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S.836
One Hundred Third Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE FIRST SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the fifth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-three
An Act
To amend the National Trails System Act to provide for a study of El
Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (The Royal Road of the Interior Lands),
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
Study Act of 1993''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro was the primary route for
nearly 300 years that was used by clergy, colonists, soldiers,
Indians, officials, and trade caravans between Mexico and New
Mexico;
(2) from the Spanish colonial period (1598-1821), through the
Mexican national period (1821-1848), and through part of the United
States Territorial period (1840-1912), El Camino Real de Tierra
Adentro extended 1,800 miles from Mexico City through Chihuahua
City, El Paso del Norte, and on to Santa Fe in northern New Mexico;
(3) the road was the first to be developed by Europeans in what
is now the United States and for a time was one of the longest roads
in North America; and
(4) El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, until the arrival of the
railroad in the 1880's, witnessed and stimulated great multi-
cultural exchanges and the evolution of nations, peoples, and
cultures.
SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF TRAIL.
Section 5(c) of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(c))
is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(36)(A) El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the approximately 1,800
mile route extending from Mexico City, Mexico, across the international
border at El Paso, Texas, to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
``(B) The study shall--
``(i) examine changing routes within the general corridor;
``(ii) examine major connecting branch routes; and
``(iii) give due consideration to alternative name designations.
``(C) The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to work in
cooperation with the Government of Mexico (including, but not limited to
providing technical assistance) to determine the suitability and
feasibility of establishing an international historic route along the El
Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.''.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.
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