A broadly circulated description of Louisiana explained how travelers could get to Mexico from Natchez, Mississippi, and this 1814 map reflects the route. Sounds like an easy stroll!
Going west from Natchitoches, the road was knows as the Royal Spanish Road, or "El camino de real." The Spanish improved the ancient path, originally used by the Caddos, from their mission at Adayes to Natchitoches when they laid claim to lands west of the Mississippi River after 1762.
One settlement along this path that interests me is at the western end of the road on this map - Chichi. On other maps, it is also spelled "Chichis" but the newspaper account spells it "Chiuhi." At first, I thought this to be a Native American settlement but upon further inspection, I'm unsure, because Native American places tended to be labeled as "NAME OF TRIBE villages" on maps. Further, "Chichi" as referred on the maps may be a phonetic spelling of "Chiuhi."
A National Register application from October 2015 explains that "Chichi is an alias name for Juan Ignacio Pifermo and is the name of his ranch... Components of the Chichi Rancho include a gristmill, granary, corrals, and Pifermo's residence."
The map comes courtesy of Barry Ruderman Rare Maps. The newspaper clipping is from the August 10, 1819 Clarion & Tennesse State Gazette (Nashville, TN).
Easy strolling!
