The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957 Page: 172
616 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
program committee. William C. Binkley, a Texas history scholar
now at Tulane University, was a luncheon chairman. Louis R.
Harlan, of East Texas State Teachers College, presented a paper
on "The Southern Education Board and the Race Issue in Pub-
lic Education"; Robert A. Divine, of the University of Texas,
spoke on "Immigration as a Dynamic Factor in American De-
velopment"; and Robert M. Miller, of Texas Western College,
spoke on "The Social Attitudes of American Methodists, 1919-
1929." A dinner address was given by Holman Hamilton, of the
University of Kentucky, on "Texas Bonds and Yankee Profits," a
part of a larger study on the Compromise Measures of 185o.
An attractive advertisement of the Austin National Bank, 507
Congress, in the capital city of Texas, carried on the back cover
page of The Alcalde for March, 1956, has a historical text of real
interest and value.
OUR TOWN [AUSTIN]
Stock in our town's future as a thriving river port took a decided
upgrade, April 7, 1851, when Captain S. Douglass warped his purring
sidewheeler into the wharf at the foot of Congress Avenue. Colorado
River navigation was now a reality. All along the river Texans were
ready to tell wagon freighters, whose rates from Matagorda to the
capital were $5.00 a loo pounds-to take a flying jump into the Gulf
of Mexico. Skipper Douglass had done the trick. He had left Mata-
gorda without ceremony or announcement-with nothing more than
his reliable sidewheeler and a sharp axe. The arduous trip required
periodic tie-ups so the skipper could go ashore to cut his fuel. It was
"courthouse week" in our town when he arrived and the crowds gath-
ered to give Captain Douglass a rousing reception. Someone suggested
a "substantial testimonal" to the skipper's feat. Hats were passed and
when the celebration for "the birth of a new river transportation era"
had quieted, Skipper Douglass was $450 richer. Somehow, though,
"the new era" died a-borning. Colorado navigation on a commercial
basis failed to develop and remained alive through the years only in
the realm of pipe dreams and political promises. But the river log of
the steamboat captain who literally "axed" his way from Matagorda
Bay to Austin in 1851 undoubtedly carries a glowing account of this
incident in our town as one of his finest hours.
This year's Tyler County Dogwood Festival at Woodville on172
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957, periodical, 1957; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101163/m1/193/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.