Early Texas Freighting
Matagorda, Matagorda County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Industry that moved goods to build, sustain distant settlements in 18th-19th century Texas. Teamsters defied Indians, bandits, and Texas weather to supply outlying forts and inland towns, which suffered if imports from the Gulf Coast, U.S., or Mexico slackened. One of few regular runs was Austin-Matagorda. Wagons left each city on 1st and 15th of every month, crossing Matagorda, Wharton, Colorado, Fayette, Bastrop, and Travis counties. Houston was major Texas freight center because of access to Galveston Bay. George T. Howard and Charles Ogden were early freight men. First carts, later wagons with 3000-7000 lbs. of cargo were drawn by 3 to 6 yoke of oxen or mule teams. "Grass rates" for faster mules. Early wooden carts were 15 ft. long with two 7-ft. wheels and a thatched roof. Their hubs were greased with prickly- pear leaves. For heavy loads, rough roads, the 2-ton "Prairie Schooner" was best. Caravans varied from 5 to 150 wagons. When resting or attacked, wagons formed a round, protective corral, and trained mules took their places instantly. Teamsters often banded together for mutual assistance. With coming of the "Iron horse" in 1853, the freighter began slowly to disappear from the state.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Before railroads reached Texas, everything a frontier settlement needed—flour, tools, munitions, trade goods—moved on the backs of ox and mule teams driven by teamsters who braved raids, bandits, and brutal weather. One of the few regular runs linked Austin and Matagorda, wagons rolling out on the 1st and 15th of each month across six counties. Loads grew from crude 15-foot wooden carts with prickly-pear-greased hubs to two-ton "Prairie Schooners," and caravans could stretch from five wagons to a hundred and fifty, circling into a defensive corral when attacked. The coming of the "Iron Horse" in 1853 began the freighter's slow disappearance.
Why it matters
Overland freighting was the circulatory system of the frontier economy—distant forts and towns lived or starved on the arrival of the wagons—until the railroad rendered a whole rugged profession obsolete.
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Related people
- · George T. Howard
- · Charles Ogden
Themes & tags
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