I left Austin upon the 17th of June, and joined the expedition which was then encamped at Brushy, about 12 miles off. About half way there was a grove of oak-trees, and a short distance beyond was an extensive plain divided by a long dark line of trees. The camp was among the trees. Close to it was a spring of water coming from a limestone rock, and on the edge of the basin below was a broken specimen of a very large ammonite.

It had been proposed that the route to be taken should be from the San Saba, or on the course of the Colorado to the Puerco, and along the line of this river to San Miguel. It was, however, determined to proceed, if practicable, to the Red River, and, after crossing it, to get upon the Missouri trail to Santa Fe. When we reached New Mexico, we were told that the former would have been the best route.

We left Brushy upon the 19th. The observation frequently made that a flood must have passed over the prairie we were crossing, conveys, though very imperfectly, what many imagined would be the condition of land after a vast sheet of water has run off it. In the evening we reached the San Gabrielle, the bed of which was a compact white limestone.

On the 24th we reached Opossum Creek, the bed of a wide and at this time shallow stream. It was in the course of this or the next day's journey that we found dispersed over the prairie for several miles small pieces of iron ore, generally angular in their fracture, though many were somewhat round; the largest not above an ounce in weight. A handful could be collected in a circle of about 5 feet. Some of the men stated that they had observed the same thing in the district about the head of the San Saba river. In the evening we camped at Deep Creek. The banks are about 12 feet high, of loose scaly clay, and throughout their whole depth was a bed of shells, chiefly of oysters and of a species of large shell, the probable name of which is not suggested by any shell that I have seen.

The next day we passed some dry gullies in which was a large quantity of the same kind of shells as in Deep Creek. We met this day with vast herds of buffaloes. They covered the prairie like a black cloud, and their number could hardly be exaggerated. In the afternoon we reached the San Andreas or Little River. On the bank I found a fine specimen of a large nautilus. We remained on this river some days in order to repair the waggons. On starting again, a journey of four days brought us to the Bosque River. The country was open, and we had no difficulty in rinding water. Wherever the rock was visible, it was a compact limestone.

Beyond the Bosque River was a somewhat broken country. A few miles from it we reached a valley into which we descended by a natural terrace which passed along the side of the hill, and enabled the waggons to be brought so easily to the bottom, that the drivers exclaimed "that it must have been made by men." The sides of this valley were swept by two streams which united at the east side. The beds of both these streams were a conglomerate of shells of the gryphaea species and of lime, and on the banks layers of these shells were exposed. We continued to find these shells during 2 days' march from this place.

On the 11th of July we were in sight of Comanche peak. It is a long, flat-topped or table mountain, apparently rising from a plain. Its size and breadth from the time we saw it on the W. and S. sides, and again on the E. did not perceptibly vary. Soon after being in sight of it, we came near several conical-shaped hills and others similar in shape to the peak. They were not very high, and soon ceased to be seen.

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Adapted from Thomas Falconer
"Notes on a Journey through Texas and New Mexico, in the Years 1841 and 1842"