TEXAS IS IT IS 
 
 OR, 
 
 A HE EMIGRANTS' jorUIDE 
 
 P 1 
 
 The result of Travel, Inquiry and Observation. 
 
 -BY- 
 
 A. R WOOLSTON 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: X^ 
 Rowley & Chew, Steam-power Printers, 723 Chestnut Street. 
 1873. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 18" by 
 
 A. R. Woolston, in the Office of the Librarian o 
 
 Congress, at Washington. 
 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Much time and means are expended by persons who hope to better 
 their condition, by a change of locality in travelling and endeavoring to 
 find the places in which their skill and industry may be used to the best 
 advantage. This belief has induced me to present the following pages, 
 the result of observation and travel in Texas. 
 
 Availing myself as fully as possible of every facility for gaining in- 
 formation, I feel assured that the facts contained in this publication will 
 be found interesting to readers generally. 
 
 As my visit to Texas was limited, and not travelling over the entire 
 state, I pretend not to verify every fact from my own observation, much 
 information was obtained from many of the oldest residents, gentlemen of 
 the highest intelligence; such facts will be found no less accurate than 
 those witnessed by myself. 
 
 Those who have visited its waving prairies, and travelled over many 
 of its elevated plains, noticed the beauty of its scenery, and the produc- 
 tions of its soil, marked the softness of its winter breezes, plucked some 
 of the gay flowers that in winter may be found on its verdant plains, and 
 observed the numerous herds of fat cattle that feed unattended upon the pro- 
 ducts of its prairie in winter, can bear testimony that nothing herein con- 
 tained is exaggerated. 
 
 Should this work furnish useful information to the thousands who are 
 seeking homes, and aid this great state in increasing her industrious and 
 intelligent population, the object for which it is published will be accom- 
 plished. 
 
 A. R. W. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Settlement, Independence, Annexation, Population, 
 Boundaries, $c. 
 
 The incidents which resulted in making the State 
 of Texas a part of the Federal Union, are not so old 
 *s to be forgotten by men of mature years, they were 
 'jfficiently exciting at the time of their occurence ; but 
 ; ) rush of startling events which have intervened, 
 , re so crowded them out, that the active business men 
 i the present day think not of them. 
 
 When the Independence of Mexico was achieved, 
 ' <cas was part of its territory, but it had no consider- 
 r e population of Spanish origin, and it presented an 
 inviting field to those adventurous Americans who 
 were dissatisfied with the more populous portions of 
 our country. They could not affiliate with the Mexi- 
 cans, and when a number of them had entered the 
 territory, sufficient to enable them to feel confident of 
 their ability to resist the government of Mexico, they 
 determined to assert their Independence. It would be 
 well however, to revert to the early incidents of Euro- 
 pean settlement, in order to get a proper understanding 
 of the dispute which culminated in wresting this large 
 province from Mexico. 
 
 The first European occupation of Texan soil, was 
 effected by LaSalle, a Frenchman, who landed in 
 Matagorda Bay, and erected Fort St. Louis, on the 
 Lavacca, prior to 1689. It was his intention to have 
 
6 
 
 settled on the Mississippi; but by mistake he drifted too 
 far westward. The region since known as Texas was 
 even then claimed by Spain, as part of Mexico ; and 
 a Spanish Expedition under DeLeon, was dispatched 
 to the Lavacca in 1689, to expel LaSalle; but on enter- 
 ing the river they learned that he had been assassinated 
 by one of his followers, and his entire company dis- 
 persed. DeLeon founded the Mission of San Fran- 
 cisco, on the site of the dismantled Fort. From that 
 time the Spanish claim to th.e country was never seriously 
 disputed, though another French attempt to colonize 
 it was made in 1714, and proved as futile as that of 
 LaSalle. 
 
 The weakness of Spain, the absorption of her 
 energies and means, in the desolating wars for her 
 independence, and the troubles into which she was soon 
 after forced by the revolution in her American colonies, 
 afforded an opportunity for adventurers to attempt to 
 plant an Independent State on the inviting prairie of 
 Texas, or to annex it to the United States. 
 
 Several of the expeditions for a time seemed on 
 the verge of success ; but closed in defeat and disaster, 
 so that when Spanish power was expelled from Mexico, 
 (1819,) Texas became an undisputed Mexican posses- 
 sion, without costing the new nation a drop of blood; 
 the river Sabine was at that time mutually acknowl- 
 edged to be the boundary between this region and the 
 United States. In the year 1827, Mr. John Quincy 
 Adams being President, Mr. Clay his Secretary of 
 State, instructed Joel R. Poinsett, our Minister to 
 Mexico, to offer one million of dollars for the cession 
 to us by the Republic of Mexico, of her territory this 
 side of the Rio Grande ; Mr. Poinsett did not make 
 the offer, perceiving that it would only irritate and alien- 
 ate the Mexicans to no good purpose. In 1829, Mr- 
 Van Buran as Gen. Jackson's Secretary of State, in- 
 
structed our Minister to Mexico, to make an offer of 
 four or five millions for Texas, including no part of 
 the valley of the Rio Grande, nor of that of the Neu- 
 ces, this" side of it, and of course no part of New 
 Mexico ; still Mexico would not sell. 
 
 Texas proclaimed her entire Independence of 
 Mexico, March 2d, 1836, and after a most sanguinary 
 struggle established it. The exasperation caused by 
 this war was intense, and Mexico refused to acknowl- 
 edge the Independence of the New Republic, while its 
 citizens were asking admission into our Union. 
 
 This was not accomplished until 1845, the resolu- 
 tion of annexation passed the House of Representatives 
 January 25th, 1845, by a vote of 120 to 98, and was 
 concurred in by the Senate, March 1st, by a vote of 27 
 to 25. Much of the opposition to the annexation of 
 Texas, arose from the provision which gave that Com- 
 monwealth the right to divide into four states, in which 
 the institution of slavery might be established. Presi- 
 dent Polk approved the measure on the same day that 
 it passed the Senate, and in July of that year, it was 
 ratified by the Legislature of Texas. 
 
 The new state claimed all the territory east of the 
 Rio Grande; and it soon became apparent that the 
 United States would have to maintain this claim by 
 force of arms ; for Mexico would not submit to it. 
 
 The war which followed was of doubtful justice, 
 but the brilliancy of the military achievements of the 
 small armies sent to invade Mexico, and the magnificent 
 addition to our territory, which resulted from the occu- 
 pation of the city of Mexico, gave much popularity to 
 those who achieved it. 
 
 The great mineral wealth of California and the 
 neighboring territories, has since that time so absorbed 
 the attention of the more enterprising part of our 
 citizens, that Texas has been overlooked, and besides 
 
8 
 
 this, those nations of Europe, from which most of the 
 emigrants to this country come, are in higher latitudes, 
 and people generally prefer in their migrations to go to 
 districts which in climate are not greatly different from 
 their own. The Scandenavian people prefer Michigan, 
 Iowa and Wisconsin, while the Germans and those 
 from the British Isles, naturally select their places of 
 abode in the fertile belt between the Lake region and 
 the Cotton states. This disposition of people has 
 caused them to remain uninformed with regard to the 
 advantages they might have from settling in states fur- 
 ther south. 
 
 Agriculture is the most certain of all the branches 
 of business in which men engage, and where land is 
 cheap and productive, in a genial and healthful region, 
 industry and perseverance meets a sure reward. 
 
 Texas is situated between latitude 25° 50' and 36° 
 30' K, and Longitude 93° 30' and 107° W. The great 
 extent of the state enables it to offer considerable 
 variety of soils and climate ; the extreme length from 
 S. E. to 1ST. W. is over 800 miles, its extreme breadth 
 750 miles; its Gulf Coast, from the river Sabine to 
 the Rio Grande measures 400 miles, the state covers 
 an area of 274,356 square miles, or 175,587,840 acres ; 
 its population in 1850, was 212,592; 1860, 602,432, and 
 1870, 818,579, it is estimated that the population will 
 number over one and a quarter million ; according to 
 the last census, the foreign and negro population was 
 as follows : 
 
 England, 1996; Ireland, 3958; France, 2218; 
 Germany, 23,871; Norway, 403; Denmark, 158; 
 Sweden, 364, and Negroes, 200,000. 
 
 The civil war checked its growth during the last 
 decade, but the present will show a wonderful in- 
 crease. Secretaiy Boutwell in a recent speech at 
 Philadelphia, stated that "Texas alone, was capable of 
 
taking upon its broad bosom, all the inhabitants of the 
 states and territories in the Union, and then the 
 population would not be in closer bounds then that of 
 Massachusetts at present." 
 
 The principal towns in the state are Austin the 
 Capital, San Antonio, New Braunfels, Houston, Corsi- 
 cana, Marshall, Jefferson, Sherman, Dallas, Victoria, 
 Fredericksburg, Corpus Christi, Indianola, Palestine, 
 Lavacca, Richmond, Rush and El Paso ; the state is 
 divided into 157 counties. 
 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Climate, Soil and Products. 
 
 "Dear favored land 
 Thick clustering bounties, flowing o'er thy plains, 
 Beauteous as flowers, that grace thy verdant hills, 
 Fragrant as odors, breathed from Flora's vale, 
 Broad as thy prairies, waving on the breeze, 
 Rich as thy soil, in full profusion clothed; — 
 Who filled thy stores with plenty, corn and oil ? 
 Who stor'd thy hills with mines and precious ore ? 
 Who drew o'er all thy face a map, whose lines 
 Are streams and rivers bordered wide with woods ? 
 Who clad thy prairies, hills and shady meads 
 In verdant robes, embroidered thick with flow'rs 
 Whose tints as the garden's brightest gem 
 Of mingled flowers ? 
 
 'Twas He, the Saviour, moved by love to man, 
 And bent on kindness to these western realms, 
 With lavish hand outspread these vales, 
 And bade the sun and breeze and waters wide 
 Their powers unite to grace thee in their course." 
 
11 
 
 In giving a description of the climate and soil of 
 Texas, there is some danger of failing to lay before 
 the reader real facts; like every other portion of the 
 globe, the climate of this country possesses certain ad- 
 vantages against which however, are some disadvan- 
 tages. Whoever would represent it therefore as being 
 entirely free from all the evils attendant upon the cold 
 climates of the north, of the hot suns between the 
 tropics, and the rapid changes of the temperate zone, 
 would be justly chargeable with extravagance, if not 
 with misrepresentation. 
 
 Those on the other hand, who would assert that 
 either of these difficulties existed here, in a degree 
 equal to the tropical, temperate, or high northern re- 
 gions, would do great injustice to the character of the 
 country, and we can safely say that no part of the 
 American Continent is more favored by the blandness 
 of its breezes, the pleasantness of its temperature, the 
 brightness of its skies, or salubrie'ty of its atmosphere, 
 varying according to its latitude and elevation in the 
 degree of its heat and cold, some parts bordering 
 nearly upon the tropics, while others pass considerably 
 into the temperate regions. None of it however is 
 either so elevated, or so far from the equator, as to feel 
 the rigors of a snowy winter, or lose the advantages of 
 the great southern staple, Cotton Crop. 
 
 The whole country consisting of one vast inclined 
 plain, with a southern exposure, the beds of whose 
 streams are deep, with high banks, and most of the 
 country open prairie, over which the breezes blow with 
 the freedom of ocean winds, it enjoys an exemption 
 from causes of disease scarcely exampled, and a fresh- 
 ness of the air nowhere surpassed. This inclination 
 to the south, drains the country of its superfluous 
 waters, presents its whole surface to the sea breezes as 
 they come from the Gulf of Mexico, and renders the 
 climate several decrees warmer and better fitted for 
 
12 
 
 tropical and southern crops, than a northern exposure 
 could do. 
 
 Jn most parts of Texas the only seasons which can 
 be regarded as cold, continue but for a day or two at 
 a time, while the north or northwest wind blows freshly 
 over the plains. At these times but little ice or frost 
 is found, even when they are the most severe, which 
 disappears upon the first exposure to the rays of the 
 sun, or influence of a southern breeze. 
 
 Immediately following these winds, technically styled 
 Northers, occurring only in winter, is calm and pleasant 
 weather, in which the ploughman finds a convenient 
 season for preparing his lands for cotton and corn. In 
 the severest of these Northers, cattle seem to require 
 no other shelter than the protection of a neighboring 
 grove, and often disregarding that, they are found 
 feeding or resting upon the open prairie. 
 
 From March to October, may be regarded as the 
 Texan Summer, between which months the weather is 
 warm, vegetation grows with vigor, and all kinds of 
 crops are brought to perfection. During this season 
 comparatively little rain falls, though in most seasons 
 showers are of frequent occurrence. 
 
 In relation to the character and productions of its 
 soil, perhaps no country offers a greater variety that is 
 valuable, a large proportion of that which is fertile, or 
 any that can surpass some of the bottoms and level 
 prairies of Texas. 
 
 With few exceptions, Texas is a prairie country, 
 whose streams, rivulets and creeks, as well as rivers, in 
 their meandering courses, skirt their meadows with 
 woodland forests of various width and extent. The 
 soil is composed of a black loam of great depth and 
 strength, fitted at once for producing abundant crops 
 and for long continued fertility. Possessing all the 
 advantages of a rich bottom, with the warmth and 
 dryness of uplands, they combine excellencies of soil. 
 
13 
 
 The causes for the absence of timber on the plains, 
 are not found in the unfitness of the soil for their pro- 
 duction, or the want of roots or seeds, by which they 
 might be propagated ; the true reason in most cases is, 
 that from the fertility of the growth of grass and other 
 herbage, it is so luxuriant, that when in autumn, by 
 accident or design, the fire gets into it, it burns with a 
 heat sufficiently intense to kill all the young timber, 
 and underwood among which it grows. In those 
 places when the laud is poor, and the herbage less 
 abundant, trees, whose bark is thick, have endured 
 these fires, and grow into forests. Hence it appears 
 that the absence of timber and shrubbery upon a plain, 
 or the sloping acclivities of hills, furnishes no indica- 
 tion of its barreness; but, on the contrary, gives evi- 
 dence of the prolific character of the ground. Seen at 
 a distance from an eminence, these prairies, fringed 
 along their sides by the woods and vines that line the 
 banks of the creeks, and occasionally studded with 
 timber upon the summits or low hills, or marking the 
 point where springs arise, the views are truly delight- 
 ful, — the extended landscape is the very perfection of 
 beauty. 
 
