As these trails avoided the royal Old San Antonio and Atascosita Roads, they were frequented by smugglers and illegal American immigrants.
Following Terán's inspection tour of Texas, the fort was constructed in 1830[1] as part of an implementation of Mexican President Anastasio Bustamante's edict banning further American immigration or the importation of further slaves into the territory.
Almost immediately, most of the troops were transferred south, as the government reduced funding and attempted to resist Santa Anna's rebellion.
As the custom, rumors of the hidden or abandoned gold led to a number of excavations at the site, including one in 1954 where a man was killed by a premature explosion of his dynamite.
After the Battle of San Jacinto led to de facto Texan independence, Samuel Belt operated a ferry and trading post at the site, which developed into a small community on the roads connecting Nacogdoches, Houston, and Jasper.