The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 28, July 1924 - April, 1925 Page: 288
344 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
ability of his route for a railroad were copied extensively in the
newspapers of Texas and Arkansas. From a study of these and
the diary and maps of Lieutenant Emory,2 who had accompanied
Kearney, the people of this region realized that if roads were
opened from their frontier to the Rio Grande Valley to connect
with Cooke's road, there would then be a good southern road to
California. Now that the question of a road to the Pacific was
of utmost importance to the public, Texas and Arkansas were
no longer willing to concede that Missouri had a monopoly on
"'the only avenue of emigration and commerce.'' Herein lies
the germ of the future struggle between the North and South
over the Pacific Railroad.
Opportunely, the United States Government also was inter-
ested, after the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in opening roads
to the Rio Grande Valley. Engineers were put into the field
to explore, and, during the first half of the year 1849, the com-
bined action of the people and the government resulted in the
opening of four new roads leading into the Rio Grande Valley:
(1) from Fort Smith to Santa F6, (2) from Fort Smith through
northern Texas to El Paso, (3) from San Antonio and Austin
to El Paso, via Fredericksburg, called the "Emigrant" or "Upper"
El Paso road, and (4) from San Antonio and Corpus Christi to
El Paso via Las Moras River, called the "Military" or "Lower"
El Paso road. Over these four new roads4 and the Old Santa Fe
Trail streams of emigrants poured into the Rio Grande Valley,
from which region the majority followed the wagon road of Cooke,
which soon became known as the Southern Emigrant Road.6
'Emory, Notes of a Military Reconnaissance, 186-7, in House executive
documents, 30 congress, 1 session, no. 41; and in Senate executive docu-
ments, 30 congress, 1 session, no. 7.
ITexas Democrat (Austin), February 24, and March 10, 1849; Creuz-
baur, Guide to California and the Pacific Ocean, (1849); The Corpus
Christi Star, January 13 and 27, February 3, 1849; Democratic Telegraph
and Register (Houston), January 25, 1849; The Northern Standard
(Clarksville), February 17, 1849; The Arkansas Banner (Little Rock),
January 2 and 9, February 13, 1849.
'Young, Map of the State of Texas, (1853); Colton, Texas, (1855);
(Anonymous), Texas and Part of New Mexico, (1856); Johnson, New Map
of the State of Texas, (1862).
'The Southern Emigrant Road differed from Cooke's in that Cooke
followed down the San Pedro about fifty miles, then struck across to
Tucson, while the emigrants followed the old Spanish mule trail through
Santa Cruz to Tucson.288
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 28, July 1924 - April, 1925, periodical, 1925; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101087/m1/293/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.