El Paso de Jacinto
Laredo, Webb County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Throughout history, travelers sought natural fords that allowed safe passage across rivers and streams. Around 1746, Jacinto de Leon discovered such a crossing in this vicinity; it was probably used for centuries before that by indigenous cultures. The ford came to be known as Paso de Jacinto, and around it grew the Laredo community, which began as a ranch established by Tomas Tadeo Sanchez de la Barrera. In 1754, colonizer Jose de Escandon asked Sanchez to find a place for a settlement along the Nueces River. Sanchez failed to identify a suitable location on the Nueces, though, and instead settled in May 1755 along the Rio Grande downstream of Paso de Jacinto. Two years later, Agustin Lopez de la Camara Alta reported that the settlement at the crossing was important in sustaining what had become a major business and military route across the Rio Grande. He also stated that the settlers’ pursuits mainly involved breeding cattle and gathering salt from regional salt lakes. Most of the residents’ more than 10,000 animals recorded in a census that year were smaller livestock, such as sheep and goats. By the turn of the 19th century, maps indicated the crossing as “Paso de los Indios,” and 100 years later, the “Old Indian Crossing” was a well-known landmark near the northern edge of Fort McIntosh. A nearby ranch known as Rancho Paso de los Indios also indicates the significance of the crossing in the history of Laredo, which today features many reminders of the impact of and need for routes across the river. (2006)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Long before Spanish colonizers arrived, Indigenous travelers used a natural ford across the Rio Grande here, and around 1746 Jacinto de León marked the crossing that would bear his name. When José de Escandón's colonization push reached the region, Tomás Sánchez de la Barrera founded a ranching settlement nearby in 1755 that grew into Laredo. Maps later relabeled the ford "Paso de los Indios," a memory of its far older use, as cattle, sheep, and the salt trade moved across the river.
Why it matters
Laredo grew from a river crossing that tied Indigenous, Spanish colonial, and later American routes together, making it a lasting hinge point of trade and settlement on the Rio Grande.
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Related people
- · Jacinto de León
- · Tomás Tadeo Sánchez de la Barrera
- · José de Escandón
Related events
- · Founding of Laredo
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
El Paso De Jacinto
Laredo, TX
Long before roads and bridges, travelers depended on natural fords to cross rivers safely, and around 1746 Jacinto de León identified such a crossing near this spot on the Rio Grande. Indigenous peoples had almost certainly used the ford for centuries before him, threading a route that later carried Spanish colonists, traders, and settlers. The crossing helped fix the location of what would become Laredo.
Laredo's First International Bridge
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Long before any bridge spanned the Rio Grande here, the river's shallow ford drew Native peoples who crossed it for centuries, and later Spanish conquistadores who favored it as the shortest route between Bahía del Espíritu Santo and Nuevo León. That ancient crossing point eventually anchored Laredo's first international bridge, formalizing a passage that human travelers had used for generations. The site layers Indigenous trails, Spanish colonial expeditions, and the modern border into a single spot on the river.
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