478
T1?XAS STATE LmRARY
of the soil west of the Guadalupe the prairies afford the best quality of pasturage for every kind of stock-both in summer and winter-The seasons are sufficiently mark to render them distinct yet agreeable to the feelings, Timber immediately on the coast is scarce, but on retiring therefrom it becomes abundant enough to answer all the purposes of agriculture By removing some obstructions in the Rivers Guadalupe and San Antonio they may be rendex;ed navigable for some 80 or 100 -miles these rivers afford abundance of timber especially the first and the superiority of their waters is not excelled by any in Texas- The whole country west of this is singularly healthy from the coast to Red river-The town of Refugio is situated at the head of navigation on the mission River, distant from the head N. W. point of the Bay of aransaso--on the Mission River, dist about 10 miles .and from the port of Copano about 12-The aransaso River enters the bay 3 miles south of the mission river, and is navigable about 15 miles or perhaps 20- at all seasons meandering through a very fertil country-To the west of this river some few miles there is a creek called "Cbiltipin," emp- ties its waters into the S. W. branch of Aransaso bay is likewise nav- igable at alf seasons about 15 or more miles meandering through a . Country very fertile but scarce of timber -Between this creek and the Nueces River there exists a considerable Forest of :Musquite \Vood, a spec!e of timber of long duration well calculated to make "fences, and likely might be very useful for some purposes in making Rail Roads Live Oak Point affords an excellent site for a Town. ,~;n soon be laid off, and roost necessarily in a very short time become the great \Vestem F:mporinm of commerce; its a·proximity to the Mexican Republick will induce the Merchants of that -country to resort there for the supply of foreign articles necessary for the consumption of those Northern & western States consequently the Cash from those states - will be constantly poming in to our ports besides the exten- sive back country the most fcrtil & healthy in Texas must soon be densely populated extending from this bay to the heads of the Colo- rado River, must support a large commercial City on the sea board to which can be conveyed the abundant productions of so extensive a Country - To fa-cilitatc commercial as also other conveyances Rail Roads can be cstahlished nt no extraordinary trouble or expense to any point on the Rio Grande, to any of tho frontier Mexican states, or even to the Gulf of California - no country is better adapted for convcyaneC's of this natur, the ground firm. and generally pretty level -Tl1e opposite side of the Rio Grande nbonnds with fossil coal, in the year 1828 I discovered immense qnantitics and of a \•cry su- perior qnality & shewed it [to theJ government, and people who were entirely iµ-nornnt of its value, nor have I the least doubt b11t on this, the nortl1crn sicle of the River coal might be found if a proper search W<'l"e nrncle- The \Vestem part of 'l'exns poscss!'s n Yet-y decided ad,·antage over the Rastern, in an ag-ricultnrnl point of View - the rains in the fall season arc not so very severe & heavy ns to brcnk the cotton plant or das11 it to the itronnd thcrrby dcminishinl,! much in value the st:1plo commodity, the plnnter, there cnn with little care ha,·e all his cotton crop saved free of soilag-c, again seldom nny frost appears capable of nrr('};ting ,·egctntion until tl1e month of January,
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