ATASCOSITO CROSSING. The most well-known Atascosito Crossing is a historical point (29°40' N, 96°27' W) where the Atascosito Road crossed the Colorado River nine miles downstream from Columbus. Land on both sides of the river at the crossing was granted to Rawson Alley, one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred settlers, on August 3, 1824. On Alley Hill, on the east bank of the river, Alley built his home, which became a focal point for early colonial activity. During the Civil War Alleyton was the western terminus of the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos, and Colorado Railway. From there a steady stream of wagon trains carrying cotton joined the Atascosito Road at the crossing and made their way to Mexico. Herders of cattle from South Texas also used the crossing on their way to Louisiana and Mississippi before and during the Civil War. Other cattlemen from the Gulf Coast crossed here during the 1870s and 1880s on their way to join the main trails north to the Kansas railheads.