 It is estimated that about one acre to every five 
 thousand of the broad domain of Texas is improved, 
 and taking into consideration the careless manner in 
 which these lands are improved by those who attempt 
 agriculture, we believe that this state is not equalled. 
 
 The following taken from a St. Louis publication. 
 "An exhibit of the products of Texas in 1871, as near 
 as could be ascertained," will convey to the reader an 
 idea of the variety of crops this rich soil is capable of 
 producing, in addition to the boundless range for stock 
 growing. 
 
14 
 
 414,112 
 
 28,321 
 
 20,550,504 
 
 762,663 
 
 44,351 
 
 63,884 
 
 59,706 
 
 350,628 
 
 1,250,328 
 
 42,634 
 
 208,383 
 
 2,188,041 
 
 6,216 
 
 3,712,747 
 
 34,342 
 
 62,777 
 
 18,982 
 
 2,020 
 
 246,062 
 
 174,509 
 
 5,032 
 
 275,169 
 
 13,295 
 
 Bushels 
 
 Pounds 
 Bales 
 Pounds 
 Bushels 
 
 Gallons 
 Pounds 
 
 Gallons 
 Tons 
 Hhds. 
 Gallons 
 
 Pounds 
 
 Wheat. 
 Rye. 
 
 Corn. 
 
 Oats. 
 
 Barley. 
 
 Rice. 
 
 Tobacco. 
 
 Cotton. 
 
 Wool. 
 
 Peas and Beans. 
 
 White Potatoes. 
 
 Sweet " 
 
 Wine. 
 
 Butter. 
 
 Cheese. 
 
 Milk, (sold.) 
 
 Hay. 
 
 Cane Sugar. 
 
 " Molasses. 
 Sorghum. 
 Maple Molasses. 
 Honey. 
 Wax. 
 
 The total value of farm products for 1871, is esti- 
 mated at $49,250,000. 
 
 Near the Gulf and for some distance in the in- 
 terior, as in all the southern part of Texas, the land is 
 well fitted for the cultivation of the sugar cane, as well 
 as for cotton. 
 
 From experience acquired, the evidence is uniform, 
 that the cane here grown is more luxuriant, ripens 
 more fully, and developes the saccharine juice in 
 greater perfection and abundance than in most parts 
 of Louisiana. The cotton of Texas also is finer and 
 more silky, and of longer staple than other states, and 
 
15 
 
 commands a higher price in the market. In the north- 
 ern part of the state, cotton is the principal production 
 for exportation, and for this almost every portion of 
 the country is admirably adapted, except along the 
 rivers. The north-eastern part of the country is less 
 productive than other sections, but still abundantly 
 profitable under the judicious cultivation of skilful 
 cotton planters. 
 
 From the Brazos westward to the Colorado, the 
 lands in the level region appear to partake of similar 
 characteristics, and to resemble each other in color, 
 fertility and natural productions. Much of this land 
 is of a reddish cast, though darkened by the admixture 
 of other kinds of earth and vegetable mineral. Some 
 portion of salt is mingled with this kind of alluvia, . 
 and to that circumstance, and the quantity of nitre 
 evidently mingled with it, is attributed some part of 
 its astonishing fertility. 
 
 The streams lying westward as far as the Neuces, 
 afford considerable bottoms of deep black alluvial 
 earth, well clothed with timber, and exceedingly 
 fertile. All the southern parts of this extended region 
 are well adapted to sugar cane, and are found no way 
 inferior to the very best sugar lands in Louisiana, and 
 much preferable to any which are above Few Orleans. 
 
 Cotton is usually planted from the 1st to the 15th 
 of April. It is said that upon prairie land which is 
 just broken up, cotton succeeds much better then corn, 
 and is more profitable as a first crop ; this is important 
 to the emigrant, because he cannot afford to forfeit any 
 of his advantages of the first year's settlement. 
 
 Rice has been cultivated to some extent, and profit- 
 ably; there are immense quantities of bottoms and level 
 prairies well suited for producing large crops. Con- 
 siderable quantity of Rye has been raised; it is necessary 
 to be fed down in winter to prevent too great a growth. 
 
16 
 
 The time of planting and manner of cultivating 
 Corn, differs materially here, from what is common in 
 the Northern and Eastern states. It is planted the 
 latter part of February, and when the young corn 
 springs up, it is customary to plough between the rows, 
 and no other implement is employed in nursing the 
 growing crop. Did the planters give that care to the 
 preparation of the ground, and other attentions be- 
 stowed upon this grain in other states, their products 
 would be abundantly greater; cultivated as it is, it 
 frequently yields fifty to sixty bushels to an acre, the 
 average crop is forty bushels ; frequently two crops are 
 raised in one year. From the rapid and continuous 
 influx of emigrants and travellers, the price of this 
 grain varied this winter from sixty cents to one dollar 
 a bushel. Many of the extensive Cotton growers pre- 
 fer paying forty cents for corn, than to raise it. 
 
 The Wheat produced in Texas is not surpassed 
 for weight and quality by that of California and Minne- 
 sota. When her railway system is further developed, 
 bringing this valuable production to the waters of the 
 Atlantic, the wheat crop of this state will form an 
 important part in making up the Commerce of the 
 world. 
 
 White Potatoes are cultivated with as much suc- 
 cess as in any other portion of the south. An early 
 crop planted in February generally succeeds, and fur- 
 nishes in April and May a plentiful supply. If planted 
 later, the heat and droughts of summer commonly 
 prove too severe, and the production is small and of 
 little value. In all parts of the state sweet potatoes 
 grow with great luxuriance and profusion. They are 
 thought to be produced here in as high perfection as 
 in any part of the world. 
 
 Garden vegetables of almost every kind, flourish 
 bere in a degree unknown in most of the northern 
 
17 
 
 sections of the Union. Beets, parsnips, carrots and 
 other roots grow large and require no protection from 
 the winter. Beans, Peas and Lettuce, and other vege- 
 tables, nourish even to exuberance, and furnish delica- 
 cies at once healthful and luxurious. Tomatoes, Egg- 
 plants, and every variety of annual plants, seem to 
 grow almost spontaneously. 
 
 Mellons, even without culture, grow to a large 
 size. When carefully cultivated their produce exceeds 
 anything elsewhere known. 
 
 Cucumbers, Squashes and Pumpkins, in all their 
 varieties, are as productive as any other vines, and need 
 little attention except planting in suitable situations. 
 With a little well directed attention, the productions 
 of a common Texan garden might rival the finest ex- 
 hibitions of horticultural success of the northern states. 
 
 Tobacco will grow vigorously in all parts of the 
 state, and produces an article of high excellence; it is 
 cultivated extensively for home consumption only. 
 
 Before closing the subject of agriculture, some: 
 notice of the fruits and products of the orchard de- 
 serves attention. 
 
 In all parts of the state Peach trees grow well ; as 
 yet very little attention has been devoted to grafting; 
 in all of the orchards we visited, we could perceive the 
 want of skill and attention bestowed upon the orchards 
 of the fruit growers in the middle states. So rapid is 
 the progress of the Peach tree from the seed to matur- 
 ity, that it usually produces fruit the third year of its 
 growth, and it is said sometimes in the second. So 
 easily may the Peach tree be reared, so abundant is its 
 fruit, and the splendid opportunity of drying in the 
 months of July and August, it could be made an article 
 of exportation to a considerable extent. The Peach 
 orchard could be made to furnish rich luxuries and 
 large profits with little labor. 
 
18 
 
 In many parts of the state Apples do not seem to 
 thrive; in the lower and level parts, even when the 
 trees continue to flourish, the fruit becomes so affected 
 by the sun as to rot, but in the northern and centre 
 parts on the elevated prairies, they have been reared with 
 •entire success; here the soil is of a character suited. 
 
 Although it is said Pears will flourish here, they 
 have not yet been cultivated to any great extent. 
 
 Wild Plums in great number and considerable 
 variety, are found in many parts of the state. Most of 
 these, like the wild plums of the north, are red; one 
 variety growing on the high land and among the timber, 
 is called Post Oak Plum; the trees are unusually small, 
 but the fruit is said to be good, this is sufficient proof 
 that all the improved kinds may be produced here with 
 •success. 
 
 Grapes of many varieties grow wild and in great 
 profusion, in all parts of the state; the crop is seldom 
 known to fail. Vines are found growing in great abun- 
 dance upon the rich timber bottoms of many of the 
 rivers, and on the prairies; whenever a sandy prairie 
 is found elevated, Grape vines spread themselves over 
 its surface like the vines of pumpkins. From some of 
 their native grapes, it is said wine of great excellence 
 has been made, and for flavor and purity will compete 
 with the wines of California. 
 
 In the southern part of the state Figs, Oranges 
 ■and other tropical fruits are cultivated profitably. 
 
 We are confident that if farmers of Texas would 
 exercise care in selection of varieties, and bestow the 
 proper attention upon their fruit trees, the fruit produc- 
 tions of Texas would rival those of any other state. 
 
 The account we give of the native trees and 
 plants of Texas is imperfect, because we did not visit 
 every part of the state; and, our visit being in winter 
 season, what knowledge we have gained was from resi- 
 
19 
 
 dents, and from some imperfect works upon this subject. 
 The eastern section of the country contains a larger 
 portion of timbered land than most other parts, except 
 the cross timbers, which is a long range of timbered 
 land, extending from the head waters of the Trinity 
 river in a line nearly due north to the Red river, a dis- 
 tance of at least one hundred miles. Its width varies 
 from three to five miles. It covers every variety of 
 character usual in that part of the country, whether 
 river bottoms, intermediate banks or high bluffs of the 
 streams, level plains, rolling in gentle elevations, or 
 lofty and sterile hills covered with pine. In much of 
 the level and undulating portion of it no marks, the 
 timber excepted, show any difference between the soil 
 there and the adjacent prairie, and yet so distinct and 
 regular is the boundary of both, that in looking along 
 its western border it appears as straight as if formed 
 upon a measured meridian, and been cut out by the axe. 
 Among the larger forest trees may be enumerated 
 the live oak, burr oak, red oak, jack oak or black jack, 
 water oak, (a beautiful shade tree,) post oak, ash, elm, 
 hickory, black walnut, pecan, cotton wood, hackberry, 
 cypress, yellow or short leafed pine, sycamore or but- 
 ton-wood, wild cherry, box elder, a variety of the 
 maple, bois d'arc or osage orange, magnolia, musquit, 
 hemlock or spruce pine, and several others. In some parts 
 of the state these trees are not found, in others particu- 
 lar kinds are rare, but within its limits all or most of 
 them grow to a large size. The black walnut grows 
 to a great size, and is in some parts of the country 
 abundant; the timber is firm, fine grained and admits 
 of a good polish, and is hence highly prized for 
 furniture. 
 
 The Bois d'Arc trees attain a remarkable size, 
 and are often found four feet in diameter, and eighty 
 feet in height. The timber of this tree is considered 
 
20 
 
 very valuable on account of its durability and great 
 solidity. Most of the cross ties used in construction 
 of Railroads are of this wood. "We noticed many 
 hedges of the osage orange, but it is not used to the 
 extent it should be, as there is no difficulty whatever 
 attending its growth. The seed is sold at six dollars a 
 bushel. 
 
 The smaller trees and shrubs are very numerous; 
 to be complete, a catalogue of them must be very ex- 
 tensive. Of most of them which have come under our 
 observation, or of which we have definite information, 
 we shall barely give the names by which they are here 
 known. The following list comprises most of those 
 which are well known. 
 
 The cherry laurel or wild peach, evidently a variety 
 of the cluster cherry, though a beautiful evergreen ; 
 the wild china tree, resembling in its fruit and flowers 
 the beautiful shade tree, from which it takes its name ; 
 sassafras, willow chinquapin, black haw, sumac, com- 
 mon elder, red bud, shrub oak, holly, wild plum, bay- 
 berry or wax myrtle, gawpan or tea tree, spicewood, 
 whortleberry, mullberry, blackberry, wild rose, green 
 briars, yellow jessamine, horse chestnut, standard and 
 dwarf kinds. 
 
 Should any one suppose that all that is surpris- 
 ing and curious in this part of Texan productions 
 in this notice, he may well be informed that scarce a 
 beginnine; has been made even in the names of the 
 branchy trunks that comprise the forest, To appreci- 
 ate in any adequate degree the abundance and variety 
 of the native shrubbery and woodland of this state, it 
 is necessary to visit it in April and May, when nearly 
 every plant, however modest, lifts its head and claims 
 a share of countenance from the sun, the common 
 source of light and beauty. Then every lowly bush 
 and towering tree puts on a garment of loveliness, and 
 
21 
 
 unites with myriads of others to send forth a fragrance 
 of mingled sweets to regale and refresh the senses of 
 the delighted spectators. 
 
 Of the plants, flowers, &c, our limited information 
 enables us to furnish but a meagre account. From 
 neither books, papers or individuals, have we ascer- 
 tained anything like even a list of the common and 
 widely diffused plants. Flowering and other plants of 
 the prairies and woodlands are literally innumerable. 
 At any time from March to November, almost the 
 whole country exhibits all the brilliancy, variety, and 
 delicacy and fragrance of a carefully cultivated garden. 
 
