The Gonzales inquirer. [volume] (Gonzales, Tex.) 1853-current, 1853-11-19

ikhr Inqnirsr.--Perinit me, through Tic
rolumns Of your paper, TO give despription
II that portion u Texas commonly called the
Iha seen many descriptions Of
this portion Of the country, hut none Of them
gave to my mind true conception Of It's
real appearance. BY sonc, Il has been great
y exaggerated, while by others Il has been vast
~ undcrratcd Therefore II is with some hes
itancy that give this description. and fear
that il will prove stale and uninteresting. Our
road from San Antonio to the Guadalupe, some
sixty miles distance, lay over high, brok CO,
and rocky country in places VIC passed over
small tracts Of rich alluvis; soil, with some
timber, wstcr, and very fine grass: the gene
raj fAcc OF the country is poor, broken, rugged
and mountainous, with scarcely stick OF tim
Der to be seen, save now and then IN acre or
two, covered over with scrubby haw buslIca
and wild cherry. On the margin of some Of
tho creeks (Which wcrc nearly all dry,) you
might sec few scrubby cottonwood and will
low trees, which appeared to weep over tho
drcary and dcsolatc waste around Every
now md then MS VIC passed along over these
Jagged sleeps, we could sec the peak of some
bold mountain rising high above tho surround
ing hill tops covered with huge rocks, which
gave them more the appearance of monuments
than tho beautiful, romantic, and gorgeous
scenery which we read Of In poetry, and which
have been so highly painted by many writer's.
We crossed the Cibilo some eight or ten miles
below the nsw road to San Antonio and Fred
ricksburg, at the old crossing; hero wo saw
some pretty good land, some black jack and
post oak timber, but the creek was as dry ms
tho surrounding hill tops. About scycn or
eight miles from the Cibilo wc crossed a bcauti-
f,l running stream, tho namo Of which, VIC did
not learn; here VIC found a Dutchman "alonc
in his glory !" no appeared to DO highly de-
lighted with luis mountain home he Ind made
good crop of corn and pumpkins, and sup
pose had small valley Of rich land on this
stream, but tho surrounding country was poor
enough in all conscience; wo stopped hero and
ate our dinner, and threw rocks Mt the tops OF
the tall Expresses in tho valley below. The
cypress exists here in great abundance, and is
very fine: We crossed the creek and inndc our
way to the Guadaloupc, and soon entered ono
OF the finest cedar brakes have ever seem
suppose there was probably one thousand
acres, and this is the only cedar there is in
this part of the country; from hero to the
Guadalupe tho country Is pretty much the
sarnc as that juat described, high, broken, and
rockey, except that there is moro rich land
aud timber. We crossed inc Guadalupe At
Mr.. Dagncrs, "a German y no has beautiful
and well improved place, and one Of the most
comfortable farm houses I have seen in the
State, aud 1t is we'll furnished; he Inns a very
fine library, and appears TO enjoy il finely, for
he is truly an educated man, and was former
~, believe, Minister to England. lIe has
some Of the finest hogs have over seen;
noticed three he had particularly, that would
weigh one thousand pounds, at eleven months
old From this place We turned our course
up tho Guadalupe river, over hills and hol
lows, mountains and cliffs and wound GU,
way some twenty miles above the settlements
and twice as many above where any whit,
man ought to live. We passed over some
beautiful valleys but di d not consider then
rich. The land has white, dead appearance
and in fact all the crops we noticed indicated
poor soil, except the last farm on tho river
(Slydells':) he had made tolerablo fair crop
Of corn We campcd here on a beautiful little
mountain stream, on which Mr. Birks has
a saw min. Here is great quantity Of cy,
press timber, along the margin Of the Guada
loupc and it's tributaries, aud should think
that saw mill here, would tlo cash bust
ness; for certainly no country in the world
affords finer water power, and no other coun
try stands in need Of lumber moro than thi,
portion Of Texas. There is no timber ate,
leaving Dagners, that is worth mentioning, OK
cept tho cypress. On either side of the Qua
tlalupc valley 40 far as we assembled, tho coun
try is more broken snd mountainous than any
other portion that have seen; in every ,lirec
ton, we could see these bald peaks rising high
amid the clouds, and giving TO the country
wild appearance. One of these peaks cspe
cially drew our attention; il Is situated to In,
right Of the road as you ascend the river, ant
about six miles above the San Antonio and
Fredericksburg read; lis shape Is that Of su
gar loaf and rises Gar above the Surrounding
hills From It's summit you may gaze for
hours upon the beauties Of nature, and like
the poet,
"Piaccd high above the storms career
l.eok downward Mhere hundred rcal,as ap.
pear;
i'rools. recks, hills, plains extended wide,
The pc'np Of klngs the shepanls humber
rrsdn
We gave this hill the name Of nilscs pcak.