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 4

Author: Thrall, Homer S., 1819-1894
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: St. Louis, N.D. Thomson & Co.
Number of Pages: 880

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 4

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" From the head of Colorado to Laguna Cuates is thirty miles, over a high slightly rolling hard prairie covered with good grass, but very little wood above ground and

HISTORY OF TEXAS.

mesquite roots scarce. During the rainy season there are many large lakes of water

"Laguna Cuates are two large very salt lakes situated in a depression of the plains; they are, together, about three miles long and one and one-half wide. Near the edges of them are several springs of good water. At this place I dug two large holes in the bank, about twelve or fifteen feet square, which soon filled to a depth of two or three feet. By digging I do not think there is any rea- sonable limit to the water that could be obtained.

" Laguna Blanco is a similar lake, eight miles east of Cuates, having also fresh water springs.

"Six miles south of Cuates are two lakes, separated but a few hundred yards, the one very salty and the other fresh, both evidently never going dry.

" About all these lakes there are great quantities of mesquite roots, sufficient to furnish fuel for any population the country could support.

" From Cuates to head of Double Mountain Fork the distance is thirty-two miles, nearly due north, country high hard rolling prairie.

" Taking the left hand valley, two miles above head water on the North Concho, a large wagon road leads due west, over rolling hard prairie, to Mustang Springs, dis- tant forty-two miles. Six and a half miles further west, and on the wagon road, are several other springs. The water at both these places is in great abundance, hundreds of buffalo watering at them daily, not exhausting them. Plenty of mesquite roots for fuel, and good grass and shelter in ravines.

"From Upper Mustang Springs to Five Wells the distance is thirty-four miles, northwest, over a high level prairie, with numerous large sink holes, or ponds, filled for several months in the year with water.

LAKES, SPRINGS AND WELLS.

"The Five Wells are situated in a ravine about one- eighth to one-half of a mile in width ; the length is not known. It was examined for several miles each way without finding any other water, except a few small salt lakes. These wells are within a few yards of each other, are about six or eight feet deep and from four to ten feet in diameter, with three to four feet of water. Watering about five hundred animals for three days did not, appar- ently, at all diminish the water; grass excellent and plenty of shelter for stock in ravines ; mesquite roots for fuel not very large or abundant.

" Laguna Sabinas, thirty-two miles due north from Five wells, is an alkili or salt lake, nearly six miles long and four wide, with plenty of good water in numerous wells or rather dug springs in a ravine at the north end, and several large wells at the south end, of slightly brackish water but fit for use of men and animals. Water can be found by digging anywhere near the edge of the lake ; grass in vicinity excellent, and plenty of wood (roots).

" From the north end of the lake are two large wagon roads, one going nearly due east to head of Tobacco creek, distant thirty-five miles. About five miles of the road heavy sand, the balance high hard prairie. The left hand road runs nearly northeast thirty-two miles to Laguna Cuates, high prairie and sand about equally distributed at intervals of three or four miles. About the bluffs of Laguna Sabinas are found a few small cedars ; stone for building in the bluffs.

" From the Five Wells there are two wagon roads, one running a little south of west, the other a little north, to Monument Spring, in New Mexico, distant by the left hand road sixty-three miles and by the right sixty-six ; the latter being the preferable route on account of less sand and much better water. By the left hand road it is

HISTORY OF TEXAS.

all heavy sand, except three short stretches, of a couple of miles each, to an alkali lake, distant from Five Wells thirty-six miles. This lake is situated in a depression of the prairie with hard ground all around it, extending sev- eral miles on the south and west; water permanent and , though quite strongly alkali, can be used from holes dug in the bank ; better water is obtained, though none of it is good. Grass excellent and very luxuriant ; wood (roots) in abundance. The lake is circular in form and one-eighth of a mile in diameter. From this lake to Monument Spring, distant twenty-seven miles, the country is rolling, about half hard prairie, the balance light sand.

" By the right hand road, going west from Five Wells, the distance to the first of Ward's wells is twenty-four miles, about sixteen of it heavy sand, the rest hard. These wells are situated in a ravine (from one-fourth to three-fourths of a mile in width) or narrow valley, ex- tending northwest and southeast, through the centre of the plains, for at least fifty miles, bordered on each side by from one to three miles of hard prairie, making a strip of prairie from two to six miles in width. There are about fifty of these wells, in the first valley, in a space of one and one-half miles. Wells are from four feet deep at the western end to fifteen at the eastern, and having from two to four feet of water, of excellent quality and affording water for several thousand horses or cattle. Grass ex- cellent, and wood (roots) in abundance.

