We
are all familiar with the fact that on August 30, 1836, John K. Allen
and his brother Augustus C. Allen advertised the new town of Houston to
be established on the south bank of Buffalo Bayou near its junction
with White Oak bayou. Many persons of the time spoke of the Allen
brothers as land speculators, or even worse, but few persons would have
used another term for the pair, namely, visionaries. One excellent
example of their visionary qualities can be found in the story of the
Texas Steam Mill Company.
Some time in the earliest stages of the creation of the town of Houston in late 1836 or very early 1837, the Allens, or perhaps more likely, Augustus Allen, convinced the distinguished mathematician and scientist Elijah Hinsdale Burritt to build a sophisticated industrial enterprise in Houston.
Elijah Burritt was born in New Britain, Connecticut on April 20, 1794. He was trained as a blacksmith and then graduated from Williamstown College in Massachusetts. He published his first book "Logarithmick Arithmetick" in 1818. The book contained a new and correct table of logarithms of the natural numbers from 1 to 10,000, extended to 7 places.
Burritt married Ann W. Watson of Milledgeville, Georgia on October 28, 1819, and there he edited a weekly paper for several years. After an incident in 1829 involving an abolitionist pamphlet which caused him to flee the state, Burritt returned to New Britain where he was the principal of a private school. It was during this period that Burritt published his most significant works.
His "Universal Multipliers" was published in August, 1830. The book was used for computing simple and compound interest, and it also included tables of annuities. Burritt sold the copyright to this book in November, 1830 for $10,000.
An astronomy textbook, 'The Geography of the Heavens', was published in 1833 and the accompanying volume of celestial maps entitled "Atlas, Designed to Illustrate the Geography of the Heavens" was printed in 1835. The "Atlas of the Heavens" was a set of six hand-colored engravings of 16"x14" celestial charts of constellations with figures derived from Greek and Roman mythology. Even today, these engravings are highly prized. A set sells for about $4500.
Yet, in spite of this apparent success, Burritt, at age 43, decided to embark on a challenging new adventure. He was "going to Texas." The letter written to his wife Ann in the early morning of his departure from New Haven reveals the strong emotions that he felt:
"The commencement of this Texas Expedition has been full of toil and sacrifice. It has pressed upon my spirits, not to say upon my frame, with the weight of many mountains. My energies, mental and feeling sound, have grappled with the great duties and consignments involved in it, for the last month or two, with so ever present consequences that I am dealing with the elements of my own destiny and those of my family. There is nothing of sport or of pastime in it, to me."
Within one year of the announcement of the establishment
of the town of Houston, Burritt had recruited a colony of skilled
craftsmen and artisans to join him with their families in the new
Republic of Texas. On August 30, 1837, Burritt and his associates left
New Britain, Connecticut for Houston, transporting equipment and
machinery along the interior waterways of the Ohio and Mississippi
Rivers through New Orleans to Galveston on September 29 and, then, to
Houston on October 3.
The Texas Steam Mill Company was incorporated by an act of the Congress of the Republic of Texas on December 16, 1837 and it was established to "operate by steam power or otherwise in Texas a saw mill, a grist mill, a planing mill, a lathe and shingle mill" and any other manufacturing or mechanical business they wish to pursue.
Burritt himself outlined the terms of the agreement with the Allen brothers:
"The owners of the city lots in Houston and vicinity have donated all the timber upon a 1,000 acres immediately opposite the city (as here represented) with a fee simple of 2 acres for our buildings and garden together with the privilege of cultivating as much other ground in the neighbourhood as we please."
The location of this steam saw mill tract was on the east bank of White Oak Bayou, immediately north of its junction with Buffalo Bayou. The site is prominently displayed on the Girard map of Houston of 1839.
The
Burritt party arrived in Galveston aboard the brig Elbe on September
29, 1837, one month to the day from their departure from New Britain.
A brig is a vessel with two square-rigged masts. Brigs were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries and they were fast and maneuverable and were used as both naval war ships and merchant ships. They fell out of use with the arrival of the steam ship because they required a relatively large crew for their small size and were difficult to sail into the wind.
