The irrigation canals can still be seen in numerous places in the older parts of the city, Kathy Alexander.Īfter settlers came to the Del Rio area in 1864, the “Mother Ditch” and other irrigation canals were dug for irrigating vineyards, orchards, and gardens, and soon they established a small settlement called Las Sapas or El Salto. In 1808, another mission was established about three miles downstream on San Felipe Creek. However, the mission lasted only briefly. The first non-Indian residents in the area were the Spanish, who established a small mission complex in 1736 near the site of present-day Ciudad Acuna, Del Rio’s Mexican sister city.Ī few of these Spaniards settled on the north side of the Rio Grande in what would later become Texas. The first Spanish exploration of the area occurred in 1690 when Gaspar Castano de Sosa crossed the Rio Grande near Del Rio on his way to establish settlements in what is New Mexico today.
Later, when Spanish explorers came through the area, they described the Native Americans with several descriptions but were probably Jumano bands, who, by the 1700s, had mostly joined with Apache groups. Thousands of years before Del Rio was established, the area was first settled by prehistoric Indians who lived in caves and rock shelters along the banks of the Rio Grande and Devils River as early as 11,000 years ago.
Devils River in Val Verde County, Texas by Kathy Alexander.