" Three and one-half miles on the road, west of the first wells, in a similar ravine which joins the long one, are found about twenty more wells, and two miles south, in a third ravine, are several more ; these last are off the road about a mile. This appears to have been a favorite resort of Indians, as shown by deeply worn trails, old lodges and heads of cattle. No sign of buffalo so far west as this, the line of sand from a few miles south of Quemas to

ABUNDANT WATER SUPPLY.

Laguna Rico and Sabinas and thence through Five Wells and Mustang Springs to head of Main Concho being their western limit.

"From the second spring, to Monument Spring, distant thirty-seven miles, a little south of west, the road runs most of the way over rolling prairie, with about fifteen miles of not very heavy sand.

" Monument Spring is so named from a monument I had built on a hill southwest and one and one-fourth miles distant from the spring. This monument is of nearly white stone, about eight feet in diameter at the base, four at the top, and seven and one-half feet high. It can be seen for several miles in all directions.

" Monument Spring is a very large spring of excellent water, furnishing enough for several thousand head of horses. The country to the north is, for fifty miles, hard high prairie, to the south and west sandy ; grass, in all directions, of luxuriant growth, of the finest quality found on the plains ; wood abundant (roots) for fuel, and good building stone in the hills near by (limestone).

" Twenty miles due south is Dug springs, three in number, situated in a small valley of salty grass. The wells are a few yards apart, about six feet deep and four in diameter, having a depth of three or four feet of water and furnishing enough for about one thousand horses per day. My command, of about three hundred animals, watering all at one time soon exhausted the springs, but in an hour or two they were full again. Plenty of wood in this vicinity, and tolerable good grass close by ; within easy grazing distance it was excellent.

" From Dug springs to the Pecos the distance is about thirty-two miles, one-half of the way heavy sand and the rest hard rolling hills. There is no wagon road to the Pecos, but a very plain and deeply worn Indian trail, running almost due west until near the Pecos, when it

HISTORY OF TEXAS.

turns southwest, striking that stream just above the mouth of the Azul or Blue river, at a shallow, rock-bottom crossing, where the water in ordinary stages is not over fifteen inches deep.

"From Mustang Springs to Centralia the distance is fifty-four miles, without water on the trail of Lieutenant Geddes, except one salt lake thirty-five miles north and twenty-five west of Central station. At this lake water might be found by digging. Southeast of Central station, and eighteen miles from it, a fine spring of water, hitherto unknown, was found by Lieutenant Geddes, which will, undoubtedly, cause a change in the road across the plains to the Pecos. From this spring to Howard's wells and the Pecos the country has never been scouted ; on the trail followed by Lieutenant Geddes no other permanent water was found until he reached Howard's wells, on the San Antonio road. From this point west to the Rio Grande the country is least known of any in this Department and is the most difficult to scout in, as it has, so far, been found impossible to take wagons along; and from the country being cut up by very deep and rocky ravines and all the hills covered with a kind of miniature Spanish dagger, making it very difficult and painful traveling for horses. There is, undoubtedly, plenty of water, and this country has always been a favorite resort for the Apaches and Lipans. Lieutenant Geddes discovered several good springs of water on his trail and reports that his command did not suffer at all from want of water. My experience, father west and near the Rio Grande, was the same in the fall of 1871, when I was, at no time, more than a half day without water, either in springs or rock tanks.

" The various scouts have shown how easily the plains can be traversed, in almost any direction, and to all the large watering places there are plain wagon roads that will show for years."

ROBERTS

SCENE ON BRAZOS RIVER, NEAR MARLIN.

CHAPTER III.

TEXAS RIVERS : THEIR NAMES-WHAT STREAMS ARE NAVIGABLE-DEPTH OF BARS; INLAND NAVIGATION-WATER SUPPLY - ARTESIAN WELLS-WATER POWER.

B EGINNING at the northern, or northeastern bound- ary of the State, Red river, Big Cypress and Lake Soda are navigable during the rainy seasons, and a regular trade is carried on upon these with New Orleans. On the old Spanish maps the Red river is called Naucdo- ches, from an Indian tribe on its banks.