 The dahlia, proudest of all the gaudy tenants of 
 the autumnal garden, so much admired, and so exten- 
 sively cultivated, is declared, to be. indigenous. Ger- 
 aniums in great numbers and variety, annual and per- 
 ennial, are found diffused through large portions of 
 the state. Lilies of various sizes and different colors, 
 adorn the prairies, bottoms and woodlands; some of 
 these are exceedingly small, and are found in blossom 
 among the earliest of the flowers of spring; others 
 appear at different times ; most of them white, though 
 some are yellow, purple and variegated. The lobelia 
 is found plentifully in various places ; also, the passion 
 flower, which is so much and so justly admired in the 
 northern states. 
 
 The above is merely a specimen of what detailed 
 in full would fill a volume. It is however sufficient to 
 show that the florist may here luxurate freely and long 
 in unnumbered varieties of flowers and plants, without 
 fear of early exhausting the materials of botanic inquiry 
 and research.' 
 
 In the vernal season, and much of the summer, 
 the prairies appear to be covered with a gorgeous car- 
 pet of green, embroidered throughout with innumer- 
 able clusters and waving plumes of flowers, exquisitely 
 beautiful and variegated. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Grazing. 
 
 Texas has been aptly designated the great Cattle- 
 Hive of North America. 
 
 So abundant is the herbage in both woodlands and 
 prairies, and but slightly affected by the few frosts 
 of winter, some of it retaining its entire freshness till 
 spring, and so few and mild are the wintry storms, that 
 cattle and hogs need neither food nor shelter other than 
 they find for themselves. So luxuriant indeed are some 
 of these natural winter pastures, that horses which 
 have become poor from continued labor, on being 
 turned out, and feeding solely on the herbage they find, 
 rapidly regain their flesh, and by spring are fitted for 
 again resuming their accustomed labors. 
 
 The only trouble and attention necessary to success 
 in rearing cattle, is the occasional driving of them to 
 their home, and there feeding them with salt or corn, 
 to prevent their becoming wild, and to mark or brand 
 them that the owner may be able to distinguish them 
 from others. While thus running at large, and being 
 their own providers, many of them will be found at 
 any season, not merely in good order, but really fat, 
 making excellent beef. As might naturally be expect- 
 ed, the cattle are healthy and vigorous, and multiply 
 rapidly. 
 
23 
 
 A small stock, unless prevented by some special 
 cause, will in a few years become large, doubling their 
 number every three or four years. It is scarcely 
 necessary to add, that butter and cheese may easily 
 become abundant, for, in such pastures, cows can sel- 
 dom fail to be good milkers. 
 
 It is estimated that 100 cows and calves purchased 
 for about $1200, will in ten years number 3000, taking 
 at the same price paid, the owner would realize $30,000. 
 
 A Mr. Brown, who emigrated from Jefferson 
 county, New York, to Erath county, Texas, began 
 there experiments in cheese-making, in 1869. "With 
 rude apparatus, he made from 35 common Texas range 
 cows, 1000 pounds ; lost 700 pounds of it, and sold the 
 rest for 35 cents per pound. With better apparatus, 
 obtained from the North in 1870, he made from 40 
 cows of the same grade 2000 pounds, and lost about 
 300. Inferring that the loss was not owing to climate, 
 cows, or feed, but to improper management of the 
 business in that untried climate, he improved the win- 
 ter following in gaining information from the best 
 authorities on cheese-making ; procured Bavarian pre- 
 pared rennet, and last season tried again, and with 
 very satisfactory results, not losing ten pounds. He 
 estimates that with good management, an ordinary 
 Texas cow will make, during the season, 100 pounds of 
 cheese, besides rearing a calf, and that at least $40 
 worth of pork may be raised from the whey of her 
 milk, properly fed out. 
 
 The opinion of successful stock growers is, that 
 Texas possesses advantages over any other state in the 
 Union for profitable sheep growing. It is beyond 
 doubt, that in the western part of the state, sheep have 
 abundant and suitable food; are as healthful and 
 vigorous as in any other country, and produce fleeces 
 
24 
 
 as fine. In reference to this important branch of in- 
 dustry, the reader is directed to the following letter of 
 W. E. Sweet, Esq., a successful stock grower. 
 
 THE PASTURAL INTERESTS OF TEXAS. 
 
 El Paso, Texas, Jan. 15, 1873. 
 
 The importance, prospectively, of the grazing in- 
 terests in the great Lone Star State cannot he assigned 
 a too prominent position amid the varied interests of 
 the "Empire." An empire, certainly, in area, climates 
 and resources: its area is equal to New England, New 
 York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, 
 Virginia and "West Virginia; it embraces climates and 
 soils which produce in abundance and great perfection 
 all the cereals, vegetables, fruits and flowers of the 
 semi-tropical and temperate zones; and its resources 
 are indeed vast agriculturally and pasturally (especi- 
 ally the latter,) the true basis of a nation's wealth and 
 power. 
 
 As the nation increases in population, proportion- 
 ately more of the arable lands (which in years past 
 have been used to produce our beef, mutton and wool), 
 will be required for the growth of bread stuffs, vege- 
 tables, grain, cotton, &c. Where, a decade ago, in 
 Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and other Western 
 States, millions of acres were not cultivated, but fur- 
 nished our Eastern markets largely with beef, mutton 
 and wool, to-day, comparatively but a small proportion 
 in those sections are devoted to the production of live 
 stock, being, through necessity and from natural causes, 
 
25 
 
 made available for agricultural purposes. The in- 
 creased demand for grain and breadstuff's has rendered 
 their growth in States nearest the great markets not 
 only a necessity, but more profitable than in former 
 years ; while the vast area of country beyond the re- 
 gion of regular rain-falls, where uninterrupted grazing 
 is practicable, and where shelter in winter is unneces- 
 sary, has been dotted with countless herds of live 
 stock, thereby expunging from our maps the words 
 which, before the completion of the Kansas, the Union, 
 and the Northern Pacific railways, marked an almost 
 illimitable belt of territory as the " Great American 
 Desert!" There, centuries before a Union Pacific rail- 
 way was born in the imagery of its boldest pioneers, 
 was the pastural Arcadia of America. Before the foot 
 of a Christian e'er passed its eastern limit, it was peo- 
 pled by myriad herds of native cattle, fattening from 
 year to year upon the perennial feast afforded by this 
 " Great American Desert." 
 
 The largest portion of this vast belt of country is 
 not arable, not being irrigable, and the rain-falls being 
 inadequate and too irregular to furnish the requisite 
 moisture. Only in the valleys of the never-failing 
 streams can the soil be cultivated with certainty. But 
 the almost illimitable uplands afford a rich growth of 
 sweet, nutritious grass, which withstands the long 
 droughts of the climate, and, curing upon the ground, 
 becomes hay of excellent quality for winter use. It 
 is plain that as the nation increases in population, 
 and the arable lands lying nearest the great cen- 
 tres of commerce shall be taxed to their utmost to 
 produce the food and raiment which is gleaned from 
 the soil to nurture life and foster traffic in the coming 
 years, these grazing lands must naturally produce the 
 mutton, beef and wool for the continent. For this 
 they are destined by nature. 
 
26 
 
 Let us glance at some of the 
 
 Leading Facts 
 
 bearing upon this subject. In 1870, the aggregate 
 value of all the live stock in the United States was 
 over one and a half billions of dollars ($1,525,276,457). 
 Enormous as this sum may appear when compared 
 with 1850 (one-half of a billion), or even 1860 (some- 
 thing over one billion), and rapid as the increase in 
 numbers may at first seem to have been, the significant 
 fact nevertheless appears that there has been an actual 
 decrease in numbers of over three millions within the 
 last decade. The statistics show a steady decrease in 
 numbers and a steady increase in prices. 
 
 If I am met here with the answer that this de- 
 crease in numbers is owing to the ravages and waste 
 of the war, I come forward with the assertion (and 
 will prove it) that in the latter years of the decade, 
 after the war was over, and its waste may be presumed 
 to have ceased, there was an actual decrease not only 
 in numbers but also in the value of the country's live 
 stock. Thus in 1867 the total value was $1,396,643,699, 
 while in 1868 it was $1,337,111,822, showing a total 
 decrease in value for one year of $59,531,877 ; and that 
 notwithstanding an advance in prices per head of all 
 kinds of stock except sheep. The great decrease in 
 numbers is apparent. 
 
 The census of 1850, 1860 and 1870 shows the fol- 
 lowing relation of the' number of cattle in the various 
 States" to the population ; that is, they have the num- 
 bers of cattle set opposite to the States, to each one 
 hundred people, and it shows the great decrease in 
 most of the States : 
 
STATBS AND TERRITORIES. 
 
 1850. 
 
 1860. 
 
 1870. 
 
 Alabama, 
 
 
 94 
 
 81 
 
 50 
 
 Arizona, 
 
 
 
 139 
 
 126 
 
 400 
 
 Arkansas, 
 
 
 
 283 
 
 317 
 
 78 
 
 California, 
 
 
 
 57 
 
 48 
 
 117 
 
 Colorado, 
 
 
 
 58 
 
 61 
 
 400 
 
 Connecticut, 
 
 
 
 299 
 
 274 
 
 42 
 
 Dakota, 
 
 
 
 121 
 
 95 
 
 400 
 
 Delaware, 
 
 
 
 107 
 
 87 
 
 43 
 
 Dist. Col., 
 
 
 
 72 
 
 87 
 
 1 
 
 Florida, 
 
 
 
 71 
 
 79 
 
 241 
 
 Georgia, 
 
 
 
 
 81 
 
 68 
 
 Idaho, 
 
 
 
 77 
 
 72 
 
 400 
 
 Illinois, 
 
 
 
 111 
 
 73 
 
 76 
 
 Indiana, 
 
 
 
 59 
 
 59 
 
 70 
 
 Iowa, 
 
 
 
 38 
 
 37 
 
 95 
 
 Kansas, 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 22 
 
 274 
 
 Kentucky, 
 
 
 
 69 
 
 71 
 
 61 
 
 Louisiana, 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 68 
 
 62 
 
 Maine, 
 
 
 
 121 
 
 91 
 
 68 
 
 Maryland, 
 
 
 
 116 
 
 98 
 
 29 
 
 Massachusetts, 
 
 
 
 84 
 
 81 
 
 18 
 
 Michigan, 
 
 
 
 43 
 
 34 
 
 53 
 
 Minnesota, 
 
 
 
 60 
 
 50 
 
 83 
 
 Mississippi, 
 
 
 
 80 
 
 69 
 
 70 
 
 Missouri, 
 
 
 
 69 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 Montana, 
 
 
 
 314 
 
 292 
 
 40 
 
 Nebraska, 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 48 
 
 319 
 
 Nevada, 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 22 
 
 99 
 
 NewHamp., 
 
 
 
 116 
 
 72 
 
 74 
 
 New Jersey, 
 
 
 
 73 
 
 68 
 
 25 
 
 Mew Mexico, 
 
 
 
 438 
 
 570 
 
 202 
 
 New York, 
 
 
 
 112 
 
 115 
 
 47 
 
 North Carolina, 
 
 
 
 76 
 
 65 
 
 57 
 
 Ohio, 
 
 
 
 60 
 
 66 
 
 57 
 
 Oregon, 
 
 
 
 06 
 
 01 
 
 165 
 
 Penna , 
 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 42 
 
 Rhode Island, 
 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 18 
 
 South Carolina, 
 
 
 
 53 
 
 108 
 
 40 
 
 Tennessee, 
 
 
 
 111 
 
 100 
 
 54 
 
 Texas, 
 
 
 
 259 
 
 493 
 
 Utah, 
 
 Only four States and eight Territories 
 
 220 
 
 Vermont, 
 
 have increased thei 
 
 cattle faster in the 
 
 105 
 
 Va. & W. Va., 
 
 last decade than the 
 thirty-five States ar 
 
 ir population, while 
 d Territories have 
 
 55 
 
 Wash. Ter., 
 
 either stood still or materially decreased 
 
 216 
 
 "Wisconsin, 
 
 in cattle in comparison to their popula- 
 
 78 
 
 Wyoming, 
 
 tion. In n 
 
 increase in 
 
 ol one of the older States has the 
 cattle kept pace with the increase 
 
 400 
 
 
 in popula t 
 
 
 
 
 From the constantly increasing disproportion bet- 
 ween live stock and population, the supply of animal 
 food is unequal to the demand, and the consequence is 
 a'rapid and steady increase in its price, as the market 
 
28 
 
 reports of great meat buying centres will show. Iu 
 the Chicago market alone there was a decrease in one 
 year (1868,) in the receipts of beef cattle, amounting 
 to 9,659 head; and yet in this period the population of 
 Chicago increased by many thousands. 
 
 In 1860, the total number of sheep in all the states 
 and territories was 22,471,275; in 1870, 28,477,951, 
 showing an increase in the ten years of but 6,000,000. 
 Within that period our increase in population was 7, 
 000,000. The increase in sheep has thus barely kept 
 pace with our annual increase in population. We are 
 in this respect far behind many wool growing countries, 
 and consequently tributary to them so far as this great 
 industry is concerned, especially is this true of the 
 Cape of Good Hope, Australia, and, above all, La 
 Plata. In seven years, from 1860 to 1867, the produc- 
 tion was raised nearly 108 per cent, for the first of 
 these countries; nearly 100 per cent, for the second, 
 and 268 per cent, for the third. The increase in the 
 same period in our country has not exceeded 70 per cent. 
 
 But more significant and startling is this fact, 
 namely: The total number of sheep in all the states 
 decreased in the twelve months from February, 1867, 
 to February, 1868, one and a quarter millions, (1,267, 
 633.) Within that period our increase in population, 
 at the established annual ratio, was about three-quarters 
 of a million. We had consequently three-quarters of 
 a million more of people to clothe at the end of that 
 year than we had at the beginning, and one and one 
 quarter millions less of fleeces to do it with. 
 
