TX, GH&H 9/1/1861

To the Honorable the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Houston
 
   The undersigned respectfully represent that they are property holders within the corporate limits of the City and are deeply interested in its permanent growth and prosperity.
   That it is considered by them that the influence of the several Rail Roads emanating from the City have been mainly instrumental in promoting its present advanced state.
   That in their opinion, all other contemplated Railroads having their terminus at this point should receive our hearty cooperation.
   That it is considered that the traffic from Buffalo Bayou should be protected, and encouraged, which stream affords a great natural channel for the produce and commerce of our state at low rates of transportation that our own and the citizens of the interior should not be deprived of the benefits of through the disposal of the various Railroad Depots contemplated to be not contiguous but, at distances so inconvenient and remote as would result in driving from it its legitimate traffic.
   That they therefore unite in cordially and emphatically approving of the action of your honorable body in the adoption on the 20th inst. of the Resolution designating at the request of the Houston, Trinity & Tyler Railroad Company the streets in the City through which its tracks may be laid.
   That the policy adopting such streets as will guide the commerce of the Road to points that will enable the merchants of this city to fairly compete through their enterprise with those of neighboring ones is considered by us as a just and wise policy towards the citizens of the interior and of this city, which they have a right to demand and which the Legislature has wisely provided for under the requirements of the general Railroad law which says that the Commission in the selection of a street or streets through which a Road may pass "shall have a due regard to the commercial interests of such city or town."
   That concurring in the general policy for the city as adopted by your honorable body, they nevertheless respectfully submit their opinion that the Bridge permitted to be built over Buffalo Bayou should not be so made as to admit the passage thereon of Vehicles and Pedestrians, it being considered by them as being impracticable and dangerous for that purpose calculated to too much obstruct the navigation of the Bayou by reason of the constant demand, as a great thoroughfare for its use and which being a local matter alone the additional cost should not be enacted upon foreign Stockholders of a Railroad Corporation.
   They therefore respectfully pray that the portion of the resolution requiring the Bridge to be so constructed as to permit the passage thereon of Vehicles and Pedestrians may be repealed.
   That further the proviso in the Resolution that reads "that said Company to have the connection where they need it for construction purposes only" may be repealed and the following used in substitution: viz
   Provided that said company may commence work at the contemplated junction of its own Road with that of the Galveston, Houston & Henderson R. R. Company" and use same as it may progress for construction and business purposes. Provided that the said Company shall cause twenty five miles of its Road to be built as before provided by September 1st 1861."
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