The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-03-11
THE INTERNATIONAL IN mExIO,

The Dallas Herald publishes the a.
pended private letter just received from
Gen. II. P. Bee, who went to Mkico
in 1865, and still makes that COUNT his
home. He is the brother of Gen. Bee He'd
at Manassas, He says:
I have passed years of bitterness tnce
we parted at Monterey, in the spriR of
1865; have been Yietimized, and sometimes
on the border of hunger for my chilten
but have also had my bright daysand
more than once have found strong andrue
friends to help me. cl
For two years have been in this the
'Laguna country" on the main road rom
Saltillo and Porra, to chihuahua, Il the
State OF Durango. This is, beyond des-
ton, the cotton country of the contihnt.
| made crop in 1874, of two hundredhnd
thirty bales, of five hundred pounds ach.
1t was my first year, and, as I commeced
with nothing, ! do not complain. We ave
had mid winter; no ice, snow, colo or
rain frost enough to kill vegetation no
more.
Cotton is planted every seventh wear md
returns each spring like the peach tres
so we only knock down the cotton stalks,
pillow the ground well, and by the middle
of April we have cotton a foot high. The
yield averages a bale to the acre. Dur
market is the City of Mexico and Ruho's
factory in Queretaro.
We have to haul 500 miles to the cit at
q cost of three or four cents a pound so
that sixteen cents a pound in specie is What
we realize on an average.
The Laguna or Nazos country you must
have heard of while in Mexico. think
Gen. Hardeman was here under the auspices
of Commodore Maury, so 1 will not trouble
you with an extended description. BUTT
Is the Nile of the continent. The soils
the alluvial deposits of centuries of over
flow, and the various changes which time
has made in the course Of the river have
left bodies of land, large and small, be
yond present overflow, consequently dr.
and barren. Yet dig your aseguia ditch,
and irrlgate it, and YOU bring back to lift
the richest of eoiiszl-1 aVFAtefed my Cotton
field in October, 1873, had no rain or iFri
CATION till the following September, CLEVER
months), yet made full crop and did moi
suffer from the drought. The irrigatinL
canals are in some cases thirty 10 forty miles
hong and cost great deal of money. Al
lands, as yet. are rented, aud rents are vcry
high-say one-third Of the crop.
As to railroads, the route We want Cand
speak as q Texan, is from Laredo, wher,
the Texas International is to terminate
to Mazstlan, which will pass through
this Laguna country-the same route Of
which our old friend, the Hon. Pryor Lea
wrote fifteen to .eighteen years ago. Obs
the way, / nm rejOiced to know that thC
venerable and pure old man, Congressman
from Tennessee forty-nine years ago, vel
Hves.) Is is the shortest transit across To,
continent, and offers every possible facility
for the construction and success Of rail
road. An iron mountain Of the best QUalit,
to begin with, with rolling mills alread,
established in the rich and splendid city q
Durango-sp splendid pine timber in abund
aRce--ali the productions Of the earth, wine
cotton, sugar cane, wheat, corn, and thi
precious metals-are- sll en- the direct line
to-day in abundance to pay interest en- cos
at once, and with. the enhanced value o.
property and increased production, and ado
% the fact that trains viii never be stopped
b. snow, ice OF heat.
Sum these up, and you wiz see that / al
wiring TO ron shout the real transit acrosl
the contiuent-the one that IL the end vii
carry the box 81 teaand package Of six II
the shortest time from Canton 10 her Males
tvs docks in London There arc vide
awake people IN charge Of this route. n,
foreigner viii get the concession. Il vii
Be entirely Mexican, but 10 the oatsid,
world Il makes no diGere1ea Who GETS IA
Il viii probably not assume debate shan,
till after our next presidential election II
this country ia 1876
Very sincerely, y0ur cid fdond,
HalmroN 2. RkE.