The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-05 00:00:00

BRITISH EMIGRATION TO AMERICA.

TEXAS.—No. V.
(From the Anglo-American Times.)

The " Lone-Star" State derives the name from
the flag it flew during the brief interval of its in-
dependence after it separated from Mexico and
before it entered the Union in 1846. A quarter of
a century prior to this the Government of Mexico
endeavoured by great inducements to people Texas,
and a flow of immigration from the United States
was one consequence. Another, and a very speedy
one, was the loss of the province to Mexico, for it
was not in the nature of the Anglo-Saxon people in
America to remain as a considerable community
under Mexican rule, and the feebler race met the
fate which invariably follows the invitation to a
superior race to settle in large numbers in the land.
The area is estimated at 268,684 square miles (four
times the size of Great Britain) with a million of in-
habitants. The form of the State has been likened
to a pyramid with the apex to the South, but the
ccuracy of this notion has not particularly struck
us. Brownville, the town which crowns this apex,
is touched by the 26th degree of N. lat., while the
northei most point, a square block, cuts into the
Indian territory on its western boundary to about
36 deg. 30 sec., where Sheridan is operating against
the Indian tribes on the Canadian Fork, an enor-
mous distance, running from almost tropical heat into
a cold, where everything is frozen, and men quickly
perish in the wilds who lose their way. On one side of
the apex is the Gulf of Mexico, on the other the
Rio Grande, the river dividing the United States
on this side from Mexico. An angle of the territory
of New Mexico cuts in at the western end of Texas,
and the boundary runs along the 26th deg. of long.
west of Washington, which corresponds to the 103 d
deg. of Western long, from Greenwich up to the
Indian territory, where the Texan northern fron-
tier is the Red river. A corner of the State
of Arkansas then comes in, and the remainder of
its eastern boundary runs along Louisiana. Physi-
cally this vast tract may be divided into three secs
tions ; and we have seen no better, though more nume-
rous divisions, than those of Bacon's Handbook. (1.)
The level, which occupies the entire coast, extend-
ing from 30 to 60 miles into the interior. (2.) The
undulating, embracing the whole interior and north,
reaching westward to the mountain tract, and con-
sisting of high rolling, verdant prairies, narrow,
wooded bottoms, and beautiful islands of timber.
(3.) The mountainous, with table-lands well watered
and fertile." The southern, or the open portion, is
adapted for stock raising, though thinly peopled.
Advancing north, a flat, open, well-grassed prairie
is passed. On reaching Austin City, centrally situ-
ated, the celebrated wheat district is around. To the
north-west is the favourite winter residence of the
Indians, a country but little known. The north-east
has many advantages, though it wants communica-
tion ; while on the coast, in the level, lies the cot-
ton district of the State, but as a rule, too hot for
emigrants. Texas is rich almost to a fabulous degree
in productions, its citizens asserting that every
known plant thrives there luxuriantly. If we ac-
cepted this we might simply say that it will grow
" any mortal thing." It is, however, certain that
the cotton of the coast equals the famous Sea Is-
land ; that sugar grows well ; two crops of Indian
corn are the produce of a year in some sections ; in
wheat the State has few superiors, not only in the
quantity, but in the quality of the yield, as it rarely
falls under 651bs to the bushel, the standard being
601bs, while much of it reaches 701bs and some 741bs
The best wheat region extends from the 32d deg.
to the 34th deg. north lat., and from 96th to 99th
west long. The soil of this section, everywhere
known as " the wheat region," is of a rich black
prairie loam resting on a strata of limestone. It
varies in colour, assuming in places a bright copper
complexion, but its capacity to resist drought being
in proportion to its blackness, the prairie is more
productive than the timbered or the rolling lands.
Those who best know Texas describe the country
from Red River to Brazos, and from Kauffman
county to Belknap as unequalled as a tract of rich
grain-growing land, with a genial climate. The
grape, mulberry, and vanilla are indigenous; fruit and
flowers abound, and Cayenne pepper is largely pre-
pared. In the order of value the productions may
be thus classified : Cotton, corn, sheep and wool,
hides, tallow, beef and cattle, sugar and molasses,
and castor oil. Horse and mule breeding once
flourished, but the war greatly injured the trade.
Hay is prepared in large quantities, as well as
ground peas, while cabbages, onions, garlic, hops,
and flax grow well. Middle Texas is famous fcr its
cattle, and the Southern armies derived a large por-
tion of their sustenance during the war from these
prairies. The number of cattle driven now into
the Northern States is immense, and with these
droves originated the disease which so lately ter-
rified the farmers of the Union. Vast herds
of buffaloes and wild horses graze there as well ;
deer, bears, and wolves are numerous ; all the
game birds and animals of America also abound
and furnish a living to many hunters. The wild
horses, known as mustangs, are captured with the
lasso. The silver mine of Said.Saled, one of therichest,
once afforded a considerable revenue to Spain.
Gold is also found ; iron is generally spread over
the country ; lead, copper, alum, in several parts,
and bituminous coal on the Trinity and Upper
Brazos. Salt is plentiful, and constitutes a large
trade from the famous Salt Lake, near the Rio
Grande, and the salt springs and lagoons near the
Trinity, where soda and potash are taken, as well
as in a branch of the Brazos. Lime underlies all the
undulating and northern sections; asphaltum is on
the coast; agate, chalcedony, jasper, and some sin-
gular petrifactions are found near the mountains,
whole forests, entirely petrified, standing on the
Trinity and Brazos rivers. Red and white freestone
are found everywhere. At Austin there is a white
stone similar to that of Paris, soft, till exposure to
the atmosphere makes it as hard as granite. The
climate is equable, being singularly free from ex-
tremes, though it differs considerably over a terri-
tory so extensive. On the coast the summer is
hot, though tempered by refreshing breezes from
the Gulf. Generally, in the interior, it is cool, and
on the whole salubrious, not unlike that of Italy.
Although the winters are delightful, the most dis-
agreeable feature is to be found during the months
of January, February, and March, for it is then the
" northers" take place common to all the Prairie
States west of the Mississippi. They last from one
to three days, and occur two or three times in each of
these months. Then the temperature falls from the
range it averages from 56 to 70 deg. down to 32 deg.,
and was once known to descend to 9 deg. at sun-
rise, rising to 42 deg. at mid-day. Galveston, the
port town at which the emigrant arrives, is con-
nected with the interior for some distance by rail.
It contains 25,000 inhabitants, 600 business firms,
seven lines of steamboats, five of sailing ships, two
banks, two insurance companies, and three cotton

