In January 1834 Colonel Juan Nepomuceno Almonte was sent to Texas by Mexican Vice President Valentín Gómez Farías in order to inspect the territory and assess the situation there. Almonte was also to act as an emissary to the Anglo colonists and hear their complaints. Almonte entered Texas through Nacogdoches in May 1834 and spent several months traveling the various departments of Texas before returning to Mexico’s interior in November 1834. In addition to official correspondence regarding his inspection tour, in January 1835 Almonte published his detailed Statistical Report on Texas describing the territory and its inhabitants.
STATISTICAL REPORT ON TEXAS
The geographic position of Texas is extremely advantageous for commerce. Located upon the Gulf of Mexico, between the Republic of the North and the Mexican States, it is easy to see the privileged position which it enjoys for the exportation of its products. It is left to its selection, therefore, to choose the market that best suits it for the sale of its cotton, furs, tobacco, corn, lumber, salted beef and other products which the ever increasing industry of its hard working settlers may produce. The recent recognition of our independence by Spain and the favorable terms of the commercial treaty between the two can not help but be especially advantageous to Texas, due to its proximity to the island of Cuba; and there can be no doubt that it will soon be the principle granary for that island. Above all, the abundance of navigable rivers and of good ports that are found in Texas, even though they may be navigable only for boats of small hold, give it an immense advantage over the rest of the states in the Mexican federation, which unfortunately do not possess the same facilities for the exportation of their products, and whose foreign commerce can not but be unimportant for many years to come. Besides, its climate is perfectly adapted to European settlers, and the number of immigrants is so great that in less than ten years its population has increased five-fold. Lastly, Texas is the most valuable possession of the republic and may God grant that our negligence may not be the cause for the loss of so precious a portion of our territory.
Texas lies within twenty-eight degrees and thirty-five degrees north latitude and seventeen degrees and twenty-five degrees of longitude west of Washington. It borders on the north with the territory of Arkansas, on the east with the state of Louisiana, on the south with the state of Tamaulipas and the Gulf of Mexico, and on the west with Coahuila, Chihuahua, and parts of the territory of New Mexico. It seems that this province began to be settled in the beginning of the last century and in spite of some obstacles there were established several large haciendas rich in cattle, horses and sheep. As late as 1806 there were over one hundred thousand head of cattle and about forty or fifty thousand tame horses. But early in 1810 there was a terrible invasion of wild Indians that destroyed the greater part of the cattle and even property, razing to the ground many of the establishments located at a distance from the centers of population. The decline of Bexar, Bahia del Espíritu Santo [Goliad], and Nacogdoches, the only Mexican settlements that have been able to sustain amidst the calamities that beset them, dates from that time and unless their misfortunes are remedied they will disappear entirely. After the independence of Mexico, Texas was part of the empire of Agustin de Iturbide. It was organized as a province under a political and military chief called a governor. The last one designated by this title was Colonel José Felix Trespalacios. When the country was organized later as a federal government, Texas was joined to Coahuila, and out of the two provinces was formed what we know today as the State of Coahula y Tejas. The constituent assembly of this state later divided its immense territory into three departments, one of them being made up of all that vast territory included between twenty-eight degrees and thirty-five degrees of north latitude and called Texas. Later still a new division was made, erecting an additional department in Coahuila, and recently seven departments were created in the entire state, four in Coahuila and three in Texas, namely: Bexar, Brazos, and Nacogdoches.
The land is, in general, flat and regular but it may be divided into three sections fairly well defined: the first of these unbroken and regular, the second broken or rolling, and the third mountainous. The plains or lowlands lie along the coast from the bay of the Sabine, which is the point at which our dividing line starts, to the Nueces River and comprises an expanse of more than one hundred and thirty leagues in length, varying in width from twenty or twenty-five leagues to five or six in places. This section where it touches the departments of Bexar and the Brazos is bare of heavy timber for building and is made up of immense plains, but it is not so in the part that touches Nacogdoches, where pines, cedars, oaks and other large trees abound.
The broken or rolling section, which begins about six leagues from the coast in some places, and in others about twenty or twenty-five, extends on the north to the Red River of Natchitoches, and on the west to the source of the Medina and the Colorado. Here the mountains begin and beyond them towards the northwest lie other immense plains that extend to the borders of New Mexico and Chihuahua. Timber is more or less abundant in the rolling and mountainous sections, especially along the river banks. These run generally from north to south and all empty into the Gulf of Mexico. The principal ones are the Sabine, the Neches, the Trinity, the Brazos, the Colorado, and the Guadalupe.
