Silver Mine Pass
Concan, Uvalde County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Named for silver mine opened near pass by Spaniards in 1700s or earlier. Ore was inferior, and mine was abandoned; but 14 shafts (some interconnecting) remain. Near the mine are remnants of a fortification made by 30 men under the leadership of James Bowie, later (1836) a hero of the siege to the Alamo. In 1831, while at work at this mine, Bowie's men repulsed a Comanche attack in a fierce, all-day battle. Hero of the fight was Bowie's slave, "Black Jim Bowie," who risked his life by leaving the fortification to bring water to the besieged. 1968
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This rugged pass takes its name from a silver mine the Spanish are said to have opened in the 1700s; the ore proved poor, but fourteen shafts still honeycomb the hills. In the early 1830s James Bowie—later a hero and casualty of the Alamo—built a fortification nearby, and in 1831 his men fought off a daylong Comanche attack. The fight's celebrated hero was Bowie's enslaved companion, remembered as 'Black Jim Bowie,' who braved the open ground to bring water to the besieged.
Why it matters
Few sites braid together so many strands of early Texas—Spanish mining, Comanche resistance, frontier violence, and the tangled realities of slavery—in one dramatic landscape.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Long before Texas was a republic or a state, Spain claimed this land as a remote northern frontier of New Spain. Spanish explorers and settlers searched the region for mineral wealth, and stories of silver in the Texas hill country circulated for generations. According to the marker, Spaniards opened a silver mine near this pass in the 1700s or earlier. The ore proved inferior and the mine was abandoned, but the hills still hold the shafts they dug.
By the 1820s and 1830s, Mexico had won its independence from Spain, and Anglo-American settlers were arriving in Mexican Texas in growing numbers. The region west of San Antonio was still very much a frontier, and much of it was the homeland or range of powerful Native nations, above all the Comanche, whose horseback power dominated the southern plains.
The area was an unsettled mixture of old Spanish ruins, new American adventurers, and Native peoples defending their territory. Stories of lost Spanish mines were plentiful and hard to verify. Historians still debate where some frontier episodes of this era actually happened, and legend has grown around many of them.
People & events
James Bowie was one of the best-known figures of frontier Texas. Before his famous death at the Alamo in 1836, he was a land speculator and adventurer who was drawn, like many others, by stories of Spanish silver. The marker records that about thirty men under his leadership built a fortification near the mine, and that remnants of it survive.
In 1831, while Bowie's men were working the mine, they came under Comanche attack, according to the marker, and fought a fierce battle that lasted all day. Men trapped behind a makeshift fortification in dry hill country faced an urgent problem: water. Without it, even a strong defensive position could not be held.
That is where the fight's remembered hero comes in: a man enslaved by Bowie, known as "Black Jim Bowie." He left the protection of the fortification and risked his life to bring water to the besieged men. His courage was recognized, yet he is remembered only through his enslaver's name. We know almost nothing else about him. He showed courage on behalf of men who held him in bondage, and his story is part of this place's history too.
Its place in the American story
Silver Mine Pass brings together several threads of the American story in one landscape. The mine represents the Spanish colonial chapter that came before Anglo settlement, a reminder that the history of the American Southwest began long before the United States reached it.
The 1831 battle belongs to the long, violent contest for the southern plains between Native nations and newcomers. From the Comanche point of view, men like Bowie's party were intruders on land that they had controlled for generations. That contest shaped Texas and the West for the rest of the century.
The man called Black Jim Bowie is a reminder that slavery traveled with Anglo expansion into Texas, and that enslaved people were present at, and sometimes central to, the events that later became frontier legend. Remembering his heroism honestly means remembering his bondage as well. And because James Bowie went on to die at the Alamo, this remote pass is connected to one of the most mythologized episodes in American history.
If you visit
This is rugged hill country near the Frio River around Concan, a region known for clear water, limestone bluffs, and wide views. When you stand near the pass, think about how precious water would have been to men pinned down on these slopes. That makes the water-carrier's courage much easier to understand.
The marker notes that fourteen old shafts remain, some of them connected, along with traces of the fortification. Old mine workings can be dangerous, and much of this land may be private, so enjoy the site from the marker and public areas and never enter shafts or cross fences.
The pass fits well into a hill country road trip that includes swimming holes, scenic drives, and small towns. It is also good preparation for San Antonio: seeing a place where Bowie lived through a frontier fight gives more depth to a later visit to the Alamo.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · James Bowie
- · Black Jim Bowie
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Dry Frio Canyon
Uvalde, TX
The families of Louis Bohme, Charles Jones, and the Heards came seeking new range land in 1875, giving Dry Frio Canyon its first settlement, post office, and school under the name Heard. In 1885 a well-digger struck mineral water prized for its medicinal qualities, and a promoter soon built a bathhouse and hotel to draw visitors to the springs.
Lombardy Irrigation Ditch
Rio Frio, TX
In 1868, just after the Civil War, the Lombardy Irrigation Company dug a two-mile ditch by pick and shovel to bring water to more than 800 acres of the Frio River valley. Beyond irrigation, the ditch powered a cotton gin and grist, flour, and shingle mills, and the settlement that grew around it was simply called "The Ditch" until a post office gave it the name Rio Frio in 1875. For a century afterward the same channel watered lands held by descendants of its founders.
Near Route of Famous Cattle Trail
Leakey, TX
This route was one of many Texas "feeder trails" that funneled longhorn cattle north to join the legendary Chisholm Trail above the Red River, driving thousands of animals to market in the years after the Civil War. The drives lasted months and were full of stampedes and the danger of Indian raids, and local settlers rode along, later spinning their experiences into frontier folklore. At times even herds of hogs were driven forty miles down the trail to market.
Joe A. Kelley Home
Utopia, TX
One of the few pioneer homes still standing in the Utopia community, this two-room house with back shed rooms was built in 1865 by Joe A. Kelley, whose family had reached Old Waresville in 1852. Kelley bought several thousand acres from Lusgarda Grandee and established a ranch crossed by the old Sabinal-Comanche trail. Its shiplap exterior and beaded ceilings preserve the craftsmanship of early Hill Country settlement.