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Post by edward on Jun 13, 2014 12:24:53 GMT -5
By 1845, the north side of the Alameda between the Alamo Acequia and Acequia Madre was owned by Edward Dwyer. He created a 25 x 25 vara memorial space for Robert Gillespie, who fell in the Battle of Monterey, on the north side of the Alameda about 101 varas east of the Alamo Acequia. It is probably the same location where one the funeral pyres of the Alamo defenders was located. Too bad he didn't do that at the site of the missing funeral pyre, somewhere wholly other. A bit more info to the above.
On the 8th of January of 1848, a ceremony was held for Capt. Samuel Walker’s burial also in this Dwyer memorial lot. In the early 1850's the city designated an area for cemeteries on the East side of town around Powder House Hill. Capt. Gillespie, Capt. Walker and possibly some of the remains of the Alamo defenders were subsequently moved there (Odd Fellows Cemetery).
www.uiw.edu/sanantonio/jenningscemeteries.html
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Post by edward on Jun 17, 2014 15:20:49 GMT -5
South side of the Alameda, River extension (La Baume House area). St Josephs on right side.
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Post by bradponder on Jun 19, 2014 9:43:53 GMT -5
Brad, thanks for the info and analysis. Do you have a copy of the March 26, 1911 article that is legible enough to read the paragraph that I tried to copy on the first page of this thread? I think it has some interesting details of the history of the Alameda and its environment. Jim, I believe this is what you were looking for. My paper copy is a photostat from the microfilm collection in the San Antonio Public Library's Texana collection. It is better than the image you posted but still difficult to decipher. [Under the subheading "Pity for Crockett" appeared this about the Alameda.] "There was an orchard very near the place where the bodies were burned on the south side of the Alameda, and it is stated that flames and sparks blowing in the fierce March wind that prevailed a part of the time during the incineration blew the flames into the orchard injuring many and destroying some of the fruit trees, most of which died soon after. "This fact probably gave rise to the prevalent belief that obtained for many years, that after the bodies were burned none of the fruit trees in the neighborhood would bear and that they as well as the cottonwood trees all died soon after. "It is a fact that there are now no bearing fruit trees within a block of where either of the two pyres were, and there are but two of the fifty or more cottonwood trees left that grew originally on the Alameda. Neither of them is within a block of either of the pyres." [The article continues with an account of bodies of Mexican soldiers being thrown into the river, stories of valuables thrown in before the siege, and subsequent efforts to retrieve treasure from the river. The subject of the article then returns to the Alameda.] "For many years the Alameda was at the eastern extremity of San Antonio. It extended from where St. Joseph’s Church is now to about a block east of Water Street, or at least the double row of cottonwood trees did. All east of there for some distance and, in fact, as far as the Salado was devoid of trees of any size. The Alameda was about the width of the present Alamo Plaza and about twice as long. It was traversed by three irrigation ditches, each of which furnished moisture for the cottonwood and other trees about it. Flowers also grew there in profusion. It was a beauty spot of the town for many years and was a favorite _____ or pleasure place of the populace, where music either by military or other bands played while the people promenaded. As is the custom today in Mexico, the women and girls walked in one direction, while the men and youths paraded in the opposite, and passing each other instead of promenading together. "Many deadly duels were fought on the Alameda between rival lovers and others who could only appease their anger by shedding the blood of their adversaries. Most of the duels were fought between Mexicans and they almost invariably contended with knives. Some of the duelists used pistols. In the days of dueling the pistols used were those that had single chambers and fired but single charges. They were muzzle-loading weapons and the earliest used had flintlocks." [The article goes on to discuss the guns used at the Alamo.]
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Post by jrboddie on Jun 19, 2014 11:04:43 GMT -5
Brad, thanks so much for taking the time to transcribe this. It is exactly the paragraph that interested me and paints a pretty good picture of the site in those days.
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Post by edward on Jun 19, 2014 14:23:47 GMT -5
Brad thanks for the transcription.
This line is interesting to me since all I have is two irrigation ditches in this area (Alamo Acequia and Acequia Madre).
'It was traversed by three irrigation ditches, each of which furnished moisture for the cottonwood and other trees about it'. There was another ditch further east, the Valley ditch, that just about follows the RR tracks (adjacent and east of Alamo Dome) but it was constructed in the 1870s or so. The area where it was constructed starts into the higher grade and I think it was not completely constructed or was abandon soon after construction because of grade errors. I have posted somewhere in this forum the placement of 2 Cotton Woods east of the Acequia Madre with the farthest tree being about 280 feet east of the Acequia Madre. This one being noted on Eloa’s survey (SACE 1:21). This one would be about a ‘block’ east of Water Street as noted in the article. I have not found any other sources locating the trees further east of this one.
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Post by bradponder on Jun 20, 2014 13:45:04 GMT -5
You are both welcome. I've been wanting to transcribe that article for a long time. Just needed a little impetus. Edward, I suspect Barnes was including in his count the ditch to which you are referring. East Commerce was still being referred to as Alameda Road in deed records as late as 1875 (I'm not sure when it's was formally renamed). Since Barnes was first a feature writer and a history enthusiast second, I take what he writes with a grain of salt. But on this point he may have been technically correct. The deed records are also peppered with references to "dry ditches", which were laterals off the main canals to target water into specific fields when needed. One such dry ditch that comes to mind ran parallel to the Alameda between Crockett and Blum Strrets. It originated at the acequia del Alamo where the Menger Hotel sits today and ran to the east. Because such ditches held water only occasionally, usually for periods of time measured in hours, I doubt, though, that Barnes was referring to such a one.
