The Dissertation Committee for Judith L - The University of Texas at ...

colonists directly to this location. Complicating the situation further was the fact that
Comanches also lived on this land. As Prince Braunfels stated, “the location of the grant
cannot be reached by ox cart via Austin. From here the distance [to the grant] is 80
miles, and to the coast it is 140 miles, a distance of 220 miles to transport settlers and
provisions to a tract of land from which the Indians must first be driven.” 59 He realized
that more land needed to be purchased by the Adelsverein to set up a way station for
German colonists to stop at in order for them to rest and resupply their wagons on their
way to the Fisher-Miller grant. The situation only worsened as German colonists began
arriving on Texas shores in December 1844 with more on their way. With no place to
settle these people except at the harbor location of Indianola, Braunfels knew time was
running out before those people would quickly become disgruntled with their situation
and would complain to him. Braunfels quickly set out to find a location to establish this
way station.
The ideal site for a way station would be the halfway point from port to the grant
land site. Prince Braunfels heard of a place called “las fontanas,” or the “fountains,”
located between the Guadalupe and San Antonio rivers, which was also situated
approximately halfway from the coast to the Fisher-Miller grant. Braunfels first
described the future site of New Braunfels in his sixth report to the Adelsverein dated
December 23, 1844. In the report he wrote this about the land:
59 Ibid., 37.
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