. >> our look at san antonio continues as we hear from historian lewis fisher about the settlement of the city. mr. fisher: we are standing near the geographical center in san antonio, texas. we are in front of what is called the spanish governor's palace in town that was set up here due to the conflict between two european empires, france and spain, in the 18th century. spain had, of course, established itself in latin america and south america and mexico and northern mexico, especially important to spain because of very rich silver mines. france was over to the northeast in louisiana. it reached up to the northern border of new spain along the red river where it was causing trouble with the indians. looking straight across the empty reaches of texas into the silver mines. the spaniards knew they had that have some sort of defense and they came upon san antonio. in 1618, 302 years ago, san antonio was established here. the first challenge they faced was getting water. the first thing the priests did was to build a church. the second thing they did was set up a water system. in texas,

. >> our look at san antonio continues as we hear from historian louis fisher -- lewis fisher about the center of the city. standing near are the spanish governor's palace, which was set up here due to the conflict between two european empires, france and spain, in the 18th century. spain had, of course, established itself in latin america and south america and mexico and northern mexico, especially important to spain because of very rich silver mines. it reached up to the northern border. it was along the red river where it was causing trouble with the indians. it's reach down into the silver mines. was goingrds knew it to come up on san antonio and in 1618, 302 years ago, san antonio was established here. the first challenge they faced was getting water. the first thing the priests did was to build a church. the second thing they did was set up a water system. -- yous you have looked have rivers but you don't have green fertile areas. they drew from their experience in spain which actually came from the roman empire. a system of irrigation ditches drinkingalso furnished water. everybo

we begin our special feature with lewis fisher on his book saving san antonio. >> we are standing near the geographical center of san antonio, texas. we are in front of what's called the spanish governor's palace in a town that was actually set up here due to the conflicts between two european empires, france and spain in the 18th century. spain had, of course, established itself well in latin america and south america and in mÉxico and northern mexico was especially important to spain because rich silver mines. france was over to the northeast in louisiana and it was up -- reached up to the northern border of new spain along the red river where it was causing some trouble with the indians and looking straight across the empty reaches of texas into the -- the silver mines down in texas and elsewhere. the spaniards knew they had to have some sort of defense and they came up on san antonio and so in 1618, the 302 years ago, san antonio was established here. the first challenge they faced was getting water. the first thing the priests did when they set up a community like san antonio was