Name: Medina, Texas
Address: Medina, TX

Medina, TX RoadyGoat

The Medina River, originating from springs in the Edwards Plateau, is a vital water source in south central Texas. It's formed by the convergence of its North and West prongs in Medina, Texas, and flows for 120 miles before merging with the San Antonio River.

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Medina, TX RoadyGoat

The Medina River's water supply is largely produced by springs due to the Balcones Fault, which serves as an ecological dividing line. Species like the California Fan Palm are found only west of this fault line, highlighting the river's role in shaping local biodiversity.

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Zapata, TX RoadyGoat

Zapata is a place shaped by water, both blessed and burdened by it. Long before the bass fishing tournaments drew crowds to Falcon Lake, this land along the Rio Grande was home to families who knew its rhythms intimately. They weren't just passing through. Generations built their lives on ranching and small-scale farming, their roots digging deep into the soil of what would become Zapata County. You can imagine them, tough and resourceful, raising cattle and cultivating the land, their lives intertwined with the river's flow. Then came the dam. Falcon Dam, a massive project in the 1950s, promised progress and prosperity, but it also meant sacrifice. The original town of Zapata, along with its history and the graves of its ancestors, was destined to be submerged. The stories say it was a wrenching decision, a true upheaval. But from that loss, a new Zapata rose on higher ground, overlooking the expansive lake. The dam, while displacing the old, also brought new opportunities. Government jobs, construction work, and eventually, the lure of Falcon Lake for recreation, reshaped the town’s identity. It's a story of resilience, of a community finding its footing again, forever marked by the waters that both took and gave.

Colonization of the Lower Rio Grande Area

1746

In 1746, Jose de Escandon was selected by Spanish officials to be chief colonizer for the lower Rio Grande Valley, then a part of Mexico's northern frontier. A native of Spain, Escandon (b. 1700) had proven himself a capable administrator and military leader as part of the Spanish forces in Mexico. Escandon took over 700 people, including missionaries, soldiers, and Indians, on his initial exploration of the area. His findings from this venture allowed him to complete his colonization plans. By 1748, thirteen settlements had begun in the area, which came to be called Nuevo Santander after Escandon's home province. A total of nineteen settlements, including Laredo, San Ygnacio, Falcon, and Lopeno, owe their foundings to Escandon. Escandon issued royal land grants in tracts known as "porciones," and in return the settlers were to fulfill certain requirements. The final inspection of the land grants, known as the General Visitation of 1767, marked the beginning of private and individual land ownership in this part of the state, as valid applicants were given possession of their "porciones." The colonization efforts also resulted in the farming and ranching settlements from which grew the immense cattle industry of South Texas. (1986)

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International Falcon Reservoir

1951

International Falcon Reservoir is located on the Rio Grande east of Zapata (its center point is 26°34' N, 99°10' W). The huge lake is bounded by Starr and Zapata counties, Texas, and the county and city of Nuevo Ciudad Guerrero, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The dam and reservoir provide for water conservation, flood control, hydroelectric energy, and recreation. The project is owned, authorized, and operated by the United States and Mexico through the International Boundary and Water Commission . The project is named for the relocated town of Falcon, which in turn was renamed in 1915 after the wife of founder José Eugenio Ramírez, María Rita de la Garza Falcón. The idea of a dam six miles east of the present site began about 1935, and the lake was approved by treaty at its present location in the late 1940s. Work began in 1951, and deliberate impoundment started on August 25, 1953. The reservoir was dedicated by presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adolfo Ruiz Cortines on October 19, 1953. The five-mile-long rolled earthfill and concrete embankment was completed on April 8, 1954. The first power was generated commercially on October 11, 1954. The dam is 150 feet above the riverbed, with a crest elevation of 323 feet above sea level. Almost two miles of the dam is in the United States, and nearly three miles is in Mexico. The cost of the lake to the United States was $35 million. Flood-control benefits to the United States had totaled $130 million by January 1, 1986. All lands on the United States side, except for Falcon State Park , are privately owned above 307 feet. Boating and fishing are common on the lake. Americans are allowed on both sides without immigration or customs inspection if they do not land in Mexico or take aboard anything from Mexico. Fishing is prohibited below the dam because of sudden water surges based on irrigation needs and controlled by computer from Brownsville. The area of the lake varies from 87,000 acres at elevation 301.2 feet to 115,400 acres at the maximum elevation of 314.2 feet. The reservoir has a summer storage capacity of 2,371,220 acre-feet. Each country has three 14,750-horsepower turbines running three 10,500-kilowatt generators at each plant. Four units are possible if needed. Under terms of the treaty the United States receives 58.6 percent of the conservation storage and Mexico 41.4 percent; financing of the project was based on the same percentages. The drainage area above the dam is 164,482 square miles; 87,760 is in the United States and 76,722 in Mexico. The United States side provides nine public access areas, including the dam itself, along which runs a two-lane highway connecting Farm Road 2098 and Mexican Highway 2.

