This is the entire entry for “Austin” from volume 1. A – BEL (1860) of Chambers’s Encyclopaedia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the People, Illustrated, with Maps and Numerous Wood Engravings: “AU’STIN, the capital of Texas since 1844, is situated on the left bank of the Colorado in lat. 30″ 15′ N., long. 97″ 47′ W., at a distance of 200 miles from its mouth. In the season of high-water–that is, in the winter–A. is accessible to steam-boats from the sea. Population, in 1853, estimated at 3000.” The Handbook of Texas concurs that there was steamboat navigation on the Colorado to Austin. Even the latitude and longitude of Austin have changed, now being recorded as 30″ 30′ and 97″ 70′. According to the City’s official site, the 2000 census recorded a population of 656, 562, going on to state: “The current population of Austin, as of April 1, 2002, is 680,899.” Paddle-wheel look-alike Lone Star Riverboats ply Austin’s waters all the year ’round.