| 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." |
| {56 signatures follow} |