The Galveston-Houston Packet: Steamboats on Buffalo Bayou

Andrew W. Hall

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781614237495
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Many imagine the settlement of the American West as signaled by the dust of the wagon train or the whistle of a locomotive. During the middle decades of the nineteenth century, though, the growth of Texas and points west centered on the seventy-mile water route between Galveston and Houston. This single vital link stood between the agricultural riches of the interior and the mercantile enterprises of the coast, with a round of operations that was as sophisticated and efficient as that of any large transport network today. At the same time, the packets on the overnight Houston-Galveston run earned a reputation as colorful as their Mississippi counterparts, complete with impromptu steamboat races, makeshift naval gunboats during the Civil War, professional gamblers and horrific accidents.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Arroyo Cibolo
• 2. Snags
• 3. Gone to Texas
• 4. Years of Growth and Stability
• 5. The Texas Marine Department
• 6. Rebuilding
• 7. Morgan Moves In
• 8. The Final Years
• Appendix: Steamboats Running on Buffalo Bayou
• Notes
• Bibliography
• About the Author