What follows is an excerpt from a chapter called “Era of Banditry” in The Kingdom of Zapata by Mercurio Martinez I and Virgil Lott, pages 124 and 125. The book was published in 1953 by Naylor Publishing. The late Mercurio Martinez is the father of former Webb County Judge Mercurio Martinez Jr. and the grandfather of Laredo City Council member Mercurio Martinez III.
“San Ygnacio, Zapata County’s oldest inhabited town, is one of the quaintest in Texas, with its seventeenth century homes, its ancient fort, its old church on the plaza, the sundial on the battlements of the old fort and a dozen other shrines of the past. Citizens of the town —proud of their heritage — have determined that the waters of Falcon Dam shall not destroy these monuments to its founders; therefore, in April, 1951, there assembled at a local theater several hundred citizens of the San Ygnacio area (a meeting called by the veterans of the second world war) for the purpose of preserving the old town as it is and to prevent its inundation. E. E. Paredes and Baltazar Salazar headed the veterans who had made the call.
The situation was discussed fully and while the people were not opposed to progress in any degree, they said that they could not see the necessity of destroying San Ygnacio; thereupon they organized an association for the “preservation of San Ygnacio and the surrounding area.”
The following were named as officers: Mercurio Martinez, chairman; Rafael San Miguel, vice-chairman; Humberto Gonzalez, secretary; Amador Vela, treasurer; José M. Sanchez, Proceso Martinez, Trinidad Uribe, Enrique Gutierrez, Arturo Benavides and many others committeemen.
A petition was signed by over two hundred residents and landowners of the town and area and transmitted through Honorable James F. Jackson, attorney for the International Boundary and Water Commission, and Honorable L. M. Lawson, chairman of the commission at El Paso, Texas to Senators Tom Connally and Lyndon Johnson and Congressman Lloyd M. Bentsen from the Fifteenth District protesting the inundation of San Ygnacio.
On June 7, 1951, the committee was advised that their plea had been heard and that their ancient homes would not fall under the waves of the relentless river.
The two senators and the congressman assured them there would be no destruction of their homes and that Mr. Lawson, had told them, the lawmakers, that the wishes of the people would be respected — that San Ygnacio would be left just as it is.
This closes the chapter on San Ygnacio, one of the three oldest settlements in the county. It is indeed a very happy ending for the people of the old town and, for that matter for numerous residents of the border area from Laredo to Brownsville, where direct descendants of the founders of San Ygnacio are among the leading citizens.”
Que interesante, Meg. I never knew that San Ygnacio had been in jeopardy.