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Trevino Circle T Ranch

1760

The Treviño Circle T Ranch, one mile west of Zapata in west central Zapata County, was founded by Bartolomé de Lizarraras y Cuellar and María Gregoria Martínez. Lizarraras was a member of the Cuellar and García families, the original settlers of Saltillo, Coahuila. The Lizarraras family was among those who took part in the colonization of Nuevo Santander under José de Escandón . They settled in Villa Revilla (present-day Guerrero) and were assigned porción 37, which comprised 7,085.41 acres. The tract came to be called Capitaneño. Don Bartolomé raised cattle, goats and sheep and grew vegetables and hay. The family eventually moved across the river to what is now Zapata County, Texas, where their earliest buildings date to the 1760s. The floors of the structures were made of clay or flagstone; each of the dwellings had a fireplace for cooking and heating as well as loopholes through which muskets could be fired. In 1767 Lizarraras was granted another tract by the Spanish crown. After his death his ranch passed to his son José Miguel, who already owned two porciones . The younger Lizarraras completed construction on the ranch's buildings and with his wife, María Gertrudis González, had six children, of whom José Antonio inherited Capitaneño at his father's death in 1816. John James Audubon is said to have visited the ranch to sketch roadrunners for his Birds of America . The next to manage the ranch was Juan Nepomuceno Lizarraras, who inherited it in 1859. He and his wife, Nepomucena Ochoa, kept the ranch going through the Civil War . Upon his death in 1889 the ranch was divided, and 943 acres went to Nepomuceno's son Manuel. In 1922 Luisa, daughter of Manuel and Nepomucena Ochoa Treviño, inherited 132 acres, on which she and her husband, Filiberto Treviño, continued to raise cattle and crops. During the early 1950s most of the ranch was inundated by the International Falcon Reservoir . All the original buildings were submerged, but the family was able to save a mesquite door and some hand-hewn sandstone that was subsequently used in constructing the present ranchhouse. In 1959 Antonio Treviño, one of Luisa and Filiberto's nine children, acquired eleven acres of his mother's land and added 117 more acres of the original grant, which he bought from an uncle. Antonio, with his wife Evangelina González, raised horses and cattle and grew hay and had the land resurveyed. They also built a house, fences, pens, and barns and dug a tank; more recently, they drilled a water well and a gas well.

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Old Zapata

1770

In 1770 residents of Revilla, Mexico, established a village (4.5 mi. W) on land granted by Jose de Escandon. The same year the Spanish built a fort nearby. In 1842 the men on the ill-fated expedition to Mier occupied the village while they foraged for supplies. First named "Habitacion," the town grew to be second largest on the Rio Grande. It was named for friendly Indians living in "carrizo" (cane) huts. In 1858, after Zapata County was created, the name changed to "Bellville" and then back to "Carrizo." In 1898 "Zapata" was chosen for Col. Antonio Zapata, a rancher executed for his part in the 1839 fight to found the Republic of the Rio Grande. Henry Redmond, a well-known area rancher, was the first county judge. Another county judge was Jose Antonio George Navarro, son of Jose Antonio Navarro, one of the two native-born signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The elimination of duty free trade along the border in 1903 caused an economic decline. With the coming of irrigation, a rich agricultural area developed. After the construction of Falcon Dam and the flooding of Old Zapata by lake water, the county seat was relocated at this site on land originally granted to Bartolome Cuellar and Jacinto de Cuellar. (1979)

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Mission Revilla a Visita

1750

Established in 1750 as a part of Jose de Escandon's project to settle the region and civilize and Christianize the Indians. Erected by the State of Texas 1936

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Medina, Texas

Music in Medina

Songs About Medina

Artists From Medina

Rivers & Roads in Song near Medina

History of Medina

Medina, TX RoadyGoat

Medina, TX RoadyGoat

Zapata, TX RoadyGoat

Colonization of the Lower Rio Grande Area

International Falcon Reservoir

Trevino Circle T Ranch

Old Zapata

Mission Revilla a Visita

Everything Near Medina