SS, always a fountain of good info. I find the sites oriented to the eastern sky, possibly a Venus connection. The trail is usually oriented to and from Mexico City. So if I work the north south lines I dont need to do all the calculating Ranglers puts out. I know where it came and where its going.
Casca, I don't remember anyone ever mentioning the fact that New Orleans was ALSO a shipping point for the Spanish, up until the Louisiana Purchase. I THINK there was a branch of your "north / south trail that went east across the country until reaching the area of what is Alexandria, Louisiana;, then hooked south to eventually arrive at New Orleans. They HAD to go that far north in Louisiana because the southern most part of the state is some SERIOUS bayous and swamps. If you haven't been in that area, just watch some of the episodes of Swamp People and see that area. Too, there was a branch trail from Santa Fe that came came down to intersect that main trail to N.O. That main trail entered what is today's Louisiana, at the Sabine River where Nacodoches, Texas is today.
I was working up a project to recover a small bronze cannon that had been buried in a trash pit at the Presido on that trail, just west of Alexandria. When the Spanish Viceroy in Mexico City ordered ALL Spanish citizens to leave that whole area and move to the west side of the Sabine River he gave them either 7 days or 14 days to get it done......I can't remember which. It was due to the up coming Louisiana Purchase and since there was some disagreement between Spain, France, and the U.S. as to just WHO owned that central strip across Louisiana. It was declared a "no man's land" for a few years until they all got their "sh**" together. Maps of that time label that area of land as The Neutral Strip because no country had a clear claim to it for a while so there was NO LAW to be seen. Man, the outlaws had a free run of that whole section for a while because no law would enter the Neutral Strip after them. Needles to say, there should be endles possibilities for treasures hidden there.
Anyway, according to the information I came across, the cannon was buried in the trash dump dug when the Presido was lighting their load of all unnecessary stuff (broken furnature, tools, stoves, etc. AND that cannon). The cannon had a cracked barrel and was considered too useless to bother taking. Well, I'd gotten all my ducks in a row (no pun intended), including scheduling a 2 weeks leave to go down to the area. I'd even checked out a light plane from our Base Aero Club at Barksdale AFB and flew over the area, taking some photos. Wellllll, some 6th sense had me go back to Centenary College Library for one more check in the records and found a small paper telling how the folks who had relocated to Nacodoches, TX, got a little nervous with the local Indians and sent some men back to the trash pit to dig up that cannon. They figured they'd just reinforce the cannon barrel by wrapping it with wire and wanted the extra insurance in case the Indians hit them. LOL Well, that closed out that project and saved me a lot of aggravation and disappointment.
While researching THAT project, is when I came across the information on that treasure trail to N.O. Many years later I came across a Spanish Map of different trails around the southwest and south and there was that one trail system.
Concerning the signs facing to the east........the Venus angle could be valid. The early gods of the Mesopotamia area included female gods connected to the planet. It was also known that the planet, Venus, is the ONLY female planet. Then, too, Ra was the sun god with folks facing east to worship him. And finally, the god of the Mayans, Aztecs, etc. referred to as the Feathered Serpent God, flew away toward the east when he left, promising to return some day. That's why the folks down there in the south of Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula kept watch on the eastern skyline waiting for the great god to return.
I can't think of a reason the Spanish would orient something eastward for any reason other than a straight up directional reason.
