The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 40, July 1936 - April, 1937 Page: 19
348 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Prince Solms's Trip to Texas, 1844-1845
to be built. In fact, Prince Solms planned to lay out the road
from Carlshafen to the site of the proposed settlement in such a
way that in the summer of 1845 a railroad could be built on it,
similar to one then used near Ruhrort in Westphalia. The rail-
road was to use live-oak rails and, until locomotives could be
brought over, horses were to draw the cars. The railroad would
mean a considerable saving of time and expense.32
Mindful of the personal welfare of the settlers, as well as of
the interests of the Society, Prince Solms saw fit to call the atten-
tion of the Society to the work of two persons. He believed that
Dr. B. Hill, the agent of the Society at Bremen, had not been
careful enough about the food supplies used on board ship and
those bought for the Society. The salt pork was hardly usable,
the peas would not turn soft from boiling, 'the barrel of brandy
was not good, and the claret was of an inferior quality. Dr.
Theodore Koester, the physician for the first settlement, com-
plained that there were not enough medicines aboard the several
immigrant ships. Prince Solms advised that Dr. Hill be cautioned
about these things.
Henry Francis Fisher came in for much more criticism at the
hands of Prince Solms. Fisher, so the prince said, had collected only
fifteen of the fifty wagons necessary for transporting the settlers,
had not bought any of the draft oxen and cattle for the first settle-
ment, and had not provided any beef cattle and cornmeal. Prince
Solms was willing for Fisher to use the Society's funds until the last
of January for purchasing everything that was still lacking, but
after that date Fisher was to pay for the needed articles out of
his own pocket, since Prince Solms was determined not to let
either the Society's or the settlers' interests suffer through what
he regarded as negligence on Fisher's part.88 There was some fric-
tion between Prince Solms and Fisher over the Society's agent in
Galveston. Solms had appointed D. II. Klaener in September,
82The road was never built by the Society. In fact, the settlers were
taken up the left or east bank of the Guadalupe to a point almost due east
of where New Braunfels, the first settlement, was located and where a good
crossing over the Guadalupe was found. The railroad was never built,
either, but the idea was kept alive for several years, for the Society was
referred to in the records of Fayette County as the Lavaca, Guadalupe,
and San Saba Railroad Company.
8"On February 8, 1845, Prince Solms reported that the colonial council
had decided to send Captain F. W. von Wrede to New Orleans to purchase
those articles which were still needed.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 40, July 1936 - April, 1937, periodical, 1937; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101099/m1/27/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.