A Pictorial History of Texas, From the Earliest Visits of European Adventurers, to A.D. 1879. Page: 68 of 859

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

volume sufficient to form a considerable river, there is a
water power easily commanded sufficient to make it a
second Lowell. From that point to the head of the river,
there is a large amount of fine and available water power.
" Still further west we come to the San Antonio river,
another permanent current stream abounding in valuable
mill and factory sites. Beginning at the town of Goliad,
there is a fall or rapid, where the river passes over a
rocky formation, presenting a fine site for lmachinery.
Goliad is forty or fifty miles from the coast. From that
point to Colonel Skyles' place, below the Conchester crossing
of the river, in the upper part of Karnes county,
there are available points where the water power may be
used to advantage. From the lower part of Colonel
Skyles' place to the Conchester crossing, a distance of
three miles, there is a fall of about thirty feet. There are,
besides some rapids, three several falls; one perpendicular
of six or eight feet; the other two are slopes, and
would require a low dam to control the waters, and are,
one eight and the other eleven feet high. They are formed
by beds of sandstone of excellent quality, The stone is
in layers of convenient thickness for quarrying, and in
inexhaustible quantity. Nature seems to have designed
the locality for an immense m1anufacturinLg city. From
that point to San Antonio there are various sites for machinery.
Still further west, the head waters of the Neuces,
Frio and other streams rising in the mountains afford
ample power for large factories. These streams extend
to the Rio Grande.