29
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1837-18£H
coast, as may seem to you best, with all the means, which you can command. Do the best you can, as you will be upon the spot and can judge of the course most proper to be pursued. Sam Houston. 1 From the original in possession of Mr. Franklin Williams, Houston, Texas. For Samuel Rhoads Fisher see Volume I, 458.
To ROBERT A. IRroN 1
City of Houston, April 28th 1837
Dear Sir, I arrived here on the 26th inst: after a pleasant journey of 10 days. The distance on the road we came is 230 mi.- a direct one would be 140. Altho' I had a favorable opinion of this locality, I must confess that I am agreeably disappointed. It combines more advantages and is far superior in every point of view to any situation I have yet seen in Texas for the seat of Government, and commercial and mercantile operations. It is at the head of tide water at the junction of the 2 principal branches of the Buffalo Bayou, 30 ms. from the Bay & 70 from G [alveston] Island. In approaching it from the west through that picturesque region where I joined you in '33, in the neighborhood of Black's, the face of the country gradually becomes undulating and at the distance of 25 ms. from this place assumes that flat appearance which is common to this coast country; 6 miles from town a dense forest begins & continues to the opposite bank of the Bayou, from the water's edge of which a declivity rises to an elevation of 80 feet-from this point a prairie about 2 ms. across spreads out, being highest in the centre and sloping on all sides to the woods. It resembles Natches on the Hill. On the 20th of January, a small log cabin & 12 persons were all that distinguished it from the adjacent forests, and now there are upwards of 100 houses finished, and going up rapidly (some of them fine frame buildings) and 1500 people, all actively engaged in their respec- tive pursuits. It is remarkable to observe the sobriety and industry like we see in the North-I have not seen a drunken man since my arrival. The S. Boat Yellow Stone, 120 feet long, arrived yesterday with a cargo of goods and 140 passengers. The Laura is expected in a day or so. A Schooner from N. Orleans also came up yesterday. You are waggoned from Houston to vVashington on the Brazos, and from the upper branches of that river to the Trinity, embrac- ing the San Jacinto.
Powered by FlippingBook