Early Texas River Steamers

Steamboating in Texas began on the Brazos, and it began badly. The Handbook of Texas says Henry Austin's Ariel was brought to the river in August 1830 and, after several tries at reaching New Orleans, was laid up to rot near Harrisburg that December. Backed by a planters' subscription list, the Cayuga went into service in 1834, and the Yellow Stone reached San Felipe in February 1836. The river's principal obstacle was the sandbar at Velasco. In 1840 the Constitution, a reclaimed ocean steamer, carried 300 bales of cotton across it.

What the plaque says

Early Texas River Steamers River-shipping efforts in pioneer Texas by steamboat were centered primarily on the Brazos (about 2 mi. E.), and Washington-on-the-Brazos (about 15 mi. N.) was an important distribution point for commercial interests. The Brazos flowed through most productive cotton and sugar region in Texas; steamers greatly aided shipment of these items to markets in New Orleans. The first steamer reached Washington in 1840; by 1849 its docks were busy with steamboats making regular river trips. Between 1820-1840 settlers made journey to Texas on the Red River in steamers if the river was high enough and there were no obstructions. Buffalo Bayou, extending from Houston to Galveston Bay, was waterway traveled most often by steamers, and took over trade from Brazos River because it had better outlet to the sea. Navigation on the Trinity, Colorado, and Sabine rivers also increased inland growth and development. While rivers in Texas seemed to offer possibilities for steamboat travel, the story of river navigation is largely one of disappointment. Most meandering rivers were too shallow, often flooded, needed clearing; many were choked with driftwood. These hazards greatly retarded economic and social development of the state. By 1865 the importance of river steamers was gone. (1967)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Star of the Republic Museum — 14 mi
  A star-shaped museum of the Republic of Texas years, 1836 to 1846, built at Washington-on-the-Brazos after a Brenham campaign and opened on March 1, 1970.
• Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site — 14 mi
  The townsite on the Brazos where delegates met in a cold, unfinished hall in March 1836 to declare Texas independent, with Independence Hall rebuilt and Anson Jones's Barrington farm worked as in 1850.
• Independence and Old Baylor Park — 16 mi
  A crossroads north of Brenham that was the richest town in Texas when it won Baylor University in 1845, refused the railroad, and lost the college to Waco and Belton in 1886.
• Navasota — 19 mi
  A railroad and cotton town where the La Bahia Road crossed the Navasota River, scarred by an 1865 explosion and yellow fever, and the home ground of the songster Mance Lipscomb.

More markers nearby

• Site of Chappell Hill College — 3.4 mi
• Chappell Hill — 3.6 mi
• Site of Soule University for Boys — 3.6 mi
• Cedar Creek Community — 4.1 mi