GOTIER'S TRACE. Gotier's Trace, also known as Goacher's Trace, was a pioneer trail built by James Gotier in 1831 or 1832 under the authority of the ayuntamiento of San Felipe. The road, which connected San Felipe and Bastrop, probably followed a curved route to take advantage of an easier crossing of Cummins Creek. As settlement progressed, the course of the trace may have been moved slightly to the south to follow a more direct route. A branch of the trace may have connected Bastrop with Washington-on-the-Brazos.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frank Brown, Annals of Travis County and the City of Austin (MS, Frank Brown Papers, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin). Kenneth Kesselus, History of Bastrop County, Texas, Before Statehood (Austin: Jenkins, 1986). William Henry Korges, Bastrop County, Texas: Historical and Educational Development (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, 1933).
