Burgess' Water Hole
Alpine, Brewster County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Burgess' Water Hole, called San Lorenzo by Juan Dominguez de Mendoza,1684. Later Charco Alzate in honor of an Apache chieftain. Water hole honoring John W. Burgess, pioneer freighter who here outwitted the Apaches. The emigrant road to California by the way of Chihuahua passed this place.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This desert spring carried a layered history: named San Lorenzo by the Spanish explorer Juan Dominguez de Mendoza in 1684, later called Charco Alzate for an Apache chieftain, and finally honoring pioneer freighter John W. Burgess, who reportedly outwitted Apache raiders here. Along its banks ran the emigrant road to California by way of Chihuahua. In the arid Big Bend country, reliable water dictated where travelers, traders, and armies could go.
Why it matters
A single water hole tells the overlapping story of Spanish exploration, Apache homelands, and the wagon roads that carried Americans west toward the goldfields of California.
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Related people
- · Juan Dominguez de Mendoza
- · John W. Burgess
Themes & tags
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