CITY OF GALVESTON.

THIS splendid town site, lies on the Bay of Galveston,
in the Republic of Texas; and possesses superior advan-
tages as a sea-port, over any other point to be found on
the whole coast of the country. When it is considered
that Galveston harbor affords twenty and thirty feet of wa-
ter near the landing of the City, and seventeen feet on the
outer bar,—while there is no other harbor east or west of
it, that gives more than seven or eight feet of water,—it
is manifest, that this City must become the largest in the
whole republic, and, ere long, only second to New Orleans
on the whole margin of the Gulf of Mexico.

As doubts may arise, with some who are not fully in-
formed on the subject, respecting titles, and especially as
disputes are so common in relation to general titles to lands
in Texas, it may be proper briefly to state the solid basis
upon which those to Galveston have been arranged by the
present proprietors, Col. Maynard and others, and upon
which they at present rest. The origin of the title for
one league and one labor of land, on the east end of Gal-
veston Island, upon which the City of Galveston has been
beautifully laid off, was granted to Juan N. Seguin, as a
Mexican citizen, by the States of Coahuila and Texas, in
1832, with the previous approbation of the General Gov-
ernment of Mexico, which had made a decree in 1832, au-
thorizing each state to grant a league and a labor of land,
to all those who had suffered depredations in the revolu-
tionary wars of Mexico. To accomplish which, it was
necessary the petitioner for land should have the recom-

4

mendation of the Political Chief of the department in
which he resided.

Such a grant was obtained in answer to his petition by Juan N. Seguin, to be located on the vacant land within the limits of the States before mentioned, and making the Alcalde of the municipality in which the land should be chosen for location, commissioner to put the claimant in possession of his land, and to make him a bona fide title for the same, in the name of the Mexican government.

In 1834, Col. Maynard petitioned the Alcalde of the municipality of Liberty, as the agent and purchaser of Juan N. Seguin's grant, to put him in possession of one league and one labor of land, on the east end of Galveston Island, which he did according to law; being required so to do in the very face of the grant previously obtained by Seguin. His object then, and which has been kept steadily in view ever since, was to lay off a City at this place, it being the most commanding point of any in Texas. His object, however, was seriously retarded in its prosecution, by the severe revolution through which the country of Texas soon afterwards underwent. Texas, instead of forming a part of Mexico, is now governed as an independent nation. Under the new order of things, established by this important change in the government, many citizens of Texas began to doubt the validity of most Mexican titles, and to question the propriety of their being legally bound to recognize them, however justly obtained in the first instance. The citizens of Texas believed the Mexican nation could never do right; and therefore, every thing they had done must necessarily be wrong. They also thought many grants were too valuable to be made to one individual,—and that of Galveston Island among the number. The cry was, to seize upon this island, in violation of the grant, and sell it to raise means for the support of the army. Under these circumstances,

5

Col. Maynard distinguished by his strong attachment to the Republic of Texas, and anxious to see the country succeed and prosper, and being still very desirous to lay off a City on the east end of Galveston Island, with his well known liberality, made an offer of $50,000! to the last Congress of Texas, to re-grant and confirm to him one league and one labor of land on the east end of said island. Congress accepted his offer; and on the 9th of December, 1836, they passed a special law, granting him the said tract of land. The money was paid, and the title regularly issued: thus forever silencing all shadow of doubt as to the validity of the title. It now stands confirmed and acknowledged by both Governments: and let which nation prevail in the end that may, the title of Col. Maynard to the City of Galveston, situated on the east end of Galveston Island, can never be shaken. It is as good as any title to be found in the United States. Subsequent to this conclusive settlement of title, the claims set up by Mr. Robert Triplett and others, has also been arranged; and there is not now standing in the whole world, the least shadow of an adverse claim to this important City, embraced in the league and labor of land, located at the east end of Galveston Island. All further doubt or cavil, about the title, is forever put at rest.

The port of Galveston is the best, as before remarked, on the whole coast of Texas; having seventeen feet of water on the bar, and perfectly safe to enter at all times. The harbor at the City is a spacious one, and is sufficiently large for 500 vessels to lie at anchor.

The immediate location of the City, is one of the most beautiful and healthy on the sea coast. It is smartly rising above the bay,—is a well watered. Being continually fanned by the sea breeze, no climate can be more desirable and healthy than the City of Galveston.

