After founding of Fort Duncan (2.5 blocks south) in 1849, this site was a camp ground and staging area for California emigrants. These were forty-niners going through Mexico – via Saltillo and Parras – either to Chihuahua and Gila River or to Mazatlán to finish the journey by sea. Paso del Águila (2 miles downstream) had sprung up in 1848 on an old smugglers’ trail. Its settlers soon moved to California Camp for trade advantages. Landowner John Twohig of San Antonio in 1850 laid out a townsite here and named it Eagle Pass. (1969)