The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1873-07-19
The wichita Railroad,

SIR-I have noticed several publica-
tons in newspapers and heard much
talk about the building of the Wichita
railroad to Dallas, but it appears to be
at "a standstill at present. The last
Legislature granted Il charter, called
the Dallas and Palestine Railroad, on
direct line to Sabine Pass. in my hum
bic Judgment, this road would be of
much mare Importance to the city of
Dallas than the first mentioned road.
will give my reasons for this by Civ
ing minute description of the country
along the line-and II Sabine Pass is
the terminus, something nearer than
Galveston. Your humble writer has
been citizen of Sabine Pass for twen-
ty years and has some knowledge of
the Geography of Southeast Texas.
In travelling along the proposed line of
railroad from Sabine Pass to North
Texas, we find dense pine forest of at
least 100 miles, some of which is the
finest yellow pine, in fact, it is the
largest yellow pine forest in the State,
and as yet not railroad has pene-
tratcdtliis almost incXlarlstihlc pincry.
The Great Northern, the international,
and the Texas Pacific Railroads pass
along its northern boundary, and all
of these lines will freight lumber fan
inferior quality 10 North and West
Texas, but the proposed road will
freight lumber that is equal to Pensa-
cola pine, mt the same price that the
pitch pine sells for. There are also
immense cypress brakes bordering
along the line of this road, which
would supply us with fine house-finish
ing lumber, and supply us with shin
giles to roof our cities and farm houses,
at half the present cost of shingles.
There is yet another object in view.
Give us u road to Sabine Pass, and
make that point port of entry for
Southeast and Northwest Texas, of
which il is the natural outlet, and that
will give us competition as II place of
commerce, and then with railroad
facilities to The Cult, as there is but
one line of railrord there now, and
only one commercial city en- the coast,
which makes freight and commissions
high. But build this road, and we not
only secure cheap freights, but make
Dallas the great distributing point for
the northern part OF the State, Many
railroad crossings will be here to carry
frieghts still further west and north of
this point, to build other cities not yet
contemplated.
We will now give you minute de-
scription of Sabine Pass, and vicinity.
The Sabine, Angelina and Neches riv-
ers flow into Sabine lake or bay, which
is II beautiful sheet of water, twenty
five miles across. This bay emptics
into the pass some two miles north of
the town, which is situated OH the
west bank of the pass. This pass is
near one mile in width from the bay
to the gulf, some seven miles i'm length,
with depth of from twenty to thirty
feet, thus afIording ample facilities for
harboring vessels of any class. The
outer bar is of soft mud, with from
seven to ten feet of water, owing to
the tides. Vessels pass over this bar
drawing more than the depth of water.
have seen mud taken out at least
twenty-five feet below the surface, and
still of soft nature, and no quicksand
to be found. With small apprOpria-
ton by Congress Sabine Pass Gulf and
harbor could be made capable of ell
tering vessels of Il large class, thus Civ
ing another gulf port for the commerce
of Texas, and adding another laurel to
the city of Dallas.
We would be pleased to hear some
thing about the incorporators Of this
Gulf Railroad, and to see the enter
prise of Dallas enlist capital to invest
I'm this direction. G., II. j,