While Burritt waited for a boat to take him to Houston, he and his friends found the conditions at Galveston to be quite extraordinary:
"There are several thousand persons hanging about the place, said accommodations only for about 500. The daily arrival of Emigrants from the States averages from 50 to 100 – all hungry – all worn out with the fatigues of their journey. There is nothing to be had here to eat, except fresh meat and bread. One of our fellow passengers had about a ½ a bushel of potatoes left from his stores, which he sold for $3. — and another gentleman has just informed me that he paid $10 a bushel yesterday! Sweet potatoes bring $3 and $4 a bushel. Common bar soap is $1.00 per pound, milk $1.00 a gallon, eggs $1.00 - $1.50 a dozen. Flour was 30 cents a barrel the day before our arrival, but so much was brought in by our vessel that the price fell to 15 cents. I bought a barrel of sugar yesterday at 15 cents and a barrel of pork for $28. Rice is 12 ½ cents. Molasses $1.12 cents a gallon. Lamp oil is $2.50. Spinner Candles $1.00 a pound. Thick Cowhide boots $10.00. Shoes (men’s) and clothing in proportion. If Mr. Ward could come over here immediately with the articles I have named, say even but $1000 worth, he could not fail to realize $3,000 clear profits. The best single article which could be brought is Irish potatoes. They are just as certain to fetch $2 a bushel here as they are 20 cents there!"
Elijah Burritt and other key personnel took a boat to Houston on October 3 to look over their site and handle other business. His observations provide a unique assessment of the town as well as a glimpse of the frontier nature of the town:
"Houston is 15 miles above Harrisburg and is just this distance too far up the bay for the seat of Government, so far as navigation is concerned, the head of which is properly at Harrisburg. Steam Boats ascend beyond that with difficulty. The grounds at Houston are however, decidedly, preferable. They rise about 40 feet above the water and they maintain an unbroken level for many miles. I think the ground opposite Houston is handsomer than Houston itself, and would have been chosen for the site of the city had it been prairie instead of a dense forest."
"Brother William Cornwall Smith (our engineer) and two hired men went with me to spy out the country. We staid [sic] in Houston 2 days. Selected a location for our buildings, and the 2nd night slept under a rude shelter constructed with our own hands in the wild Forests of Texas, and there ate our first meal by the light of the fire which cooked it. An Indian brought along a fine deer for the hind quarter of which I paid him 50 cents."
Burritt returned to Galveston on October 9 to find that the Racer's Storm had destroyed all but one of the 13 vessels in the harbor at Galveston. The Racer's Storm was a major hurricane that was first observed near Jamaica by the British vessel HMS Racer, and subsequently, the storm has taken its name. Their ship, the Elbe, was beached high on land and a total loss. The boat, nevertheless, was pressed into service first as a hotel, then converted into a multi-cell jail for the county and city of Galveston which it functioned as for six years.
Fortunately, all members of the colony were safe and "all our property escaped unimpaired." The women of the party, though abandoned by the Elbe's Captain's Mate and half the crew during the Racer's Storm, endured the wreckage of the storm with the falling masts and spars "cool and collected" and without panic. Elijah Burritt and his party left Galveston for Houston with their goods on October 12, 1837.
The
Racer's Storm was the least of the difficulties for the members of the
Texas Steam Mill Company. Six members of the party contracted yellow
fever in Houston and died. Nathan Hosmer Andrews, Burritt's cousin and
a skilled carriage maker, died in Houston of fever on Oct 27, 1837.
Jabez Cornwall, a director of the company and Burritt's brother-in-law,
died on November 9, 1837. Elijah Burritt himself died of yellow fever
on January 4, 1838. Even after Elijah Burritt's death, the Texas Steam
Mill Company took about six months to get started and recorded its land
on June 23, 1838 (see HCDR Vol. A, p. 232, 203, 513). Nevertheless,
after the death of so many members of the company, the project was
abandoned and the survivors returned to Connecticut.
Although the Texas Steam Mill Company venture ended in complete failure, that does not deny the "vision" of the Allen brothers in this enterprise. No steam saw mill, or other mills, were ever built on the tract awarded to the company. In 1902, the city built its first sewage treatment facility on the site. The full extent of the extraordinary nature of this business venture can only be found in a review of the estate of Elijah Burritt.
