West Fork of The San Jacinto River
Conroe, Montgomery County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Patiri and other Indians lived here in Archaic and Neo-American periods. When Spanish incursions began in the 1700s, the river was named either for hyacinths or for the saint on whose day it was discovered. Pioneers from the United States settled on the San Jacinto before Stephen F. Austin founded his colony to the west in 1821. Upon their wish to join him, he took this area into his colony in 1824. The San Jacinto won wold fame when beside its lower channel Mexican Dictator Santa Anna with 1700 troops was defeated on April 21, 1836, by General Sam Houston and Texas volunteers fighting for freedom. Riverside farms became plantations, often shipping cotton by keelboat down the San Jacinto, in 1845-61. Until woodlands vanished during the years 1880-1930, sandhill cranes and bear abounded. Reforestation, begun in 1936, brought back timber industries and small game. The lake now makes this a residential and recreational paradise, but covers such landmarks as Grandma Ed'Ards fishing hole, Indian Camp Creek, and the White Sugar Sand Crossing. Downriver, after this fork and the East Fork unite, the San Jacinto forms part of the Houston Ship Channel, the link between Port of Houston, the Gulf, and the high seas.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The West Fork of the San Jacinto carries thousands of years of history: Patiri and other Native peoples lived along it in the Archaic and later eras, and Spanish explorers named the river in the 1700s. American pioneers settled here even before Stephen F. Austin extended his colony over the area in 1824, and just downstream, on April 21, 1836, Sam Houston's volunteers defeated Santa Anna to win Texas independence. In later years riverside farms grew into cotton plantations shipping by keelboat, and today the united forks feed the Houston Ship Channel.
Why it matters
This single river threads together Native America, Spanish exploration, the birth of the Texas Republic, and the rise of the Port of Houston — the whole sweep of the region's past.
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Related people
- · Stephen F. Austin
- · Sam Houston
- · Santa Anna
Related events
- · Battle of San Jacinto
Themes & tags
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