The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 15, July 1911 - April, 1912 Page: 92
382 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Texas Historical Association Quarterly
the methods and difficulties of transportation between Texas and
Mexico when it was dependent upon the slow, squeaking, clumsy
Mexican ox-carts or even the trains of huge freight wagons drawn
by mule-teams. The organization of the wagon-train, the long
drives between watering places, the precautions necessary against
Indians and white robbers are simply but vividly detailed; while
the statements as to the heavy freight charges and the infrequent
arrival of the caravans emphasize to this later generation the cost
and scarcity of even simple luxuries and comforts on the frontier.
Here is presented considerable data, both social and economic,
that may be of service to the future historian of the Texas
frontier. The coming of the railroad to San Antonio in 1877
and its rapid extension westward put the wagon trains out of
business and transformed the adventurous Indian-country freighter
into a ward politician and the head of a transfer company in
San Antonio !
The author has the helpful habit of connecting with interest-
ing incidents the names of living individuals from his wide circle
of acquaintances in both Texas and Mexico. Among the last
chapters are some giving an interesting account of the settlement
of Castroville and the adjacent communities. There is also a list
"from memory" of prominent families in San Antonio between
1845 and 1857, a period, by the way, which belonged to the child-
hood of the author and before he could, by his own account, have
been very well acquainted with the town.
The editor has not succeeded in correcting all errors of gram-
mar and diction; but it would be ungrateful to cavil at the lan-
guage of an old frontiersman, which, indeed, is generally clear
and direct enough. Every person interested in the history of the
border should be glad that the book is written.
CHARLES W. RAMSDELL.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 15, July 1911 - April, 1912, periodical, 1912; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101056/m1/97/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.