New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-06-06
TEXAS.
THE FUTURE OF THE sTATE-ITs RAIL
ROADS.

fore this State, let indicate some of the draw
backs which have hitherto retarded her material
and still more her intellectual and moral pro-
gress
Bad wdter is quite often the accompaniment Of very
good land and South Eastern Texas has little that
Is good. have now Travelled over nearly every com
pleted mile of her railroads without having been
offered glass Of water from spring or well Rain
water Is very generally drank nearly every toera-
BILE dwelling being provided with tank OF reservoir
for keeping It, oftener underground As it is confined
to the cities, the excuse for drinking bad coffee or
worse whisky, is here stronger than almost any
where else. That springs very rare. while we'll
water is uniformly undrnkable, is certain but why
each city and considerable village has not tried tn
obtain better by sinking to a depth Of two or three
hundred feet mot expecting the fluid to rise 10 the
surface and flow over, on the Artesian plan but
drawing it up by wind or other pOwer) / do not I'M
deIstand The muddy product of the rivers creeks
bayous, and sloughs, which the cattle must imbibe
per force cannot but be preudical to their health
and thrift to say nothing Of the dry seasons when
this detestable stuff can hardly be obtained.
The suffering of animals from thirst and from the
villainOus witch-broth wherewth they must ouenoh
it must work them serious harm. II were a herds
man here would have better water for nv stock.
or would sink at least three hundred feet in ouest
of it.
Bad roads and other impediments TO inter-oom
munication have sadly crippled Texas and still Grip
pie her. Her crops general rule have cost the
grower more after than before harvest Though oxen
and horses have long been abundant and cheap tho
wheat growers up North could reach no market with
their product unless at runOus cost while the lower
counties were importing Flour at the rate Of three
thousand barrels per day. State whose chief pro-
ducts are Grass and Cattle, has imported both Hay
and Milk; her herdsmen, as a general rule,
see either. A purely agricultural State that buys
most Of her bread splendid soil for Corn on good
part of which Corn is dearer to-day than in New
York City, capital State for growing Swine at ne
cost, yet which has bought three-fourths of the
| Hams universally consumed by her peOple-such are
among the causes which have kept the Texans poor
spite of the remarkable fertility of her soil. Her
rivers creeks and bayOus, rarely brdged are subject
| TO great and sudden floods, whereby teamster arc
often imprisoned for days between two creeks which
in dry seasons are waterless, and halted by river
for weeks But for Railroads, Texas is doomed by
nature to stagnation impotence and barbarism
As vet she has barely begun to be penetrated by
Railroads line north by west from Galveston to
Houston 80 miles, and thence by Hampstead Naya-
sota Bryan. Hearne &C., to Groesbeck, in Lime
stone County, soon to be extended TO COrsicana in
Navarro County say $50 miles from Galveston, with
branch from Hampstead westward across the
| Brassos through Washington County to Giddings.
! s. miles soon to be extended 80 miles further 10
| Austin, the State Capital, with another from llar-
| risburg miles below Houston, through Fort Bend
and Colorado Counties across both the Brassos ana
| Colorado to this point ia miles,, such are about all
the pieces of railroad now in operation in the state
! The piece from Shreveport, Louisiana, westward
through Harrison and Smith Counties to Hallsyille
| SO miles, is rather a suggestion than pracucai
! road And these are about all that are in operation
! TODAY. The work of providing this people with
! necessary railway communication Is barely well
! begun
But that is half the battle. At last, nearly every
line seems to be in the hands of solvent capable up
right men who are backed by ample capital and is
pushed with vigor and cear-sighted resolution The
Texas Central is going right north by west TO
meet one of the Mssouri-Kansas roads at the north
line of the State near Gainesville or Sherman.
new road e. The Great Northern ". striking north
by east from Houston, pushes directly north from
Houston, crossing the Southern Pacific near Tyler,
strikes the Red River near Fort Towson, and con-
meets with the Missouri, Kansas and Texas from
Kansas near that point The Chattanooga and
Mobile" is now pushing due westward through
Louisiana and expects to reach Houston before this
time next year. These, with the Southern Pacific.
now certain 10 be vigorously prosecuted, will give
Texas not less than 1000 miles of completed rail
road within year and 1900 within two years.
But the most important and effective single line Of
railroad in the State is The International which
connects at Fulton, Arkansas on hff northeastern
border, with one from Cairo, ILL.,, ana thus with Chi
cago and New York. running diagonaly through
Texas from northeast to southwest crossing the
Southern Pacific and 1.-THE Great Northern"
! Tyler the "Texas Central at Hearne, and thence
pushing straight for Austin the capital, and thence
to San Antonio. and so 10 the Rio Grande not far
from Loredo This road, though begun last Noyem-
Der at Hearne where it crosses the Texas Gen.
trail and impeded by the necessity of inn
porting Corn at n cost of 81 10 per busbel
and Hay at SIS per tun for its and mules, has
been pushed right vigorously in ei5her direction,
and will have crossed both the Brassos and Col
orado and reached Austin on the one hand tho
Trinity on the other by next May Two years hence,
il will have been completed from Fulton to San
Antonio 400 miles, and will then have brought the
heart of this State within four days travel of the
Commercial Emporium where ii will be known AZ
one of the most udicious and successful railway
enterprises ever planned II will carry more Beef
Cattle than any road on the globe, and it will bring
into Texas more immigrants than railroad ever car
red into any State till now.
/ close with single instance OF the spHt I'D
which our Northern railroad builders are met by the
people of Texas. The Legislature having granteds
liberal subsidy in State Bonds to the Southern
Pacific Road, Gov Davis felt constrained to veto the
bill, the Legislature thereupon repassed it by
vote of seven or eight to one in either House; and
the Democratic vote IN the affirmative was like the
Republican all but unanimous And, while no man
questions the purity Of the Governors motives,
no 81 y W
which the triumph of the measure is received
i hope to leave Texas on my homeward way
very soon. having been disSuaded by heavy and et
Il ...nnhi,lr Austin