Repository: St. Louis Mercantile Library Special Collections
Title: M-376: Manuscript Letter of Colonel A. B. Gray
Creator(s)
Date: 1854-04-05
Extent: 1 letter written in the backmatter of 1 monograph
Location note: Merc Rare HE 2791 .T351 1856
Language: English
Abstract: Manuscript copy of a letter written A. B. Gray written to the United States Secretary of State, Marcy, describing Lake Guzman, the Santa Maria River, the ideal site for a Texas Western Pacific Railroad route, and relations with Mexico. The letter was copied from an earlier draft by Gray and appended to Gray's owned copy of his Survey of a Record for the Southern Pacific R. R. on the 32nd Parallel for the Texas Western Pacific R. R. Co.
Biographical note: A. B. Gray was a surveyor that was born in Virginia and later became a resident of the Republic, and then State of Texas. He then served to survey the U. S. - Texas border, and later the U. S. Mexico border, once Texas joined the United States. In 1852 Gray joined the Texas Western Railroad to lead a survey from San Antonio to California. The results of this survey were published as the Survey of a Record for the Southern Pacific R. R. on the 32nd Parallel, in 1856. The Mercantile Library's copy of this survey was Gray's own copy, which includes in the backmatter the transcription of the manuscript letter that makes up this collection.
Gray joined the confederacy during the Civil War and was killed in a boiler explosion aboard a steamboat in 1862.
Scope and Content note: This collection consists of one manuscript transcription by Gray of a letter written previously to the Secretary of State of the United States on the 5th of April, 1854. The letter is transcribed into the back of Gray's own copy of his work, Survey of a Record for the Southern Pacific R. R. on the 32nd Parallel for the Texas Western Pacific R. R. Co., and describes Lake Guzman, the Santa Maria River, relations with Mexico, and the ideal route of the Texas Western Pacific R. R. Co. Specific detail is given to the bodies of water - their locations, usefulness to travelers and settlers, salinity, etc.
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Conditions Governing Access note: This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use note: Due to the rare and fragile nature of this resource, reproduction of the collection’s materials must be reviewed by library staff. Please contact the Library at 314-516-7247 for more information.
Copyright Information: The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.
Fee Services: Fees associated with staff research time, cost recovery in reproductions processing time and materials, and licensing may apply.
Preferred Citation note: The preferred citation for this collection is "From the collections of the St. Louis Mercantile Library at UM - St. Louis."
