arrived in Texas in 1832, John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen, were seeking a new town site within the Galveston Bay navigation system. They had invested in Galveston already, but they continued to make offers for other tracts in the region. They bid on land at Morgan's Point and Harrisburg before settling on the eventual Houston site. On August 26, 1836, they purchased half a league of land, or about 2,214 acres (27 km2) from Elizabeth (Mrs. T. F. L.) Parrot, John Austin's widow for $5,000. Four days later, the Allen brothers placed an advertisement in the Telegraph and Texas Register for the paper town of Houston. Gail Borden and his assistant Moses Lapham conducted preliminary surveying work in October, taking field notes and laying stakes. Meanwhile, John Allen was back in Columbia lobbying members of Texas Congress to designate the not yet surveyed town and promising to construct government buildings. On November 30, a special joint session of Congress considered fifteen possible locations for the next seat of government. On the first ballot, ten of these locations garnered votes, but Houston gained a majority of votes on the fourth ballot. The Allen brothers chose a site at the confluence of White Oak Bayou and Buffalo Bayou, which served as a natural turning basin, now known as Allen's Landing. The Laura, the first steamship ever to visit Houston, arrived in January 1837, at which time the town totaled twelve residents and one log cabin. Four months later there were 1,500 people and 100 houses. Critical to the promotion of Houston by the Allen brothers was the importance of its location as a natural logistical center. They claimed that the town lay at the "head of navigation" on Buffalo Bayou. Their critics cast doubt on the navigability of Buffalo Bayou as far upstream as Houston, who had not been convinced by the arrival of the Laura. A true test would be a larger ship making the trip. The Allen brothers commissioned the 262-ton Constitution to travel to Houston. Captain Edward Auld piloted the large, deep-draft steamer to the wharf at the foot of Main Street, and earned $1,000 for performing this task. However, the Constitutionmeasuring at 150 feetwas too long to make the three point turn using the mouth of White Oak Bayou. Unable to turn the ship around at Houston, Auld ran the engines in reverse for over six