One of many roads built to connect frontier cavalry posts in Texas, this route led south to Fort Clark and north to Fort McKavett (both established in 1852). Paint Rock Springs, located here at the head of the South Llano River, was a natural midway rest stop. In 1877 Major John B. Jones' Texas Rangers assembled here to begin a major offensive to capture frontier outlaws. In addition to its military uses, the Fort Clark-Fort McKavett Road provided an accessible route for immigrants, cattle drovers, pioneer ranchers, mail carriers, and freighters. (1968, 1990)