Alva Review-Courier -

SAN YGNACIO, Texas (AP, posted Sept. 20, 2016) — About two centuries ago, a Mexican boy named Jose Villarreal and a companion were captured and taken by raiding Comanches north across the Rio Grande.

After the two escaped, they found their way out of the hostile wilderness by following the North Star.

The San Antonio Express-News (http://bit.ly/2cP9jzj) reports decades later, in 1851, Villarreal, a blacksmith, built a simple iron sundial that was placed over an arched stone doorway of "El Fuerte," the oldest structure in this colonial river town.

According to local lore, the device, which keep...