Editing Terrell County, Texas (section)

===Early exploration===
Capt. José de Berroterán in 1729 commanded an expedition on behalf of [[Spain]] to explore from [[Guerrero,_Coahuila#San_Juan_Bautista_missions|Mission San Juan Bautista]] up the [[Rio Grande]] to the mouth of the [[Conchos River|Rio Conchos]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Johnson|first=John G|title=José de Berroterán|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbebd|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 14, 2010|date=June 12, 2010}}</ref> Berroterán crossed the southern border, where at a spring near Dryden, legend has it that he placed a large wooden cross. Six years later, another Spaniard, [[Blas María de la Garza Falcón]], found the cross while conducting an expedition in the area and named the spot Santa Cruz de Maya.<ref>{{cite web|last=Garcia|first=Clotide P|title=Blas María de la Garza Falcón|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fga66|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 14, 2010|date=June 15, 2010}}</ref> Captain Samuel Highsmith, under the command of [[John Coffee Hays]], crossed the county in 1848 in an ill-fated expedition to open a road from [[San Antonio, Texas|San Antonio]] to [[El Paso, Texas|El Paso]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Cutrer|first=Thomas W|title=Samuel Highsmith|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fhi11|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 14, 2010|date=June 15, 2010}}</ref>
In 1851 Army officer and geographer Lt. Nathaniel Michler, working under Major [[William H. Emory]], mapped this portion of the boundary between Mexico and the United States.<ref>{{cite web|last=Wagner|first=Frank|title=Nathaniel Michler|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fmi88|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 14, 2010|date=June 15, 2010}}</ref> Under Lt. William Echols in 1859, caravans of the [[U.S. Camel Corps]] crossed the county searching for a shorter route to [[Fort Davis National Historic Site|Fort Davis]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Faulk|first=Odie B|title=Camels|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/quc01|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 14, 2010|author2=Emmett, Chris |date=June 12, 2010}}</ref>