6

This City commands the whole trade of the Trinity and San Jacinto rivers, and of Buffalo Bayou. And by means of a short rail-road, fifteen miles long, from Houston to the *Fort Bend* on the Brasos river, and by a canal three and a half miles long, from Velasco at the mouth of the Brasos, to West Bay, which communicates with the harbor of Galveston,—the passage being sufficiently deep for any sort of steam-boat navigation,—the whole trade of the heart of Texas, of all the rich soil watered by the Brasos, and its thickly populated tributaries, will necessarily flow into the City of Galveston for exportation. This is the great outlet for the cotton trade of Texas. Nothing but small craft can enter the mouth of the Brasos, or any other port of Texas, while ships of 600 tons or more can load at Galveston with cotton for Liverpool or Havre. Nature has marked this spot out for a great commercial city. A rail-road is contemplated to be made from Houston to Washington on the Brasos, fifty miles in length, which will still more completely command for Galveston the entire trade of the Brasos. And another important rail-road is contemplated to be made, leading from the three forks on the Trinity river, to Fort Towson, or Pecon Point, on Red River, 120 miles in length.

The Brasos is not a very good water course for steam-boat navigation, except from the mouth to Fort Bend; and above the latter place, only keel-boats can succeed well, owing to the irregularity in stages of water to be found in the river. At times it suddenly rises, in consequence of heavy rains, to great height, and then again, in dry weather, as suddenly falls to low water mark, becoming impassable, except to keel-boats. A great, and indeed an insuperable difficulty to the growth of any town at its mouth, is its shallow bar, which has proved so destructive to vessels in attempting to cross it, that seven and eight per cent. insu-

7

rance is asked for vessels bound thither; while only one and a fourth, to two per cent. is asked on vessels and car goes bound to Galveston. The natural, and indeed the inevitable outlet of the trade of the Brasos, is through the City of Galveston, by way of Houston, or of the Buffalo Bayou, and through West Bay to the City.

The City of Galveston will also, without doubt, com-mand the trade of the Sabine and the Neuceos rivers, by a canal one and a half miles long, joining East Galveston bay with Sabine Lake, through Taylor's and East Bay Bayous, which are both broad and deep. The outlet of Sabine Lake into the Gulf, can never be of the least importance, as no more than four or five feet of water can possibly be obtained at any time on the bar.

It is an established truth, that on the whole continent of North America, there is no spot or district of land found to surpass the fertility of the rich soil, watered by the Brasos river in Texas. Much of it on cultivation, it is said, will produce from fifteen to eighteen hundred pounds of fine seed cotton to the acre. With a mild and salubrious climate, interspersed as the country is, with the most picturesque groves of trees, and green prairies—affording sustenance to the finest stock,—and withal finely watered, no country on the habitable globe holds out equal advantages to the industrious farmer, as Texas. All the Brasos country, embracing all the rich central portions of Texas, and all the eastern portions bordering on the Trinity, San Jacinto, and Sabine rivers, must pour their rich trade into the City of Galveston, and draw their supplies of foreign articles for consumption through the same channel. A surface of country making four or five States, as large as Mississippi or Alabama, must empty its rich product of the great staple, cotton, into the City of Galveston. This

8

country will, under favorable circumstances, make more bales of cotton than is now shipped from New Orleans, and is fully capable of producing a greater number of bales of cotton, than is now produced in America! Let us suppose what is highly probable, that, in a few years to come, the export of cotton from the port of Galveston will equal the present export of 500,000 bales from New Orleans, and what ought to be the growth of the new city? What is the size of Havana, with the produce of only an island for its support? And what is New Orleans now, and what is she to be, with a cotton country, not so rich or so extensive, to support her as that found in Texas, and which must find its way to Galveston for outlet?

Havana has no rival in the West Indies, and New Orleans has no rival on the Gulf in the United States, and Galveston has no rival in the vast, rich, beautiful and healthy country of Texas. The time is fast coming, when merchant ships from New York, New Orleans, Liverpool, Havre, and other places, will be seen crowding her harbor, and displaying from their mastheads the colors of all nations, and either discharging or taking in cargoes for the States or for Liverpool or Havre. And we predict the time will roll round, when Mexico herself will receive many of her supplies through this great commercial emporium of Texas. No new city or town of the present day, offers any thing like the inducements for profitable investment to this. It is like commencing to build another New York, or another New Orleans; and all who embark in it are as certain of realizing great profits, as though they had early engaged in the projection of either of the other places. Now is the time to buy stock in this splendid city. Either stock or lots bought in it, must soon advance one hundred per cent.