Fort to Border
Comment via blog
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Day 11: August 6, 2014 Fort to Border Comment via blog |
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The grass edged empty two-lane struck me as something a little different
from what I've been seeing. It's part of the TX-290 loop that leads to
Sheffield. Further on, an overlook and picnic area contains this marker
detailing some of the road's early history. According to the
DriveTheOST,
that retaining wall in the center of the third photograph was
"constructed by New Deal labor in the early 1930s".
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The Fort Lancaster historic site is near the loop's
midpoint. It was occupied between 1855 and 1864 as one of a string of
forts built to protect settlers from the natives. In the museum I learned
of a small connection with another auto trail. The US Army experimented
with using camels in the western desert and two different groups of them
stopped at Fort Lancaster. The group of 25 that arrived on July 9, 1857
was led by Edward Beale. Beale was on his way to lay out the Beale Wagon
Road which would eventually become part of the National Old Trails Road.
The OST-NOTR connection is indeed slim but I think it interesting.
If admission had not included use of a golf cart, I almost certainly would not have explored the entire site as I did. My pictures show one of the enlisted men's barracks and the lime kiln. |
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The road head straight west from Fort Lancaster but eventually turns north
to connect with I-10. Not far from that connection is this unmarked gate
with its most impressive metal sculpture.
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Much of the old road is hidden underneath I-10 and I covered a lot of the
distance to El Paso on the expressway. These pictures are from a short
section of the old road that passes through Balmorhea. The statues draw
attention to an import shop across the street from a small park with a
pair of fountains that must have looked great once upon a time. I bet
"the world's biggest woodie" on the edge of town once looked
pretty great, too.
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I left the interstate at McNary to follow TX-20 into El Paso. The road
more or less parallels the Mexican border with the closest approach being
near Alamo Alto. I believe Mexico is about a third of a mile away in the
picture of County Line Lakes. It is a bit farther away in the second
picture but a portion of black border fence can be seen in the right half
of the photo.
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