 Our country, with an area of 2,940,000 square 
 miles, produces between 100,000,000 and 125,000,000 
 pounds of wool annually. The British Islands, with an 
 area of only 118,000 square miles, produce 260,000,000 
 pounds annually. Thus we see that our heaven-favored 
 land, with twenty-five times Britain's extent of territory 
 
29 
 
 and five hundred times her pasturage, produces less 
 than one-half as much wool. 
 
 From these pregnant facts which I have marsh- 
 aled before your readers, I deduce some manifest prop- 
 ositions: 
 
 1st. That to maintain a large population of la- 
 borers, and sell the product of their toil and skill in the 
 great markets of the world, in successful competition 
 with those of foreign workers, we must furnish them 
 with cheap food and clothing. (And I may say, paren- 
 thetically, that there never was and never will be a great 
 and dominant race of people without an abundance of 
 animal food.) The cheaper the food and clothing of 
 the laborer, the cheaper will be every article that his 
 labor produces; therefore, in proportion to the abun- 
 dance and cheapness of food and clothing in our country 
 will be her success as a manufacturing nation. 
 
 2d. Any country that counts on clothing and feed- 
 ing its population from its own productions, must pro- 
 vide for an increase in its live-stock always proportionate 
 to its increase in population. If it is expected to ex- 
 port annual productions instead of importing them, the 
 live-stock increase should be greater proportionately, 
 than the increase of population. 
 
 3d. The reason that live stock is decreasing rather 
 than increasing, is owing to the fact that the grazing 
 lands of the East are too high priced, and it costs too 
 much to provide hay and grain to feed through long 
 winters. Especially is this true of wool growing, as 
 wool, of all raw materials except silk, bears long trans- 
 portation best, and therefore the people who graze 
 sheep in South America, South Africa and Australia, 
 can raige wool where there is no winter feeding or care, 
 pay for thousands of miles of transportation, and still 
 drive our wool-growers out of market. 
 
 These propositions require no demonstration, their 
 simple statement is their best argument. 
 
so 
 
 4th. There are five great natural grazing regions 
 in the world. The interior of Asia, on her high table 
 lands, and the valleys of her lofty mountains, have fur- 
 nished rich pasturage, summer and winter, since the 
 time of Abel, " who was a keeper of sheep," and of 
 Jabel, " who was the father of such as live in tents, 
 and such as have cattle." It is here that grazing is 
 first spoken of in the history of man. This Asiatic 
 grazing country is greater in area than all Europe. 
 
 The second pastural country in point of age is 
 South Africa. All the vast region lying south of the 
 Kong Mountains and Mountains of the Moon in 10° 
 north latitude to the Cape of Good Hope, in 35° south 
 latitude, feeds immense herds of graminivorous ani- 
 mals the year round. 
 
 The interior of South America is the third great 
 pasture ground. On her wide and boundless Pampas 
 countless herds of animals graze. 
 
 The fourth region is Australia. 
 
 The fifth is our own trans-Missouri and trans-Mis- 
 sippi country. 
 
 Here we have an area of country, between the 
 Missouri river and the Pacific coast, containing 
 1,650,000 square miles, or more than a billion acres, 
 which is one immense pasture ground, "boundless, 
 endless, gateless," as Hepworth Dixon says of it, and 
 all of it furnishing winter grazing. 
 
 Buenos Ayres has a climate similar to that of our 
 plains, and on her great Pampas 75,000,000 sheep, and 
 countless herds of horses and cattle graze the year 
 round. They are never fed or sheltered in any season 
 of the year. In South Africa it is the same, and so in 
 Australia. In Asia the great Steppes are like the 
 plains of the interior of our own country and those 
 three countries. The wealth of all the interior of that 
 
31 
 
 country was a pastural wealth, and such it remains to 
 this day. 
 
 The secret of these great herds of cattle, horses 
 and sheep for so many centuries is winter grazing. The 
 idea of cattle grazing in winter in the latitude and 
 altitude of our great plains is not new, but old as the 
 time of Abel. 
 
 Through the immense grassy tables of our Ameri- 
 can Plains the great streams run which drain the 
 Rocky mountain range of its snows and running 
 waters. As you approach nearer to the mountain 
 base you reach greater elevations, and find the country 
 better- watered. 
 
 Intersecting this country, extending from the Mis- 
 souri and Mississippi rivers to the foot of the moun- 
 tains, one thousand and one hundred miles north and 
 south, and five hundred miles east and west, is the 
 great Rio Grande, ISTeuces, San Antonio, Guadaloupe, 
 Colorado, Brazos, Trinity, Main Red, Washita, Cana- 
 dian, Cimarron, Arkansas, Smoky Hill, Saline, Solo- 
 mon's Fork, Republican, North and South Platte, 
 Loup Fork, Niobrara, White Earth, Big Cheyenne, 
 Little Missouri, Powder, Tongue, Rose Bud, Big 
 Horn, Wind River, Yellow Stone, Milk River, Muscle 
 Shell, Marais, Jefferson Fork, and the head of the 
 Missouri itself above the Yellow Stone, each one in 
 itself fitted to take rank with the great rivers of the 
 world, and all aggregating fully twenty thousand 
 miles of living crystal waters. Each one of these is 
 made up of innumerable smaller streams, some of 
 which would be called great, but for the comparison 
 with the still larger parent stream, all making a com- 
 plete net-work of mountain streams, draining every 
 mountain and hillside, and watering every valley. 
 
 The western slope is equally well, if not better, 
 
32 
 
 watered. Probably there is no other country so well 
 watered as the two Rocky Mountain slopes. From El 
 Paso del Norte, on the Mexican boundary, to the head 
 waters of the Missouri river — a distance, if measured 
 by the windings of the great mountain range, of from 
 eighteen hundred to two thousand miles — there is not 
 five miles between the small mountain streams that 
 run down the great slopes to form these larger ones. 
 The valleys of these little, and even of the large 
 streams, are covered with a dense growth of tall grass, 
 while the higher grounds between are covered with a 
 shorter but sweeter growth. The bluffs bordering on 
 the large streams on the plains are not high nor pre- 
 cipitous, but rounded and regular, and grass-grown. 
 Nearer the mountains these bluffs are higher and 
 steeper, and in some instances amount to canons, and 
 afford the best protection to all kinds of stock. 
 
 The country west of the foot of the Sierra Madre 
 or Snowy Range, is divided into the great mountain 
 valleys, such as the great parks of Colorado and the Lara- 
 mie plains, all of which, to the height of nine thousand 
 feet, are covered with luxuriant grass. These valleys 
 are elevated table lands, like the Steppes of Asia, with 
 soil, climate, and productions similar. 
 
 Of the climate of this fair region of our country, 
 I speak only briefly. 
 
 All the country intervening between the North 
 Platte on the south — the line of 50° temperature — and 
 the Missouri River on the north, has a temperature 
 between 45° and 50° south of the Union Pacific Rail- 
 road, to the Rio Grande, the mean annual temperature 
 varies from 50° to 65°. No single point has been found 
 south of the Union Pacific Road, east of the mountains 
 and west of the Mississippi, where the temperature is 
 below 50°. Nor is there a point where it is higher 
 
33 
 
 than 65°. West of the mountains the temperature is 
 considerably higher in the same latitudes. 
 
 (The authority for these statistics of temperature, 
 is Surgeon-General Lawson's Meteorological Reports, 
 made up from notes taken by surgeons of the U. S. 
 Army, for a series of years, at different military posts 
 throughout this country.) 
 
 There must be some powerful influence to make 
 the wonderful differences in climate which exist on the 
 same continent. 
 
 England, in latitude 52°, has a warmer climate 
 than Long island in 40°. Nova Scotia 45°, is nearly 
 frigid in temperature, while France, in 49° north lati- 
 tude, 4° farther north, is vine-clad. "While the inhabi- 
 tant of Nova Scotia shivers over his fire, the French- 
 man reclines in the shade of his " vine and fig tree." 
 
 The climate of Europe is tempered by the eternal 
 waters of the great gulf stream, which has been heated 
 in the tropics. Not only is the climate on the imme- 
 diate coast directly influenced and changed by the gulf 
 stream, but the winds warmed by it give the vine, the 
 ivy, and the geranium to the Seine, the Rhine, and the 
 Elbe, and even invade the realms of the Winter King 
 on the sides of the lofty Alps, the Ural, the Appenines,, 
 and the Pyrenees. 
 
 Thus it is on the Plains. The western coast of our 
 continent is washed by a tropical stream greater and 
 warmer than the Gulf Stream, and which makes San 
 Francisco, in the same latitude as Richmond, 14° 
 warmer; makes Astoria, in the same latitude as Fort 
 Brady, Michigan, 28° warmer in winter, and 12° 
 warmer the year round ; makes Sitka, Alaska, in the 
 same latitude as Nain, Labrador, 32° warmer in winter 
 and 17° the whole year. 
 
 The currents of air heated by the thermal waters, 
 are forced east, and spreading through the valleys of 
 
34 
 
 the great mountain range, give to Utah (four thousand 
 and five hundred feet ahove the sea) grapes, peaches, 
 apricots, cotton, the sugar cane, and other tropical 
 productions. To Colorado, along the eastern base of 
 the mountains, at an altitude of five thousand feet, it 
 gives the climate of Virginia and Tennessee. 
 
 This heated wind, the warm, balmy breath of the 
 tropics, makes the snow and ice shrink and retire up 
 the sides of the lofty Sierra Madre, giving up the land 
 to the wild rose, the mountain lily, the honey suckle, 
 the columbine, and the trailing arbutus, and hundreds 
 more of flowers, all spreading out into a floral carpet 
 of the richest and most varied colors. 
 
 Rain Fall. 
 
 From the same authority (Surgeon General Lawson) 
 the rain fall for the whole year east of the summit of 
 the Snowy Range is as follows : 
 
 All the country west of Omaha, on the line of the 
 Union Pacific railroad as far as Fort Kearney, is in this 
 belt, where twenty-five inches of rain fall yearly. 
 
 West of Fort Kearney, extending to the Sierra 
 Madre, on this railroad line, including the Black Hills 
 and Laramie Plains, is the belt where twenty inches 
 fall annually, with the exception of a small portion of 
 country in Texas called the Slano Estacado, or Staked 
 Plain. These two belts include all the Trans-Missouri 
 country west from the Missouri and Mississippi to the 
 Snowy Range. This rain fall includes the snow 
 reduced to water measure, twelve inches of snow 
 making one inch of water. (The snow fall west of 
 Fort Kearney to the mountain's base averages eighteen 
 inches annually.) 
 
 This water falls mostly in the spring in gentle rains, 
 during the month of May, which is the rainy season of 
 the country. 
 
35 
 
 This month of May's rain gives the Plain's grasses 
 their growth, and by the 1st to the 15th of June they 
 are fully matured. Rains then come in short showers, 
 and the fall for the summer is small. The grasses 
 begin to cure, and by the 1st of September they have, 
 become perfectly-cured, uncut hay. This one fact alone is 
 the key to the great superiority of this country for 
 grazing. 
 
 The grasses cure instead of decomposing, there 
 being neither the heat nor the moisture necessary for 
 the chemical process of decomposition. 
 
 One peculiarity of the Rocky Mountain winters very 
 favorable to unsheltered stock is the fact that there is 
 no rain during the cold months. The storms are all 
 snows, and exceedingly dry, 30 much so that it does 
 not freeze to stock. Stock raisers in the Western 
 States will fully appreciate the importance of this fact. 
 Many storms in the Mississippi valley commence with 
 rain and finish with snow, freezing to the poor ani- 
 mals. 
 
 Grasses. 
 There are not only the." bunch" and "gramma" 
 grasses, but a thousand other species. Each valley has 
 its compliment of species. 
 
 So much concerning the beef, mutton, and wool- 
 producing capacity of this vast and wonderful region 
 of our country. I come now to the proof, which is 
 overwhelming as to the certainty and profitableness of 
 stock-raising in this great pastural empire. I present 
 the testimony of practical western stock men : 
 
 J. W. Ilifi", of Wyoming, a stock-raiser of 12 years' 
 experience on the Plains, says : 
 
 " During all that time I have grazed stock in nearly 
 all the valleys of these territories, both summer and 
 winter. The cost of both summering and wintering 
 
36 
 
 iB simply the cost of herding, as no feed nor shelter is 
 required. I consider the summer cured grass of these 
 plains and valleys as superior to any hay. My cattle 
 have not only kept in good order on this grass through 
 all the eight winters, but many of them, thin in the 
 fall, have become fine beef by spring. During this 
 time I have owned twenty thousand head of cattle. 
 The per cent, of loss in wintering here is much less 
 than in the States, where cattle are stabled, and fed on 
 corn and hay. * * * I am confident, from my 
 experience, that this trans-Missouri country can defy 
 all competition in the production of wool, mutton, 
 beef and horses." 
 
 Alexander Majors, of Utah, writes : 
 
 "I have been grazing cattle on the plains and in the 
 mountains for twenty years. I have during that time 
 never had less than five hundred head of work cattle, 
 and for two winters, those of 1857 and 1858, I win- 
 tered fifteen thousand head of heavy work oxen on 
 the plains each winter. My experience extends from 
 El Paso, on the Rio Grande, to one hundred miles 
 north of Fort Benton, Montana. 
 
 "Our stock is worked hard during the summer, and 
 come to the winter herding ground thin. Then it is 
 grazed without shelter, hay and grain being unknown. 
 
 "By spring the cattle are all in good working order, 
 and many of them fat enough for beef. I have often 
 sold as high as thirty-three and one-half per cent, of a 
 drove of work oxen for beef that were thin the fall 
 before and that had fattened on the winter grass. 
 
 "During these twenty years the firm with which I 
 was connected wintered many cattle in Missouri and 
 Arkansas on hay and corn, and I am sure the per cent, 
 of loss of those wintered in this country in all the 
 valleys of the trans-Missouri country is less than it 
 was in those States with food and shelter. From my 
 
37 
 
 twenty years' experience, I say without hesitation that 
 all the country west of the Missouri river is one vast 
 pasture, affording unequaled summer and winter pas- 
 turage, where sheep, cattle and horses can be raised 
 with only the cost of herding." 
 