Texas, therefore, is well watered by these rivers, as well as by many other of less importance from the Sabine to the Medina, and a scarcity of water is experienced only between the Nueces and the last named river. but even in this short stretch that lies between the two rivers and which is not more than twenty-eight leagues, there are some creeks of considerable size such as the Frio, the Leona, and the Potrance where good settlements could be established and ground cisterns, dams, or wells could be made, all of which would be easy because rains are abundant and the droughts are of short duration.
Texas, in addition to its agriculture should also develop manufacturing, because its small rivers afford the means for the establishment of all kinds of machinery and mills, and since it already has abundant crops of cotton and raises a good many sheep these will give it sufficient wool and cotton for the manufacture of rough cloth and ginghams that should have a great demand among the poor classes in our states because of their cheapness. Lumber, also, should be one of the main items for exportation, and it would be already if the free importation of this article were not allowed in Matamoros, Tampico, and other ports of the Gulf of Mexico.
The climate of Texas varies according to the locality. In the coast and even ten or twelve leagues from it towards the interior the heat in the summer is extraordinary and the thermometer rises often to ninety-six degrees, while in the winter the cold is intense and it snows frequently. Although it can not be said that the coast climate of Texas is deadly, one can not but confess that it is unhealthy. Nevertheless by exposing oneself to the sun as little as possible in the summer and observing a moderate diet during this season one can easily escape the fevers and chills that often incommode the traders and those that stop for a short time in the ports during the months of June, July, and August.
After the rolling or mountainous country is reached a more benign climate is enjoyed, and although it can not be called temperate, the winters are not so severe and the heat is more bearable. No sickness is known there; and truly, doctors in this section will not prosper. Nowhere in Texas is yellow fever or the bubonic plague (black vomit) known.
Texas abounds in all species of quadrupeds such as tigers, wild cats, bears, buffalo, deer, beaver, etc., and there are various fowls and strange birds. The abundance of plants is no less remarkable and already a foreign botanist of the Society of Edinburgh has penetrated that territory who will make known to us shortly what we possess but ignore along this line. Texas also has rich minerals, and although little attention is now given to the metals, it is known that to the north of Bexar, where the Comanches dwell, silver, copper, iron and lead mines are to be found.
The territory of Texas is vast and I estimate it to be twenty-one thousand square leagues. It is suited to the cultivation of cotton, tobacco, sugar-cane, corn, wheat, potatoes, beans, olives, grapes, etc.
The lands best suited for cotton and tobacco are those near the coast and along the river valleys. Those situated further in the interior about twenty or thirty leagues distant from the sea produce wheat, olives, sugar-cane, and potatoes. but generally speaking whatever is produced in one part of Texas can be produced in any other part with more or less abundance.
The population of Texas is found spreading from Bexar to the Sabine River and traveling in that direction there is only one uninhabited portion of about twenty-five leagues in which the traveler will suffer some slight inconvenience. The most distressing part of the road to Texas is that which lies between Rio Grande and Bexar, which is about fifty leagues, that is by what they call the upper road, for by the Laredo road there are more than sixty-five leagues. The hardships of the road are not due to its bad condition but to the uninhabited character of the country and the need of carrying everything, water being so scarce in summer that sometimes it is necessary to carry it in small barrels or gourds. As to the rest, the road is so level and so abundant in grass that one may travel with a number of relay beasts and at a good pace without fear of lacking forage.
The wild Indians are not as fierce as some travelers describe them. It is sufficient for ten or twelve men to travel in company and well armed to go in perfect safety from Mexico to Natchitoches.
The first empresario for colonization that appeared before the Mexican government was the father of Stephen F. Austin, who as soon as the treaty of limits between Spain and the United States was conclude in 1819 immediately conceived the idea of colonizing the said territory. In 1821 he obtained permission from the commandant general of the Interior Provinces to introduce three hundred foreign families, which was later, in 1824 [1823], approved by the constituent Congress. The father of Stephen F. Austin being dead, he himself carried out the enterprise with a steadiness of purpose truly remarkable and he has today the satisfaction of seeing his hopes realized, his colony numbering over six thousand souls. The establishment was at first harassed by the Carancahuas, the Tahuacanos, the Wacos and other wild tribes, but of these some have been exterminated, while others have been forced to move further to the interior of the country where they are still pursued by the new inhabitants that daily migrate from the United States.
There are found in Texas also some tribes of Northern Indians that have passed into our territory for the purpose of settling there, some with permission from the supreme government, and others without it. This is the result of the abandonment in which our frontier has been left. These Indians, fortunately, are half civilized and so far have kept on good terms with us. The principal ones are the Cherokees, the Sawanos [Shawnees], the Kickapoos, and the Choctaws. The first of these are fairly well civilized and many of them are able to read and write in their own language.
SOURCE: Juan N. Almonte. “Statistical Report on Texas,” translated by C.E. Castañeda in The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol, 28, No. 3 (Jan 1925), pp. 177–222.
