USA > Texas > A pictorial history of Texas, from the earliest visits of European adventurers, to A.D. 1879. Embracing the periods of missions, colonization, the revolution the republic, and the state; also, a topographical description of the country together with its Indian tribes and their wars, and biographical sketches of hundreds of its leading historical characters. Also, a list of the countries, with historical and topical notes, and descriptions of the public institutions of the state > Part 3
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" In the year 1757, the town of Laredo was founded. This place was a sort of "Presidio," where the citizens were armed occupants of the soil, and it proved the only permanent settlement of the Spaniards on the lower Rio Grande. After the establishment of Laredo, ranches and haciendas were gradually extended over the country between the Nueces and Rio Grande, and during the first quarter of this century very extensive herds of cattle and horses and flocks of sheep were pastured on and between those rivers. The remains of the stone buildings and the wells and water-tanks are still to be seen. The troublous times following the attempts of the Mexican people to sep- arate from Spain invited the savage tribes of the North- which had been kept in better subjection under the system adopted by old Spain than they have ever been since- to make raids upon the frontier settlements. The Texas revolution and subsequent border warfare gave the fin- ishing touch to this country, and when our troops, under General Taylor, marched from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande, in 1846, there was not an inhabitant to be found between that river and the Nueces. It had the appear-
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SOUTHWESTERN TEXAS.
ance of a desert to the officers and soldiers of that army, unused as they were to these treeless pampas. The herds of cattle and horses, left to take care of themselves, had become wild, and greatly increased, and "mustangs," grazed over these plains in almost countless numbers.
"In the year 1850, the re-population of this country fairly commenced. The 'mustangs' were killed or caught and tamed, and this 'so-called ' desert has been steadily filling with a hardy and active race of stock- raisers.
" The climate of this country is very similar to that of the same longitude as far north as Kansas and Colorado. It is decidedly an unfavorable climate for agriculture, and unless some system can be devised for irrigation, the main dependance must always be upon the flocks and herds. It is unseasonable, but this is not so much for want of rain, because, on taking the average fall of rain for a number of years through the district, it is shown that we have ample supplies for all purposes, could they come at the right time and in proper quantities. In the usual planting season of the year, from the first of Jan- uary to the end of May, we have our dry season. Often it happens that scarcely enough rain falls during those months to 'wet a pocket-handkerchief,' while, on the other hand, the torrents that are let down on us during the other months will give us an average of twenty-five to thirty inches of water throughout the year. 'When it rains, it rains' in this country ; sometimes with a quantity and suddenness only equalled, I suppose, in the mountains of California and Nevada. There are no mountains, or even respectable hills, in Nueces county ; yet several instances have occurred of a flood of water rolling down a narrow ravine with such rapidity as to take off a flock of sheep, and in one instance the shepherd with it.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
" If it should ever be possible to utilize this water in some, as yet, undiscovered way, this country would be the finest in the world. The climate, owing to the dryness of the winter and spring, is as healthy as could be desired. Perhaps something may be done by making tanks on a large scale, and thus collecting the surplus rains for use in the dry seasons. One of these has been made by Hipolito Garcia, the owner of the Hacienda called ' Aren- dado,' in Zapata county. He has, by throwing a dam. across a ravine, created quite an extensive lake, capable not only of supplying water for his thousands of cattle, sheep and horses, but of being used for irrigating pur- poses.
" But our wet and dry seasons are not distinctly defined, nor are the rains equally distributed over the whole of this region. Sometimes general rains fall during the dry season ; and on the other hand, it happens that we do not in the wet season have the usual share. It is also noticed that more rain falls in the neighborhood of the San Antonio valley, and near the Gulf coast. The rule is, that less rain falls as you proceed north and west.
" In other respects, our climate is such as might be ex- pected in this latitude. While it is exceedingly hot on the Rio Grande, the thermometer in summer sometimes going up to 110° or even 114° in the shade, still a constant strong breeze and invariably cool nights render the climate rather pleasant, even in the hottest part of summer. Near the coast, the heat is very much tem- pered by the Gulf, and at Corpus Christi or Brownsville, the heat rarely goes above 90°.
