NEW YORK, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1877. 



I Volume 8, Number 1. 



I 1 7 < hatbam Ml. (City Hall Bor.) 



A. FRIENDLY SERVICE. 



For frar*8f, and Stream* 



ON Saturday, the 0th insl,., 1 received an invitation 

 ■ mi Mr. J. G. Tracy, Sect clary of the Houston & 

 ■ ■ st.irn Railway, lo accompany a rj&rCy of officials 



of Llie road lo its present lermnuis oil Hie following Mon- 

 ffl y. This road is intended to inn lo the i'io Grande, but 

 JT?I i niv ilurly one miles have been built, from Houston. 

 1 knew Lliat the pi i OHJ I] Which it passes are at this 



Reason of the year swarming with wild fowl, and I knew 

 thai we mfgln, have a merry Limp of it with the dog- and 

 ii invitation with alacrity, 

 ROti forthwith called upon -., jjoHllg gentleman of TTouston, 

 ■ !i " !»ti Iwi a One "bird Dogs scaevei followed a sports- 

 I "i, | i induce li ■ in in join in Hie eixplll'sion, Unfortun- 

 ately 1 luiiiid him sicTi with a cold, and unable to fro, 

 vln.-i I'.n-: a biller disappointment to me, as I was 

 ufleily dogli up , My friend offered me Ids dogs, 

 hin the rascals could nMbe Ijemtacled lo accompany me. 

 '' lli J '""l d • ■ ' ■ " ■ ■ ■■ nl llieir lads, us if they 



m - i losny: "You arc ver; »ood looking, hut you can't 

 eume in," and with all Hie coaxing i cduld do, refused to 



ni'l ■■ ftTI inch. 



njjlg T was at lire ilrpot, 



down wiihamini.n . i, ..,...,. .,. 



llieir way to 



a silver hell, not a cloud in the sky, and one of those 

 singular "Texas Northers" piping away at a tremeuduous 

 rale. The temperature was a point or two below freezing; 

 an unusual thing for this latitude. Soon I was joiued by 

 Mai. ,J. W. Goodwin, Chief Engineer, and shorlly after 

 him came a company of about a dozen, nearly all bearing 

 shot. -guns or rifles, but not one with a dog. I asked Mr. 

 Peter Floeek, a Houstou banker, and Vice-President of the 

 road-. "Why is it that you bring no dogs?" Said he, " we 

 need no rjrflgs. BogS would only be in the way. We shall 

 have plenty of fun without them." Presently came Mr. 

 J. G. Tracy, in charge of a large box, over the edges of 

 whioll a great many bottles were seen poking Lheir inter- 

 esting head*. A huge demijohn also accomj auied the 



The object of Ibis trip was to give (he Stale .Railroad In- 

 spector a chance to examine and report upon the last ten 

 miles completed on this road. If bis report should be 

 favorable, it entitles She company to a donation from the 

 Stale of sixteen sections, or ten Ihousand two hundred and 

 foily ncres of land for each mile of road, and also allows 

 Ihem to sell bonds lo the amount of $10,000 per mile. A 

 number, like myself, took advantage of Lhe trip for pleas- 

 ure and observation . 



At 10:15 the whistle blew, and all jumped 

 This road has a gunge of only ilnvo feet, and the coach 

 provided for us seemed so small, that I till 



should have a jam of it, but fttfi d mcie 



pf root's for ... | Lad capa- 



city for about thirty-six, and our party did not Teach 

 twenty. The train moved off slowly, not more than ten 

 or twelve miles an hour, in order to give a number of 



strangers an opportumly to observe 

 Tint eoDNTTtv 

 through which we were passing. I look a stand outside, 

 in spite of the chilling norther, to take notes of the same. 

 Alter clearing the outskirts of Houston, it seemed an in- 

 terminable ocean of prairie, except that, a few miles to the 

 north and south of us were two great lines of timber, ex- 

 tending westward as far as the eye could reach. Thai to 

 thg tigllt Of us was the forests of Buffalo Bayou; that to 

 the left, lhe forests of Brag's Bayou. The road passed 

 nearly equidistant, between the two, over a plain utterly 

 treeless, smooth as n billiard table, 3nd covered over at 

 Ihi.H season v.'iih a den.se mailing of grass. There were, 

 however, no cattle upon Ibis great natural pasture. The 

 furious norther had driven them all to seek the shelter of 

 the forests. 



Neither were there any farms at all upon this great 

 prairie, after passing three m I'oui miles lrom ItoUfctOltj 

 but. lhe land lay virgin ami untouched, just as God made 

 it. The sod is aJnlOSl jet black, ami evidently very strong. 

 Give it drainage in lhe direction of 1he bayous to the right 

 and left, and put a thrifty population upon it, aid this 

 great vireiu field Wi.uld soon blostoni like a garden. Ami 

 lhe day will not he long delayed before a great, garden it 

 will be. ! ; Dial climate, producing almost 



noket-rt thriving city almost in 



