THE FIRST TIME I DROVE THE OLD RIVER ROAD I DIDN'T KNOW IT'S HISTORY. SO WHEN I GOT HOME I STARTED LOOKING FOR INFORMATION ABOUT IT. I WENT TO THE LIBRARY AND DID SOME RESEARCH. WHAT I FOUND OUT MADE ME WANT TO GO BACK AND DRIVE THAT STRETCH OF ROAD FROM BIG BEND PARK TO PERSIDIO AGAIN. A FEW YEARS LATER JOHNNIE AND I DID GO BACK AND MAKE THIS DRIVE AGAIN.

THIS ROAD HAS ITS ROOTS IN THE DISTANT PAST. IT STARTED OUT AS A FOOT TRAIL ALONG THE NORTH BANK OF THE RIO GRANDE RIVER. AT ONE TIME IT WAS CALLED THE "CHIHUAHUA TRAIL." INDIANS AND MEXICANS WALKED THE TRAIL ALONG THE RIVER,

LATER AS HORSE TRAFFIC BECAME MORE PREDOMINANT, THE TRAIL WAS BETTER DEFINED. BY 1773 A SPANISH FORT HAD BEEN BUILT ON THE TRAIL AND THE TRAIL HAD BEEN WIDENED INTO A WAGON TRAIL. THE SPANISH FORT WAS KNOWN AS EL FORTIN DE SAN JOSE AT LA JUNTA.

THE FORT WAS ABANDONED IN 1810 AND THE STRUCTURE WAS UNOCCUPIED UNTIL JUAN BUSTILLOS TOOK IT AS HIS HOME IN 1830. BY 1848 BEN LEATON HAD BOUGHT EL FORTIN FROM BUSTILLOS AND ESTABLISHED FORT LEATON AS HIS HOME, TRADING POST AND PRIVATE FORT.

DURING THAT YEAR AN EXPEDITION LED BY TEXAS RANGER JACK HAYS TO FIND A PRACTICLE ROAD FROM SAN ANTONIO TO EL PASO SPENT TEN DAYS AT FORT LEATON. BUT BECAUSE OF INDIAN ACTIVITY IN THE AREA, THE EXPEDITION TURNED BACK TO SAN ANTONIO.

BECAUSE OF ITS DESOLATE LOCATION AND THE CONSTANT THREAT OF INDIAN ATTACK, FORT LEATON OFFERED MUCH NEEDED FRONTIER DEFENSE. THE PRIVATE BASTION WAS THE ONLY FORTIFICATION ON THE AMERICAN SIDE OF THE RIO GRANDE BETWEEN EAGLE PASS AND EL PASO.

THERE IS NO RECORD OF ANY INDIAN ATTACK ON FORT LEATON. THE REASON MAY BE FOUND IN AN ACCUSATION MADE BY THE MEXICAN INSPECTOR FOR THE MILITARY COLONIES AT EL PASO DEL NORTE. EMILIO LANGBERG ACCUSED LEATON OF TRADING GUNS TO INDIANS FOR HORSES THEY STOLE IN MEXICO. SUCH ILLEGAL TRADING WITH THE INDIANS MIGHT HAVE GAINED HIM THEIR FAVOR AND PROTECTED HIS FORT FROM ATTACK

FROM 1900 UNTIL 1920 THE ROAD WAS PATROLLED BY THE U. S. BORDER PATROL ON HORSEBACK. ELMER KEITH WAS ONE OF THOSE BORDER PATROLMEN. BY 1950 HE HAD BECOME A FAMOUS WRITER AND CONTRIBUTED LOTS OF ARTICLES TO GUN AND HUNTING MAGAZINES. IN HIS BOOKS HE TOLD OF MANY EXPERIENCES HE HAD ON THE BORDER.

WHEN JOHNNIE AND I TRAVELED THE ROAD IN THE EARLY 1980'S IT WAS A LITTLE TWO LANE BLACK TOP ROAD. IT RAN THROUGH SOME VERY ROUGH AND DESOLATE COUNTRY. FOR A WHILE IT WOULD BE DOWN ON THE BANK OF THE RIVER. THEN IT WOULD GO UP A SHARP HILL AND BE 500 OR 600 FEET ABOVE THE RIVER. ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE FROM THE RIVER THERE WERE MOUNTAINS OVER A MILE HIGH.

WHEN WE CAME TO OLD FORT LEATON WE STOPPED TO LOOK AROUND. BY THIS TIME THE STATE HAD MADE A STATE HISTORICAL SITE OF IT AND WAS PRESERVING IT. INSIDE THE WALLS OF THE FORT THEY HAD ONE OF THE TWO WHEELED CARTS THAT BEN LEATON USED TO HAUL HIS SUPPLIES FROM PRESIDIO TO HIS FORT. THE WHEELS ON THIS CART WERE 6 FEET TALL.