 Gen. William Myers, one of the chief quarter- 
 masters of the army, reports the successful wintering 
 without prepared food or shelter of quarter-master's 
 animals during each of the winters of 1866, 1867, 
 1868 and 1869, at Forts Kearney, McPherson, and 
 Sidney Barracks, Nebraska; Forts Sedgwick and Mor- 
 gan, Colorado ; Forts Laramie, Fetterman, Reno, Phil. 
 Kearney, Saunders, D. A. Russell, Fred. Steele and 
 Bridger, Wyoming Territory ; Camp Douglas, in 
 Utah, and Fort C. F. Smith, in Montana. These 
 forts embrace a country five hundred miles north and 
 south, and eight hundred east and west. 
 
 Gen. L. P. Bradley, of the army, writes in regard 
 to the same region : 
 
 " The value of this country for grazing may be esti- 
 mated from the fact that good fine grasses grow evenly 
 all over the country, that the air is so fine that the 
 grasses cure on the ground without losing any of their 
 nutriment, and that the climate is so mild and genial 
 that stock can range and feed all the winter and keep 
 in excellent condition without artificial shelter or 
 fodder. The fact of grasses curing on the ground is a 
 well-known peculiarity of all the high country on the 
 east slope of the mountains, and in this is found the 
 great value of this immense range for grazing pur- 
 
 The difference between grasses which have to be 
 cut and cured and those which are preserved on the 
 ground, is enough to convince the stock-raiser and 
 herder of the value of these immense ranges known 
 as " The Plains." I believe that all the flocks and 
 
38 
 
 herds in the world could find ample pasturage on these 
 unoccupied plains and the mountain slopes beyond; 
 and the time is not far distant when the largest herds 
 and flocks in the world will be found right here, where 
 the grass grows and ripens untouched from one year's 
 end to the other. I believe there is no place in this 
 section of the country, from latitude 47° down, where 
 cattle and sheep will not winter safely with no feed 
 but what they can pick up, and with only the rudest 
 shelter. In the mountains, or in the valleys of the 
 mountain streams, they would find ample shelter from 
 storms, in the frequent canons and ravines. 
 
 The mountain ranges are peculiarly adapted to 
 sheep raising. The range is unlimited, the grasses are 
 fine, and the air is pure and dry — conditions which 
 insure healthier stock and better wool than the climate 
 and soil of the low country." 
 
 Edward Creighton, well known as a bank Presi- 
 dent, of Omaha, Nebraska, whose experience as a 
 stock raiser extends over a period of thirteen years, 
 gives the results of his efforts in winter grazing in 
 1870 : 
 
 " The present winter I have wintered about eight 
 thousand head. They have done exceedingly well. 
 We have lost very few through the whole winter, and 
 those lost were very thin when winter commenced. 
 
 " We have no shelter but the bluffs and hills, and 
 no feed but the wild grasses of the country. We have 
 have had three thousand sheep the past winter, and 
 the}' are in the best of order. Many are being sold 
 daily for mutton. Like the cattle, they require no feed 
 nor shelter. The high, rolling character of the coun- 
 try, and the dry climate, and the short, sweet grasses 
 of the numerous hillsides, are extremely favorable to 
 sheep raising and wool growing. I have been inter- 
 ested in stock raisins; in the States for a number of 
 
39 
 
 years, where we had tame grass pastures and tame 
 grass, hay, and fenced fields and good shelter for the 
 stock, and good American and blooded cattle, and an 
 experienced stock raiser to attend to them, and after a 
 full trial, I have found that with the disadvantage of 
 the vastly inferior Texas cattle, and no hay nor grain 
 nor shelter, nothing but the wild grass, there is three 
 times the profit in grazing on the plains ; and I have, 
 as a consequence, determined to transfer my interest 
 in stock raising in the States to the plains. 
 
 " There is no prospective limit to the pasturage 
 west of the Missouri river. 
 
 "All the wool, mutton, beef and horses that the 
 commerce and population of our great country will 
 require a hundred years hence, when the population is 
 as dense as that of Europe, can be produced in this 
 country, and at half the present prices." 
 
 Gov. McCook, of Colorado, states the natural in- 
 crease of sheep in that Territory to be 100, and of 
 cattle nearly 80 per cent, per annum, adding: "And 
 as there is almost no limit to the pastural capabilities 
 of the country, so there should be no limit to the in- 
 crease of stock." 
 
 Gov. jUampbell, of Wyoming, in his annual mes- 
 sage, says : 
 
 " In the chosen home of the buffalo and other 
 graminivorous animals, which have for unnumbered 
 years roamed over our plains and subsisted upon their 
 succulent and nutritious grasses, it would seem super- 
 fluous to say anything in relation to our advantages as 
 a stock growing country. * * * In a climate so 
 mild that horses, cattle, and sheep and goats can live 
 in the open air through all the winter months, and fat- 
 ten on the dry and apparently withered grasses of the 
 soil, there would appear to be scarcely a limit to the 
 number that could be raised. 
 
40 
 
 " The dry, gravelly soil of our plains is peculiarly 
 adapted for raising sheep, for, while it produces the 
 richest of grasses for their consumption, it is of a cha- 
 racter that preserves their feet from the diseases most 
 fatal to the flocks. As it is well known that the finer 
 wools are grown at great altitudes, we should be able 
 to supply the world with almost unlimited quantities 
 of the best wool. While it may be justly deemed a 
 reproach to the country at large that the United States 
 has been for years past an importer of wool to the av- 
 erage amount of 50,000,000 pounds per annum, it is a 
 source of satisfaction to us to know that there is a 
 ready market at our doors, among our own country- 
 men, for so large an amount of all that we can grow. 
 
 "It is not sheep alone of the wool-bearing animals 
 that can be made so profitable on our plains. Our 
 mountain ranges are in many respects reduplications 
 of the country in which the most valuable and deli- 
 cate varieties of the Cashmere and Angora goats are 
 raised ; and those flocks which browse on the shrubs 
 growing at high altitudes, in the rare high atmosphere 
 of the mountains, invariably produce the largest and 
 finest fleece." 
 
 But I deem it necessary to cite no further testi- 
 mony on this point; it would be merely cumulative. 
 No one can deny or doubt that this testimony proves 
 conclusively that we have 1,000,000,000 acres of pas- 
 turage, where wool can be produced as cheap as in 
 Buenos Ayres, where 1,000,000,000 sheep can graze, 
 summer and winter, and where beef and mutton can 
 be raised at so low a price that the poorest-paid laborer 
 can have an abundance. Is it not manifest that we 
 should be exporters of all classes of animal produc- 
 tions, instead of dependent importers ? 
 
 It requires no prophetic vision to see the time, not 
 twenty years hence, when there will be 20,000,000 
 
41 
 
 people west of the Missouri river, with more live stock 
 than in all the States east of it, and our country pro- 
 viding the wool to run the spindles at least of our own 
 nation, if not of the world. 
 
 Descending now from generalities to details, I 
 will briefly describe particular localities, touching upon 
 a very few only of the hundreds of choice spots that 
 invite the presence of the pastural proprietor. ^ 
 
 Naturally the emigrant will seek his location near 
 some great line of communication, everything else 
 being equal. I will speak of some localities along the 
 line of the Union Pacific Railroad. 
 
 Dr. Latham, the excellent authority from whom I 
 have already freely quoted, fixes the eastern limit of 
 this great belt of natural pasturage in which winter 
 grazing is sure, as along the ninety-eighth degree of 
 longitude west from Greenwich, which crosses the 
 Union Pacific Railroad near Grand Island. West of 
 that point he considers all the country north and south 
 of the Union Pacific Railroad as safe summer and 
 winter grazing. This country is all in the valley of 
 the Platte, which, with its tributaries, forms one of the 
 finest grazing valleys in the world. From this eastern 
 winter-grazing limit, say Grand Island, the valley of 
 the Platte to the source of its mountain streams, if 
 measured by the South Platte through Colorado, and 
 including the South Park, is not less than six hundred 
 and fifty & miles. The valley of the North Platte, from 
 where it joins the South Platte to its mountain source 
 in the North Park, is eight hundred miles, making in 
 the whole fourteen hundred aud fifty miles of Platte 
 valley in which there is winter grazing. These valleys 
 will average more than forty miles wide, including 
 their tributaries, giving fifty-eight thousand square 
 miles, equal to 37,000,000 acres, a country one-fourth 
 larger than New York or Pennsylvania. Yet the 
 
42 
 
 email portion of New York State devoted to pasturage 
 furnishes grass to 7,000,000 graminivorous animals 
 — horses, sheep and cattle — valued at more than 
 $575,000,000. 
 
 Thus, by comparison, we have a realization of the 
 boundless extent of our country, and of its capabilities 
 for future wealth. 
 
 Besides the immense valley of the Platte proper, 
 there is first the Loup Fork of the Platte, which is 
 two hundred miles long, and including the valleys of 
 its tributaries, Beaver, Shell and Calamas Creeks, 
 north branch Dismal Creek, and south branch ; and 
 this valley will average thirty miles wide, giving in 
 this one little valley 4,000,000 acreg of pasturage. It 
 is all within sixty miles of the Union Pacific Railroad, 
 and has timber along the banks of its clear, running 
 streams, and good building stone, and is a fine grain- 
 growing country. 
 
 The temperature of this region for the whole year 
 is 50° Fahrenheit. 
 
 The islands in the Platte, from Kearney to Den- 
 ver, are covered with wild grape vines, which grow 
 grapes in abundance. 
 
 The country from Grand Island to Julesburg, in- 
 cluding the valley of the Loup Fork, contains from 
 10,000,000 to 12,000,000 acres of as good and as re- 
 liable winter grazing as there is in Buenos Ayres, or 
 South Africa or Australia, or any other country in the 
 world. Wool can be raised as cheaply here as in those 
 countries, where they pay land and water transporta- 
 tion thousands of miles, sell their wool for from 
 twelve to twenty-five cents, and grow rich at that 
 price. Here there is grass enough for 7,000,000 sheep. 
 In Ohio there are to-day 5,000,000 sheep, which, con- 
 sidered alone for their wool, after paying the interest 
 on capital invested in their pasture and meadow lands, 
 
43 
 
 and the cost of feeding through the six months of 
 winter, do not pay one cent on the capital invested in 
 themselves. Pennsylvania has about one and three- 
 quarter millions of sheep. 
 
 Take the 6,700,000 sheep of Ohio and Pennsylva- 
 nia, and transfer them to this Platte valley, and, be- 
 sides making room at home for paying investments, 
 they would pay immensely in that country, where the 
 cost of keeping is only the cost of herding. Here, in 
 a word, the stock man can find broad acres of prairie 
 covered with green, nutritious grasses in summer, and 
 in winter with perfectly-cured, uncut hay, and a cli- 
 mate so mild that stock require no shelter in winter 
 but nature's shelter — the bluffs and timber on the 
 streams. Here are government and railroad lands, 
 pure running water in abundance, the healthiest of 
 climates, and a railroad to carry the produce to mar- 
 ket; land in small quantities for the stock-raiser of 
 small means ; land in large bodies for the stock-man with 
 his great flocks and herds ; land in still larger bodies 
 for the shepherd-colonists. 
 
 The valley of the South Platte is another magnifi- 
 cent grazing region. One of its tributaries, Lodge 
 Pale Creek, is alone 190 miles long. Taking its rise 
 in the Black Hills, north of the Union Pacific Rail- 
 road, its entire valley is within easy reach of the rail- 
 road, and 70 miles of it is along the railroad line. 
 
 It abounds in rich grasses, and is well protected 
 by the bluffs which border it. Horses, sheep and 
 cattle have been grazed in this valley for fifteen years. 
 It is through this valley that the old Cheyenne Pass 
 overland road lies, over which so many thousands of 
 wagon loads of emigrants have passed. 
 
 The next tributaries of the South Platte are Horse- 
 tail, Beaver, Pawnee Springs, Crow, Howard and Lone 
 Tree creeks, on the north side of the Platte, and Beaver, 
 
44 
 
 Bijou, Kiowa and Bear creeks on the south side. These 
 large streams, with unnamed smaller ones, drain a 
 country one hundred and fifty miles north and south, 
 and about two hundred miles east and west. 
 
 Good water, good bottom lands, good hay, good 
 shelter and exceedingly good grazing, and coal and 
 iron abound in this region, 
 
 The whole region, from the head of the Cache la 
 Poudre south to Denver, Dr. Latham believes to be the 
 best watered and most desirable locality for all pur- 
 poses — fruit, farming or stock raising in America. It 
 contains 12,000,000 acres of unequaled pasture lands. 
 
 Thousands of stock-men can find the best of loca- 
 tions by living streams, with bottom lands for small 
 grain and vegetables, and corn, if any man in the midst 
 of an unbounded country of grazing, where sheep and 
 cattle need no hay nor shelter, will still adhere to such 
 a slavish life as corn raising. 
 
 There is plenty of timber in the mountains and at 
 the foot of the hills, and coal, iron, limestone and clay. 
 
 There are fine settlements in the most of this 
 region, and still room for untold numbers more of 
 people who could settle within reach of railroads, 
 mails, schools and churches. 
 
 As to the climate of this region, Dr. Latham gives 
 decided and most encouraging testimony. 
 
 He says: "I have taken meteorological observa- 
 tions for nearly six summers, with great care, and have 
 fully studied the results, and I think that out of three 
 hundred and sixty-five days in the year, more than 
 three hundred are clear." 
 