" In some respects the peculiarities of the surface of this district are singular. Near the mouth of the San Antonio river, and thence down to Corpus Christi bay, we have the usual low and flat 'hog-wallow ' formation,
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TOPOGRAPHICAL PECULIARITIES.
which prevails generally along the coast of Texas, at from ten to forty miles from salt water. At Corpus Christi bay the high lands of the interior come down to the bay, and part of the town of this name is built upon a bluff near fifty feet above the water level. I believe this is the highest land anywhere on the Gulf coast within the territories of the United States. About twenty miles southwest of Corpus Christi commence the famous sands which border the Laguna Madre down to the ' Sal Colorado.' These sands are quite remarkable. Extending in a northwesterly direction from the coast, they reach within twenty miles of the Rio Grande. They lie across the country in a wedge shape, of which the base lies on the Laguna. In many places these sands form bare hills, rising fifty to a hundred feet above the surrounding grassy plains; and being of a light yellow color, are landmarks of the country and visible at great distances. The sands have evidently been formed by the prevalent southeasterly winds, which have blown them across from Padre Island. Like similar formations in England and other parts of the world, where history aids the observer in accounting for them, it is likely that they constantly progress inland under the influence of the south-east wind, and will probably reach or cross the Rio Grande in course of time.
" After we leave the sands, going towards the Rio Grande, we come into the alluvial bottoms of that river. The Sal Colorado, which appears on the maps as a river, is in reality an outlet of the Rio Grande during high water. The bottoms of this river are, on the west side, from thirty to sixty miles wide as low down as Browns- ville. They decrease gradually up to Edinburgh, ninety miles from the coast, (in a straight line,) where the first hills come to the river. 4
34
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
" This district, after leaving the coast-country just de- scribed, becomes rolling and gradually hilly. On the extreme north-west, it borders on the outlying hills or mountains of the 'Staked Plain,' (Llano Estacado,) but within its limits there are no very high elevations, though the general level of the north-western part is nearly one thousand feet above the sea. There is a distinctly marked range of hills crossing the territory from north-east to south-west, which deserves special notice, not only because it presents an interesting natural feature of the country, but because of the indications of valuable minerals found in the range, of which more will be said hereafter. This range commences in the western side of Karnes county, at the place called ' Rocky.' It passes across the Nueces a short distance above Oakville, and strikes the Rio Grande a few miles below Carriza, in Zapata county. The 'Zancajo ' hill (or mountain) in Duval county is part of the range; and in the southern part of that county, and in Zapata county, it presents quite a marked feature, and is called by the Mexicans ' La Sierra.'
"On the Rio Grande, from the commencement of the hills, the country is much more broken than anywhere east of it. From Rio Grande City (Ringgold) up to Eagle Pass, as your road winds along the river, high mountains, the offshoots of the Sierra Madre of Mexico, are never out of sight on the western horizon.
" As was said at the beginning, this is not an agricultural region. In nothing is the increasing dryness of the cli- mate, as you proceed west and south, more noticeable than in the growth of vegetation. The cyprus, magnolia, dog- wood, and other trees of a moist and temperate climate, common in Eastern Texas, pretty much disappear on the Colorado. The pine reaches the river near Bastrop, and the cedar is seen on the hills north of San Antonio. But
1448943
COLORADO RIVER, MATAGORDA COUNTY.
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ABUNDANT TIMBER GROWTH.
none of these trees are found in the country I am describ- ing. Post-oaks and live-oaks are found between the San Antonio and Nueces rivers, and the latter is common in the 'Sands' south of Corpus Christi, but they go no further southwest. I believe the only trees on the Rio Grande which are indigenous to Eastern Texas are the ash, elm, cotton-wood and hackberry. The eastern man who goes southwest will find another system of vegetation gradually supplanting that to which he has been accustomed. The mesquite-tree, which in the desert can send its roots far down in search of moisture, with its bright pea-green leaves, becomes a prominent feature of the landscape. The 'Spanish Bayonet,' an endless variety of the cactus, and a dozen or more species of scrubby, thorny shrubs, known under the general designation of 'chaparral' the products of a climate of great droughts, form in many parts an almost impenetrable jungle. On the Rio Grande the ebony tree becomes common, and is a handsome tree when full grown. There is also found a very ornamental and graceful tree called the 'Tepajuaque,' which is no- · where found north of the Rio Grande valley.