The Sabine is the eastern boundary of Texas from the Gulf of Mexico to the 32d parallel of latitude. It has at its mouth a depth of from five to seven feet of water ; but such is the nature of the bottom that it could very easily be deepened to a much greater depth, and this is now being done by the General Government. It is navi- gable during portions of the year for a distance of three hundred miles from its mouth. It was called by the Spaniards, Adaes, after an Indian tribe. In 1718, De Alarconne, in his controversy with La Harpe, calls it Rio de San Francisco de Sabinas. (Sabine means juniper tree.)

The Angelina and Neches rivers enter Sabine lake. Boats ascend the former some 400 miles during the wet season ; and the latter about 250 to Thouvennin landing.

Trinity. The Indian name of this river was Arkokisa ; a corruption from Orquisaco, an Indian tribe, Lasalle

HISTORY OF TEXAS.

called it the river of canoes, because he had to procure canoes from the Indians to cross the swollen stream. It empties into Galveston bay, and has a depth of three feet at its mouth. Steamboats have ascended it 900 miles to Dallas.

San Jacinto (Hyacinth) river forms a junction with Buffalo Bayou at Lynchburg, and empties into Galveston bay. Buffalo Bayou is navigable to Houston, ninety miles from Galveston. In 1876, Red Fish and other bars were deepened, and boats drawing from six to eight feet, now ascend the bayou to Clinton, six miles below Houston.

The outer bar at Galveston has a depth of water vary- ing from ten to thirteen feet, which is being increased by a system of jetties made by gabions.

The Brazos has from five to eight feet at its mouth. Boats have ascended 600 miles to the falls, near Marlin. In 1854 a canal was cut from near the mouth of the river into Galveston bay. If tradition is to be credited, the Spaniards gave the name of Colorado to this river ; but the names were interchanged. The Indians called it Tockonhono. In crossing this stream La Salle lost one of his men, supposed to have been seized by an alligator, and he gave it the name of Malion.

The San Bernard has a shallow entrance, but it is nav- igable for twenty or thirty miles.

Old Caney Creek has been navigated some seventy miles. In 1864 a channel was opened from near its mouth into Matagorda bay.

A bar at the mouth of the Colorado, and a raft in the channel, interfere with its navigation. In 1847, a steam- boat built above the raft ascended the river 600 miles, to the falls above Austin. The Indian name was Pashohono. Tradition says a party of Spanish adventures, after nearly perishing for water, came suddenly upon this stream and

NAVIGABLE RIVERS.

called it Brazos de Dios (Arm of God). Lasalle called it the River of Canes, from the quantity of cane upon its bank. It flows into Matagorda bay.

The Navidad was called by Lasalle Prince's River, and its confluent, River of Beeves (Lavaca, or Cow), is navi- gable thirty miles to Texana. It empties through Lavaca. bay into Matagorda bay. Pass Cavallo is the outlet of Matagorda bay, and has a depth on the bar of from eight to eleven feet. Bellin's map, in 1750, gives eighteen feet on the bar, up to Dog Island.

The Guadalupe river is shallow at its mouth, where it enters Espiritu Santo bay. It has been navigated seventy miles to Victoria. In old maps this bears the name of its principal affluent, the San Marcos. Its principal western branch is the San Antonio, which is sometimes called the Medina, one of its tributaries.

The Nueces (Nuts) river is navigable for small vessels up to the neighborhood of San Patricio. Aransas Pass has a depth of from six to ten feet. In 1874 the Corpus Christi ship channel was opened, permitting steam-ships to reach the wharf at Corpus Christi.

The Rio Grande, which forms the boundary between Texas and Mexico, is navigable 500 miles to Comargo. This stream has three names. At Santa Fe it is called the Del Norte; and at Reinosa the Rio Bravo. There is a depth of from four to five feet at its mouth ; but the principal shipping point is through the pass at Brazos St. Jago, which has a depth of from six to nine feet.

