Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1873-06-05


ride through Texas, as follows: +,r.f
'.'hrom the ssing Of the Red River,
near Denison, to Galveston, is three
hmsdred and forty miles; yet this line
only seems to reach across a little cor
nef OF 1exas- - 70 isiasif...s riil- h1t
The power OF the party to praise the
country and to be surprised at each adj
vance, seemed quite exhausted when
the ride through the Indian country
ended. Buf the trip through, Northern
Texas made it necessary to begin anew
to wonder and exclaim, to be. aslonish-
ed, and to experience delight.r61,b -fl
Denison, three miles south of Red
Rive. is the terminus of the Northern
system OF roads. Itzis a repetition of
those rapid graw;Ls along the Union
Pacific, with its wooden houses, tents,
gambling houses, and railroad stores.
But besides these it has an aerieultu-
raj region, of wonderful resources about
it, and the town will remaisa and grow,
and nptmeSe on.with the track, layers,
IS the mushroom towns in Wyoming
and Utah did. Dalles, next below, is
tie first crossing point of the Texas &
Pacific, or. TON Scutt's road,p as all
term it.lJItis iE the eeniar, eft the nOw
clfRhrf' 'edigrant made -totFrcnsont by
the estate f0f the Memphis & Ell Paso
roaa. The Texas Pacific folks are con.
structing the liue, as one of the eastern
divisions Of the road. What is doing
and what will soon, be- done in the
building OF this Southern Pacific must
be told i'll. a separate letter. i!al5 1901
q A belt OF country about a hundred
miles long ppon1thel route we travelled
toward Galveston was rich and beauti-
full beyond description. j 1t is high,
rolling, well tiInbered, with plenty. OF
water, though rather bardaEd generals
ly said muddy, with q deep,
black soil, icafablea Of raising heavy
erons. and With climate that allows
abundant. growth both to the. produc-
tons the temperate anti semi-tropi-
cd regions. The entire State is within
the cotton belt, and 7the crop thriyes
Weil.3 slnsu IuoL lIEdz isisilyi-se-4Ea g
The whole section has the heappearance
Of land that has been lnder careful
guilty alton for a 'century.u, The foliage
approximates that of the tropics; the
prairie lnonotony is removed by the
frequency of streams and the abuntian.
cy, Of timber. while the widest and lar
gest reach of plain, dotted everywhere
with herds OF cattle, seem but the pas
lures Of. grand estates, The States OF
the Northwest may show, counties and
townships Us, beautiful as similar spots
in Texas, but here, from daylight to
sunset, the locomotive carries the tray
eler continuously through a land equal
throughout to our choice spots at the
North, with all The advantages which
the virtual absence Of winter gives.
The central belt along our line isles
rolling less ricb lnore heavily timber
Cd 4, all9ng The, streams, but still q most
desirable region for farming, and espe-
ciaily for grazing. SUCH was the coun-
+ try for another hundrrd miles. ,a ..5
rol44haeq. ol44heq coast, belt reaches fifty or, sixty
mileesi nQEEtrh I'll Of Houston, It is flat prai-
rie for the Ipesf part, with streams so
frequent that timber is.almost always
in sight,DdHerds are seen; in al direc-
tiions, with numbers quite in Keeping
with the size Of the. prairies, where
they are fattening. And yet, though
We baYe seen on oW line fields Of wheat
and. corn, and herd, and stores of cot
ton. that-seemed sufficient 70 feed and
ciothe the nation, yet we had only
crossed a eprner of Texas, and caught
but a giimpse. Of its resources. The
real grazing region lay quite west of
us, and there was an empire of land as
good as any We saw stretching far west
ward along the Texas Pacific road.
The appearance of pine. growth, and
live oak heavy with their long boards
ofSpanish mnSs, marked the northern
limit.ef the coast belt These iauiin-
creased in yigor of growthlas- we rode
on, till about Houston, fifty miles from
Galveston, all the, foliage, and most of
the trees, We're either Semi-tropicaI or
rendered; such in appearance by the
thick covering of moss. Everything
in nature that looked like the North
was fast fading away. Grasses, foliage,
fiowers,l trees, q hasl all changed; the
svamps wereilike9tropiea jungles; the
winds came over the. prairies loaded
with the perfume of magnolias. and so
our northern train sweptO J, aud down
TO the beach ofthis Southern sea. 1850
81 lpHh .Won t-st .ylIHD0 II. v. B.