The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1881-06-30
MOVING WITH TnE fLooD-rrDE


happiest words the truism that man,
when taking vigorous hold of his
destiny at the appointed time, can
move OH to fortune and to fame.
The thousands of failures that crowd
upon our observation in life's brief
period are. but the reflex OF mans
innate disposition TO postpone that
which his conscience tells he must
do in the line of achieving success.
One by one we see men drop from
life's wayside with nothing left in
their trail to tell they wandered
along its broken course. One by
one we have observed men. posses
sed of perfect intellects and con-
trolled by model department., fail,
because, as subsequent events dem
Onstrated, they had not cast them
selves into the fiood-tide of fortune
as it swept by them. The princi-
pie applied to men attaches to com
luuulIiCS, anu AChCC We OlICu sOC
places, favored by nature, falling be-
hind others upon which she has
froWned. Almost every place has
fiood-tide experience. and, if advan-
tage be taken of such lucky period,
the little town grows into a city, and
the little city becomes q metropolis.
In 1860 Austin was not much more
than a country village, though it
was the capital of Texas. Ten years
later it emerged from its hitherto
rather quiet state, and, because of a
variety of circumstances, it was
struck by one of these fiooa-tides,
upon which its people took voyage,
and for three or four wears it was
the most prosperous and most grow
ing city in the state. A vast amount
of money was invested in building
up and identifying the city, and in
three years it doubled its population
and more than doubled its wealth
The usual and fatal error of advanc-
ing prices of real estate became the
rule with owners, and thousands of
| persons who desired to make per-
manent homes here were, in conse-
quence, driven away, and they have
since added to the wealth and energy
of other localities. These unreason-
able demands proved the first
breaker in the way of advance, and
the fiood-tide was thus broken and
for six or seven years we have
passed through Il period of depres-
sion, for time almost becoming a
collapse, until the great financial
breeze, which began to blow year
or so ago, reached the southwest.
Along with this came a great flood
tide for Texas, which to-day sweeps
over the whole state, and those who
will may profit by it. Lethargy had
struck deep into the hearts of those,
having the power to benefit Austin
by seizing opportunities daily
presented, until thus our state ap-
peared to be truly a depiorable
one, but, thanks to the energy of q
few wide-a-wake citizens, we see a
change inaugurated, and Austin
once more placed On the tide ol
prosperity, will advance, as it should
to one of the proudest positions held
by any city in the southwest. Here
are all the elements for creating 6
rich and prosperous community
Nature has given US soils for hun
dreds of miles about us as rich as any
in the world, and in the bosom OF
earth there lies hid, all around us
minerals suited to industry and art
Not far from here are inexhaustiblt
beds of almost pure iron, while Goa
abounds in vast deposits alons
lines of railway, built and pro
jected to this point. Here are al
fine building stones as the world
produces-limestones of great beau
ty and hardness, marbles as spotlesI
as Parian stone, and of hues rivalins
those of the sacred pillars receiving
mellow lights through the dome o
st. Marks from Italian skies, and por
phyry and granite as beautiful Al
that which makes the interior oi
our great capitol at Washing
ton one of the marvels the world
\ Here are sandstones and states an(
conglomorates of great value, anC
even the precious metals, gold an6
silver, about which the world goei
mad, are found in paying quantitie
: along the valley lofthe Colorado ant
its tributaries to the nOrthwestwart
of Austin. Nestled, too, in the bos.
ON of rich fields and rich pastures
Austin has happy destiny, if her
citizens but achieve success for her
Already we have two great lines o
railway, and when the northers o
next November descend upon us
they will watt to our homes the
shrill whistle of locomotives tha
bear traffic from the northwestern
counties to our mercantile doors
Then, too, the Missouri Pacific, by
way of Fort Worth and Waco, viii
bear its long trains of human freight
to Austin. and western Texas, and
the Texas Western, from Houston
will shortly thereafter awake the
lower valley of the Colorado to a
new life. Nor will this be the sum
total of Austin's means of commune
cation with the world. The line to
Mexico will be open, and new road
to the coast by way of the west
will be one of the certainties OF
the near future. Here, then
is the beginning of proud end. As
railroads come so will come manu-
| factories. Here is the Colorado
river with a descent of between forty
and fifty feet in less than forty miles.
The water that flows through it
may be taken up again and again, and
made to contribute power for moving
millions of spindles and thousands
of looms. Already gentleman is
here proposing to put up a 5000, 900