On March 16, 1758, am army of an estimated 2000 Comanche and Wichita Indians, bitter enemies of the Lipan Apache, attacked Mission Santa Cruz de San Sabá.

[3]: 54, 64 In June, a band of 3000 Apaches arrived under the leadership of El Chico and Casablanca passed through on their way to attack the Comanches further north, but did not stay long on their return trip.

[3]: 68 [4]: 58  A detachment of 6 men under Corporal Carlos de Uraga was attacked on the Pedernales River the next day, while on their way to warn Lt. Juan Galvan's supply train en route from San Antonio.

[3]: 68–69 [4]: 59  Parilla reinforced the supply train of 50 pack animals with 22 men,[4]: 51  and provided 8 soldiers, with two cannons, to the Mission[4]: 57  on 15 March when Father Terreros refused to seek sanctuary at the Presidio.

[3]: 107  Parilla held a special council in San Antonio, on 3 Jan. 1759, with the governors of Coahuila and Texas plus the frontier officers, in which they recommended a force of 500.

[3]: 137  Within a year, Rabago rebuilt the stockade with limestone, including rooms built into the walls, a blockhouse and a moat, bringing the garrison up to full strength and well mounted.

[3]: 172–173 The Comanches stole the Presidio's entire herd of cattle on 10 Dec. 1767, Indians attacked again on 2 Jan. 1768, stole horses outside the wall on 14 Jan., then captured and tortured to death Lt. Joaquin Orendain and three other soldiers on 29 Feb.[3]: 176–178  Then the garrison was afflicted with scurvy, Mal de Loanda, forcing Rabago to abandon the Presidio for the Mission San Lorenzo in the Valle de San Jose (El Canon) on 22 June.

[3]: 183 A mine was started in August 1752 by five Spaniards from San Antonio in an area identified by Apaches containing gossan, Los Almagres to the Spanish.

[5]: 252 This three pound sample of ore, and Miranda's report, were sent by Barrios to Manuel de Aldaco in Mexico City, who had it assayed by smelting and amalgamation.

[5]: 253  Otherwise, Miranda proposed to "pay all of it through my industry and perservance with the condition that I be the captain of the soldiers", noting "a presidio of at least thirty men to restrain the Indians" was required.

Diego Ortiz Parrilla, had seventy-five pounds of ore smelted, which yielded an ounce and a half of silver, prompting him to suggest the presidio be moved to Los Almagres in 1757.

[5]: 232  Yet, the destruction of Mission Santa Cruz de San Saba by the Comanches in 1758, and increased Indian depredations made the area difficult for the Spanish and location of the mines was eventually forgotten.

[5]: 234 In 1789, five miners working the Los Almagres mines, near the Llano River, were murdered in their sleep by Lipan Apaches on their way to confront Col. Juan de Ugalde.

[5]: 224  Austin's 1831 pamphlet on Texas stated on the San Saba River, "traditions say a rich silver mine was successfully wrought many years since, until the Comanche Indians cut off the workmen.

We therefore first looked for smelting ovens and heaps of slag...when we failed to find any traces of either, we made examinations to determine if the geological conditions were the kind which would indicate the presence of precious metal.

The presence of silver ore in unchanged, horizontal limestone and marl of the Cretaceous formation would be without precedent...it is not improbable that the changed Transition rocks, containing quartz, which appear about forty miles downstream near the mouth of the San Saba, as well as the granite rocks which appear particularly between the San Saba and Llano, contain ore, although observations on our journey did not furnish direct proof for this.

[6]: 270 Near the fort was the site of a council meeting between Comanches chiefs and representatives of the Adelsverein, including Buffalo Hump, Santa Anna, Mope-choco-pe, and John O. Meusebach, which eventually led to the Meusebach-Comanche Treaty.