Austin, TX
Was Austin’s Barton Springs sacred to Indigenous people before Europeans showed up?
This story was originally part of KUT’s ATXplained Live show at Bass Concert Hall on October 29, 2025. Get tickets to our next show on May 21 here.
Anyone who knows me, knows I love Barton Springs. It feels like the water has magical properties. Even sacred properties.
So when Brendan Cavanagh asked about the it, I knew I needed to look into it.
“Why were the springs sacred before Uncle Billy showed up?” he asked. “And what was the Indigenous population’s relationship with them?”
By Uncle Billy, he means William Barton, the man who laid claim to the springs in 1837 when he settled there with his family and the people he enslaved.
I assumed Brendan’s question came from a place of love for the springs and general curiosity. But when I talked to him about his question, he mentioned the White Shaman mural, a piece of rock art that sits in the desert about 220 miles west of Austin. Archaeologists say the White Shaman was painted around 400 B.C. It’s really big — 26 feet long and 13 feet high.
Chester Leeds
/
Witte Museum, San Antonio Texas
“I learned that the springs are actually part of that mural,” Cavanagh said. “Which was astonishing to me.”
Archeologists think the mural shows a creation story. But some people think it’s even more than that.
Gary Perez is the chief of the Coahuiltecan/Pakahua Nation. He has come to believe that it not only tells a creation story, but that it’s also an ancient map of Central Texas.
A pictograph on the mural shows a curved line with four matching symbols that look like knives with gray handles and white blades coming off of it at regular intervals.
Chester Leeds
/
Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas
Perez says that this pictograph represents four sacred springs: San Antonio Springs, San Marcos Springs, Comal Springs and Barton Springs. All of these springs are connected to the Edwards Aquifer, an underground network of caves and porous limestone.
Perez overlaid this part of the White Shaman mural out on a modern map with the help of a mapping expert.
“Then they did. And that was it,” Perez said. “Then we knew we were looking at a map for sure.”
Perez doesn’t think the White Shaman mural just a map, but also a calendar. He said it’s like the Mayan calendar, but for hunter-gatherers.
“These calendars exist everywhere, but this particular one is specific to Central Texas,” he said.
Perez sees the mural as a scientific tool.
There are people who agree with that interpretation of the White Shaman mural. But there are people who disagree, including Harry Shafer, a former curator of archeology at the Witte Museum, which manages the White Shaman site.
“We have a really good handle on the archeology of the Lower Pecos region and Central Texas,” Shafer said. “There’s no tie in Lower Pecos to Central Texas.”
So does the White Shaman mural depict four springs in Central Texas — including Barton Springs? Depends on whose science you believe.
Ancient history
What we do know for sure is that people have lived around Barton Springs for millennia. The archaeological record at Barton Springs goes back 13,000 years.
People were drawn to the area for its abundant water and the plant and animal life. But the people who lived around the springs back then weren’t the same people who lived at the springs when William Barton arrived.
We don’t even know the names of these ancient peoples. Did they have a sacred relationship with the springs? Maybe. We may never know the exact details.
But we do know something about the Indigenous people who came later.
In 1837, we know there were the Comanche, Tonkawa, Caddo, Lipan Apache and Coahuiltecan people in the area, among others. We know some of those people had a sacred relationship with the springs, but the accounts we have are from colonists.
These were all very different cultures who spoke different languages and believed different things.
By the time William Barton showed up, Europeans had already been in the area for 100 years. The Spanish had missions near Barton Springs in the 1700s. Their arrival brought sickness and death to the Indigenous population.
Barton lived in Austin during the Texas Republic, when many of the tribes that lived here were killed or forcibly removed.
Then, there were other ways that Native Americans were erased. At one point, a law was passed legally redesignating Native people as Mexican.
This campaign to erase Indigenous people in Texas worked, at least in our collective imagination as a state.
“In Texas there’s this sort of as assumption there’s no more Indians here,” said Craig Campbell, an anthropology professor at the University of Texas at Austin. “When, in fact, we have this absolutely huge population of Indigenous people that rarely gets recognized.”
Texas has the fifth-largest population of Indigenous people in the country. According to the U.S. Census, there are over 700,000 people in Texas who identity, at least in part, as Indigenous.
Barton Springs are still sacred
Some modern-day Indigenous Texans have their own sacred relationship with Barton Springs. Every August, a group of mostly women makes a pilgrimage to the four sacred springs, led by Gary Perez’s wife, Matilde Torres.
At each site, they commune with the water and offer prayers. They start at San Antonio Springs at dawn and end up at Barton Springs in the afternoon.
Diana Dos Santos has gone on the pilgrimage for the last three years.
She said it’s a long day, but it doesn’t really feel long.
“The whole day feels like it just merges into a short moment,” she said. “It’s like the whole world — the past, the present, everything — just merges into one moment. And when you’re present there — with your prayer, with your medicine, with the other sisters — it’s incredible. It’s magical.”
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The Texas Longhorns have continued to take care of business as they attempt to defend their national championship, beginning the NCAA Tournament in commanding fashion.
The Longhorns hit the field for the first game of the Austin Regional on Friday and rolled, taking down Wagner 9-1. And now Texas is into the regional final after a decisive victory on Saturday afternoon.
With a ticket on the line to the regional final the Longhorns would face off against the No. 8-seeded Wisconsin Badgers. And the Longhorns would make quick work of the matchup winning with another run rule game taking down the Badgers 9-0 in six innings.
