Hill Country Springs

(CC) Larry D. Moore or GFDL photo by Larry D. Moore or Image by Larry D. Moore, used under a Creative Commons ShareAlike

There are many historic springs scattered across the Texas Hill Country that were critical to settlement of the area in historic and prehistoric times.

County	Town	Location	Name	Description
Bexar	San Antonio	Camp Bullis	Comanche Spring	The Comanche Spring in Bexar County was an important stop on the Lower Emigrant Trail between New Braunfels and Fredericksburg. After resigning from the Adelsverein, John O. Meusebach settled there and established a livestock operation and Inn. Frederick Law Olmsted visited the inn in 1854, but by that time John O. Meusebach had sold it and moved to the area of the Sabinas Creek in Kendall County.
Blanco	Blowout	Extreme northwest Blanco County	Comanche Spring	Comanche Spring, located in northwest Blanco County, is a historic spring that was used for thousands of years by the Indians. In the mid-1800’s it was well known to German settlers and pioneers, including Hermann Seele, and was a stopping point on the lower Emigrant trail.
Comal	New Braunfels	Landa Park at the headwaters of the Comal River	Comal Springs	The Comal Springs, the largest concentration of naturally occurring freshwater springs in the state of Texas, are located on the northwestern edge of the city of New Braunfels. Comal is the Spanish word for basin, which probably refers to the bowl-like valley surrounding the springs.
Pecos	Fort Stockton	Southeastern part of Ft. Stockton at the headwaters of Comanche Creek	Comanche Springs	From ancient times the Comanche springs provided an abundant source of water for a succession of Indian tribes, and at one time they were the third largest source of spring water in Texas. Fort Stockton was established at the springs in 1859 to protect settlers and travelers from the Indians. Excessive groundwater pumping between 1875 and the middle of the 20th century caused Comanche Springs and the springs along the Pecos to stop flowing.

Compiled from various sources by

Joe Cooper

Kendall County, Texas

September 21, 2009

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REFERENCES

· Gunnar M. Brune, Springs of Texas, (Texas A&M University Agriculture Series, 5, 1981), http://books.google.com/books?id=bvJ6gjatcK0C&pg=RA1-PA10&lpg=RA1-PA10&dq=comanche+springs+comal+county&source=bl&ots=W5iPQfeHz-&sig=CzlrenkEO-QTMUTh2a0fPTkUrmM&hl=en&ei=X6aOSr2EPKKNtgeVxZDPBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9#v=onepage&q=comanche%20springs%20comal%20county&f=false (accessed August 21, 2009).