Elijah H. Burritt died intestate about January 4, 1838 in
Harris County. His sister Mrs. Emily Taylor (nee Emily Burritt) was the
sole heir and blood relation in the county. She inherited his estate of
approximately sixty books and several fine scientific instruments which
were sold at auction to Robert A. Irion, the secretary of state of the
Republic of Texas, on April 15, 1838 for the rather meager sum of $467
for the lot.
The key to Burritt's intentions for the Texas Steam Mill Company lay in his books. In addition to books on religion, philosophy, mathematics, astronomical navigation, geography and political science, there was an inordinate number of technical publications on the construction and development of railroads. For instance:
Mitchell's Compendium of the Internal Improvements of the United States: Comprising General Notices of All the Most Important Canals and Rail-roads, Throughout the Several States and Territories of the Union, Together with a Brief Notice of Works of Internal Improvement in Canada and Nova Scotia
By Samuel Augustus Mitchell, Mitchell, Samuel Augustus, 1792-1868
Published by Mitchell & Hinman, 1835
Lectures on the Steam-engine: In which Its Construction and Operation are Familiarly Explained : with a Sketch of Its Invention and Progressive Improvement : and an Account of the Present State of the Liverpool Railway, and the Performances on It, and of Steam Carriages on Turnpike Roads
By Dionysius Lardner
Published by J. Taylor, 1832
Treatise on Rail-roads and Internal Communications: Compiled from the Best and Latest Authorities, with Original Suggestions and Remarks
By Thomas Earle
Published by J. Grigg, 1830
A Practical Treatise on Rail-roads, and Interior Communication in General: With Original Experiments, and Tables of the Comparative Value of Canals and Rail-roads ...
By Nicholas Wood
Published by Knight and Lacey, 1825
Report on steam carriages
By Parliament, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Steam Carriages, Great Britain Parliament. House of Commons, Benjamin Chew Howard, Great Britain, United States. Congress (22nd, 1st session : 1831-1832). House, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Internal Improvements, United States. Congress House, United States, Congress
Published by Duff Green, Printer, 1832
An historical and practical treatise upon elemental locomotion, by means of steam carriages on common roads: showing ... the rise, progress, and description of steam carriages; the roads upon which they may be made to travel ...
By Alexander Gordon
Published by Printed for B. Steuart, and W. Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1832
A treatise on practical surveying,: which is demonstrated from its first principles. Wherein every thing that is useful and curious in that art, is fully considered and explained
By Robert Gibson, John D. Craig, Jun Fielding Lucas, Joseph Cushing, J. Robinson, John W. Suggett, Mathematical tables: difference of latitude and departure ...
Published by Published by F. Lucas, Jun. and Joseph Cushing. J. Robinson, printer., 1818
A system of geometry and trigonometry: together with a treatise on surveying : teaching various ways of taking the survey of a field : also to protract the same and find the area : likewise, rectangular surveying, or, an accurate method of calculating the area of any field arithmetically without ...
By Abel Flint
Published by Cooke & Hale, 1818
From these titles in Burritt's collection, it seems
reasonable to conclude that Burritt intended to do more than simply
build a steam saw mill. The articles of incorporation mention the
company's plan operate a saw mill, a grist mill, a planing mill, a
lathe and shingle mill, but, also, any other manufacturing or
mechanical business they wish to pursue. Augustus Allen was a man of
grand ideas. Allen knew the potential that a railroad could bring to
his commercial center and he placed the manufacturing center in a
prominent location in town.
Although the Burritt venture failed, Augustus Allen continued to pursue his vision for a railroad. Allen was a director of the Houston and Brazos Rail Road which was chartered on January 26, 1839. However, lacking the technical expertise of Burritt and his craftsmen, the Houston and Brazos Rail Road was unable to construct a viable rail system. It's charter was revoked. It was not until 1853 that Houston's first railroad, the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos & Colorado Railroad, began operations. By 1912, Houston was a major regional rail center that boasted of a network of seventeen railroads -- the embodiment of Allen's vision.
