I just transcribed the report of the committee that selected Austin to be the state of Texas capital. It explains their reasoning and it is not only persuasive but very, VERY interesting. They very heavily considered settlements in the Brazos River valley ---- and the reasons do so are very strong, as they state ---- but in the end Waterloo/Austin made the most sense. Here were their reasons for Austin in 1839, as they wrote it. The highlighted part at the end is just fantastic, exalted prose:
"The commissioners appointed under the act of Congress, dated January 1839, for locating the permanent site of the seat of government for the Republic, have the honor to report to your Excellency that they have selected the site of the town of Waterloo, on the east bank of the Colorado River, with the lands adjoining, as per the deed of the sheriff of Bastrop County, bearing date March 1839, and per the relinquishment of Logan Vandever, James Rodgers, G. D. Hancock, J. W. Harrell, and Aaron Burleson, by Edward Burleson, all under date of the seventh of March, 1839, as the site combining the greatest number of, and the most important advantages to, the Republic, by the location of the seat of government thereon, than any other situation which came under their observation within the limits assigned them, and as being, therefore, their choice for the location aforesaid.
"We have the honor to represent to your Excellency that we have traversed and critically examined the country on both sides of the Colorado and Brazos rivers, from the upper San Antonio Road to and about the falls on both these rivers, and that we have not neglected the intermediate country between them, but have examined it more particularly than a due regard to our personal safety did perfectly warrant.
"We found the Brazos River more central, perhaps, in reference to actual existing population, and found in it and its tributaries, perhaps, a greater quantity of fertile lands than are to be found on the Colorado, but on the other hand, we were of opinion that the Colorado was more central in respect to territory, and this, in connection with the great desideratums of health, fine water, stone, stone coal, water power, etc., being more abundant and convenient on the Colorado than on the Brazos River, did more than counterbalance the supposed superiority of the lands, as well as the centrality of position in reference to population possessed by the Brazos River.
"In reference to the protection to be afforded to the frontier by the location of the seat of government, a majority of the commissioners are of the opinion that that object will be as well attained by the location upon one river as upon the other; being also of opinion that within a very short period of time following the location of the seat of government upon the frontier, the extension of the settlements produced thereby will engender other theories of defense on lands now the homes of the Comanche and the bison.
"The site selected by the commissioners is composed of five-thirds of leagues of land and two labors, all adjoining, and having a front upon the Colorado River somewhat exceeding three miles in breadth. It contains seven thousand seven hundred and thirty-five acres of land, and will cost the Republic the sum of twenty-one thousand dollars or thereabouts, one tract not being surveyed. Nearly the whole front is a bluff of from thirty to forty feet elevation, being the termination of a prairie containing perhaps two thousand acres, composed of a chocolate-colored sandy loam, intersected by two beautiful streams of permanent and pure water, one of which forms at its debouche into the river a timbered rye bottom of about thirty acres. These rivulets rise at an elevation of from sixty to one hundred feet, on the back part of the site or tract, by means of which the contemplated city might, at comparatively small expense, be well watered, in addition to which are several fine bluff springs of pure water on the river at convenient distances from each other.
"The site is about two miles distant from, and in full view of, the mountains or breaks of the tablelands, which, judging by the eye, are of about three hundred feet elevation. They are of limestone formation and are covered with live oak and dwarf cedar to their summits. In the site and its immediate vicinity, stone in inexhaustible quantities and great varieties is found almost fashioned by nature for the builder's hands; lime and stone coal abound in the vicinity; timber for ordinary building purposes abounds on the tract, though the timber for building in the immediate neighborhood is not of so fine a character as might be wished, being mostly cottonwood, ash, burr oak, hackberry, post oak, and cedar, the last suitable for shingles and small frames.
"At the distance of eighteen miles west by south from the site, on Onion Creek, 'a stream affording fine water power,' is a large body of very fine cypress, which is found at intervals up the river for a distance of forty miles, and together with immense quantities of fine cedar, might readily be floated down the streams, as the falls, two miles above the site, present no obstruction to floats or rafts, being only a descent of about five feet in one hundred and fifty yards, over a smooth bed of limestone formation, very nearly resembling colored marble.
