(TSHA) Here are some facts about The Guadalupe River, which runs from the Texas Hill Country to the Texas Coastal Bend. The Guadalupe River can be found rising in two forks near western Kerr County. The South Fork rises about three miles southwest of the crossing of Farm Road 187 and State Highway 39 then runs northeast for another twenty miles to meet the North Fork. The North Fork begins south of the State Highway 41, from the Real-Kerr county lines, and runs east meeting with the South Fork, near Hunt, Texas. After the two branches join, the Guadalupe River proper flows southeast for 230 miles, passing through seven Texas counties. The river then has a long journey to the mouth of the San Antonio Bay. The Guadalupe's principal branches …show more content…
Trees in lower elevations and bottomlands include sycamore, elm, basswood, pecan, walnut, persimmon, willow and hackberry. In the uplands away from the river, the limestone terrain is typical of the Edwards Plateau. Oak and juniper woodlands fill this area, with some grasslands. The Balcones fault line, near New Braunfels, marks the switch to the coastal plains. (TPWD) An area of virgin Ashe juniper woodlands provides nesting habitat for the endangered golden-cheeked warbler which is also known as the Gold Finch of Texas (American Bird Conservancy). In addition to numerous species of birds, the park supports a wide variety of wild animals. These include white-tailed deer, coyote, gray fox, skunk, raccoon, opossum, bobcat armadillo and many other species. (TPWD) The Guadalupe River has several dams along its length, the most notable, Canyon Dam, which forms Canyon …show more content…
The river was first called after Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. It was then renamed the San Augustin by Domingo Terán de los Ríos who maintained a colony on it, but the name Guadalupe continued. Evidence indicates that it has been home to individuals for several thousand years, including the Karankawa, Tonkawa, and Huaco Indians. These early inhabitants were gradually displaced by settlers from Mexico, Europe, and the United States. European settlement along the Guadalupe began as early as the 1720s, when the Spanish established several missions above the site of present Victoria. Settlements of a more permanent nature along the Guadalupe were not long in coming, however. Martín De León established Victoria near the mouth of the river in 1824, and in 1825 James Kerr founded Gonzales sixty miles further upstream, where on the south bank a historic marker has been placed to commemorate the firing of the first shot for Texas independence in the battle of Gonzales (October 2, 1835). During the 1830s some thirty or forty families homesteaded along the banks of the lower Guadalupe, which was an early boundary of the Power and Hewetson colony. New Braunfels was founded in 1845 by a group of