[2] In one of the earliest descriptions of the road from the Pecos to Escondido Springs and the springs themselves is found in the December 21, 1849 report Captain S. G. French, of the Quartermaster's Department: Leaving the Pecos, the [San Antonio-El Paso] road turns directly to the west, up a wide valley or plain, with hills in broken ridges on both sides.
As the distance increases, the soil becomes more and more sterile, without grass, and yielding support to nothing but dwarf bushes, Spanish bayonets, and stunted cactus.
Continuing over a gently-swelling hill, another valley is entered, following which about six miles, water is found in ponds, some of them quite deep, surrounded by a tall growth of rushes and cane.
The water rises from a rocky bottom, and, as it imperceptibly glides away, gives life and freshness to the coarse grass and cane.
[3]: 46 On July 13, 1857, Edward Fitzgerald Beale described it: Started at 4 a m. and travelled over an almost level country until we came to the Escondido spring.