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SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN IS LOCATED NEAR THE CONFLUENCE OF LITTLE RIVER AND BRAZOS RIVER AND IS CAPPED WITH RED SANDSTONE ROCK. A LARGE AMERICAN INDIAN GROUP LIVED IN A VILLAGE KNOWN AS RANCHERIA GRANDE DE LOS ERVIPIAME. REMNANTS OF TWENTY-TWO NATIONS COMPRISED THE GROUP, BUT THE ERVIPIAME WERE THE DOMINANT MEMBERS. SOME OF THE ERVIPIAME LATER ENTERED THE SAN ANTONIO MISSIONS, BUT MOST JOINED THE TONKAWA, MAYEYE AND YOJUANE TRIBES. EARLY AMERICAN SETTLERS LEARNED OF THE INDIAN TRAILS AND USED THEM WHEN TRAVELING. SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN WAS AN IMPORTANT LANDMARK ON THE OLD ROAD SYSTEM, LATER IDENTIFIED AS PART OF EL CAMINO REAL OR “THE KING’S HIGHWAY,” AND WAS USED UNTIL 1790. DURING THE 1820s, A SIMILAR ROUTE WAS USED THAT TRAVELED FROM SAN FELIPE TO THE WACO INDIAN VILLAGE, WHICH LATER BECAME WACO. IN 1866, TEXAS GOVERNOR J.W. THROCKMORTON SENT A LETTER TO THE DEPARTMENT OF INDIAN AFFAIRS GRANTING THE TONKAWA PEOPLE A LEAGUE OF LAND IN THE AREA, BUT THEY WERE ALREADY RELOCATED TO OKLAHOMA IN THE 1850s AND NEVER RECEIVED THEIR LAND. DEVELOPERS JAMES JACKSON AND JON HOLLOWAY PURCHASED THE LAND THAT CONTAINED SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN WHICH THEY DIVIDED AND RESOLD. DURING THIS TIME, THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN WAS REMOVED BECAUSE IT WAS BELIEVED TO HOLD TREASURES BUT AFTER PUBLIC OUTCRY, THE DIGGING STOPPED. THE MOUNTAIN IS RECOGNIZED BY MILAM COUNTY, THE STATE OF TEXAS AND THE NATIONAL PARKS SERVICE AS AN IMPORTANT LANDMARK. MANY FROM THE TONKAWA NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBE BELIEVE THAT SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN IS THE SITE OF THE ORIGINS OF THEIR PEOPLE. IN 2004, EL CAMINO REAL DE LOS TEJAS WAS DESIGNATED AS A NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL IN TEXAS. |