"By this route, also, immense quantities of stone, coal, building materials, and in a few years agricultural and mineral products for the contemplated city can be obtained, as no rapids save those mentioned occur in the river below the San Saba, nor are they known to exist for a great distance above the junction of that stream with the Colorado.
"Opposite the site, at the distance of one mile, Spring Creek and its tributaries afford, perhaps, the greatest and most convenient water power to be found in the Republic. Walnut Creek, distant six miles, and Brushy Creek, distant sixteen miles, both on the east side of the river, afford very considerable water power. Extensive deposits of iron ore, adjudged to be of very superior quality, are found within eight miles of the location.
"This section of the country is generally well watered, fertile in a high degree, and has every appearance of health and salubrity of climate. The site occupies and will effectually close the pass by which Indians and outlawed Mexicans have for ages past traveled east and west, to and from the Rio Grande to Eastern Texas, and will now force them to pass by the way of Bacon Bayou and San Saba, above the mountains and the sources of the Guadalupe River.
"The commissioners confidently anticipate the time when a great thoroughfare shall be established from Santa Fe to our seaports, and another from Red River to Matamoros, which two routes must almost of necessity intersect each other at this point. They look forward to the time when the city shall be the emporium of not only the productions of the rich soil of the San Saba, Pedernales, Llano, and Bacon Bayou, but of all the Colorado and Brazos, as also of the produce of the rich mining country known to exist on those streams.
They are satisfied that a truly national city could, at no other point within the limits assigned them, be reared up; not that other sections of the country are not equally fertile, but that no other combined so many and such varied advantages and beauties as the one in question. The imagination of even the romantic will not be disappointed on viewing the valley of the Colorado and the fertile and gracefully undulating woodlands and luxuriant prairies at a distance from it. The most skeptical will not doubt its healthiness, and the citizen's bosom must swell with honest pride when standing in the portico of the capitol of his country he looks abroad upon a region worthy only of being the home of the brave and the free. Standing on the juncture of the routes of Santa Fe and the seacoast, of Red River and Matamoros, looking with the same glance upon the green, romantic mountains and the fertile and widely extended plains of his country—can a feeling of nationality fail to arise in his bosom, or could the fire of patriotism lie dormant under such circumstances?
"Fondly hoping that we may not have disappointed the expectations of either our countrymen or your Excellency, we subscribe ourselves your Excellency’s most obedient servants,
A. C. Horton, Chairman, J. W. Burton, William Menefee, Isaac Campbell."
"The commissioners appointed under the act of Congress, dated January 1839, for locating the permanent site of the seat of government for the Republic, have the honor to report to your Excellency that they have selected the site of the town of Waterloo, on the east bank of the Colorado River, with the lands adjoining, as per the deed of the sheriff of Bastrop County, bearing date March 1839, and per the relinquishment of Logan Vandever, James Rodgers, G. D. Hancock, J. W. Harrell, and Aaron Burleson, by Edward Burleson, all under date of the seventh of March, 1839, as the site combining the greatest number of, and the most important advantages to, the Republic, by the location of the seat of government thereon, than any other situation which came under their observation within the limits assigned them, and as being, therefore, their choice for the location aforesaid.
"We have the honor to represent to your Excellency that we have traversed and critically examined the country on both sides of the Colorado and Brazos rivers, from the upper San Antonio Road to and about the falls on both these rivers, and that we have not neglected the intermediate country between them, but have examined it more particularly than a due regard to our personal safety did perfectly warrant.
"We found the Brazos River more central, perhaps, in reference to actual existing population, and found in it and its tributaries, perhaps, a greater quantity of fertile lands than are to be found on the Colorado, but on the other hand, we were of opinion that the Colorado was more central in respect to territory, and this, in connection with the great desideratums of health, fine water, stone, stone coal, water power, etc., being more abundant and convenient on the Colorado than on the Brazos River, did more than counterbalance the supposed superiority of the lands, as well as the centrality of position in reference to population possessed by the Brazos River.
"In reference to the protection to be afforded to the frontier by the location of the seat of government, a majority of the commissioners are of the opinion that that object will be as well attained by the location upon one river as upon the other; being also of opinion that within a very short period of time following the location of the seat of government upon the frontier, the extension of the settlements produced thereby will engender other theories of defense on lands now the homes of the Comanche and the bison.
