I've only skimmed it, on my list to read at some point. My degree was in Landscape Architecture & FLO is considered the father of that profession in the US as he designed Central Park.

He actually came through my home county of Gonzales & camped at the El Capote ranch where Teddy Roosevelt also stayed 40-50 years later.

Just ordered on Amazon

I've read the parts about Olmsted's travels through east Texas.

One thing to keep in mind was that Olmsted, from New England, was deeply resentful of the South in general for the practice of slavery. He arrived in Texas with a prejudiced bias on the people and he arrived at a time when Texas was the southern frontier lacking the agrarian and civilized order of many eastern states.

He saw poor, muddy roads, swollen rivers, and swamps and among it all were isolated pioneers. They certainly would have appeared poor to the plantation class that he observed in other Southern states. He didn't find farmers in east Texas and he did not view them as what they really were: stockmen, trappers, and woodsmen. They were subsistence hunters and gatherers whose real wealth lied in the vast forest that was full of free range piney woods cattle and hogs.

As Olmsted traveled west into Texas he encountered Germans engaged in agriculture and living in tight knit communities and his perception of this class of people was much more favorable (and familiar) to him.

I just purchased Frederick Law Olmsted's "A Journey Through Texas" last week. (I ordered a hardcover book through Alibris/Half Price Books for $8, but was instead sent a paperback version. Their customer service is lacking.) I am currently around page 100; Frederick, John, Fanny and Mr. Brown have just encountered their first blue norther in Burleson County in January 1854.

My observations:

The book tells as much about Olmsted as it does about Texas. As a educated New York writer, he chronicles his journey as a travel guide with much detail regarding the landscape, fauna, food, people and culture of the Ohio Valley, Louisiana and East Texas. It is not much of a reach to understand that he will soon be the father of landscape architecture. He clearly considers himself superior to the settlers that he encounters, much of this is likely due to differences in education, money, culture and views of slavery. And although he abhors slavery, he also harbors racist opinions regarding African Americans. I am especially enjoying tracing his journey though regions of Texas that I have (at least some) familiarity. I am learning much that I didn't know about 19th century east/central Texas, such as Gaines Ferry and Fort Tenoxtitln. The settlers/hosts have been relatively briefly sketched out thus far, mostly because Olmsted is on the move.

dcbowers said:

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I just purchased Frederick Law Olmsted's "A Journey Through Texas" last week. (I ordered a hardcover book through Alibris/Half Price Books for $8, but was instead sent a paperback version. Their customer service is lacking.) I am currently around page 100; Frederick, John, Fanny and Mr. Brown have just encountered their first blue norther in Burleson County in January 1854.

My observations:

The book tells as much about Olmsted as it does about Texas. As a educated New York writer, he chronicles his journey as a travel guide with much detail regarding the landscape, fauna, food, people and culture of the Ohio Valley, Louisiana and East Texas. It is not much of a reach to understand that he will soon be the father of landscape architecture. He clearly considers himself superior to the settlers that he encounters, much of this is likely due to differences in education, money, culture and views of slavery. And although he abhors slavery, he also harbors racist opinions regarding African Americans. I am especially enjoying tracing his journey though regions of Texas that I have (at least some) familiarity. I am learning much that I didn't know about 19th century east/central Texas, such as Gaines Ferry and Fort Tenoxtitln. The settlers/hosts have been relatively briefly sketched out thus far, mostly because Olmsted is on the move.

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I have not read the book but it sounds like he was traveling the Old San Antonio Road (Gaines Ferry/Burleson County/Fort Tenoxtitin/Germans near San Antonio).

It was assigned reading for History 326 in 1982 with Dr. Walter Buenger. I have read it once since then. My comment now and then centered around the culture difference between Olmsted and the people he encountered throughout the South.

I am now around page 200 of a "Journey Through Texas". After spending a few nights in a miserable hotel in Austin, Olmsted crosses the "clear blue waters" of the Colorado River and enters beautiful South-Central Texas and the Hill Country (the region around the Comal and Guadalupe Rivers, including New Braunsfels, Bourne Fredericksburg, and San Antonio). Olmsted continues to include much detail regarding the flora of the region, He also clearly has an affinity for the recent German emigrants, including their culture, education and near absence of slavery. Based upon Olmsted's account, it is not surprising that the Germans, who were new arrivals to Texas and never embraced slavery, were not supportive of the Confederacy.

It is only mentioned briefly, but it seems that many of the German emigrants were hood-winked into coming to Texas based upon false promises of free land. Nonetheless, they adapted quickly and established prosperous farming communities throughout the Hill Country. I recall that T. R. Fehrenbach mentioned this in "Lone Star." Olmsted and his brother want to go further to Northern Mexico, but it seems that their journey is more of a challenge than they expected based upon lack of hospitable terrain and bandits.

