos were taken in 2003 on a visit to Manchaca Springs.

Above photo is looking West

 

Above photo, looking East

 

Looking down on part of a rock damn built to retain water.  Is this the one Olmstead referred to when he said the springs were "tastefully grottoed with heavy limestone rocks, now water-stained and mossy" ?

Google Maps

Click on the picture to go to Google Maps.  Red circle shows location of Manchaca Springs. Blue circle is Buda, TX.