Since the late 18th century, every September around the full moon known as the Comanche Moon, huge numbers of Comanches traveled the Great Comanche War Trail on a north-south path up to a mile wide that passed directly through this town. The trail began in the Southern Plains, crossed the Pecos River at Horsehead Crossing, ran to Comanche Springs, and then continued south into Mexico. Its lower portion divided into two prongs, one crossing the Rio Grande near Boquillas and the other at Presidio, before converging at Comanche Springs near the site of Fort Stockton. From there it extended north to cross the Pecos at or near Horsehead Crossing and continued northeasterly across the sand hills to the Comanches' permanent homes on the plains. In some places the wide, deeply rutted trail remains visible, and an 1857 map of West Texas by J.H. Young shows such a trail. The route was worn deep by the tracks of countless travelers, people and animals, and many Indian tribes, including the Apache, Kiowa, and Kickapoo, inhabited the trans-Pecos area of Texas before the Comanche displaced them after moving into the region by way of this trail.