The Missions of San Antonio

The watersheds of the San Antonio river have sustained flora and fauna for hundreds of thousands of years.  Humans can trace their dependence on the lifegiving waters for at least 15,000 years, perhaps longer.   The first hapless "Spanish" explorer traversed the area in the 1530s. Another 200 years followed before the French expansion in Lousiana finally encouraged the Spanish to meld the religious centered mission system and its attendant military garrison, Presidio of Bexar, into the largest and most northern outpost of New Spain.