The following estimate, made by a competent engineer, shows with what ease and at how small a cost inland communication might be opened along the entire coast of Texas :

From Rio Grande river into waters connected with Point Isabel, one mile solid digging ; from thence through

HISTORY OF TEXAS.

the Laguna del Madre into Corpus Christi Bay, 100 miles with three feet depth of water ; from thence into Aransas Bay, sixteen miles, with an average depth of three feet water; from thence to Matagorda Bay, forty-eight miles, good for six feet water; thence through Matagorda Bay to Caney Creek, forty-five miles, eight feet depth of water ; from Caney Creek, seven miles solid digging, into San Bernard lake and river; from San Bernard river to Brazos river, ten miles solid digging; thence

through canal and West Bay into Galveston Bay, thirty miles, with four feet depth of water; thence through Galveston Bay and through East Bay to East Bay bayou, with from six to nine feet water for twenty miles, and the last five miles three feet. water and soft mud, making in all twenty-five miles ; from thence through East Bay and Elm Bayous, ten miles ; thence seventeen miles solid digging to Taylor's Bayou down which to Sabine Lake, eight miles.

WATER SUPPLY .- A good portion of Texas has an abundance of springs and living streams of water; and in most places in the State good water can be obtained at a depth varying from fifteen to one hundred feet. But in others where water can not be had by digging, or when it is unsuitable for use, owing to mineral substances with which it is impregnated, a water supply is secured by tanks. A dam is thrown across a ravine having a mod- erate fall, and the earth is scraped out down to the hard clay. Large reservoirs are thus constructed, and filled by the rains, which being protected from stock, furnish an abundant supbly of good fresh water.

ARTESIAN WELLS .- The scarcity of water in Western Texas induced the United States Congress, in 1856, to make an appropriation of $100,000 for boring artesian wells in the arid region between the Nueces and Rio

ARTESIAN WELLS.

Grande rivers. Lieutenant John Pope was detailed to execute the work of boring. At one of the wells, good water was found at the depth of a little over two hundred feet; but it did not rise to the surface. On the Pecos river a well was bored eleven hundred feet, but without success. At Corpus Christi water flowed to the surface, but it was unsuitable for use. In 1858 a well was com- menced on the Capitol Hill, at Austin. At the depth of twelve hundred feet a weak stream rose to the surface and flowed off. Like the stream at Corpus Christi, this was so impregnated with mineral substances as to be useless. In 1873 some obstructions occurred and the water ceased to flow. Near Terrell, in Kaufman county, a number of wells have been dug of only ordinary depth, and the water rises to the surface. A few miles from Fort Worth a well was bored to the depth of four hundred and fifty feet ; at which a great abundance of water was found, which rose to within about twelve or fifteen feet of the surface. There is an artesian well near Graham, Young county, only one hundred and ninety-seven feet deep. A bold stream flows out from the top.

RAINS .- As a general rule the more western counties of the State are most liable to suffer from drouth. But experi- ence has shown that this objection is becoming less from year to year, as the country becomes more settled and more under cultivation. The prairie fires that formerly so often swept over the western plains, destroying every , shrub and preventing the growth of timber, have become far less frequent and confined to comparatively narrow limits. Hence there are now thousands of acres in nearly all the western counties growing up in mesquite and vari- ous kinds of timber, where a few years ago there was not a shrub to be seen. This growth of timber is believed to be one principal cause for the more regular falls of rain,

HISTORY OF TEXAS.

for in all parts of the world the growth of timber has long been recognized to have this effect, and in many countries the growth of forest trees has been encouraged by govern- ment as a means to secure the more regular fall of rain. To this cause is generally attributed the fact that the counties on the San Antonio river, and others in the west, are now far more exempt from drouths than formerly; and it is now believed by many that the crops there are no more liable to suffer from too little rain than they are from too much in most of the States. In all other parts of Texas the seasons of rain are much the same as in other States, and crops are liable to as few casualties as in any other part of the world. In one respect Texas has an advantage over any country we have seen, for as a general rule deep plowing and early planting will secure fair crops in nearly all parts of the State with very little rain, and sometimes with none at all. This advantage is owing to the fact that our planting season commences a month or two earlier than in other States on account of our mild winter, and also to the fact that our soil has nearly everywhere a substratum of clay and is very retentive of moisture with deep plowing.

