Thomas Jefferson Jones to Mirabeau Lamar, April 15, 1839

Camp on Wilbarger’s Prairie

  Dear Gen^l

            I have just returned from
Waterloo, the contemplated new
seat of government which I
visited in company with Gen^l
Burleson. It is the most beau-
tiful and at the same time
the most sublime scene I
ever saw. I know you will be
delighted with it and I frequent-
ly wished that you were pres-
ent to enjoy the scenery as I
saw it in all the majesty
of nature and the verdure
of Spring[.] The atmosphere
[was?] charged with the most
delightful perfume and every
shrub and every hill and every
flower seemed to extend a
welcome to the weary trav-
eller. I never expected to
realize your eloquent descrip-
tion of Texas till I saw the
lanos [llanos: Spanish for plains] of the upper Colorado[.]
There are hundreds of the
most beautiful scites [sites] for
building around the town level
and Rome itself
with all its famous
hills could not have surpassed
the natural scenery of Waterloo.