 I have cited the foregoing testimonials to show 
 the practicability of winter grazing in the higher lati- 
 tudes, where the climate at certain seasons is vigorous, 
 where snow is not infrequent, and where disastrous 
 storms are not unknown, that I may contrast these 
 
45 
 
 regions with kindlier, balmier and more genial Texas. 
 That perennial grazing is practicable, and that it has 
 been made a success, in Northern Kansas, Northern 
 Colorado and Nebraska, is an established fact; and 
 even there it has been more profitable, notwithstand- 
 ing the losses that have been sustained from the vigor 
 of the winters, than in any State or Territory where 
 feeding and shelter are indispensable. But if a coun- 
 try can be found where even these losses may be 
 avoided, where the climate is more equable and equally 
 healthy, where the grazing lands are as luxuriant, the 
 water as plentiful and unfailing, and the soil as gener- 
 ous, and where the means of communication are as 
 ample, as in an austere climate, then, certainly, it is 
 vastly more desirable, attractive and profitable. Such 
 a land is Texas — "ever-beautiful Texas." 
 
 Without entering into details regarding special 
 localities, or the advantages of one section over another 
 in respect to local considerations, I will state that, that 
 portion of the state which is traversed by the Texas 
 and Pacific Railway, offers to the stock man greatest 
 advantages. It is not what we produce but what we 
 sell that enriches us, hence to be near the line of some 
 great highway leading to the markets, is an all- 
 important consideration. Here we have one des- 
 tined to surpass in importance and magnitude all its 
 predecessors and competitors. By January, 1874, it 
 will be completed to Fort Worth, situated on the east- 
 ern border of the great grazing belt which stretches 
 westward to the Rio Grande. Thence it will be pushed 
 vigorously toward El Paso, both from Fort Worth and 
 San Diego, so that by the time a man beginning with 
 limited capital (in any portion of the state,) shall have 
 begun to realize the fruits of his enterprise, he may 
 avail himself of the markets of the nation or the world. 
 
 It is useless for present purposes to compute the 
 
46 
 
 area of pastural lands which this road will make avail- 
 able to the husbandman. Their vastness almost be- 
 wilders one whose ideas of farms and pastures are cir- 
 cumscribed by boundary lines and barriers of wire, 
 wood and stone. Fort Worth is in Tarrant County. 
 The Texas and Pacific Railway thence westward 
 traverses Parker, Palo Pinto, Stephens, Shackelford, 
 Jones and El Paso counties, crossing the Staked Plain. 
 Adjoining these counties on the north are Haskell, 
 Throckmorton, Young, Jack, Wise and Denton, and 
 on the south Ellis, Johnson, Hood, Erath, Eastland, 
 Callahan, Taylor and Presidio. Hood, Parker, Palo 
 Pinto, Young, the north-eastern portion of Throck- 
 morton, and Baylor counties are watered by the Brazos 
 River and its tributaries. Throckmorton, Shackelford 
 and Stephens counties are watered by the Clear Fork 
 of the Brazos. The other counties named except El 
 Paso and Presidio are traversed by living streams which 
 afford ample water for their full pastural capacity, all 
 tributaries of the Brazos and its forks. El Paso and 
 Presidio counties are watered by the Rio Grande and 
 its tributaries, and by mountain streams and springs. 
 The counties named embrace but a very small propor- 
 tion of the state adapted to the production of stock of 
 all kinds with the best results, but for those who con- 
 template settling in the state in the near future, they 
 are thought to be the most desirable, owing to their 
 proximity to a railroad. The census of 1870 shows a 
 population in these counties as follows : Parker, 4,186; 
 Palo Pinto, (no census); Stephens, 330; Shackelford, 
 455; Jones, (no census); El Paso, 5,000; Haskell, (no 
 census); Throckmorton, (no census), Young, 135; 
 Jack, 694; Wise, 1,450; Denton, 7,251; Ellis, 7,514; 
 Johnson, 4,923: Hood, 2,585; Erath, 1,801; Eastland, 
 88; Callahan, (no census); Taylor, (no census); Presi- 
 dio, 1,636; Baylor, (no census.) 
 
47 
 
 Now, to compare this region with that which is 
 traversed by the N. P. Railroad. The Texas and 
 Pacific Railway is near the 32nd parallel, and the N. 
 P. Railroad near the 40th, a difference of eight degrees 
 in favor of the former as regards geniality of climate. 
 The section lying adjacent to the T. and P. Railway is 
 distant from the Gulf of Mexico three degrees, or 
 about two hundred and ten miles, air-line or most di- 
 rect measurement. It is beyond the line of yellow 
 fever, cholera, and all malarious diseases. But five 
 per cent, of all the deaths in Texas, from 1850 to 1870 
 were from consumption. 
 
 The water is excellent — clear, sparkling, cold. 
 The Grass is granea and mesquit, the latter being un- 
 equalled for sheep. Both cure upon the ground and 
 become the best of hay for winter grazing. Snow 
 rarely falls, and remains on the ground but a few hours. 
 At this distance from the coast the dreaded northers 
 are less severe, and are not disastrous to live stock, as 
 they are farther east and south. There is irrigable 
 land enough along the streams to produce bread-stuffs, 
 vegetables, fruits, &c, for local use, and the yield is 
 abundant in quantity and excellent in quality. The 
 grape is of especial excellence here, and the wine made 
 from it is equal to the choicest vintage of California. 
 
 The cost of getting from "Washington, say to El 
 Paso, the most distant point, is, actual fare, $158. Add 
 cost of living, making $200. One can go cheaper by 
 taking private conveyance from Austin, or from Denver 
 if the northern route is adopted; a wagon and team or 
 riding animal will bring readily first cost at El Paso. 
 The route, considering cheapness, is by steamer to 
 Galveston, thence by rail to Hempstead and Dallas, 
 where private conveyance may be procured at reason- 
 able prices, that is saddle horses. Families should 
 purchase wagons at Galveston, or if destined for El 
 
48 
 
 Paso, at Austin. To come to El Paso it is advisable to 
 take the route via. Denver and Pueblo, thence by pri- 
 vate conveyance via. Trinidad, Fort Union, Sas Vegas, 
 Old Pecos, Tijcras Canon, Albuquerque, and down the 
 Rio Grande, purchasing wagons and supplies for the 
 road in St. Louis. 
 
 I make the statement advisedly that an investment 
 in live-stock anywhere in Texas sufficiently far from 
 the Gulf coast to insure health both to man and ani- 
 mals — say two hundred miles — may with the attention 
 any business in the East would require to insure suc- 
 cess, be made to yield at the very least 30 per cent. 
 
 But money-getting should not be man's chief 
 object in life; long life, contentment, as perfect a con- 
 dition of happiness as may be, are, I take it, important 
 to most men. 
 
 A majority of those who leave the New England 
 and Middle States are actuated in part, if not in the 
 main, by a desire to find a more genial residence, where 
 they may not only eradicate the seeds of diseases inci- 
 dent to a malarious and austere latitude, but escape 
 their ravages in the future. Texas is their El Dorado; 
 and in a worldly sense they can lose no ground. Here 
 may be found the Teapalan of the Continent; in point 
 of climate neither tropical nor frigid, equable, suffici- 
 ently far from the lowlands to be free from many of 
 the most baneful ills that flesh is heir to. Here man 
 may earn a fortune or a competence as they are inclined; 
 accumulate great wealth and consequent power, or 
 build them houses and surround them with the com- 
 forts and luxuries which shall insure the maximum de- 
 gree of happiness here on earth; and, living happier 
 and more contented lives — lives in which there is more 
 of poetry and less of self and the narrowing material 
 — go down to the grave in the fullness of a green old 
 age, vigorous to the last, in the possession of their 
 
49 
 
 faculties, mental and physical, independent, their un- 
 derstanding enlarged and their relations with the great 
 Giver nearer and more natural, life having been to 
 them a boon, not a bane, a pleasure, not a struggle. 
 
 WM. E. SWEET. 
 
 Note. — The writer is indebted to Dr. H. Lotham of Laramie- 
 City, Wyoming, for many of the facts herein contained, and to 
 Col. H. G. Otis, of Washington, D. C, for many of the deductions 
 therefrom. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Railways, Minerals, Manufactures, Finance and 
 Commerce. 
 
 "With a wonderful rapidity has the Railway system 
 of our country been extended, and while thousands of 
 miles have been constructed through barren regions, 
 we have a territory greater than that of France, whose 
 shores are washed by the waters of the Atlantic, and 
 its western border within twelve hundred miles of the 
 Pacific, lying undeveloped for the want of Railway 
 facilities, but the time has now arrived when Railway 
 capitalists are active in inaugurating a system that will 
 bring this rich country into communication with all 
 parts of the Union. 
 
 The Roads now being constructed and those pro- 
 jected, form a complete net-work, and if all are built, 
 the state will not be in the least crowded, still offering 
 in almost every section fertile lands, which eventually 
 will become settled and producing abundantly. The 
 total number of completed miles of road January 1, 
 1873, were nearly 1300, about 390 miles were con- 
 structed in 1872. The completed lines and those un- 
 der way are important routes, which are as follows : 
 
 The Houston & Texas Central, from Houston to 
 the Red River, with branches to Austin and Nace. 
 
51 
 
 The International from San Antonio, via. Austin, 
 crossing the Houston & Texas Central at Hearne, thence 
 to Fulton on the Red River, forming a connection with 
 the Fulton & Cairo Railroad. It is proposed to extend 
 the International south-westerly from San Antonio to 
 Leredo, Mexico. The Houston & Great Northern from 
 Houston in a north-easterly direction to Clarksville, on 
 the Red River. The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Rail- 
 way from Sedalia, Mo. to Dennison, their connecting 
 with the Houston & Texas Central. The Texas and 
 Pacific from Shreveport, La., via. Marshall, Dallas, 
 Fort Worth, El Paso to San Diego, Cal., a branch run- 
 ning north connects the Texas & Pacific at Texacarna 
 with the Trans-Continental, which runs south-westerly 
 via. Sherman, crossing the Houston & Texas Central 
 on to Fort Worth, there connecting with the Texas & 
 Pacific. 
 
 The following are short lines, having been in opera- 
 tion for some time. 
 
 The Texas & N". 0. from Houston to New Orleans; 
 the Houston & Brazoria from Houston to Columbia; 
 the Galveston, Houston & Henderson Railway from 
 Galveston to Houston ; the Galveston, Harrisburg and 
 San Antonio Railway from Galveston to Harrisburg, 
 thence to San Antonio. Applications for charters to 
 build roads over the following routes have been made. 
 From Fort Worth to Waco, thence to Austin and San 
 Antonio, terminating at some point on the Rio Grande ; 
 another at a point about 80 miles north-west of Dallas, 
 thence to Dallas, having a south-easterly terminus on 
 the Gulf. 
 
 The business of the completed roads, is a guaran- 
 tee of a capacity for still greater expansion, the freight- 
 ing business of the Houston & Texas Central is con- 
 stantly increasing, the receipt for freight at the terminus 
 of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Road, Dennison, 
 
52 
 
 average $3000 daily, of course this will diminish some- 
 what when other lines are in operation to the Missis- 
 sippi and New Orleans. Cars arrive loaded with all 
 kinds of merchandise, building material and agricul- 
 tural implements, and depart with cotton, wool, hides 
 and cattle. 
 
 The Texas and Pacific and the Trans-Continental 
 Kailways when completed, will mark a new era in the 
 internal commerce of Texas. 
 
 The Trans-Continental Road forms important con- 
 nections at Fulton, Ark. with roads running to Mem- 
 phis, Cairo and St. Louis; its route on to Fort "Worth 
 is through the productive counties of Bowie, Red River, 
 Lamar, Fannin, Grayson, Collin, Denton and Tarrant. 
 
 The Texas & Pacific connecting at Shreveport 
 with the Vicksburg and Shreveport Railway, thus se- 
 cures an outlet to the Mississippi, and to all the impor- 
 tant cities of the South, East and North; by this route 
 will the wool, hides, cattle and cotton of western and 
 northern Texas be carried to the Atlantic coast, and 
 will also convey to the mining regions of New Mexico 
 and Arizona, the products of the rich Texan soil. 
 
 Galveston, situated at the mouth of Galveston Bay, 
 is the largest commercial port of the state ; the Bay is 
 the finest on the coast, about 35 miles in length, and 
 from 12 to 18 wide. The commerce of this city is in- 
 creasing rapidly, large quantities of cotton are prepared 
 here for foreign shipment. 
 
 The following from a New Orleans Journal will 
 give the reader an idea of the important part the Rail- 
 roads will perform in removing the cotton crop of this 
 and other states. 
 
 "But few of our merchants, perhaps, are aware of 
 the proportion of the cotton crop that is being brought 
 to this market by railroad. 
 
53 
 
 From Sunday, October 20, to Saturday, 26, in- 
 clusive, our receipts by rail were as follows: 
 
 BALKS. 
 
 Jackson Railroad, 11,135. 
 
 New Orleans, Mobile & Texas, . . . 7,562. 
 Morgan's Louisiana & Texas Railroad, . 1,273. 
 
 Total, 19,970. 
 
 " The total gross receipts during that period were 
 40,288 bales. It will be seen that 49J per cent, of the 
 cotton now coming to market is not brought on any 
 river craft. 
 
 " It may also be mentioned that during the 
 commercial year ending September 1, 194,572 bales 
 cotton came in by the Jackson Railroad, and 98,642 
 bales by the New Orleans, Mobile & Texas roaa, 
 making a total of 293,214 bales. During the same 
 time there came out of the Red River 197,380 bales, 
 and out of the Ouachita, 89,084— a total of 286,464. 
 " These two roads, therefore, brought us more 
 of the staple than came out of the two principal 
 tributaries. 
 
 " These two roads are steadily stretching their 
 control over districts whose trade had been lost to 
 us, and augmenting their business. The Jackson 
 road is now bringing cotton from Memphis at rates 
 that compete with the river steamers. We showed 
 recently that the shipments of cotton south from 
 Memphis by rail, last year, had increased 450 per 
 cent., and that the amount of cotton from upper 
 Mississippi and Tennessee, coming south, had been 
 largely increased. 
 
