More of San Antonio 4/27/2010

These are some of the other interesting things we saw in San Antonio yesterday as we were doing the Mission Trail. The Espada Acequia, or Piedras Creek Aqueduct, was built by Franciscan friars in 1731 in what is now San Antonio, Texas, United States. It was built to supply irrigation water to the lands near Mission San Francisco de la Espada, today part of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. The acequia is still in use today and is an Historic Civil Engineering Landmark and a National Historic Landmark. Mission Espada's acequia (irrigation) system can still be seen today. The main ditch, or acequia madre, continues to carry water to the mission and its former farmlands. This water is still used by residents living on these neighboring lands.
The initial survival of a new mission depended upon the planting and harvesting of crops. In south central Texas, intermittent rainfall and the need for a reliable water source made the design and installation of an acequia system a high priority. Irrigation was so important to Spanish colonial settlers that they measured cropland in suertes -the amount of land that could be watered in one day.
The use of acequias was originally brought to the arid regions of Spain by the Romans and the Moors. When Franciscans missionaries arrived in the desert Southwest they found the system worked well in the hot, dry environment. In some areas, like New Mexico, it blended in easily with the irrigation system already in use by the Puebloan Native Americans.
In order to distribute water to the missions along the San Antonio River, Franciscan missionaries oversaw the construction of seven gravity-flow ditches, dams, and at least one aqueduct--a 15-mile (24 km) network that irrigated approximately 3,500 acres of land.
Espada, unlike nearly all the other missions in Texas, was a success. Originally put in place by Spain as a picket intended to delineate a northern frontier, most of the missions were only temporarily successful as community centers. The Alamo, by the time of the famous battle in 1836, had already been abandoned for three generations. The acequia not only conducted potable water and irrigation, but also powered a mill at Espada. Mission Espada has survived from its beginnings to the present day as a community center that supports a school and a church.

Tower of the Americas is a 750-foot observation tower/restaurant in San Antonio, Texas. The tower was designed by San Antonio architect O'Neil Ford and was built as the theme structure of the 1968 World's Fair, HemisFair '68.
The tower was the tallest observation tower in the United States from 1968 until 1996, when the Las Vegas Stratosphere Tower was completed.
The tower is located in the middle of HemisFair Park and has an observation deck that is accessible by elevator for a fee. In addition, there is also a lounge and revolving restaurant at the top of the tower that provides panoramic views of the city.
Construction of the tower began on August 9, 1966 and was completed in approximately 18 months, just in time for the opening ceremonies for the fair held on April 6, 1968. The tophouse of the building was constructed at ground level and hoisted to the top of the poured concrete shaft. As the tophouse was being hoisted into place, on October 30, 1967 some of the cables used to hoist the tophouse snapped leaving the tophouse resting on and precariously tilted on the Tower’s shaft. Eventually, oil field pipes were used in lieu of cables to complete the job.
In 2004, Landry's Restaurants, Inc. won the bid for a 15-year lease to manage and operate the property for the City of San Antonio. Landry's undertook an extensive $8 million renovation of the existing restaurant and lounge and observation deck and added a 4-D film "ride" called "Skies Over Texas," that gives the history of Texas in a film format. Additionally, Landry's spent another $4 million to add approximately 200% more space for ground level attractions such as a gift shop and cafe. Renovations were completed and the tower re-opened with the new Eyes Over Texas Restaurant, Bar 601 and the Flags Over Texas observation deck on June 21, 2006. The restaurant rotates slowly as you eat.
Building Heights
* 750 ft (229 m) to top of the antenna.
* 622 ft (190 m) to top of roof.
* 579 ft (176 m) to indoor observation deck.
* 560 ft (170 m) to outdoor observation deck.
* 550 ft (168 m) to restaurant and stationary level.

The 5 pictures of the stones are a Spanish-American War memorial that really has no history whatsoever at least that anyone can find. It sets along one of the highways along one of the fairways of a golf course in San Antonio and we would never had known about it except for the cache located there.

Hope you enjoy these pictures and the ones we took while on the Mission Trail. Love Mom & Dad Dori & Dick