Uriah Lott.

J. L. ALLHANDS

Publication: The Naylor Company, 1949, San Antonio

First edition. 8vo. Inscribed on the front free fly leaf "Compliments of Fred Lange to W. G. Vollmer. J. L. Allhands, Feby 1950." W. G. Vollmer was a prominent 20th-century railroad executive best known for serving as president of the T & P Railway. Green cloth, titles in black lettering on front cover and spine, xii (9), 187 pp., foreword, acknowledgments, illustrated, maps, index.

Uriah Lott, businessman and railroad promoter, arrived in Texas in 1867, settling in Corpus Christi. He became a director of the Corpus Christi Navigation Company which worked to improve the Corpus Christi channel. However, his real passion was railroad development. With the help of Mifflin Kennedy and Richard King, Lott built the Corpus Christi, San Diego, & Rio Grande Railroad from Corpus to Laredo. In 1884, he went to San Antonio and played a leading role in starting the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway. Continuing his railroad promotion, Allhands became president of the St. Louis, Brownsville, & Mexico Railroad which reached Brownsville in 1904. Allhands ably documents Lott’s efforts in the development of each of these lines. Additionally, the author describes Lott's early years and initial business ventures in Corpus Christi. There are also chapters devoted to the towns along the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway, establishment of Robstown and Kingsville, Col. Sam A. Robertson, and early Valley pioneer, Lon C. Hill. Enhanced by a number of vintage photographs, this is the only book devoted exclusively to Lott and his career.

The life and history of Uriah Lott who built the railways to the Rio Grande Valley, thereby opening up for settlement and development a vast industrial empire, Southwest Texas, one of the richest areas in the nation. A testimonial to Uriah Lott reads "No statue has been erected to perpetuate Uriah Lott's memory, but of more lasting endurance and eloquence than stone or bronze are the numerous towns and cities, which in the 83 years since he first came to Texas, have sprung up along his sprawling railroads. He revitalized San Antonio and Laredo. He found Brownsville a city without a future and left it with a heritage. He put new life into Kerrville, Beeville and Houston, and while not everything that Corpus Christi has it owes to Uriah Lott, the Press has stated over and over that he did more for that city than any other one man."

Fine bright copy in dust jacket with light wear to the spine ends, small chips to top and bottom edges of the front panel and a small chip to bottom edge of the front panel.