climate of Texas from Capt. Marcy's Exploration of the Red River, in
which he was accompanied by Captain, now General, McLellan, from the
_Texas Almanac_, a most violent pro-slavery publication, and from the
letters of a friend, a loyal Texan, who has been driven from his home,
and is now in the North.

In advocating the Memphis and El Paso route for the Pacific Railroad,
Captain Marcy writes as follows:--

The road alluded to, immediately after leaving Fulton, Ark., leads
to an elevated ridge dividing the waters that flow into Red River
from those of the Sulphur and Trinity, and continues upon it, with
but few deviations from the direct course for El Paso and Dona Ana
to near the Brazos River, a distance of three hundred and twenty
miles, and mostly through the northern part of Texas. This portion
of the route has its locality in a country of surpassing beauty
and fertility, and possesses all the requisites for attracting and
sustaining a dense farming population. It is diversified with
prairies and woodland, and is bountifully watered with numerous
spring brooks, which flow off upon either side of the ridge
above-mentioned. The crest of the ridge is exceedingly smooth and
level, and is altogether the best natural or artificial road I
ever traveled over for the same distance.

After leaving this ridge, the road crosses the Brazos near very
extensive fields of bituminous coal, which burns readily, with a
clear flame, and is very superior in quality.

From the Brazos, the road skirts small affluents of that stream
and the Colorado for two hundred miles. The soil upon this section