 The New Orleans, Mobile & Texas Railroad is 
 proving a not less valuable auxiliary. The New 
 Orleans, Mobile & Atlantic Fast Freight Line ex- 
 tends over all the roads in the Southern Atlantic 
 
54 
 
 States, so that we are enabled to contend vigorously 
 for the trade of interior Alabama and Georgia as 
 well as East and Middle Tennessee. 
 
 "Almost daily shipments to this point are being 
 made from points as far as Columbus and Macon, 
 Georgia, and 3000 bales are now at Nashville await- 
 ing cars. 
 
 " Had we in operation the road across Lake Pont- 
 chartrain and up through Central Mississippi, and 
 the road to Houston and Shreveport, this city would 
 eoon absorb the entire cotton trade of Texas, Mis- 
 sissippi, Alabama, Georgia and Arkansas, amounting 
 to about 2,000,000 bales with an average crop." 
 
 As this work is rendered more especially for 
 the common reader, and those who may wish to emi- 
 grate to Texas, we shall not be careful to arrange 
 the mineral department to the taste of Professors of 
 Geology. 
 
 To the practical farmer and mechanic, who is 
 about to change his position and find a new place 
 of residence, it is hoped that in this description he 
 may find useful information. 
 
 It will be inferred by every reader that very much 
 of the surface of Texas is alluvial, and composed of 
 such materials as have either been brought down from 
 the highlands by the water-courses, or driven on shore 
 by the waves of the Gulf. From the latter source is, 
 perhaps, derived a considerable portion of the deeper 
 parts of the soil of the maritime district, except near 
 the mouths of rivers and considerable streams. Even 
 when the lower strata may be composed of submarine 
 materials, the upper portions appear evidently to con- 
 sist of earths and other deposits, derived from different 
 sources. A considerable amount of tenacious and firm 
 earth is found upon the surface, even near the Gulf, 
 and hence could not be the effect of the waves, which 
 
55 
 
 would cast up little else but sand and still lighter sub- 
 stance. Inland, also, an unusually large proportion of 
 the country is made up of the alluvial bottoms of the 
 rivers and smaller streams. 
 
 Of this part of the geology it will not be neces- 
 sary to say much, as all its uses for agriculture are 
 well understood. In this region, whether on the bot- 
 toms or uplands, stone, either pebbles or larger kinds, 
 are seldom if ever found, the soil being composed in 
 the bottoms of rich black mould, into which decom- 
 posed vegetable matter largely enters, and the uplands 
 of various materials, embracing, quite often, oyster 
 and other sea-shells, partially decomposed, forming a 
 rich loam, admirably fitted for agricultural purposes. 
 
 Except in the level region along the coast, nearly 
 every county in the state possesses more or less of iron 
 ore. 
 
 Coal of excellent quality and inexhaustible quan- 
 tities is found in many places along the Trinity, Colo- 
 rado and other rivers. From a comparison of the local 
 position of these mines, and the direction of their beds, 
 they probably may be found to be parts of the same 
 great mine extending quite through the state, and of- 
 fering their rich stores of fuel to the husbandman, the 
 manufacturer and merchant. It is the kind dispensa- 
 tion of Providence that furnishes these two most essen- 
 tial of minerals in abundance, and places them within 
 the reach of man. Several specimens shown us were 
 similar to the Pennsylvania anthracite, but not quite 
 so heavy. Lead equal in quality to that of Galena has 
 been found. Copper, nearly pure, has been discovered 
 near the head waters of the Brazos. 
 
 A sample of silver ore, from a three feet vein in 
 Llano county, gave a yield of 586 ounces of silver and 
 75.45 per cent, lead. 
 
 In parts of the undulating country on the Trinity, 
 
56 
 
 Brazos and Colorado, limestone of a very pure and 
 compact character is found in large quantities. The 
 lime obtained from burning this stone is said to be 
 equal in strength and delicate whiteness to the very 
 best used in the United States. A beautiful white 
 rock is obtained in all parts of the state. "When first 
 quarried, it is easily worked into any shape, but be- 
 comes hardened when exposed ; much of it has been 
 used for building purposes, and presents a beautiful 
 appearance. In our travels we found any quantity of 
 clay, suitable for making brick. We met several gen- 
 tlemen from Northern States, who had tested speci- 
 mens thoroughly, and believed that brick could be 
 produced nearly equal to the Philadelphia brick. "We 
 know of no enterprise that would make better or more 
 sure returns for capital invested in this section than 
 brick-making. 
 
 It has been a matter of astonishment to us that 
 the tanning business has not secured more attention, 
 as we have been informed by reliable parties that bark 
 suitable for tanning purposes exists in large quantities 
 in many parts of the state. Several tanneries, on a 
 limited scale, have been started on the Rio Grande, 
 and it is said the result has proved highly favorable. 
 It is predicted that not many years will pass away be- 
 fore a vast quantity of hides will be shipped from 
 Texas in the shape of leather. 
 
 The prices of lumber now rule high ; the facilities 
 for cutting the abundant and valuable timber are as 
 yet limited. Certainly, to the capitalists this branch 
 of industry presents an inviting field. There are in- 
 numerable locations for the erection of steam and 
 water power mills. 
 
 We think that in no part of the Union can there 
 be found locations so well adapted to manufacturing ot 
 all kinds as in Texas. 
 
57 
 
 The total State debt January 1st, 1873, amounted 
 to $238,969.66, the present rate of taxation is $1.38 
 per capita. 
 
 The incorporated Banking Capital is about 
 $2,000,000, and perhaps capital invested in private 
 Banking will show the same footing. 
 
 The legal rate of interest is eight per cent., but 
 parties can stipulate as high as twelve per cent. 
 Usury forfeits the interest, but principle can be col- 
 lected. No interest is allowed on open accounts. 
 
 Actions for the recovery of Real Estate must be 
 brought within ten years ; actions for trespass on Real 
 Estate, for detaining or converting personal property, 
 and upon accounts, must be brought within two years ; 
 actions upon contracts in writing must be brought 
 within four years; the statue does not run against 
 infants, married women, persons imprisoned or of 
 unsound mind, nor in favor of persons absent from the 
 state. 
 
 The Homestead of a family, of 200 acres, or a 
 lot in town not exceeding $2,000 in value, is exempt 
 from execution. The usual household and kitchen 
 furniture, not exceeding fifty dollars ; tools, apparatus 
 and books belonging to a trade or profession, five 
 milch cows, one yolk of work oxen, or one horse, 
 twenty hogs, and one year's provision are also exempt 
 from execution; an unmarried man is entitled to the 
 same exemption, except the 200 acres of land; he 
 may retain town lot and improvements to the value of 
 Five Hundred Dollars. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Hints to Emigrants, Homestead Laiv, Education, £c. 
 
 It is by no means an uncommon circumstance 
 that persons removing to a new country, discover 
 that owing to some want of information, or mistake 
 even in small matters, they are subjected to much 
 inconvenience. To prevent loss or detriment to those 
 who contemplated going to Texas, we think it advisa- 
 ble to offer a few hints, suggested by our experience 
 when visiting that State. 
 
 We observed that many were laboring under 
 false impressions in reference to price of lands. Emi- 
 grants from the State of Arkansas and Tennessee 
 were sadly disappointed upon their arrival in Central 
 Texas with their families. Not being able to procure 
 lands along the railroads at fifty cents an acre, having 
 had such information before leaving their native 
 States. Many have also been misled by the belief 
 that they could locate lands in every section, under 
 the pre-emption act. The lands subject to this act 
 are termed about third rate, and are principally in the 
 "Western part of the state, and no doubt much of it 
 well adapted to grazing. In the counties bordering on 
 the Western part of Central Texas, there are some 
 
59 
 
 lands not taken up, and it is said would make splendid 
 agricultural and grazing lands. 
 
 The following is a copy of pre-emption act : 
 
 Section 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the 
 State of Texas, That every head of a family who has 
 not a homestead, shall be entitled to one hundred and 
 sixty acres of land out of any part of the public 
 domain as a homestead, upon condition that he or she 
 will select, locate and occupy the same for three years, 
 and pay the office fees on the same. And all single 
 men, twenty-one years of age, shall be entitled to 
 eighty acres of land out of any part of the public 
 domain upon the same terms and conditions as are 
 imposed upon the head of a family. 
 
 Sec. 2. Any person who shall occupy any por- 
 tion of the public domain as a homestead under the 
 preceding section, shall have the same surveyed, and 
 the field-notes returned to the Land Office within 
 twelve months after settling upon the same ; and such 
 person shall be entitled to a patent therefor upon 
 filing in the Land Office an affidavit to the effect that 
 such person has occupied and improved said land for 
 three years in good faith, and has complied with the 
 requirements of this act and paid all fees, and which 
 affidavit shall be corroborated by the affidavits of two 
 disinterested and credible citizens of the county in 
 which the land is situate, and all of which affidavits 
 shall be subscribed and sworn to before the district 
 clerk, who shall certify to the same and the credibility 
 of said citizens under his seal of office. 
 
 Sec. 3. Any person who shall hereafter, in good 
 faith, actually settle upon any part of the public 
 domain, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, 
 and shall furnish to the Commissioner of the General 
 Land Office satisfactory evidence that he or she has, 
 in good faith, actually so settled, shall be entitled to 
 
60 
 
 purchase the same from the State at the sum of one 
 dollar per acre ; and the certificate of the surveyor of 
 the county or district in which the land is situate, that 
 such person is an actual settler on said land, shall be 
 deemed satisfactory evidence thereof. 
 
 Sec. 4. Any person now occupying any part of 
 the public domain of the State in good faith, shall have 
 the right to take the necessary steps, at any time 
 within twelve months from the passage of this act, to 
 appropriate the same, or a part thereof, to a home- 
 stead under the first section of this act, or to purchase 
 the same, or a part thereof, under the third section of 
 this act, and no person shall have the right to interfere 
 with said actual settler, by file, location, or survey, by 
 virtue of any land certificate, or other land claim 
 whatever, within said prescribed time. 
 
 Sec. 5. The holder of any genuine land certifi- 
 cate, or other valid land claim against the State of 
 Texas, shall hereafter have the right to locate the 
 same upon any part of the public domain of the State 
 not subject to the claim of actual occupants, as pre- 
 scribed in the foregoing sections of this act, and in 
 accordance with the laws now in force in reference to 
 the location, surveying and patenting of lands in this 
 State; provided, that all such certificates shall be 
 located, surveyed and returned to the General Land 
 Office by the first day of January, 1875, or be forever 
 barred. 
 
 Sec 6. All laws and parts of laws in conflict 
 herewith are hereby repealed ; and this act shall take 
 effect and be in force from and after its passage. 
 
 Approved August 12, 1870. 
 
 The best lands are owned by individuals, or taken 
 up under the School and Railroad Grants, although 
 the Emigrant need not fear that all of the desirable 
 lands are beyond his reach ; good land, well situated 
 
61 
 
 in productive sections, sell from two to eight dollars 
 per acre, except in the immediate vicinity of towns, 
 when it is held as high as twenty dollars per acre. It 
 is no uncommon thing for owners of land to hold from 
 I one to two thousand acres, and they have a disposition 
 to sell part of their lands to enterprising men of the 
 North. If you want to engage in sugar and cotton 
 planting, grain growing or grazing, the lands are be- 
 fore you well suited to your purpose, in excellent loca- 
 tions, and will yield abundantly. 
 
 Men with families, can here procure at a small 
 cost land enough on which to establish his children as 
 they may want it, and secure to themselves ample range 
 for cattle, and all the comforts which abundance of 
 products can furnish. 
 
 The rapid construction of Eailways in Texas, will 
 soon remove all hindrances to emigration ; in a few 
 months there will be several routes to select from, at 
 the present time the only through routes by rail from 
 the North, are via. St. Louis or New Orleans. During 
 the present year the Texas and Pacific will be com- 
 pleted to Dallas, connecting at Shreveport with lines 
 diverging eastward and southward, and the Trans- 
 Continental connecting at Fulton, Ark., with lines 
 running northward and eastward. The fare from St. 
 Louis to Dallas, via. Missouri, Kansas & Texas, and 
 the Houston & Texas Central Railroads, is about $45.; 
 to Galveston, (same route) $60.; from Philadelphia 
 via. St. Louis to Dallas, $70. ; to Galveston via. New 
 Orleans, $66.75. Emigrant rates or passage in second- 
 class cars on Express trains, are about one-half the 
 above rates. 
 
 The traveller is advised to take as little baggage 
 as possible, especially if he expects to visit locations 
 distant from Railroads. The Stage lines charge extra 
 for all baggage over 60 pounds. 
 
We deem it inexpedient for men to remove their 
 families, until they have visited the state, selected their 
 location, and then they will understand better their 
 wants, and route of conveyance. 
 
 May and September are the best months to visit 
 Texas; rains are more frequent during the winter 
 season, say, from November to March, and the roads 
 are often made impassable, although we have noticed 
 in many parts of the state, that about twelve hours of 
 pleasant weather after a constant rain of twenty-four, 
 the roads in a condition not to impede travel but little! 
 
 We are of the opinion that cases of disputed titles 
 are no more numerous here than in other states, the 
 Records at the County Seats and at the Land Depart- 
 ment of the state, are complete, and cost but a trifle to 
 have examination made. 
 
 Jt would be well however for strangers to exercise 
 judgment and care, and intrust their business to reliable 
 attorneys or agents. 
 
 It is not advisable for the emigrant to engage ex- 
 tensively in raising cotton to the" exclusion of other 
 crops, especially if you are dependent on hired labor, 
 as it requires constant attention from the time it shoots' 
 above the ground until it is picked, and the least neg- 
 lect during this period, might perhaps be fatal to the 
 crop. 
 
 Many farmers from the North, have rented land 
 for the first year of their residence in Texas, by this 
 means they are enabled to study the different locations 
 before purchasing. The cash rent is from three to six 
 dollars per acre, for improved land, with sufficient 
 range for cattle free. 
 
