El Camino Real was a great thoroughfare of pioneer Texas, stretching 1,000 miles from Saltillo, Mexico, to present Louisiana. Its general route followed ancient Indian and buffalo trails, and its oldest marked portion, known as the Trail of the Padres, was blazed in 1691 under Domingo Teran de los Rios, first Governor of Texas. This segment joined Monclova, then capital of the province, to the Spanish missions of East Texas, with San Antonio, the region's military nerve center, as a major stop. Over the centuries, explorers, traders, smugglers, armed men, and civilians traveled the road. In 1820 Moses Austin used it to reach San Antonio and request a land grant from Spanish officials, and the colonizing venture he began later brought thousands of Anglo-Americans over the road to help settle Texas. In 1915 the Texas Legislature appropriated $5,000 to survey and mark the route, with the Daughters of the American Revolution and other patriotic groups sponsoring and endorsing the project and V.N. Zivley commissioned to make the survey. In 1918 the state and D.A.R. placed granite markers about every five miles along the Texas section, and today many modern highways, especially State 21, follow the original route.