Texas Gets Off to Quick Start and Doesn’t Look Back
While the Longhorns got through their first game on Friday it was without a bit of struggle having a slow start to begin the ballgame. However, Texas would not have any time struggling to settle into the game against Wisconsin dominating from the first inning.
Texas would get out to an early lead from the jump scoring in the first inning and would not slow down for the rest of the afternoon. The Longhorns would start the game with a three run first inning with junior Viviana Martinez batting in her third run of the Austin Regional.
Getting her bat hot again would be senior Reese Atwood who broke out of a slump of being without a home run for the last seven games. Atwood would break out of the cold streak with a two run blast giving Texas a 3-0 lead they would not look back from.
“It felt good to finally have one leave the yard,” Atwood said. “My confidence comes from my preparation, not my performance or my batting average, so just having confidence that I’m working as hard as I can.”
The Longhorns would score runs in the first three innings of the ballgame putting the contest out of reach before it really had a chance to start. Texas would lead 7-0 from the third inning and would threaten the run rule for the rest of the game.
And the run rule would come into effect in the sixth inning courtesy of a two run home run from junior Kayden Henry. The junior would homer to left field as she ended the game 3-4 from the plate and four RBI.
Just like the Longhorns dominated from inside the batters box they did the same from the circle. Getting her first action of the Austin Regional junior Teagan Kavan would toss five shutout innings allowing just a single hit and struck out eight batters.
The Longhorns now are a game away from hosting a Super Regional on their home field at Red and Charline McCombs Field. While the opponent for Texas in the regional final is still to be determined the game will be on Sunday May 17 at 12:00 p.m. CT.
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Austin, TX
Austin leaders debate future of I-35 Cap & Stitch projects as new proposal cuts back spending
AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) – The future of long-planned Cap and Stitch projects over I-35 is under discussion in Austin, after a new proposal from Mayor Kirk Watson suggested reducing how much money the city spends on the projects.
City leaders originally approved $104 million to help fund future caps, deck plazas built over I-35 designed to reconnect east and west Austin with parks, green space and community areas.
Now, Watson’s proposal would focus on completing one fully built project sooner while lowering the city’s financial commitment.
Under Watson’s plan, the city would build a finished cap extending from Palm Park across I-35 to the east side. Unlike earlier concepts that focused mainly on preparing infrastructure for future projects, the mayor said this approach would allow residents to see a completed public space when the highway reconstruction wraps up.
“This is significant both because of its tie to park amenities and because of its tie to the history of Palm Park. Using this cap to reconnect this spot of Austin would be great. The estimated cost for this portion would be $41.3 million. This full project will be covered by the SIB loan,” said Watson.
Austin City Council Member Mike Siegel finds the proposal beneficial.
“I really support the mayor’s direction to reduce the city’s existing commitment, which is over $100 million, and basically cut that in half, and also to prioritize our investment to make sure we’re actually fully building out an entire Cap project instead of just building foundational elements that may or may not result in caps in some distant future,” said Siegel.
“From my point of view, we should be prioritizing our investments in things that help people right now,” said Siegel.
Not all city leaders agree with the revised approach.
In a joint response, council members including Ryan Alter, Natasha Harper-Madison, Zo Qadri, José Velásquez and Mayor Pro Tem Chito Vela raised concerns about whether the smaller project would deliver enough community benefit.
The group argued the proposed stitch may be too small to meaningfully shield nearby neighborhoods from highway noise and pollution — one of the core goals of the larger cap vision.
“We appreciate the Mayor’s proposal, but feel it does not deliver enough benefits to justify the cost. The proposed stitch is too small to shield someone from the noise and negative effects of the highway underneath, a key element for a successful highway cap.. While we acknowledge the proposed stitch is cheaper than a cap, it is still $41 million dollars for a project with very few benefits,” they said in the response.
The proposal also calls for “future-proofing” possible caps near 11th and 12th streets.
Some East Austin businesses say reconnecting both sides of the city would be welcome but worry about the impacts construction could bring.
“35 is already kind of a lot to handle. So adding construction, I feel like that would be a deterrent initially for businesses. That makes me a little bit nervous,” said Elisabeth Miranda-Wagstaff, shop ambassador at Kindred Spirits.
“I’m sure it would be amazing, but I’m just a little nervous about, like, the whole process of execution,” said Miranda-Wagstaff.
Mayor Watson says he plans to bring this proposal up for discussion during the May 28th council meeting.
AUSTIN (KXAN) – Texas softball entered the NCAA Tournament ranked fourth in RPI. Their first opponent in the Austin regional was Wagner, sitting a bit lower at 274th in RPI.
The Longhorns handled business Friday afternoon, taking down the Seahawks 9-1 by run rule in five innings.
Wagner actually got on the board first and was extremely energized in their NCAA Tournament debut. The Longhorns settled down to the tie game in the bottom half of the first before taking the lead in the third and never looked back.
The first game of the day in Austin went to extra innings and pushed back the start time between the Longhorns and Seahawks. Wisconsin made it past Baylor in extra innings with a 2-1 walk-off victory.
Now, the Badgers earn a date with the Longhorns on the winner’s side of the bracket. The two will duel Saturday at noon with the winner advancing to the regional final.
Wagner and Baylor will play an elimination game Saturday after Texas and Wisconsin. The winner of the Seahawks and Bears game will face the loser of the Longhorns and Badgers battle.
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