Milam County Historical Commission
Milam County, Texas
Milam County, Texas
All credit for this article goes to
Mike Brown
and the
Rockdale Reporter
Mike Brown
and the
Rockdale Reporter
Drown the ECR?
Editorial
Rockdale Reporter - 2015-06-18
Historic trail may be the ‘ace in the hole’ for opponents of reservoir
We in Milam County may be on a collision course with a bureaucracy that could make Texas appear really stupid in the eyes of most Americans. That may turn out to be a really good thing.
For about the past decade or so everyone with a respiratory system between the Brazos and the Blackland has been excited about the El Camino Real National Historic Trail.
It’s the oldest historic trail in the country, our county was the first to have signs go up, a U. S. Senator was here for the dedication and more. And now, there’s a hopefully iffy proposal in a regional water plan to put part of it under water.
That’s right. The “Little River Off-Channel Reservoir” between Milano and Gause is part of a long-range water plan now being considered. As area resident Wayne Fisher pointed out to commissioners recently, the reservoir would almost certainly drown a significant portion of the El Camino Real Trail in east central Milam County.
The ECR trail follows FM 2095 which loops round from Hanover and terminates in Gause. It contains some of the most scenic areas of the trail in Milam County.
Fisher noted the trail was created by an act of Congress. That just may trump a regional water planning group. It’s a sign of the times in which we live that a history trail just may carry more legal weight as residents fight the reservoir than pleas not to inundate land which has been in their families for generations.
But if you’ve got an ace in the hole — and this may be it — let’s welcome it. ECR boosters probably never envisioned having to rent diving gear to history tourists.
Mike Brown - Editor
.
Editorial
Rockdale Reporter - 2015-06-18
Historic trail may be the ‘ace in the hole’ for opponents of reservoir
We in Milam County may be on a collision course with a bureaucracy that could make Texas appear really stupid in the eyes of most Americans. That may turn out to be a really good thing.
For about the past decade or so everyone with a respiratory system between the Brazos and the Blackland has been excited about the El Camino Real National Historic Trail.
It’s the oldest historic trail in the country, our county was the first to have signs go up, a U. S. Senator was here for the dedication and more. And now, there’s a hopefully iffy proposal in a regional water plan to put part of it under water.
That’s right. The “Little River Off-Channel Reservoir” between Milano and Gause is part of a long-range water plan now being considered. As area resident Wayne Fisher pointed out to commissioners recently, the reservoir would almost certainly drown a significant portion of the El Camino Real Trail in east central Milam County.
The ECR trail follows FM 2095 which loops round from Hanover and terminates in Gause. It contains some of the most scenic areas of the trail in Milam County.
Fisher noted the trail was created by an act of Congress. That just may trump a regional water planning group. It’s a sign of the times in which we live that a history trail just may carry more legal weight as residents fight the reservoir than pleas not to inundate land which has been in their families for generations.
But if you’ve got an ace in the hole — and this may be it — let’s welcome it. ECR boosters probably never envisioned having to rent diving gear to history tourists.
Mike Brown - Editor
.