I am now a little past page 300 (yes, I read slow). I read his book as a travelogue/time capsule. Olmsted describes his visits to many places that still exists (Castroville, Quihi, Dhanis, Boerne, and Seguin), some places that have faded into history (Indianola and Helena), and other places I had never heard of before ("Mount Capote" southeast of Seguin, Comanche Spring, and the "Heaps of Bears" caves). Given how well the book is documented, I wonder if there is a book, blog, or trail that follows Olmsted's journey through Texas and highlights the landmarks that he describes.

Past page 400 now and almost finished. Olmsted leaves San Antonio for Eagle Pass to cross the border into Piedras Negras and interior Mexico. He does an impressive job detailing the landscape, flora, fauna, and weather of southwest Texas. A few pages about runaway slaves escaping to Mexico. He then returns to San Antonio and essentially follows I-10 through San Felipe, Houston, and Beaumont on his way to New Orleans. Pre-highway travel through the bayous and swamps of southeast Texas sounds much more difficult than today. Once again, Olmsted admires the German immigrants but has little regard and few compliments for other Texans.

The book finishes with second-hand descriptions of north Texas and the Llano Estacado (which he didn't visit) and statistics regarding population, weather, geology, and agricultural production. I was surprised to learn that the most populated county in Texas in 1850 was Harrison County (county seat: Marshall) with 11,822 people. Furthermore, Harrison county was one of only a few counties with more slaves than white people. Harrison County almost had a larger population than Bexar County (6,052 people), Harris County (4,668 people), and Dallas County (2,743 people) combined.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and encourage others to read it, too (the book can be purchased relatively cheap from Amazon or Elibris). I found myself longing for a present-day blog or guide that retraced Olmsted's journey through Texas. I wish that there was still a more authentic German influence in the Hill Country (Wurstfest doesn't really count).

One of the greatest books on Texas history I have ever read. A day by day journal almost, of this extensive travel through a very raw and wild Texas. Incredible detail and a true snapshot of events lived. I found it just fascinating. Took me forever to read it because I kept stopping to checks maps of Texas. You need to know your rivers when reading this book.
A great, great book!

Haven't posted on this board in a long time but saw this thread. Great book. He wrote two other books during the 1850's about journeys to other parts of the South (I think these were published by a New York newspaper in serial form) and his goal in writing was to show the economic and moral degradation that slavery inflicted on Southern whites. So while he certainly depicts cruelty to blacks, an even bigger argument is that slavery is bad for whites as well.

He compares towns on either side of the Ohio River on his way to Texas and the towns on the Southern side are economically stunted, no signs of entrepreneurial life. The people he meets in East Texas are generally brutes, morally and intellectually backward - this being slavery's effect on slaveowners. He talks about not being able to find a newspaper to read; IIRC there's a folded up newspaper being used to prop up a table leg at one of the inns and he unfolds it and reads it. Texans look at him in puzzlement and say something to the effect of, "So you just sit and read?" I might be mixing up two different incidents. Austin is quite different, his first encounter with civilized manners and interest in reading and current events, and then New Braunfels and the Germans are a godsend.

The book was essentially written for the abolitionist cause, but because of the genuine love of nature, people, and places, you get a good deal more than just abolitionist theory. Another excellent travelogue is Roemer's Texas, written by a German doctor who enters via Galveston/Houston and goes to live in New Braunfels, 1845-47. Great descriptions of the hill country, with alligators swimming in the Comal River!

Any of you read Tony Horowitz's last book, he retraces Olmstead's journey and writes about it and Olmstead's writing as well.

Horowitz is prone to hyperbole (Confederates in the Attic) but he was a good writer.

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his first encounter with civilized manners and interest in reading and current events, and then New Braunfels and the Germans are a godsend.

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My Grandfather class of '38 told me that when he would go to the German settlements around Schertz & Cibilo back in the 20's, the older Germans there didn't think too much of the "Natives". Can't remember the word he said they called Anglos, but it translated to "raggedy people" basically.

I read this based on this thread and was glad I did. Very interesting throughout and a great insight into early Texas. Really just wish he had been able to travel even more places.

Makes sense. The German language flourished in Texas with German language newspapers and schools until WWI brought a tide of intimidation that forced it all behind closed doors, and then WWII squelched what was left. There was also that German colony that tried to leave Texas and go to Mexico during the Civil War and was chased down by soldiers on the south plains and massacred.

His discussions of slavery from an economic theory were interesting and not ones I had read about elsewhere. Are there other authors from the period who also discussed this in greater detail? Any further studies that perhaps are able to look at a broader level of economic detail throughout the south and the effects of slavery on economic output?

Aggie 1205, Olmstead produced another book on the effect of slavery on the economy of the south, called Cotton Kingdom.($.99 on Kindle). I think the Texas book was to be a part of that, but he discovered Texas was so large and unique that it deserved a separate book.