"The site selected by the commissioners is composed of five-thirds of leagues of land and two labors, all adjoining, and having a front upon the Colorado River somewhat exceeding three miles in breadth. It contains seven thousand seven hundred and thirty-five acres of land, and will cost the Republic the sum of twenty-one thousand dollars or thereabouts, one tract not being surveyed. Nearly the whole front is a bluff of from thirty to forty feet elevation, being the termination of a prairie containing perhaps two thousand acres, composed of a chocolate-colored sandy loam, intersected by two beautiful streams of permanent and pure water, one of which forms at its debouche into the river a timbered rye bottom of about thirty acres. These rivulets rise at an elevation of from sixty to one hundred feet, on the back part of the site or tract, by means of which the contemplated city might, at comparatively small expense, be well watered, in addition to which are several fine bluff springs of pure water on the river at convenient distances from each other.
"The site is about two miles distant from, and in full view of, the mountains or breaks of the tablelands, which, judging by the eye, are of about three hundred feet elevation. They are of limestone formation and are covered with live oak and dwarf cedar to their summits. In the site and its immediate vicinity, stone in inexhaustible quantities and great varieties is found almost fashioned by nature for the builder's hands; lime and stone coal abound in the vicinity; timber for ordinary building purposes abounds on the tract, though the timber for building in the immediate neighborhood is not of so fine a character as might be wished, being mostly cottonwood, ash, burr oak, hackberry, post oak, and cedar, the last suitable for shingles and small frames.
"At the distance of eighteen miles west by south from the site, on Onion Creek, 'a stream affording fine water power,' is a large body of very fine cypress, which is found at intervals up the river for a distance of forty miles, and together with immense quantities of fine cedar, might readily be floated down the streams, as the falls, two miles above the site, present no obstruction to floats or rafts, being only a descent of about five feet in one hundred and fifty yards, over a smooth bed of limestone formation, very nearly resembling colored marble.
"By this route, also, immense quantities of stone, coal, building materials, and in a few years agricultural and mineral products for the contemplated city can be obtained, as no rapids save those mentioned occur in the river below the San Saba, nor are they known to exist for a great distance above the junction of that stream with the Colorado.
"Opposite the site, at the distance of one mile, Spring Creek and its tributaries afford, perhaps, the greatest and most convenient water power to be found in the Republic. Walnut Creek, distant six miles, and Brushy Creek, distant sixteen miles, both on the east side of the river, afford very considerable water power. Extensive deposits of iron ore, adjudged to be of very superior quality, are found within eight miles of the location.
"This section of the country is generally well watered, fertile in a high degree, and has every appearance of health and salubrity of climate. The site occupies and will effectually close the pass by which Indians and outlawed Mexicans have for ages past traveled east and west, to and from the Rio Grande to Eastern Texas, and will now force them to pass by the way of Bacon Bayou and San Saba, above the mountains and the sources of the Guadalupe River.
"The commissioners confidently anticipate the time when a great thoroughfare shall be established from Santa Fe to our seaports, and another from Red River to Matamoros, which two routes must almost of necessity intersect each other at this point. They look forward to the time when the city shall be the emporium of not only the productions of the rich soil of the San Saba, Pedernales, Llano, and Bacon Bayou, but of all the Colorado and Brazos, as also of the produce of the rich mining country known to exist on those streams.
They are satisfied that a truly national city could, at no other point within the limits assigned them, be reared up; not that other sections of the country are not equally fertile, but that no other combined so many and such varied advantages and beauties as the one in question. The imagination of even the romantic will not be disappointed on viewing the valley of the Colorado and the fertile and gracefully undulating woodlands and luxuriant prairies at a distance from it. The most skeptical will not doubt its healthiness, and the citizen's bosom must swell with honest pride when standing in the portico of the capitol of his country he looks abroad upon a region worthy only of being the home of the brave and the free. Standing on the juncture of the routes of Santa Fe and the seacoast, of Red River and Matamoros, looking with the same glance upon the green, romantic mountains and the fertile and widely extended plains of his country—can a feeling of nationality fail to arise in his bosom, or could the fire of patriotism lie dormant under such circumstances?
"Fondly hoping that we may not have disappointed the expectations of either our countrymen or your Excellency, we subscribe ourselves your Excellency’s most obedient servants,
A. C. Horton, Chairman, J. W. Burton, William Menefee, Isaac Campbell."
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