" All the trees and vegetation, and even the native ani- mals, birds, and insects, seem especially adapted to a dry climate.
"But if this country is too dry for planting purposes we are compensated in another way. Many years' experience has shown that Texas is the best stock-raising State of the Union, and for the same business this country is certainly the best part of Texas. The very dryness of the climate, in preventing the growth of trees to shade the soil, ena- bles fine and nutritious grasses to abound. It is the paradise of horses, sheep, and cattle. I have spoken of the numbers of cattle and horses that formerly ran wild under the name of 'mustangs.' There is little doubt
38
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
that the present numbers of tame animals are even greater ; but still there is room for more, and probably South- western Texas will alone one day export a half-million of beeves. Of the health and fecundity of the sheep, an instance within the knowledge of the writer will give a fair idea. A friend living in Webb county commenced raising sheep with two hundred and fifty ewes in the win- ter of 1854-55. In the year 1860 he sold out three thousand head, the result of this flock. He followed the Mexican plan of breeding twice a year.
" In so extensive a region it is reasonable to presume that valuable mines must exist. However, very little scientific investigation has yet been made, and therefore little is known of this-perhaps less even than of other regions not so near the centres of civilization.
" On the Rio Grande it is well known that several beds of coal, of an inferior quality, exist, and have been worked. It is reported that extensive beds of coal (equal to cannel) have recently been discovered on the Nueces river. The locality of these beds has not been divulged, but the report has it that they are situated at from one hundred to one hundred and forty miles from Corpus Christi.
"In the range of hills called 'La Sierra,' of which I have made mention, indications of silver and lead have been found in several places. The writer has in his pos- session a very rich specimen of lead ore which was found in this range, about eighty miles from Corpus Christi. If it should develop that there are indications of silver or lead in sufficient quantities to pay for the working, their proximity to a sea-port will be an important consideration. I believe that neither silver nor lead has anywhere else within the United States been found so near the coast.
"I suppose most people in Texas are aware of the great natural salt-works along the margin of Corpus Christi bay
39
MINERAL PRODUCTIONS.
and Laguna Madre. During the late war, Texas was altogether supplied from here. The Laguna Madre (so called by the Mexicans because of the many smaller lagu- nas that open up into the interior from it,) as it will be seen from the map, is a bay between Padre Island (so named from ' El Padre Balli,' who owned a rancho on it in ante- Texas times) and the main-land. This laguna is about one hundred and twenty miles long and from three to six miles broad, and very shallow, not averaging more than eighteen inches deep. In the spring and summer months the prevalent winds drive the water of the Gulf in a steady current up the laguna from south to north. Passing over this long and shallow flat, under a burning sun, the water evaporates rapidly, and when it reaches the northern part of the laguna, it is intensely salt. From the mother laguna the winds drive this salt water slowly up the innumerable smaller lagunas that make up from it into the main-land. These are generally from three to six inches deep, and in many instances very broad. Here the evaporation continues, and during the dry weather of spring and summer the salt crystalizes and settles on the bottom in great abundance. Nature seems to have pro- vided here, on her usual gigantic scale, works for the making of salt by solar evaporation. The process, as will be perceived, is a good deal the same that men have adopted on the coast of France, Key West, Turk's Island, etc., to procure salt from the same source. The quantity that can be raked up in this locality during the summer varies according to the depth of fall rain. Some seasons it will form about as fast as it can be raked, and the quantity is only to be limited by the capacity for gathering it. To speak within carefully considered bounds, I believe that in an average dry season ten millions of bushels can be collected within fifty miles of navigation on Corpus
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Christi bay, and that it can, at present prices of labor, be placed on navigation at ten cents per bushel.
" Besides these lagunas, there are some salt lakes and ponds between the Nueces and Rio Grande, which are not connected with the Gulf. The most noted of these is the celebrated "Sal del Rey," (Salt of the King, so called because of the laws of Spain giving salines to the king,) in Hidalgo county, about thirty-five miles from the Rio Grande, and sixty miles from Brownsville. The salt in this, and probably the other lakes of the sort, seems to come from the earth in springs. The " Sal del Rey " has been a favorite resort of the Mexicans for salt. It has for several generations supplied the greater part of North- ern Mexico with that article, and is apparently inexhausti- ble. The lake is about three miles in circumference."
