The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 83, July 1979 - April, 1980 Page: 153
464 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Missouri to Texas in 1845
This road was the second one which had been laid out between the
two points by the military, then the nation's principal road-builder.
This 1838 road, constructed under the supervision of Major (later Gen-
eral) William G. Belknap,7 proved very popular with travelers. A letter
which appeared in the Batesville News (Arkansas), for example, extolled
it in glowing terms:
Considering the country, I venture to say there is not a better road west
of the Mississippi. The travel upon it already has given it the appearance of
a veteran Turnpike. Travelers going by this route are always sure of an
excellent road, at all seasons, something rather uncommon, and very much
to be desired, in a country whose roads bear so boggy a character.8
A less effusive and more helpful letter concerning the same road ap-
peared in the Little Rock Gazette, and indicated the popularity of the
route, for it noted that the old road had been deserted since the new
one was finished. The Gazette letter advised four stops for corn and
fodder between Fort Smith and Fort Towson.' Gauldin may have uti-
lized the advice contained in it, for he made one of the suggested stops,
at a Mr. McKinney's for corn.
After Gauldin crossed the Red River into Texas, he encountered the
newly completed "Central National Road of the Republic of Texas,"
or the "National Road." As outlined in the act which Sam Houston
signed in 1844, it began below the mouth of the Elm Fork of the Trinity
River and proceeded "by the nearest and best route to the bank of the
Red River." Major George W. Stell had surveyed the route, which
passed through Paris and assured easier traveling than Gauldin had
found earlier.'0 His approving notations regarding the land match those
of another traveler in the region in 1849, an Englishman named Edward
Smith who reported:
In N.E. Texas, no barren rock nor arid waste, nor offensive marsh exists;
but the spirits and the mind are healthfully excited by the appearance of a
country having a beautifully undulating surface, agreeably diversified by
woodland and prairie, and with an infinitude of little rippling rills, break-
ing it up into hills and valleys."l
7Carolyn Thomas Foreman, "General William Goldsmith Belknap," Chronicles of
Oklahoma, XX (Jan.-Dec., 1942), 130.
SBatesville News (Arkansas), July 18, 1839.
9Little Rock Gazette (Arkansas), Oct. 9, 1839.
10A. W. Neville, The History of Lamar County, Texas (Paris, Texas, 1931), 53.
11Edward Smith, Account of a Journey through North-Eastern Texas (London, 1849), 66.153
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 83, July 1979 - April, 1980, periodical, 1979/1980; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101207/m1/185/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.