58 



YEARBOOK, PUBLIC MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE. 



[Vol. I. 



ever}- bough, giving the evergreens a very ghostly appearance. At 

 Anchor, the car is left standing on the track and a little later is picked 

 up by another train, which means that a transfer has been made to the 

 tracks of the Houston & Brazos Valley Railroad, a line some ten miles 

 long, operated by the Sulphur Company. Just before reaching Free- 

 port, the Brazos river is crossed, which is here, about one mile above its 

 mouth, a broad muddy stream flowing a foot below the level of the sur- 

 rounding country and within banks of clay. This is the largest stream 

 in eastern Texas, and its mouth forms a harbor near which the sulphur 



Fig. 31. — The Tarpon Inn, Frocport, Brazoria County, Texas. 



mines are located. No rocks are to be seen along the banks of this 

 stream or, indeed along those of any other stream in this region, for 

 many miles above the mouth, as the entire lower courses of all these 

 rivers lie upon the coastal plain. 



Freeport, at the end of the railroad, is a new town, founded because 

 of the sulphur industry and entirely dependent upon it. The general 

 offices of the company are located here and the mines themselves are 

 three miles away at the very edge of the gulf. The newness and well- 

 kept appearance of the village impress us very favorably in comparison 



