| Vol 8, No 51 | February 20, 1895 | Wednesday Evening |
(1830) 
On this date in 1830, James Bowie, 34, and his friend Isaac Donoho took the oath of allegiance to Mexico. Bowie learned of an 1828 Mexican law that offered citizens grants for eleven leagues of land (4,428.4 acres) for around $200. Bowie urged Mexicans to apply for these grants which he in turn purchased from them and so doing acquired a vast amount of land holdings in Texas.
(1685)
On this date in 1685, Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle lands at Matagorda Bay. After claiming the lands of the Mississippi for France in 1682, LaSalle returned to France and made plans to colonize the new French territory. Instead of traveling down the Mississippi from the Great Lakes as he had done previously, LaSalle attempted to locate the mouth of the great river by passing through the Gulf of Mexico. LaSalle overshot the Mississippi, landing instead in the Matagorda Bay on this date in 1685. A settlement was established, Fort St Louis, from which LaSalle went in search of the river he had explored, traveling westward to the Pecos river, and eastward to the Trinity. He was killed in 1687 near the Trinity by a disenchanted follower.
