This marker is found in the parking lot of the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, on the campus of Texas State University.
Marker text:
San Marcos Springs - Pouring forth millions of gallons of clear, icy water daily, these springs feed the san Marcos River and the 1,380-square-mile area which it drains. The immense springs rise at the Balcones Escarpment, a geologic fault line which slices across the state, separating upland from lowland Texas. The abundance of fresh water made these springs a mecca for the Indians who inhabited Central Texas and later for the European explorers and settlers who followed. The name San Marcos was first given to a Texas River by the Alonso de Leon Expedition on April 26, 1689 (Saint Mark's Day). The name was not applied to the present river, however, until 1709. Other explorers inspected this area and in 1755 it became a temporary site for several Spanish missions. Almost a century later, in 1845, pioneers William W. Moon and Mike Sessom made a permanent settlement here. In 1851 Gen. Edward Burleson, william Lindsey, and Eli t. Merriman bought the adjacent land and on it laid out the town of San Marcos. Attracted by the scenic beauty of the area, A. B. Rogers started a park here in 1926. Over the years it has been developed into "Aquarena Springs," one of Central Texas' most popular tourist attractions.
Photograph of a man and three children looking out of a large window. On the other side of the window is a woman wearing a bathing suit and a diving mask. She is holding a hose that bubbles, and there are fish behind her in the background.
Photograph taken of the inside of a glass-bottom boat that is floating in the water. The boat has a roof and there is a striped awning hanging down about from the roof. The sides of the boat are open, and the seats face toward the center of the boat where the glass bottom is visible. At the center of the photograph is a boat captain at the wheel, and there are four people looking down into the bottom of the boat.
This marker is found within the grounds of the now defunct Aquarena Springs Park. The marker commemorates the "approximate" locations of the missions.
Marker Text:
Established by Franciscan missionaries in 1749 with the hope of civilizing and christianizing the Coco, Mayeye, Orcoquiza, Karankawa, and other tribes of Indians. The martyrdom of Padre Jose Ganzabal and the circumstances connected therewith caused the departure of the Indians and the friars and the removal of this mission to the San Marcos River in 1755. Reestablished in 1762 on the San Saba River for the conversion of the Lipan Apaches with the new name of Mission Santa Cruz de San Saba.
Drills are found throughout the Americas and had numerous uses. Once hafted to, or attached to a handle, these tools could be used for the working of bone and animal hides.
In the past, these diminutive points have been refered to as "bird" or "dart" points. The general belief was that such small points, some that could fit onto the tip of a finger, were used on birds or small game. Recent studies, including the examination of small amounts of residual blood samples, indicate that deer and larger targets were easily dispatched with these smaller weapons.
Pedernales points are among the most common artifacts found in this portion of the state. A great deal of variation can be found within this style of point, but that can be attributed to reuse of these tools. It would require less effort to resharpen an existing point than create a new one from scratch.
Photograph of two glass-bottom boats floating on Spring Lake. The foreground is the lake, with trees on the hill behind the lake, and a few clouds in the sky above.
St. Mary's Hall points are named for a private school founded in 1879 on Salado Creek outside San Antonio where this style of arrowhead was rediscovered in the 1970s. Dr. Shiner's excavations yielded the second largest haul of these distictive points, surpassed only by the abundance at the original site.
