Stopping Place on the Fort Clark-Fort McKavett Military Road
Rocksprings, Edwards County, Texas
Marker Inscription
One of many roads built to connect frontier cavalry posts in Texas, this route led south to Fort Clark and north to Fort McKavett (both established in 1852). Paint Rock Springs, located here at the head of the South Llano River, was a natural midway rest stop. In 1877 Major John B. Jones' Texas Rangers assembled here to begin a major offensive to capture frontier outlaws. In addition to its military uses, the Fort Clark-Fort McKavett Road provided an accessible route for immigrants, cattle drovers, pioneer ranchers, mail carriers, and freighters. (1968, 1990)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This route was one of many military roads built to link the frontier cavalry posts of Texas, running south to Fort Clark and north to Fort McKavett, both established in 1852. Paint Rock Springs, at the head of the South Llano River, made a natural midway rest stop, and in 1877 Major John B. Jones gathered his Texas Rangers here to launch a campaign against frontier outlaws. Beyond its military purpose, the road carried immigrants, cattle drovers, ranchers, mail riders, and freighters into the open country.
Why it matters
It captures how the U.S. Army's frontier road network opened West Texas to settlement and commerce even as it garrisoned the edge of American expansion.
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Related people
- · John B. Jones
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Fort McKavett - Fort Clark Military Road
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Laid out in 1852 and reopened when the frontier forts were reactivated after the Civil War, this road ran north and south between Forts Terrett, Clark, and McKavett, its route chosen chiefly for the water along the way. It carried mail, freight, troops, and a trickle of settlers, and served as a line of march for Colonel Ranald Mackenzie's campaigns against Native peoples to the northwest. After the forts closed in 1883, ranchers used stretches of it to drive cattle to market.
Mackenzie Trail
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When the U.S. Army built Forts Clark and McKavett in 1852, this rough frontier trail linked the two posts; after Fort Concho was founded in 1867 it was extended north toward present San Angelo. It later took the name of Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie, the 1873 commander of Fort Clark, who rode it during his campaigns against Native peoples of the region. Along the way, Mackenzie Lake watered soldiers, cattle drives, settlers, and Texas Rangers patrolling the frontier.
Telegraph Store and Post Office
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Named for a canyon whose trees supplied telegraph poles in the mid-1800s, this remote Hill Country crossroads gained a store and post office around 1890–1900, when Ruth Holmes became its first commissioned postmistress. For generations it served as a stopover for travelers and vacationers along the South Llano River, and it even functioned as the local mailing address of Texas Governor Coke Stevenson. The rustic building has anchored this small Kimble County community for more than a century.
Edwards County
Rocksprings, TX
Created in 1858 from Bexar County and organized in 1883, Edwards County was named for Haden Edwards, the empresario who led the short-lived Fredonian War of 1827 in an early revolt against Mexican authority. The county seat began at Leakey in 1883 and moved to Rocksprings in 1890. The marker records the frontier origins of this rugged Hill Country county.