The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1881-12-08

civilization began TO reasscrt their sway
over tho great empire of the Southwest
The Dutch, the English and the Swode'
had seized tho rich lands Of what ar,
now the Eastern States, but until
Jefferson secured Louisiana from
France, In 1901, the wave of Spanish dis
coyery and conquest seemed to pause on
the shores of the Gulf Of Mexico; now at
last the genius of Columbus reappears IN
Texas and Louisiana, and the gradual nb-
sorption of the republic of Mexico into that
of the United States seems to be inevitable
My attention has been directed by Hon. j.
w. Throckmorton, late Governor of Texas,
now in Philadelphia, where he is engaged
in organizing another transcontinental
railway, to communication in the Dali
las (Texas) HERALD OF the
10Th of November instant, in
which the surprising fact is noted by John
Henry Brown, that in 1886 in the Congress
of the Republic of Texas, sitting at
Columbia, Brazoria county, bill was
passed incorporating railway company,
with extraordinary concessions, to run from
the coast to the sources of the Colorado
| 1S41-42, John w. Dancey, q Representative
from Fayette, introduced, and in q mastery
speech of nine hours, advocated a bill to
annex the then Mexican province Of Cali
fornia to
THE REPUBLIC or TEXAs.
and to build railroad to connect the two
countries. Mr. Brown, who is still living,
comments upon this singular circumstance,
and at time when there was hardly fifty
miles of railroad in the United States now
there are 100000, and when Texas was an
independent empire, and California Mex
| lean province, as follows:
HSOmeWlere between the mouth of the
| Gulf OF California and perhaps Monterey on
| the Pacific coast, on the one side, and the
ports of the Gulf of Mexico on the other,
| Dancey-honest as Providence permits men
| to be, enthusiastic as all honest and intellec-
, tual advanced thinkers are proven to be,
| thoroughly versed in all the geographical
knowledge then attainable, loving his
country and kind-advanced those ideas,
coupled with the thought that its consum-
nation would make Texas, lying across the
most temperate and productive climate in
| the world, the conservative republic of the
earth. He was ahead of his generation, and
was laughed at by the unthinking as vision
who think and analyze the wealth of the rich
North and of Europe is now daily before
our eyes, indicating his memory with
out knowing it, for the evidences of his
genius and prescience are only among the
dust-covered archives in Austin, if not
burnt in the late destruction of the
State capitol. Honored be the
memory of John W. Dancey. In ISL
meeting was held i'll the town OF Victoria,
Texas, Jesse 0. Wheeler, President, John
Henry Brown, Secretary, in which resolu-
tons were passed, and an address prepared
to the Congress of the United States, urging
national aid in the construction of a rail
road, as a military necessity, from some
point on the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific
ocean in California. An address was written
by John Henry Brown, associated in COM
mittee with A. S. Cunningham, James W.
Allen, William S. Glass, and others, all
then prominent citizens of Southwest Texas,
and presented to Congress by Repre-
sentative Timothy Pilsberry, and re-
ferred 10 a committee, which made favor
able report on the subject, but the sectional
jealousy ofthe day prevented action upon
| it. Had Congress endorsed the plan pro-
posed and the road been built, does any
sane man believe civil war would have en-
sued? Would not the million and more
men who died during the war been left to
| die in peaceful homes? The wooden legs
and armless sleeves now so common would
be unknown in our country, except in sofar
as accidents are concerned, and two hum
bred millions of dollars could have been
| saved on the Indian question. Rusk.
Throckmorton and others, few years
later, put forth the grand idea of
A CONTINENTAL RAILWAY
on the latitude of thirty-two, now. after so
| long O time-now, to-day, an accomplished
fact Inside of sixty days the same car will
| run from New Orleans via Shreveport and
Dallas; or from Galveston and Houston,
via Dallas or Waco, to San Diego or San
Francisco, in California. Look upon the
picture at which Europe stands in admir-
ing amazement! VIII any man, under
such facts, deny the far-seeing wisdom of
those old-time TeXians2 Or deride their
memory as Bourbons, fossils, or moss-backs?
But this is, so to speak, depression. My sole
| object is to bring to the minds of our
people an idea of the future grandeur of
Texas. The territorial area Of the State,
greater than either the German or the
French empire, speaks for itself. But the
popular idea has long been that Southwest,
| West, and Northwest Texas was vast
wilderness, fit only for cattle and sheep.
This impression, long known by the we'll
informed to be erroneous, is now dispelled
| by ocular demonstration. The great South
west of the State, once called by Senator
Benton, teens with as rich soil as there
| is between the Mississippi and the Rio
Grande, and will become speedily,
under railroads now in operation,
vast producer of sugar cotton,
and semi-tropical fruits. West Texas
proper, from Eastland across the plains and
mountains to III Paso, now pierced by the
J Texas & Pacific Railroad, and connected
with California and the whole United States
on and east Of the Mississippi, is destined
to become the grandest wool-growing coun-
try on the continent. The idea Of its being
q desert is an exploded myth. Take out
the sand-hills and the broken mountains
cast them away as worthless-enough of
generous soil and nutritious grass remains
a "a s.ff l..a.a nFsflt
IL is simply astounding to trace the rapid
growth Of the Spanish and American
elements in Mexico, in California, in
Louisiana, and in Texas, since the begin
ming Of this century.
GOVERNOR THRocENoRroS.
still young man, only fifty-seven on the
eth of February, 1852, is one Of the links
that binds us to the past, reyiying all Of
lese marvellous memories. He moved
from Arkansas with his father In 1871, be-
fore annexation, and before the Mexican
war, in which he served as a volunteer, in
lsi7. He has lived 10 see the first railroad
built across the Rocky Mountains which
unites California, conquered from Mex
leo thirty-fOur years ago, with Texas
on the north. and has assisted TO con-
struct other transcOntinental lines uniting
the Pacific with the Gulf Of Mexico and the
great .lakes and the Atlantic Ocean and
more than all. he has lived 10 see Texas
itself assuming its ascendancy as the largest
commonwealth In our galaxy Of States
opening wide its doors 10 the commerce Of
the world, contributing By its vast mats rial
and moral resources 10 the first civilization
OF the Republic Of Mexico on It's borders,
and 10 the magical redemption ofL0uisiann,
tie theatre Of Thomas JEFF
ferson's greatest acquisition, more
than three quarters Of century
ago. In very remarkable speech by Gov
ernor ThrockmOrt0n. when be was q mem
Der Of Congress. on tie lei ~ March, lr7,i.
be described s0me Of the i-iure productions
II only forty Out Of rr9 hundred counties
In the state 81 Texas. while be vas adyOca-
ting the construction Of the Texas a Pacific
Peiiroad under the auspices Of the late
illustriOus Thomas Alexander Scott. An
extract from this Thoughtful address VII