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From Trails to Rails, 1860 –1900
- Texas A&M University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
From Trails to Rails, 1860–1900 ITH or without railroads, the combined effects of immigration, agriculture, and trade raised the population of Texas to 604,215 in 1860, including 182,566 slaves and 355 free blacks. Only 11 percent of the state’s population lived in towns with more than a hundred inhabitants , and only six towns could be categorized as significant: Galveston, Houston, San Antonio, New Braunfels, Austin, and Marshall. While the state’s cotton and sugar plantations spawned a large number of gristmills, sawmills, and cotton gins, most of these were scattered around the countryside—few plantation owners were likely to finance a major road or bridge project to support one or two local cotton gins. Factories were few and far between. The 1860 census figures for communities located from south to north along the future route of I-35 are interesting. Relentless Indian attacks and the near abandonment of Fort McIntosh in Laredo kept Webb County’s population at 1,397 people, none of them slaves, and well below the 2,906 residents of Nueces County, including Corpus Christi. Bexar County reported 14,454 inhabitants (including 1,395 slaves), as San Antonio reclaimed its position as Texas’ largest city with 8,235 (592 slaves). Galveston was second at 7,307 (1,178 slaves), followed by Houston at 4,815 (1,069).1 Comal County reported 4,030 residents (including 193 slaves) and Travis County was home to 8,080 (3,136); Austin’s totals were 3,494 (977). Moving north, Bell County’s population in 1860 was 4,799 (1,005 slaves) and McLennan County reported 6,206 (2,395). The Brazos River plantations had raised the estimated property value of Waco’s 1,938 slaves to over $1 million. While 103 † Dallas County was home to 8,665 (1,080 slaves), the town of Dallas had just 775 residents, including remnants of Victor Considerant’s remarkable but illfated La Reunion cooperative. In those days, Dallas and the northern counties were more focused on wheat, a crop that was less slave-intensive than cotton. Tarrant County reported 6,020 residents (850 slaves), including 350 in Fort Worth in 1861. Only 251 of Denton County’s 5,031 residents were slaves, and Cooke County’s totals were 3,760 (369).2 Except for the Red River crossing site, the outline for Interstate 35 was clearly in place in 1860. A wagon or stagecoach drawn by horses, mules, or oxen could follow one continuous road from Preston Station or Colbert’s Ferry in Grayson County (not yet Cooke County) to Laredo. After taking the Preston Road south to Dallas, one could continue along Cooke’s Military (Preston ) Road through Waxahachie, Waco, Belton, and Austin. From Austin, as Olmsted described, the principal route ran through San Marcos and New Braunfels to San Antonio. From San Antonio, the old road to Laredo had deteriorated with age (and competition from the Brownsville Road), but it was still there. The state’s economic progress was gradually brought to a halt by the Civil War and would be disrupted greatly by the abolition of slavery. Slavery was a powerful economic force in Texas, though it had been introduced seriously only since the early 1820s and was concentrated in cotton and sugar-growing counties . While Governor Sam Houston and the inhabitants of eighteen counties, including Travis, Williamson, and Cooke, voted against secession in February of 1861, voting against secession was not the same as voting against slavery. If these counties and the end segments of the I-35 corridor (Webb to Bexar and Dallas /Tarrant to Cooke counties) were less slave-intensive than other counties, they and the towns and cotton plantations in between were nevertheless fully integrated with the slave-based economy. Many of the public buildings, roads, and bridges located in I-35 counties were built directly by slaves.3 Other than troop movements, the future route of I-35 cannot be linked to any important Civil War engagements. However, W. W. Heartsill’s wartime diary provides a fascinating view of at least one soldier’s trip to the front. In 1861, Heartsill traveled southwest from Marshall to Waco, there joining the Preston Road en route to Austin, San Antonio, and an eventual station at Camp Wood in Uvalde: April 27: . . . Fourteen miles on and we cross the Brazos River at Waco, the county-site of McLennan County. Two military companies escort us into, 104 ≤hapter 5 [18.117.196.217] Project...