History 101

You may recall the blog about the old ranch line camp that is found on the open land within the national park, Padre Island National Seashore. A while ago I took the Park Road from Mustang Island to Padre Island National Seashore to the end of the road [for two wheel drive vehicles]. I spent about an hour walking the shoreline, and then decided to get on home - yes, it was getting hot once again.

I did stop at the new signage they added along the park road to read it. There were a couple. I like local history!! And I took photos of both for my day trippin' - -

Since I resize my images, I'll add the text found on both 'cause the words lack clarity...

1- ONE OF A KIND

The grassland prairie you see in front of you once covered approximately 13 million acres of coastal Texas and Louisiana. Because of extensive cattle ranching, farming, and development, only 2% of this coastal prairie habitat remains today; Padre Island National Seashore preserves this habitat -----along with the LONGEST section of undeveloped barrier island beach in the WORLD! 

It now appears much the same as when it was populated by the Karankawa Indians hundreds of years ago. Bordered by the Gulf of Mexico behind you and the Laguna Madre [Mother's Lagoon] in front of you, Padre Island is comprised of grasslands, dunes, beaches, and scattered ephemeral marshes and ponds.

photos of the grasslands and dunes from the roadside 'exhibit':

2- THEY CAME...and LEFT

Three distinct groups of people have lived here ---Indians, explorers, and ranchers. Today, this island is mostly undeveloped, preserved by Padre Island National Seashore. Centuries ago, nomadic Coahuiltecans lived here in short term settlements. They hunted and fished along the coast of Laguna Madre using dugout canoes. In the 1600s and 1700s, Spanish explorers ventured north from Central Mexico, expanding their empire. Around 1804 Padre Jose Nicolas Balli built the first ranch on this island, 26 miles north of the southern most tip. As Texas grew in population, this island changed from an isolated wilderness to ranch lands. Water on all sides made this an ideal place for open grazing ----until the 1970s. Then, discovery of natural gas drew oil companies here. And growing tourism coming to the beach has changed the life in the area.