New Orleans Republican., 1871-10-08
st. Leui, and the Cult Coast.

40 allow our fedUerS 10 KNOW what lS
said in reply to a recent article in the Re-
PUBLICAN, we copy the following from the
Sabine Pass Beacon, published. in jefferson
county, Texas:
The New Orleans REPUBLICAN Of july
80 contains extracts from letter written
at Brennan. Texas. July IL, and published
in the st. Louis Republican. Tie writer,
one I. {. Ray, resident in st. Louis pays
no very high compliment to the truth
fulness Of the people of Texas. He says no
reliance can be placed on statements made
by the people OF Texas in regard to the
gulf ports in Texas, and he says one might
as well believe what a politician or the
devil tells you about Texas ports as to be-
ieve the statements of Texans on the same
subject. He says that there is not a port
west Of Berwicks bay in Louisiana worth
the connection with St. Louis, and he urges
railroad men and capitalists to invest no
money in any Of the projected connections
of St. Louis with the Texas coast, but ad-
vises them to connect St. Louis at the earli-
est possible day with San Antonio He saws
the trade of San Antonio would be worth
1hir. y millions per annum to St. Louis.
He either betrays his own ignorance of
the Texas coast and ports, or he is employed
to write in the interest Of parties whose in
terests lie in the direction of San Antonio.
for we do not believe that the whole city OF
San Antonio, together with one years trade,
is worth thirty millions of dollars, and be-
sides the city OF San Antonio is situated
one hundred and sixty miles from the Rio
Grande, and the nearest Mexican town On
the Rio Grande is Eagle Pass, consisting of
Fort Duncan. on the American side, and a
few Mexican dwellings ON the Mexican side.
all the trade between San An
tonic and Mexico is hauled on wagons and
packed on mules, and nearly the whole dis
tance between San Antonio is uninhabitable
and, III great measure, an arid desert.
Furthermore. if the railroad, when COM
pleted to San Antonio, should be extended
10 Eagle Pass, its terminus must forever
remain there, for such is the topography of
the country around Eagle Pass that no rail
road crossing of the river could ever be ef-
fected.
The writer says that the Sabine bay is
about the best of all the harbors on the
Texas coast, and in this he is right, for
)ey ond all question it is the finest harbor.
md ls the most accessible, Of any on the
Lexas coast. We will expose the fallacy of
lis statements. however. when he saws that
well laden steamboat could not enter anv
# the harbOrs on the Texas coast, Yes
els drawing eight feet of water can cross
he bar of Sabine Pass at any and ali
lines, and frequently vessels drawing nine
nu ten feet can cross-and this is exclu-
.'O Va IHC SoAt Dluc lnul In the bottom of
he bar, from one to two feet of which YES
els can at any time plow through with
afety. Furthermore, there has never been
ne dollar expended to improve or deepen
his bar, and it is asserted by competent
adges that twenty feet of water
an be easily obtained at yerv
mall expense. The writer is also sadly
9istaken about the advantages to he
otaned for St. Louis in forming railroad
onnection with our Texas coast. If ST.
'onis were Connected with the gulf coast at
aolne Pass w railroad, every acre of land
inch the road would pass over from the
past to the northern boundary of Texas
among the richest and most productive
the State, yielding corn, cotton. wheat.
arley, fruit Of every kind known to the
,mperate zones. cattle. sheep and hogs by
le S zen thousands, besides supply of val1
ole tlmoer that can not be exhausted for
ses. Moreover, Sabine Pass is by far the
earest s point on the gulf coast to the citv
81: Louis, and being also mnch nearer ali
'e Mexlcan sespOrts than New Orleans,
rye part OF the trade intended for St.
ouls would be diverted via Sabine Pass. in
'oer to save time and expense, and the
me Mexican trade which the writer ex-
'cts from Mexico. via San Antonio. would
ach st. Louis via Sabine Pass,