40 CONSTRUCTION OF ROAD. 
prairie and timber, is gently undulating in surface, and no abrupt ascents or descents occur. A 
grade of fifteen feet to the mile could be readily maintained over the entire distance. "Thereare 
three streams to cross, each of which is about twenty yards in width, and approachable nearly 
on a level. All the materials for constructing the wooden bridges required are at hand at each 
point. These streams are, first, Big Mineral, tributary to Red river, and the Clear and Elm 
forks of the Trinity. 
The Upper Cross Timbers—65.5 miles west of Preston—are about ten miles through from 
east to west, and are bounded on the east by a bluff or table-land 256.5 feet above their lowest 
line. The country is rough and broken in the Timbers, and the embankments and excavations 
would be comparatively heavy. 
Descending from their eastern edge, we pass for the first five miles through a descent of 256.5 
feet, or a surface line of fifty-two feet to the mile. 
From the lowest line of these Cross Timbers to the bluff banks of the Brazos, a distance of 
85.2 miles, we ascend 304.9 feet, or an average ascent of 2.7 feet to the mile. The country 
continues gently undulating along the line of survey, and contains a rather larger proportion of 
timber. There are many small streams, or rather threads of water, which descend each way 
into the Trinity and Brazos on the south, and the Red river on the north. The excavations and 
embankments would be very slight. The only stream to be crossed is the west fork of the 
Trinity, about twenty yards in width, and with gentle approaches. 
The Brazos is bordered on both sides by bluff banks of the same general level of the country, 
and from which it would not be necessary to descend in order to pass the river. At the point of 
crossing, the banks approach to within 1,600 feet of each other, and leave a water-way of 738 
feet, occupied by the immediate bed of the river. All the materials for constructing a bridge, 
both wood and stone, are found upon the spot. Along these bluff banks large coal-fields crop 
out, and from them bituminous coal of good quality can be readily procured. 
From the Brazos to the crossing of Clear fork the country is more undulating, and in this 
distance of 32.4 miles we ascend 402.1 feet at the rate of 12.6 feet to the mile. The Clear fork 
is about forty feet wide, and presents no obstacles to approach. Timber of large size is found 
on its banks. 
In passing from the Clear fork to the Double Mountain fork of the Brazos, an ascent is made 
of 1,755.8 feet in a distance of ninety miles, or at the rate of 19.5 feet to the mile. It would be 
difficult to reduce this grade much, as the whole surface of the country is so uniform that the 
ascent is barely perceptible at any point. From thence to the ‘‘Divide’’ of the waters of the 
Brazos and Colorado, an ascent is made over a distance of eight miles at the rate of forty-five feet 
tothe mile. This rate could be reduced as much as would be considered advantageous. 
At the crossing of the Clear fork of the Brazos the oak timber disappears, and is replaced by 
extensive forests of mezquite. This timber is hard and durable, and covers at least one-half of 
the country between the Brazos and the dividing ridge between its waters and those of the 
Colorado. 
There are no streams of importarice to cross, although many small tributaries of the Clear 
fork and Double Mountain fork of the Brazos intersect the route at short intervals. 
From this divide we descend to the Colorado 308.1 feet, in a distance of 22.8 miles; an aver- 
age descent along the surface of 12.1 feet to the mile. The timber (mezquite) is not so plenty 
west of this divide as east of it; but abundance is found for construction and use. 
The Colorado is about forty feet wide, and can be readily approached; its banks being but 
little below the general level of the country. 
Water is abundant, although the water of the river itself is slightly brackish. From the 
Colorado to the Sulphur springs, at the east base of the Llano Estacado, the ascent is 319 feet 
in a distance of 44 miles, or 6.3 feet to the mile. The mezquite becomes much scarcer until, 
about 10 miles east of the springs, it disappears. Water is abundant in the small streams tribu- 
tary to the Colorado. 