VII. THE MINERAL REGION .- The large scope of country composed of the counties of Crockett, Tom Green, Pecos, Presidio, and El Paso, has been denominated the mineral region of Texas ; though as yet its mineral wealth lies undeveloped in the mines. We give a description of this with the following.
VIII. THE PAN HANDLE, OR STAKED PLAINS, lies north of Tom Green county and between New Mexico and the Indian Territory. The Legislature of 1875 laid out and gave names to fifty-four counties in this region. In the early maps of North America, a vast region in the heart of the continent was designated as the "Great American Desert." That great desert has steadily retreated before the advancing tide of population. The southern rim of it reached Texas. It is conjectured that in 1834, when the fathers from Santa Fe visited San Saba to establish a fort and mission, they set up stakes, with buffalo heads on them, so that others might follow their route. This gave the name of Llano Estacado to the
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THE PAN-HANDLE.
plateau crossed. In the map prepared for Yoakum's his- tory of Texas, and published by Redfield in 1856, there is this note : "From the head waters of the Red Brazos and Colorado rivers to the Rio Pecos is a desolate and sterile plain from 100 to 200 miles in width, elevated about 4,500 feet above the Gulf of Mexico, without water or timber and with a scanty vegetation." Notwithstanding this is described as such an arid region, all the great rivers, from the Canadian on the north to the Pecos and Rio Grande on the south, have their sources in springs found in canons penetrating this plateau ; or from underground streams, from the same source, issuing out at the surface, as at San Marcos, San Antonio and other points. Since the close of the Civil War this region of country has been penetrated by buffalo hunters, and by parties of soldiers in pursuit of Indians. The best and most reliable description yet given to the public is found in the report of Lieutenant-Colonel W. B. Shafter, who, in 1875 made a pretty thorough reconnoissance of the hitherto terra incognita. Colonel Shafter started from Fort Concho, in Tom Green county, two hundred and fifteen miles north- west of San Antonio. We copy from his report :
" Commencing at Fort Concho, the valley of North Con- cho for sixty miles is well adapted to grazing, having suffi- cient wood for all necessary purposes and good running water the entire distance.
" Rendlebrock's spring, twenty-five miles north of the North Concho and sixty-five miles from the post, is a large spring of running water, and in the country about it there are large mesquite flats, well timbered, with plenty of grass, and good shelter for stock in the winter.
" The wagon road to Fresh Fork of Brazos, via Rendle- brock's spring, leaves the North Concho forty-two miles above the post of Concho, crossing to the valleys running into the Colorado.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
"From Rendlebrock's spring, to where the wagon road strikes the Fresh Fork of the Brazos, the country passed through is slightly rolling, covered with excellent grass, considerable mesquite timber of small growth, (from six to twelve feet high), and having several streams and springs of good water, with one or two (the Brazos and Double Mountain Fork) salty at the point where crossed by the road, though both are fresh near their heads. The canon of the Fresh Fork of the Brazos is nearly fifty miles in length and from one-half to two and a half miles wide, through which flows a stream of excellent water the whole distance. After reaching the plains, the water is good for about twenty-five miles and then becomes salty at its junction with the Brazos. The grass in all the region of the country is excellent, and sufficient wood for fuel is easily obtained. I believe that corn could be grown the whole length of the canon without irrigation, except in unusually dry seasons.
" From about half way up the canon the road crosses to the head of Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos, which flows through a canon similar to that of the Fresh Fork, parallel with it and about thirty miles distant, and extends about the same distance into the plains.
" The country between these streams is high table land, with scarcely any timber and but few mesquite roots. Large circular depressions, filled with water for part of the year, occur frequently, and the whole country is cov- ered with luxuriant grass, affording pasturage for immense herds of buffalo, and would be sufficient to maintain thousands of cattle and horses that could water, when the rain-water holes dried up, in the Fresh and Double Mountain Forks of the Brazos.
"From the head of Double Mountain Fork to Casa Amarilla the distance is forty-two miles, almost due west,
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TENKIN
SCENE ON CANADIAN RIVER, HUTCHINSON COUNTY.