press companies. The town stands on an island,

,he bay being crossed by a bridge two miles long,

over which runs the railroad to Houston, the head

of steamboat navigation on Buffalo Bayou, and the

principal railway centre of the State. Steamers are

constantly plying between these cities, and up the

Trinity river, the Brazos, Sabine Pass, Calcasible,
and other points. There are three lines to New
Orleans and three to New York, and the Pioneer

line has lately been established to Liverpool
for the monthly despatch of very flue steamers,
the agents being Messrs. Patton, Vickers, and Co.,
25, Water-street, Liverpool, and Messrs. John
_ _

__„..
Patton, jun., and C0.,22, Leadenhall-street,London.
These gentlemen have just received a Cable des-
' patch from Galveston announcing that the Legisla-
ture of Texas now sitting at Austin had made a
grant to the Pioneer Line of 500,000 acres from that
portion of the public land reserved to the State on
its admission into the Union. The object is to encou-
rage emigration from England, and to aid the
Steampacket Company II ho have established au en-
terprise of such vast importance to the State. Nor
does the Legislature confine itself to so liberal a gift,
but it adds collateral benefits forencouraging and as-
sistingemigration. We have said enough to show that
there is no finer field for emigration than " the wheat
region" of Texas, regarded from a purely material
point of view, nor have we exhausted its advantages
in what we have stated. Texas is washed by a gulf
of the Atlantic, and emigrants may depend on this j