The transcriptions of the letters that Elijah H. Burritt wrote to his wife are found at: http://www.epperts.com/lfa/BB71.html
All material printed on
this
page
and this web site is copyrighted. All rights reserved.Some time in the earliest stages of the creation of the town of Houston in late 1836 or very early 1837, the Allens, or perhaps more likely, Augustus Allen, convinced the distinguished mathematician and scientist Elijah Hinsdale Burritt to build a sophisticated industrial enterprise in Houston.
Elijah Burritt was born in New Britain, Connecticut on April 20, 1794. He was trained as a blacksmith and then graduated from Williamstown College in Massachusetts. He published his first book "Logarithmick Arithmetick" in 1818. The book contained a new and correct table of logarithms of the natural numbers from 1 to 10,000, extended to 7 places.
Burritt married Ann W. Watson of Milledgeville, Georgia on October 28, 1819, and there he edited a weekly paper for several years. After an incident in 1829 involving an abolitionist pamphlet which caused him to flee the state, Burritt returned to New Britain where he was the principal of a private school. It was during this period that Burritt published his most significant works.
His "Universal Multipliers" was published in August, 1830. The book was used for computing simple and compound interest, and it also included tables of annuities. Burritt sold the copyright to this book in November, 1830 for $10,000.
An astronomy textbook, 'The Geography of the Heavens', was published in 1833 and the accompanying volume of celestial maps entitled "Atlas, Designed to Illustrate the Geography of the Heavens" was printed in 1835. The "Atlas of the Heavens" was a set of six hand-colored engravings of 16"x14" celestial charts of constellations with figures derived from Greek and Roman mythology. Even today, these engravings are highly prized. A set sells for about $4500.
Yet, in spite of this apparent success, Burritt, at age 43, decided to embark on a challenging new adventure. He was "going to Texas." The letter written to his wife Ann in the early morning of his departure from New Haven reveals the strong emotions that he felt:
"The commencement of this Texas Expedition has been full of toil and sacrifice. It has pressed upon my spirits, not to say upon my frame, with the weight of many mountains. My energies, mental and feeling sound, have grappled with the great duties and consignments involved in it, for the last month or two, with so ever present consequences that I am dealing with the elements of my own destiny and those of my family. There is nothing of sport or of pastime in it, to me."
Within one year of the announcement of the establishment
of the town of Houston, Burritt had recruited a colony of skilled
craftsmen and artisans to join him with their families in the new
Republic of Texas. On August 30, 1837, Burritt and his associates left
New Britain, Connecticut for Houston, transporting equipment and
machinery along the interior waterways of the Ohio and Mississippi
Rivers through New Orleans to Galveston on September 29 and, then, to
Houston on October 3.The Texas Steam Mill Company was incorporated by an act of the Congress of the Republic of Texas on December 16, 1837 and it was established to "operate by steam power or otherwise in Texas a saw mill, a grist mill, a planing mill, a lathe and shingle mill" and any other manufacturing or mechanical business they wish to pursue.
Burritt himself outlined the terms of the agreement with the Allen brothers:
"The owners of the city lots in Houston and vicinity have donated all the timber upon a 1,000 acres immediately opposite the city (as here represented) with a fee simple of 2 acres for our buildings and garden together with the privilege of cultivating as much other ground in the neighbourhood as we please."
The location of this steam saw mill tract was on the east bank of White Oak Bayou, immediately north of its junction with Buffalo Bayou. The site is prominently displayed on the Girard map of Houston of 1839.
The
Burritt party arrived in Galveston aboard the brig Elbe on September
29, 1837, one month to the day from their departure from New Britain.A brig is a vessel with two square-rigged masts. Brigs were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries and they were fast and maneuverable and were used as both naval war ships and merchant ships. They fell out of use with the arrival of the steam ship because they required a relatively large crew for their small size and were difficult to sail into the wind.
