San Felipe de Austin July 6. 1829
Doctor Lucius Woodberry.
Dr Sir, On my return to this place a few since I recd your
much esteemed favor of 27 May. I regret that I was absent when
you passed as I should have been happy to have seen you
It gives me great pleasure to hear that you are bound to
Philadelphia for the purpose of consulting with the House in that City
who are concerned with you in Colonization, and I flatter myself
that an efficient impulse will be given to the settlements on Trinity
by your exertions and those of your friends—there cannot be a
doubt that individual profits, as well as much general good to the
country will result from the settlement of the section which has
been assigned to you to the eastward of my Colony— That section
embraces a very interesting portion of Texas-—the Trinity and
Neches rivers run through it, both navigable, and the former
discharges into Galvecton Bay— you will however obtain a more
correct knowledge of its geographical position by examining my map
of Texas which you can see by calling on Mr. Thos. F. Learning of
that City to whom I have sent it.
Texas as a Country, wheither viewed with reference to its
geographical position, its soil, its climate, the number of its rivers and
creeks of pure running water, its Bays and the variety, abundance,
and value of its productions, may be advantageously compared with
any portion of north America. This country has laid dormant for
ages— It was the policy of the Spanish Govt to keep it out of view
and to conceal, as much as possible, its natural advantages— The
grant to my Father Moses Austin to settle a colony in Texas made
by the Spanish Authorities in January 1821, a few months before the
independence of Mexico, was the first deviation from this policy
that had ever occured. After the death of my father I explored the
country in the summer and fall of 1821, and in the succeeding winter
and spring commenced my settlement in the midst of its wilderness
on the Brasos and Colorado rivers Since when the progress of the
new settlements under the fostering hand of the Republic of Mexico
has gradually developed the value of Texas and brought it into
notice. The touch Stone of experience has been applied, and the
result has shewn that our climate is healthy and pleasant, our soil
productive beyond expectation, our seasons regular and rain
sufficiently abundant. Our rivers are navigable, and our harbors safe
and of sufficient depth for all the purposes of commerce.
When I entered Texas in the winter of 1821-22 with the first
emigrants, the idea of forming a settlement in this remote wilderness
amidst tribes of uncivilized Indians was ridiculed by my best friends
as visionary and impracticable— The value of the country was
unknown or greatly doubted, and it was entirely uninhabited except
by savages from the Sabine to the Towns of Bexar and La Bahia
(now called Goliad) and those places were reduced to a weak state
by the indian war Also at that time the Mexican Govt was in an
unsettled and revolutionary state and it was beyond the calculation
of the most judicious to say what shape or form it would ultimately
assume. In answer to any doubts that may now exist as to the value
of Texas as a Country, I would merely refer to what it was when I
commenced, to the difficulties and impediments which retarded my
progress and then ask, wheither I or any other person however
great his perseverance may have been could have formed a
settlement of intelligent worthy and industrious north Americans in this
wilderness, and that too without the aid of power full patronage or
wealth, if the country itself had not afforded the strongest
inducements to emigration by its real and intrinsic value.
There is an immense opening in Texas for the establishment of
Cotton Manufactories— The raw material is raised here in
abundance and of superior quality.— Provisions are cheap and will
daily become cheaper, there are numerous good situations for
Machenery and abundance of good oak, Pine, Cypress, Cedar, Ash
and other timber—the Tariff of Mexico causes a Domestics " to sell
high and as the restrictive System appears to have become a part
of the national policy, fair prospects may be calculated on for the
manufacturer for Many years to come. [Deleted:] I would very
freely engage in an establishment of this kind and nothing but my
being tied down here with colonizing matters prevents my visiting
the north[ern] States of that union with the view of trying to form a
large manufacturing company in Texas.
[Added In a copy—apparently made by J. E. B. Austin:] It will
afford me much pleasure to become acquainted with the house in
Philadelphia with which you are concerned in colonization and to
render them any aid in my power in forwarding the settlement of
Texas.
Stephen F. Austin.