Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1867-12-29
Our Houston Correspondence.

hOOSlON, DcS. -OAbj iOoi.
The universal cry Of hard times comes
down from all parts of the interior, and it
is an undoubted fact that never since 1913
has the financial condition Of our people
been as bad as at this moment. The cotton
crop is partial failure, and the price the
am, % t,,,';nus does not pay the cost of pro
duction. TO-DAY, ..dadling uplands will
not net the planter over = centc, IN go'a,
anywhere in Texas, and if he ships y
abroad it will not do so well. This gru"C
is quoted in New York at 15I cents in cur
rency. Now take from this 2! cents tax
and 4 cents for transportation, insurance
charges, etc, md you have currency
cents the value there. 1t is worth G3d
in Liverpool. 1t costs I'd 10 get it there
and sell it, and the tax is equal to Id more,
leaving net sgd or 7lo., tho present price.
And venture TO say there is not pound
of cotton grown by negro labor in Toxas,
that has not cost more to produce than it
will command to-day in t market.
Is it 10 be wondered that our people are
turning with longing eyes to the wheat
crop as a supplanter of commerce, and that
with the promise of the extension Of the
Central road towards Dallas; already in
vestments are being made in Houston with
a view to making and exporting flour to
tho outside world.
Some of the readers of The Herald have
been in Houston, and those who have not
can enquire of those who have as to the To-
cation. Buffalo and White Oak Bayous
within the limits Of the city, present an
extent of near fifteen miles of high banks
upon navigable water, these banks are
from twenty-five to thirty five feet high
They are accessible to the railroad track
the whole distance. They present the best
world. No city ever built was SO well cal
culat ed for the purpose. Upon these banks
mills will be erected, which, receiTing
wheat FROM the cars will convert it into
-four, step by step as 1t descends to the
bayou when ready packed into barrels it
will be rolled into the decks of vessels that
will carry it to New Orleans, Mobile, New
York and the rest of the world.
Do not tell me that the bayou will not
foat large enough vessels for this purpose.
During the war sea-gong steamers and
sail vessels loaded with cotton ut our
wharfs and discharged at Havana. The ex'
penditure OF million of dollars will ena-
BILE any vessel that can cross the Galveston
bar to come to Houston. This expenditure
would enhance the value of Houston to its
people, and the State immeasurably. 1t
would save to the State cent per cent Of the
cost of the improvement in freights and
charges every year.
Let us look ten years ahead. / see upon
the Central road when completed to Kan
sas, long trains of box cars containing
wheat in bulk, sent down, beginning with
the LIST of May from Grimes county, and
the LIST Of June at Red River, and running
in TO the LIST of August as the road extends
further north, to Houston, sidings take and
distribute the cars to the various mills up
on the banks of the bayou. A door at the
bottom of each car empties II into the bins
of the mill. 1t passes through the shutter,
the grinder, the bolter into the packer as
gradually descends TO the lower floor ten
feet above the level Of the bayou. Here
barrels made from the immense forests OF
the Sabine are ready 10 receive 1t. The
bayou teams with steamers loading for the
Gulf and Atlantic ports. Texas is regard
ed as the granary of America, and as a
natural consequence is growing rapidly to
population of ten millions
Visionary well yes, l acknowledge the
impca chment, and yet it will not be won.
derful This very day purchase Of land
has been made on the banks Of the bayou
between the long bridge and the Com
merce street bridge for this very purpose,
and plan adopted for running track in
TO il from the Centred road. Let me tell
you bro. Swindells that within two years
all the wheat you can raise in Dallas coun-
~ will find q market in Houston.
You will be glad to learn that your old
friend Gen. Darnell ard family passed
safely through the epidemic here this fall
without taking the fever. He took house
in the suburbs and by keeping qLaran-
tine saved his family from the seourge. He
had the misfortune, however, to lose a son,
N. II. Darnell, Jr, in New Orleans. Hewas
in the city with . drove Of cattle, and took
the fever there and died.
Wishing you a merry Christmas, happy
New Year. Also, an 9Th Of January and
an April fool. ] am as ever
CAPTAIN JOHN.