Exploring the Old Nacogdoches Road to Orcoquisac: Historical Insights

In the late seventeenth century the Spanish learned about the Bidai Indians, a subgroup of the Atakapas, from the Hasinais of the Caddo Confederacy along El Camino Real (see OLD SAN ANTONIO ROAD), just west of the Neches River. Bidai, which had numerous spellings during this period, was the Caddo name meaning “brush or brushy.” The English version, “Bedias,” was noted on early maps compiled by Stephen F. Austin in the 1820s, where he labeled "Bedias Creek” (ca. 1822) on the Trinity River near Paso Tomás. His Map of Texas with parts of the adjoining states, published in 1830 and often referred to as the “first meaningful map of Texas,” clearly notes Bidais Creek. Historian Robert Bruce Blake referred to “Bedias” when describing the Bedias Trail (see BEDIAS ROAD), stretching from Nacogdoches southwest to the Bidai village along the Trinity River. The Old Nacogdoches Road to Orcoquisac began before 1691. By that time the location of the Nacogdoche (another Hasinais group) had become an established trading area, and the road served as an additional Bedias trail and trading route connecting the Nacogdoche main village to an Orcoquiza village located on the Trinity River. It extended south and southwest for approximately 138 miles.

The southern network of the Old San Antonio Road (or King’s Highway) began to be actively patrolled by Spanish troops who in the 1750s established a short-lived fort and mission near the Orcoquiza village, near the present site of Wallisville in present-day Chambers County. The King’s Highway to La Bahía departed from Nacogdoches and headed south and forded the Angelina River. This Bedias trail became known in Nacogdoches as El Camino Real del Sur. The diaries of the Marqués de Rubí and Nicolás de Lafora highlighted this Bedias trail, marking the start of the Old Nacogdoches Road to Orcoquisac’s corridor, and they documented their route during Rubí’s inspection tour of presidios on the Northern frontier for King Carlos III of Spain in diary entries from October 2 to 9, 1767. This trail highlights the events, situations, and weather-related hardships Rubí faced during his journey, as shown in the diary accounts, which recorded geospatial observations during an eight-day horseback journey, despite the challenges posed by continuous rain.

According to Rubí’s diary, the Old Nacogdoches Road to Orcoquisac began for his entourage at the site of the Mission Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de los Nacogdoches. Their journey during eight days from October 2–9, 1767, took them generally southwest. Initially Rubí traveled south along the route the Bedias had taken to reach the mission from an Orcoquiza village near the mouth of the Trinity River. The party probably traversed a route across present-day lower Nacogdoches County to present-day Angelina County and the vicinity of the modern city of Lufkin. Through heavy rain, they proceeded through the regions of present-day central Polk County and Liberty County to the site of El Orcoquisac and Nuestra Señora de la Luz Mission. Rubí and Lafora’s route traced the corridor of the Old Nacogdoches Road to Orcoquisac.

Historians have identified this corridor south of Nacogdoches through years of research by figures such as Herbert Eugene Bolton, Carlos Castañeda, Robert B. Blake, Lawrence Kinnaird, Jack Jackson, and others. The corridor appears on historical maps from the Texas General Land Office, and the corridor of the Old Nacogdoches Road to Orcoquisac is illustrated as Rubí’s route (1767) on Bolton’s 1915 Map of Texas and Adjacent Regions in the Eighteenth Century. Furthermore, the Texas State Highway Department’s proposed construction plans of a route from Lufkin to the Neches River for 1919–20 aided in uncovering the old roads before approving any state highway construction projects. Modern lidar technology has also provided valuable insights and further confirmation across a significant portion of the 138 miles of the corridor. Compared with a modern Texas highway map, the mileage from Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de los Nacogdoches Mission to Orcoquisac aligns with the narrative of the Rubí and Lafora diaries. All of these factors make the Old Nacogdoches Road to Orcoquisac corridor a subject that merits further study.