Red River of Louisiana (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1854 edition. Excerpt: ...northerly routes. As this route is included within the 32d and 34th parallels of latitude, it would never be obstructed by snow, as it seldom falls more than two or three inches in depth, and only remains upon the ground a few hours at a time. The whole surface of the country, from Red river to the Rio Grande, is covered with a dense coating of the most nutritious grass, which remains green for nine months in the year, and enables cattle to subsist the entire winter without any other forage. It will be observed that the route here spoken of skirts the headwaters of the rivers flowing towards the Gulf of Mexico, for several hundred miles after leaving Red river, and that a road cannot be made much further to the north without impinging upon the "Llano estacado." From what I have seen of the country south of this, I have no doubt but that a rqad could be made in almost any direction, but would be attended with much greater cost than upon the one I have attempted to describe, for the reason that the surface of the country along this route is much more level. After passing the Brazos river, the road, as I have before observed, runs near the sources of the streams, where the valleys are broad and but little depressed below the general surface; whereas I have remarked that in descending some of these streams, the longitudinal and lateral valleys become deep and abrupt, and where (as would be the case with a Pacific railway) it became necessary to cross these undulations transversely, a greater expenditure of labor would be involved in grading than upon the other route. There would also be many more large streams to bridge; indeed, upon the route I have recommended, there are but two streams (the Brazos and Pecos) of greater width than forty feet, over...