This was the first road laid out in Austin's Colony connecting the colonial capital at San Felipe with the settlers on the upper Colorado River at Bastrop. The trace was authorized by the ayuntiamiento of San Felipe in November, 1831, and blazed by Bastrop settler James Gotier. It passed east from Bastrop through unpopulated wilderness until finally reaching Friedrich Ernst's cabin at today's town of Industry.
Gotier built a second cabin near today's Giddings, and laid out a road to it from Bastrop in 1835. It connected with the then-nascent town of Washington on the Brazos, and later a branch was made from this road to Industry through Shelby. Both of these roads are called the Gotier Trace, leading to much confusion as to which was the original one from 1831.
In 1837 Gotier, his wife and two sons were massacred in an Indian raid; two of this other sons, his daughter and her daughter were taken into captivity by the Indians, and ransomed at Coffee's trading post on the Red River a year later.
Click on the link below to read all about this pioneer road in Texas, and the fascinating events that took place along its path. And also learn of the solution to the mystery of which was the REAL Gotier Trace -- the answer is, both of them!
The Gotier Trace
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