Did You Know? Cibolo Creek - Bulverde Spring Branch Highlights - Feb. 2024

Did You Know?

In our neighborhood is Cibolo Creek, identified as a stream that runs approximately 96 miles from its source at Turkey Knob near Boerne to its confluence with the San Antonio River in Karnes County. The creek is a tributary of the San Antonio River.

According to Wikipedia, prior to European settlement, Cibolo Creek was referred to as Xoloton by the Coahuiltecan Indians. The Tonkawa called it Bata Coniquiyoqui, as noted by Father Damian Massanet, who referred to the creek as Santa Crecencia in 1691. It is thought that Coahuila Governor Alonso de Leon had one of the earliest encounters with the creek in 1689 while on the first Spanish entrada to explore the French-claimed lands believed to lie beyond the Nueces River. Explorer Domingo Terán de los Ríos named the creek San Ygnacio de Loyola in 1691 during an expedition and Domingo Ramón referred to it as San Xavier in 1716.

The first known use of the term Cibolo came from Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo who identified the stream as Río Cibolo, or Cibolo River, in 1721. Cibolo is a Spanish and Native American term for American bison (buffalo) which used to inhabit the area.

In the late 1840s and early 1850s, the communities of Selma, Sutherland Springs, Boerne, La Vernia, and Bulverde were established along the creek. Later on, Cibolo, Schertz, and Universal City were founded. These settlements dealt with torrential floods that cost many their homes and lives in later years. The destruction was prominently witnessed during the October 1998 Central Texas floods, and four years later during the flood of July 2002.

The San Antonio River Authority authorized $114,599 to help clean debris from the creek in 2003, hoping to improve water quality. Above-average levels of bacteria have been found in certain areas of the creek, leading to such initiatives as the Upper Cibolo Watershed Protection plan, which began in 2010. Another plan to create a Cibolo Reservoir near Stockdale aimed to control flooding and provide fresh water met fierce opposition from local citizens concerned about the destruction of historic sites along the creek, and the loss of taxable land. Unfortunately today, Cibolo Creek is dry in our area of Central Texas.

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