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Post by Rich Curilla on Jun 20, 2014 17:05:58 GMT -5
I agree that Barnes may be referring to laterals. In fact, when I read that (thanks, Brad, I didn't have it yet), I assumed that was what he meant. I just couldn't figure why three rather than two.
I'm sure you know that the whole acequia system was designed to have a canal higher on the river bank that kept a downhill flow of water (following the natural valley as did the river) but always a bit higher on the bank. The whole point was that laterals (dug by private individuals and apportioned as to how much water they could use) would carry the water perpendicularly from the acequia to the river (or lower acequia) and thus irrigate farms in between. A fairly recent question from my niece was, "How did they get cottonwoods to grow successfully all in one area like that?" The answer would be a lateral coming down each side of the road from the Acequia Madre de Valero to the Acequia de la Villita (Alamo Acequia). These probably wouldn't have had to be too large and not usually with water in them -- just when allowed by the Cabildo's rules. In fact, there is what appears to be a ditch (perhaps an acequia or just a runoff from the street) in the Lungkwitz painting. It runs along the north edge of the street between it and the tree line and empties into the foreground acequia next to the culvert.
(Sorry, I tried to post the Lungkwitz, but the forum has "exceeded it's photo posting limit" again, and it's probably all my fault.)
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Post by bradponder on Jun 22, 2014 20:12:29 GMT -5
There was another ditch further east, the Valley ditch, that just about follows the RR tracks (adjacent and east of Alamo Dome) but it was constructed in the 1870s or so. The area where it was constructed starts into the higher grade and I think it was not completely constructed or was abandon soon after construction because of grade errors.
Just inside the front cover of his "The Spanish Acequias of San Antonio" (Maverick Pub. Co., 2005), Wayne Cox gave an illustration titled "The Urban Acequias" that shows the running line of the Valley Ditch. It crossed the Alameda (E. Commerce) where N Swiss St intersects E. Commerce today (if Wayne Cox's map is correct), between Cherry and Mesquite Streets. The ditch was completed and became operational in November 1874 (a 1974 HABS report places it at 1872) and saw use for over a decade before being abandoned.
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Post by jrboddie on Jul 8, 2014 18:39:30 GMT -5
Here a rendering of a 3D model of the Alameda. The goal was to project the Lungkwitz drawing back to its appearance in February 1836. Technical details are on my blog.
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Post by Rich Curilla on Jul 10, 2014 0:58:27 GMT -5
Superb job, Jim. Everything is perfect -- even Powder House Hill's distance, height and profile.
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Post by estebans on Jul 13, 2014 15:14:21 GMT -5
Jim, I must commend you on how well that latest rendering evokes a cold and dry winter day in that part of Texas. On my monitor, at least, that just jumped out at me at first glance. Whether I knew where that spot was or not, it would work for me as a picture, I guess because it captures the quality of light at that season.
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Post by Rich Curilla on Jul 13, 2014 22:57:00 GMT -5
Yes, I see what you mean Stephen. The bare cottonwoods, sure, but it's more than that. It's Jim's choice of colors providing a quality of light that is winter. Nice job, Jim. It did make me "feel," it just hadn't occurred to me how until Stephen mentioned it.
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Post by edward on Jul 18, 2014 13:40:25 GMT -5
Here a rendering of a 3D model of the Alameda. The goal was to project the Lungkwitz drawing back to its appearance in February 1836. Technical details are on my blog. Very Nice Jim, I like. I wonder what kind of enclosure if any Mr. Dwyer's Memorial for Gillespie and the Alamo defenders had? From Lungkwitz painting there is no evidence, that I can see, that anything was there.
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Post by Rich Curilla on Jul 18, 2014 16:03:42 GMT -5
Jim, I noticed on your blog that you refer to the Lungkwitz art as a drawing and that you used a "colorized rendering." This was indeed a painting and is owned by the San Antonio Public Library. It was done as oil on academy board, 12-1/2 by 18 inches. However, I have yet to see it or a dependable color photo of it. Almost all the Lungwitz photos of his paintings represented in James Patrick McGuire's book Hermann Lungkwitz: Romantic Landscapist on the Texas Frontier are as red-shifted as John Wayne's film prints.
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Post by Rich Curilla on Jul 18, 2014 17:00:41 GMT -5
I wonder what kind of enclosure if any Mr. Dwyer's Memorial for Gillespie and the Alamo defenders had? From Lungkwitz painting there is no evidence, that I can see, that anything was there. If I read the accounts correctly, the site where the remains were buried was unmarked but remembered by Antonio Perez. According to Charles Merritt Barnes, "The location [of one of the pyres] was confirmed by Perez, who states that when he was a little boy and used to play on the Alameda he was frequently shown the same spot as the place where the bodies of the Alamo heroes were burned. Perez goes further than Diaz and says that for many years there was a small mound there under which he was told the charred bones that the fire did not consume were buried by some humane person, who had to do so secretly, and that he was familiar with the spot as the burial place of Bowie and Crockett. Perez states that about thirty years ago these bones were exhumed and placed in the old City Cemetery, the first one located on Powder House Hill..." [Hansen, p. 531]
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