Bernardo de Miranda y Flores: Texas Lieutenant Governor and Explorer (unknown–unknown)
By: Frank Goodwyn
Published: 1952
Updated: April 1, 1995
Bernardo de Miranda y Flores was lieutenant governor of Texas on November 15, 1755, when he was commissioned by Governor Jacinto de Barrios y Jáuregui to explore the Llano and Colorado regions in search of two rich mineral deposits, the Cerro del Almagre and the Almagre Grande. On February 17, 1756, after delay due to jealousies and rivalries, Miranda set out from San Antonio with twelve soldiers, an Indian interpreter, and five others. On March 4, 1756, after exploring up Honey Creek to the Llano River and down the Llano to the Colorado, he started back for San Antonio. On March 29, 1756, he sent glowing accounts to Barrios of his discovery of a "silver mountain" and requested that an assay be made of the ore. On November 23, 1757, the viceroy granted his request and made him captain of a presidio to be established in the region. But the plan was abandoned before it materialized. Miranda was a surveyor and a careful observer; his report was widely used both for its geographic information and for the data on Indian tribes.
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The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Frank Goodwyn, “Miranda y Flores, Bernardo de,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/miranda-y-flores-bernardo-de.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
TID:
FMI49
- 1952
- April 1, 1995