While Burritt waited for a boat to take him to Houston, he and his friends found the conditions at Galveston to be quite extraordinary:
"There are several thousand persons hanging about the place, said accommodations only for about 500. The daily arrival of Emigrants from the States averages from 50 to 100 – all hungry – all worn out with the fatigues of their journey. There is nothing to be had here to eat, except fresh meat and bread. One of our fellow passengers had about a ½ a bushel of potatoes left from his stores, which he sold for $3. — and another gentleman has just informed me that he paid $10 a bushel yesterday! Sweet potatoes bring $3 and $4 a bushel. Common bar soap is $1.00 per pound, milk $1.00 a gallon, eggs $1.00 - $1.50 a dozen. Flour was 30 cents a barrel the day before our arrival, but so much was brought in by our vessel that the price fell to 15 cents. I bought a barrel of sugar yesterday at 15 cents and a barrel of pork for $28. Rice is 12 ½ cents. Molasses $1.12 cents a gallon. Lamp oil is $2.50. Spinner Candles $1.00 a pound. Thick Cowhide boots $10.00. Shoes (men’s) and clothing in proportion. If Mr. Ward could come over here immediately with the articles I have named, say even but $1000 worth, he could not fail to realize $3,000 clear profits. The best single article which could be brought is Irish potatoes. They are just as certain to fetch $2 a bushel here as they are 20 cents there!"
Elijah Burritt and other key personnel took a boat to Houston on October 3 to look over their site and handle other business. His observations provide a unique assessment of the town as well as a glimpse of the frontier nature of the town:
"Houston is 15 miles above Harrisburg and is just this distance too far up the bay for the seat of Government, so far as navigation is concerned, the head of which is properly at Harrisburg. Steam Boats ascend beyond that with difficulty. The grounds at Houston are however, decidedly, preferable. They rise about 40 feet above the water and they maintain an unbroken level for many miles. I think the ground opposite Houston is handsomer than Houston itself, and would have been chosen for the site of the city had it been prairie instead of a dense forest."
"Brother William Cornwall Smith (our engineer) and two hired men went with me to spy out the country. We staid [sic] in Houston 2 days. Selected a location for our buildings, and the 2nd night slept under a rude shelter constructed with our own hands in the wild Forests of Texas, and there ate our first meal by the light of the fire which cooked it. An Indian brought along a fine deer for the hind quarter of which I paid him 50 cents."
Burritt returned to Galveston on October 9 to find that the Racer's Storm had destroyed all but one of the 13 vessels in the harbor at Galveston. The Racer's Storm was a major hurricane that was first observed near Jamaica by the British vessel HMS Racer, and subsequently, the storm has taken its name. Their ship, the Elbe, was beached high on land and a total loss. The boat, nevertheless, was pressed into service first as a hotel, then converted into a multi-cell jail for the county and city of Galveston which it functioned as for six years.
Fortunately, all members of the colony were safe and "all our property escaped unimpaired." The women of the party, though abandoned by the Elbe's Captain's Mate and half the crew during the Racer's Storm, endured the wreckage of the storm with the falling masts and spars "cool and collected" and without panic. Elijah Burritt and his party left Galveston for Houston with their goods on October 12, 1837.
The
Racer's Storm was the least of the difficulties for the members of the
Texas Steam Mill Company. Six members of the party contracted yellow
fever in Houston and died. Nathan Hosmer Andrews, Burritt's cousin and
a skilled carriage maker, died in Houston of fever on Oct 27, 1837.
Jabez Cornwall, a director of the company and Burritt's brother-in-law,
died on November 9, 1837. Elijah Burritt himself died of yellow fever
on January 4, 1838. Even after Elijah Burritt's death, the Texas Steam
Mill Company took about six months to get started and recorded its land
on June 23, 1838 (see HCDR Vol. A, p. 232, 203, 513). Nevertheless,
after the death of so many members of the company, the project was
abandoned and the survivors returned to Connecticut.Although the Texas Steam Mill Company venture ended in complete failure, that does not deny the "vision" of the Allen brothers in this enterprise. No steam saw mill, or other mills, were ever built on the tract awarded to the company. In 1902, the city built its first sewage treatment facility on the site. The full extent of the extraordinary nature of this business venture can only be found in a review of the estate of Elijah Burritt.