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WHITE SAND HILLS.
the country being similar in all respects to that just de- scribed. Casa Amarilla is a large alkali and salt lake, of from one-half to three-quarters of a mile in width and about three in length, situated in a depression of the plains and draining the country for several miles in all directions. There are two dug springs at the base of the bluff on the southern side, and about a half mile further south, at the head of a ravine, a large tank of fresh water that I believe is fed from springs, as I could not perceive any dimunition in it after using it for two days with my whole command. Six miles directly north of this lake are some large pools of living water, with plenty of wood. This would be an excellent place for sheep or horses.
"Six miles west of Casa Amarilla is a large alkali lake, circular in form, about three-fourths of a mile in diameter, having some fine large springs in the bank, good grass, but no timber or roots. This lake is called by the Mexi- cans 'Quemas,' and is supposed to be very near the line of Texas and New Mexico.
"The trail from Quemas to the Pecos (twenty miles above mouth of Azul, in New Mexico) passes for about twenty miles over high table land, with occasional rain- water holes, then about twenty of deep sand, then forty- seven of high hard prairie, without water but covered with luxuriant grass, then twenty of very heavy sand, and about twenty of hard, high rolling country bordering the Pecos.
" From this point, on the Pecos to Horsehead crossing, the distance is 157 miles, the wagon road keeping near the river. The country bordering on the Pecos for sev- eral miles has only tolerable grass, and the bluffs are covered with sharp flint rocks, with considerable small growth of brush and Spanish daggers.
" From Pecos Falls to lower end of White Sand Hills
46
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
the distance is about twenty miles, a little east of north, one-half the distance hard prairie and the balance heavy sand.
" The White Sand Hills consist of a range of low hills of very white sand, without vegetation, and almost impass- able, except for horses ; at least double teams would be required to draw lightly loaded wagons through them. They present, from the distance of a few miles, the ap- pearance of hills covered with snow. They extend north- west and southeast for about twenty-five miles and are almost five miles in width, the south end distant from the Pecos about twenty miles, the north end about forty at the nearest point. Water in almost unlimited quantity can be had by digging in the small depressions at the bases of the hills at a depth of two to four feet.
" I have twice visited these sand hills this summer, and once in 1871, and every time found considerable water on the surface. There are also quite . large willows and cottonwood trees growing in them, a sure indication of living water. The country east of the sand hills to Mustang and Sulphur Springs, distant sixty miles, is high rolling prairie, covered with fine grass, has no known living water, but abundance during the rainy season, in small lakes.
" From the head of the North Concho two large wagon roads into the plains have been made by my command, one going up the right-hand valley to Big Spring, thence via Sulphur Springs, Tobacco creek, and head of Colorado (Moo-cho-ko-way) to Cuates and head of Double Moun- tain Fork of Brazos ; the other takes the left hand valley and goes via Mustang Springs to Five Wells, Laguna Sabinas and Laguna Cuates.
" From Five Wells there are two wagon roads to Mon- ument Spring, in New Mexico, and one from there to Dug
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SULPHUR SPRINGS
Spring, twenty miles due south and thirty-two miles from the Pecos.
"From head of North Concho to Big Spring the distance is thirty miles, country hard rolling prairie, road hard. Big Spring is a very large spring of excellent water, sit- uated in a rocky gorge between two very high hills. Considerable mesquite timber in the vicinity, and plenty of excellent stone for building.
"Sulphur Springs lies thirty miles nearly west from Big Spring, country rolling, except five or six miles of quite heavy sand, water excellent, and, as at Big Spring, in inexhaustible quantities by any amount of stock that can be fed within reach of them. At this point the road turns almost due north, and passes through a magnificent grazing country for twenty miles to Tobacco creek ; this is a small stream of but few miles in length, rising in the edge of the plains, near where the road strikes it, and running nearly east. Two miles farther north is another large branch, and from there on for twenty miles there are several small running streams and springs, one of them being the head of the Colorado-these streams forming what is known as the Moo-cho-ko-way country. The water is excellent and inexhaustible ; considerable mesquite timber-sufficient for all necessary purposes of settlers, and stone convenient for building. All of the valleys through which streams flow can be irrigated to some extent. I do not think there is any doubt but corn could be raised without irrigation nearly every year. As a grazing country it is unsurpassed by any portion of Western Texas from the Gulf to New Mexico and Indian Territory.
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