The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 78, July 1974 - April, 1975 Page: 135
562 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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To Build a Pacific Railroad
I35
Rusk supported Walker's scheme because he doubtlessly considered it a
supplement to his unsuccessful Senate efforts in I852 and I853 to establish
rail and telegraphic communication with the Pacific.5" With powerful
opposition not only from outsiders like Thomas Benton and Horace Greeley
(who supported other routes, declared the southern project to be a slavery
road, and were labeled by men like Rusk as abolitionists-therefore enemies
of the South), but from Texans, like R. W. Lougherty, editor of The Texas
Republican and stockholder in the Texas Western, Rusk needed allies as
much as Walker and King.57 Rusk travelled over much of Texas in i853
examining portions of the route and publicizing the practicability of his
proposals. During the summer he contacted A. B. Gray, who had been hired
by Walker to survey the railroad route from East Texas, and William T.
Scott, an incorporator of the Vicksburg and El Paso Railroad Company,
to promote the railroad proposals. In the fall he addressed his constituents
at a great barbeque in Austin and once again offered evidence to Jefferson
Davis of the advisability of the southern Pacific railroad scheme.58
At no time did Sam Houston ever express confidence in the Atlantic and
Pacific enterprise. Although he supported the Pacific railroad and govern-
ment aid, he remained skeptical about the eagerness of Texas to grant land
Jones, September 4, November 3, 8, 1853, Anson Jones Papers (Archives, University
of Texas Library, Austin); The Standard (Clarksville), November 25, 1854. Chatfield was
a former attorney general of New York.
56T. J. Rusk to Jefferson Davis (private), April 21, 1853, in Rusk Papers; Congres-
sional Globe, 32nd Gong., 1st Sess. (Serial X98), 941, 1683-1686; ibid., 32nd Gong.,
2nd Sess. (Serial XxoI), 126-127, 280, 286, 715, 743, 750, 774; ibid., 32nd Cong., 2nd
Sess. (Serial XIo2), 839-840; "Internal Improvements," De Bow's Review, XIV (April,
1853), 411-413; Russell, Improvement of Coammunication with the Pacific Coast, 95-
107.
67Benton to Augustus Dodge, February [no date], 1853, T. H. Benton Papers
(Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis); Rusk to M. T. Johnson, July 9, 1854 (draft?),
Rusk Papers; The Texas Republican (Marshall), May 7, 1853. Rusk agreed to sup-
port King and Walker, but he refused to accept their offer of stock. Rusk to King,
April 3, I854, Rusk Papers.
One may question how much of an ally Walker was for Rusk. Not only were his
character and business practices suspicious, but his position on railroad routes is not
altogether clear either. Even while he was organizing the New York company, Walker
was identified as a supporter of Isaac I. Steven's northern survey and route claims.
He was, according to the Chicago Daily Tribune, one of the organizers of the Minnesota
Western Railroad Company (chartered on March 3, 1853) which had plans to build
a road to connect Chicago to Madison and the Pacific at Puget Sound. Chicago Daily
Tribune, April I, 5, 1853; Stevens to Douglas, March 8, 1853, Stephen A. Douglas
Papers (Special Collection, University of Chicago); Johnson and Malone (eds.), Dic-
tionary of American Biography, XIX, 357.
58Rusk to Scott, July 28, 1853, quoted in The Texas Republican (Marshall), August
6, 1853; ibid., November 26, 1853; Rusk to Davis, May 8, 1853 (misfiled under 1854);
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 78, July 1974 - April, 1975, periodical, 1974/1975; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117149/m1/170/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.