Elijah H. Burritt died intestate about January 4, 1838 in
Harris County. His sister Mrs. Emily Taylor (nee Emily Burritt) was the
sole heir and blood relation in the county. She inherited his estate of
approximately sixty books and several fine scientific instruments which
were sold at auction to Robert A. Irion, the secretary of state of the
Republic of Texas, on April 15, 1838 for the rather meager sum of $467
for the lot.The key to Burritt's intentions for the Texas Steam Mill Company lay in his books. In addition to books on religion, philosophy, mathematics, astronomical navigation, geography and political science, there was an inordinate number of technical publications on the construction and development of railroads. For instance:
Mitchell's Compendium of the Internal Improvements of the United States: Comprising General Notices of All the Most Important Canals and Rail-roads, Throughout the Several States and Territories of the Union, Together with a Brief Notice of Works of Internal Improvement in Canada and Nova Scotia
By Samuel Augustus Mitchell, Mitchell, Samuel Augustus, 1792-1868
Published by Mitchell & Hinman, 1835
Lectures on the Steam-engine: In which Its Construction and Operation are Familiarly Explained : with a Sketch of Its Invention and Progressive Improvement : and an Account of the Present State of the Liverpool Railway, and the Performances on It, and of Steam Carriages on Turnpike Roads
By Dionysius Lardner
Published by J. Taylor, 1832
Treatise on Rail-roads and Internal Communications: Compiled from the Best and Latest Authorities, with Original Suggestions and Remarks
By Thomas Earle
Published by J. Grigg, 1830
A Practical Treatise on Rail-roads, and Interior Communication in General: With Original Experiments, and Tables of the Comparative Value of Canals and Rail-roads ...
By Nicholas Wood
Published by Knight and Lacey, 1825
Report on steam carriages
By Parliament, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Steam Carriages, Great Britain Parliament. House of Commons, Benjamin Chew Howard, Great Britain, United States. Congress (22nd, 1st session : 1831-1832). House, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Internal Improvements, United States. Congress House, United States, Congress
Published by Duff Green, Printer, 1832
An historical and practical treatise upon elemental locomotion, by means of steam carriages on common roads: showing ... the rise, progress, and description of steam carriages; the roads upon which they may be made to travel ...
By Alexander Gordon
Published by Printed for B. Steuart, and W. Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1832
A treatise on practical surveying,: which is demonstrated from its first principles. Wherein every thing that is useful and curious in that art, is fully considered and explained
By Robert Gibson, John D. Craig, Jun Fielding Lucas, Joseph Cushing, J. Robinson, John W. Suggett, Mathematical tables: difference of latitude and departure ...
Published by Published by F. Lucas, Jun. and Joseph Cushing. J. Robinson, printer., 1818
A system of geometry and trigonometry: together with a treatise on surveying : teaching various ways of taking the survey of a field : also to protract the same and find the area : likewise, rectangular surveying, or, an accurate method of calculating the area of any field arithmetically without ...
By Abel Flint
Published by Cooke & Hale, 1818
From these titles in Burritt's collection, it seems
reasonable to conclude that Burritt intended to do more than simply
build a steam saw mill. The articles of incorporation mention the
company's plan operate a saw mill, a grist mill, a planing mill, a
lathe and shingle mill, but, also, any other manufacturing or
mechanical business they wish to pursue. Augustus Allen was a man of
grand ideas. Allen knew the potential that a railroad could bring to
his commercial center and he placed the manufacturing center in a
prominent location in town.Although the Burritt venture failed, Augustus Allen continued to pursue his vision for a railroad. Allen was a director of the Houston and Brazos Rail Road which was chartered on January 26, 1839. However, lacking the technical expertise of Burritt and his craftsmen, the Houston and Brazos Rail Road was unable to construct a viable rail system. It's charter was revoked. It was not until 1853 that Houston's first railroad, the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos & Colorado Railroad, began operations. By 1912, Houston was a major regional rail center that boasted of a network of seventeen railroads -- the embodiment of Allen's vision.
The transcriptions of the letters that Elijah H. Burritt wrote to his wife are found at: http://www.epperts.com/lfa/BB71.html