WATER . POWER .- Comparatively little use has, as yet, been made of the immense water power of Texas. It is true that but few sites suitable for mills and machinery are found on the sluggish streams in the low, flat country. There are some good locations on the head waters of the tributaries of the Trinity and San Jacinto rivers. Mill- sites may be found in almost all the rolling counties of Texas, where almost all of the small streams have them. Many are found in Bell county, on the tributaries of Lit- tle river, and at such springs as Salado. An article in an old almanac describes the water power of West Texas :

" Beginning with the Colorado, we find it having a fall of

WATER POWER.

six hundred and fifty feet from Austin to the coast. Be- tween those points there are many places where its power may be made available by the judicious employment of capital. This is particularly the case at Columbus, where the river, at its approach to town, makes a bend, and after running round several miles, returns to the lower part of the town, leaving a comparatively narrow neck between the two points. A suitable dam to turn the water into a canal, would give a large fall at its entrance into the river. At some future time Columbus will be largely engaged in profitable manufacturing. I am not familiar with the topography of the river from that point to Austin, but the probability is that there are many other available localities for machinery. From Austin to the head of the river, and its tributaries which flow through the moun- tains, many admirable sites for machinery are found.

" Passing west from the Colorado we come to the San Marcos. It is formed by an immense spring at the town of San Marcos, where the water gushes out of the moun- tain from several springs, forming a volume constituting a considerable river. Near the spring there is a fine site for machinery. The falls continue for fifteen or twenty miles, affording many fine mill sites.

" From Gonzales, where the San Marcos enters into the Guadalupe, up to Seguin, there are several points on the river capable of being made available for machinery ; but from Seguin up to the head of the river, and especially from Seguin to New Braunfels, we have a magnificent water power. At Seguin commences a series of falls of from two to nine or ten feet perpendicular height. Between the two points, a distance of fifteen miles, there is a descent of eighty feet. Nearly all of these falls, which occur at intervals of from one to three miles, may be utilized. At Braunfels, where the Comal Spring issues from the mountain in a

HISTORY OF TEXAS.

volume sufficient to form a considerable river, there is a water power easily commanded sufficient to make it a second Lowell. From that point to the head of the river, there is a large amount of fine and available water power.

" Still further west we come to the San Antonio river, another permanent current stream abounding in valuable mill and factory sites. Beginning at the town of Goliad, there is a fall or rapid, where the river passes over a rocky formation, presenting a fine site for machinery. Goliad is forty or fifty miles from the coast. From that point to Colonel Skyles' place, below the Conchester cross- ing of the river, in the upper part of Karnes county, there are available points where the water power may be used to advantage. From the lower part of Colonel Skyles' place to the Conchester crossing, a distance of three miles, there is a fall of about thirty feet. There are, besides some rapids, three several falls ; one perpendicu- lar of six or eight feet; the other two are slopes, and would require a low dam to control the waters, and are,' one eight and the other eleven feet high. They are formed by beds of sandstone of excellent quality, The stone is in layers of convenient thickness for quarrying, and in inexhaustible quantity. Nature seems to have designed the locality for an immense manufacturing city. From that point to San Antonio there are various sites for ma- chinery. Still further west, the head waters of the Neuces, Frio and other streams rising in the mountains afford ample power for large factories. These streams extend to the Rio Grande.

FERRY, COMAL RIVER.

CHAPTER IV.

MOUNTAINS-ALTITUDES-MINERALS-COPPER, LEAD, IRON, SILVER, COAL, ETC. -GUANO IN BAT CAVES.

M OUNTAINS .- In the old maps a good many moun- tains were laid down ; as the Tehuacana, in Lime stone county ; Colorado Mountains, above Austin; Guada- lupe Mountains, in Kerr county ; Pack Saddle and other peaks, in Llano county ; and other elevations, dignified with the name of mountains. Later maps still mark some peaks as mountains; as Double Mountain, at the northwest corner of Jones county ; the White Sand Hills, in Tom Green county ; Chenati and some other peaks, in Presidio county ; and Eagle Mountains, in El Paso county. The mountains of Texas, in a mountainous country, would be called hills, though some of them rise to a respectable height.

Thousands of invalids annually visit Texas for their health. To such, the question of altitude is one of con- siderable importance ; and we give the altitudes of leading points in different parts of the State. But we will state, that even the flat, coast region is so swept by delightful sea-breezes that it is pleasant and healthy. But as we penetrate the interior, and gain a greater altitude, the atmosphere becomes more pure and stimulating. The highest spurs of what is called the Guadalupe range are about 5,000 feet above the sea level.

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Author: Thrall, Homer S., 1819-1894 Publication date: 1879 Publisher: St. Louis, N.D. Thomson & Co. Number of Pages: 880

Author: Thrall, Homer S., 1819-1894
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: St. Louis, N.D. Thomson & Co.
Number of Pages: 880