The proposal to use camels for commerce and transportation in the arid Southwest arose in the 1830s, but under U.S. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis the idea became a reality. The first shipment of camels arrived on the Texas Gulf Coast in 1856 and was taken to Camp Verde, 150 miles northeast of here, for training. Several expeditions traveled west through Del Rio, and this park was the site of one of their camps. Although the officers in charge wrote favorably of the Camel Corps, the Civil War brought the experiment to a close. Confederate troops stationed at nearby Fort Hudson found camels still in the area, and confirmed sightings of wild camels continued into the mid-20th century.