 The following lowest quotations during the win- 
 ter of 1872 and 1873, will be of interest to the 
 emigrant. 
 
Apples, (Green) per bush. $1.00 
 
 Hams, 
 
 
 per lb. 15 ota 
 
 " (Dried) " lb. 12 cts 
 
 Honey, . 
 
 
 " « 15 " 
 
 Beef, . " " 8 " 
 
 Lard, 
 
 
 " « 15 " 
 
 Bacon, . . " " 12 " 
 
 Molasses, 
 
 
 " gal. 75 " 
 
 Butter, . . " " 30 " 
 
 Oat3, 
 
 
 . " bush 50 " 
 
 Corn, . . . " bush. 50 " 
 
 Onions, 
 
 
 " " $1.50 
 
 Chickens, . " pair 60 " 
 
 Potatoes, 
 
 (White) 
 
 " " 2.00 
 
 Cotton, . . " lb. 15 " 
 
 " 
 
 (Sweet) 
 
 " bbl. 3.50 
 
 Cheese, . . " " 15 " 
 
 Peaches, 
 
 (Dried) 
 
 " bush. 2.00 
 
 Coffee, (Rio) . " " 22 " 
 
 Rice, . 
 
 
 " lb. 10 cU 
 
 Calicos, . " yard 10 " 
 
 Sugar, 
 
 
 « u n « 
 
 Eggs, . . " doz. 25 " 
 
 Sorgham, 
 
 
 " gal. 60 « 
 
 Flour, . per 100 lbs. $5.00 
 
 Salt, 
 
 
 " bbl. $5.50 
 
 Hay, . . " Ton 12.00 
 
 Tea, . 
 
 
 " lb. 1.25 
 
 Hides, (Green) " lb. 7 cts 
 
 Wool, 
 
 
 " " 25 cts 
 
 " (Dry) " « 18 « 
 
 Wheat, 
 
 
 " bush $1.50 
 
 Live-stock was selling as follows : Beef cattle, 
 grass fed, $12; Beef cattle, corn fed, $30; Sheep, 
 $1.50; Horses, $75; Ponies, $15; Mules, $100; Work 
 Oxen (yoke) $40. 
 
 Early in the history of Texas education was the 
 paramount subject considered by her statesmen, and 
 most liberal and judicious grants of land were made 
 for educational purposes. Four Mexican Leagues, or 
 17,712 acres were set apart for each county for free 
 school purposes, also Fifty Mexican Leagues, or 
 221,400 acres for the endowment of colleges, with a 
 provision for their sale when good prices could be 
 obtained; by a careful disposition of the lands re- 
 maining unsold, the educational system of this state 
 will be placed on a financial basis equal to that of 
 the Eastern or Middle States. 
 
 In the intercourse with the Texians a freedom 
 and frankness was observable which makes one feel 
 that he is welcome. 
 
64 
 
 In our attempt to describe " Texas as it is," we 
 have endeavored to be free from any exaggeration ; it 
 needs but a slight retrospect of the climate, soil and 
 products of this state to convince any one of its 
 advantages over the very best parts of the North. 
 
 In the Northern States a very large portion of 
 the summer is consumed in rearing and securing 
 sustenance for stock of various kinds through the 
 winter; in Texas all such labor is unnecessary. In 
 the North the winter precludes almost every kind of 
 profitable farming business, being taken up in feed- 
 ing stock, attending to fuel, and like engagements. 
 In Texas, with the exceptions of those few days 
 when storms prevent it, the fields are ploughed, 
 fences made, grounds cleared, and before its close, 
 corn and other seeds are in the ground and shooting 
 up into green blades. Having all the autumn and 
 spring, and much of the winter for field labor, and 
 free from all the expense of wintering stock, the 
 Texan farmer enjoys double the time for successful 
 exertion that the Northern and Western farmer does, 
 and is at far less expense. 
 
 Surely if men do not succeed in acquiring a 
 competency by farming in Texas, it must be because 
 they are indolent. With ordinary health, economy, 
 and industry, every one who is able to commence a 
 small farm, may in a very few years be placed in 
 circumstances of comfort if not of affluence. 
 
REGULATOR 
 
 This unrivalled Medicine is warranted not to contain a single 
 particle of Mercury, or any injurious or mineral substance, but is 
 
 PURELY VEGETABLE, 
 
 containing those Southern Roots and Herbs, which an all-wise Pro- 
 vidence has placed in countries where Liver Diseases most prevail- 
 It contains four medical elements, never before united in the same 
 happy proportion, viz : — 
 
 A Gentle Cathartic, 
 A Thorough Alterative, An Excellent Tonic, 
 
 A Certain Corrective 
 
 CZ^OF ALL IMPURITIES OF THE BODY.r^O 
 For Forty Years it has proved its great value in all diseases 
 of the Liver, Bowels and Kidneys, giving Life and Health to thous- 
 ands, who would other .vise have sunk into untimely graves, or en- 
 dured the tortures of a living death. If there is an excess of Bile in 
 the system, it purges actively ; if the patient is not very Bilious it 
 acts gently, Assisting nature slowly and surely, without vio- 
 lently disorganizing the stomach and bowels. 
 Regulate the Liver and prevent 
 
 Dyspepsia, Chills and Fever, Constipation, Sour 
 Stomach, Sick Headache, Chronic Diarrhoea, 
 Bilious Attacks, &c, &c, &c. 
 SIMMONS' LIVER REGULATOR is compounded of the sim- 
 plest and best remedies. It takes the place of Calomel, Quinine and 
 Bitters of every kind. Is the cheapest, purest and best Family 
 Medicine in the "World. 
 
 IT IS NO INTOXICATINC BEVERACE. 
 
 Manufactured only by 
 
 J. H. ZEILIN & CO., 
 
 MACON, GA., and PHILADELPHIA; 
 Price, $1.00 per package; sent by mail, postage paid, $1.04. Pre- 
 pared ready for use, in bottles, $1.00 and $1.50. 
 
 SOLD BY ALL DRUGGISTS, 
 
 ^"Beware of all Counterfeits & Imitations. -®8 
 
OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
 Market St. West of 17th, Philadelphia 
 
 The College comprises 
 
 OTHE SCIENTIFIC SCH00L,O 
 
 Designed for Students who may not be fully prepared 
 to enter any of the Technical Schools, or who may not 
 prefer a professional course in one of the industrial 
 arts, and who yet wish to avail themselves of the priv- 
 ileges of the College instruction and discipline, 
 
 FIVE TECHNICAL SCHOOLS, 
 
 For Professional Students, viz : 
 
 THE SCHOOL OF MINES : designed to impart a thoroughly 
 scientific and practical education in Mine Engineering, and in the 
 best methods of determining the value of Mineral Lands and of 
 analyzing and manufacturing Mine products. 
 THE SCHOOL OF PRACTICAL CHEMISTRY : for Class In- 
 struction and for special Laboratory Instruction and designed to 
 afford facilities for acquiring a thorough knowledge jt Chemi.tey, 
 which shall equal in appointments, cheapness, and thoroughness, 
 these of European Laboratories. 
 THE SCHOOL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING: in which students 
 pursue Mathematics as applied to Engineering and we- £«g*»J 
 most approved principles and methods involved in the construction 
 of Roads, Bridges, Buildings, and Public Works. 
 THE SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING: m 
 which the class are conducted through a full coarse on Mechanical 
 Philosophy, and the Principles of Machines; on the location and 
 construction of Engines, Furnaces, Foundries, &c. 
 THE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE: affording by means of 
 Lectures on the history of Architecture and the principles of Con- 
 struction of studies of the Orders and Styles, and of practical les- 
 sons in Modelling in clay and plaster, rare facilities for acquiring a 
 thorough knowledge of the profession. 
 
 Geological and Mineralogical Excursions and Practice m the 
 SmeltingTd Analysis of Ores ; in M^^TjPggJgJ 1 £* 
 Architectural Drawing: in the Modelling of Arches, btairway., «c., 
 fn Plater atl in theN.se of the Engineering Instruments in the 
 field, alternate with and complete the scientific instruction. 
 
 The Annual Announcement of the College, containing fu 11 in- 
 formation as to the Courses of Instruction, Terms, Boarding, &c, 
 may be obtained on application to 
 
 ALFRED L. KENNEDY, M. D. 
 
 President of Faculty, Polytechnic College, Philadelphia. 
 
THE BEST & MOST COMPLETE IN THE WORLD. 
 
 Beautiful in construction ; light and easy of op- 
 eration ; simple in mechanism, and noiseless in move- 
 ment. 
 
 Universally confessed to be the nearest perfection 
 of any Machine that has claimed the attention of the 
 public. 
 
 It will perform the greatest range of work, and do 
 it with ease in a beautiful, strong and efficient manner. 
 
 It is its own advertiser wherever it goes, winning 
 its well earned praise among families and with manu- 
 facturers of every fabric, which requires sewing ; it 
 does the whole range of family sewing on every kind 
 of material. Making Button Holes, sewing over and 
 Over and Embroidering the Edge of Garments. * 
 
 The construction of its Shuttle and Bobbin is such 
 that it works with less noise than any other shuttle 
 machine, and has a perfectly even tension, more easily 
 adjusted than any other Bobbin in use. 
 
 Be sure you examine this Machine before pur- 
 chasing any other — for no other will so thoroughly 
 meet every want. 
 
 SOLD ON EASY TERMS. 
 
 Call or Address at Office and Salesroom of the Co, 
 
 No. 1318 Chestnut Street, Maieljlia. 
 
 AGENTS WANTED EVERYWHERE. 
 
JNO. WELSH DUL LES, LYMAN P. SAXTON. 
 
 DULLES & CO. 
 
 No. 424 WALNUT STREET, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 H. S. Leech, Apt at Clark, Walcott & Co. 29 Broad St. New Tort. 
 J. H. Alexander & Co. 307 Pine Street, St. Lonis, Mo. 
 
 SECURITIES AND SUPPLIES. 
 
 Negotiate Loans, on all description of Securities, 
 Examine and Report upon Financial and Prospective 
 condition of Railroads and Corporate Companies, fur- 
 nish Plans, Maps and Estimates ; arrange Contracts 
 for Constructing Railroads. New and Second-hand 
 Locomotives, Cars, Iron and Steel Rails, furnished. 
 Lowest Rates of Freight and Insurance effected on 
 Railroad Iron, Machinery, etc., Stationary Engine 
 Pumps and Contractors' Supplies furnished. 
 Correspondence solicited. 
 
TEXAS AS IT IS 
 
 — OR — 
 
 The result of Observation and Travel, during 
 the Winter of 72 and 73, 
 
 J±. IR,. -WOOLSTOnST. 
 
 Contents— Settlement., Independence and Annexation 
 
 of Texas, Climate, Soil, Products, Grazing, 
 
 Pastural Interest of Texas, 
 
 — BY — 
 
 W. IE. SWIEIET, ZEISC^- 
 
 Railways, Minerals, Manufactures, Finance, Com- 
 mercial, Homestead Law, Education, Society, 
 Hints to Emigrants. 
 
 PRICE, 35 CENTS 
 
 ADDRESS, 
 
 j±. ir,- woolstoust, 
 
 134 South Third Street, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, PA, 
 A Liberal Discount to Booksellers and Dealers. 
 
 ■ OWltYiCMtW.PRS. 723 CHESTNUT St. PHIL*. 
 
TEXAS AS IT IS 
 
 The'^/vugrants' Guide 
 
 The result of Travel, Inquiry and Observation. 
 
 A. R. WOOLSTON 
 
 PRICE 35 CENTS. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 Rowley & Chew, Steam-power Printers, 723 Chestnut Street 
 
 1873- 
 
Pennsylvania Railroad ! 
 
 AND 
 
 Most Direct Route to the West, North-West and 
 
 SOUTH-WEST. 
 
 This Line is equipped with Steel Rails, Stone Ballast, 
 
 Heavy Ties, Double Track, Iron or Stone Bridges, 
 
 Westinghouse Air Brake, and the most 
 
 improved Equipment. 
 
 J?TJ1L,Tj1s£JL1<T PALAOB O-^IE^S 
 
 Are running by this Line to 
 
 Chicago, Looisville. Cincinnati, St. Louis, Indianapolis, ColnmMs, 
 
 And nl! intermediate points without change. 
 Baggage chocked through to destination. 
 Hates of Fare always as low a« by other Routes. 
 Through Tickets for all points in the West, North-west and 
 iSouih-west, for sale at the 
 
 Offices of the Company, 
 
 Boston, Nos. 77 and 79 Washington Street. 
 
 NEW YORK, 
 
 No. 526' Broadway. No. 435 Broadway. No. 271 Broadway. 
 
 No. 1 Astor House. No. 944 Broadway, No. 8 Battery Place. 
 
 Depot, foot of Desbrosses St. Depot, foot of Cortlandt St. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, 
 
 901 Chestnut Street. 838 Chestnut Street. 116 Market Street. 
 
 4900 Main Street, Germantown. ' Depot, 32d and Market Sts. 
 
 BALTIMORE, 
 
 N. E. Cor. Baltimore and Calvert Sts. Calvert Station, N. C. Railway. 
 
 WASHINGTON, 
 
 N. E. Cor. 13th and Penna. Ave. N. E. Cor. 6th St. and Penna. Ave. 
 
 Depot, Baltimore & Potomac R. R., Cor. Sixth and B Streets. 
 
 PITTSBURG. 
 
 Union Depot, and No. 73 Fifth Avenue^, 
 
 Principal Ticket Offices in New England, Eastern Penna , and at all 
 
 Hotel Ticket Offices. 
 
 A. J. CASSATT, 
 
 General Manager. 
 
 D. M. BOYD, Jr., 
 
 General Pass. Agent. 
 
WEEKLY PRESS, 
 
 THE LEADING 
 
 Representative Journal of Pennsylvania, 
 
 CLAIMS TO BE 
 THE BEST FAMILY PAPER, 
 
 THE BEST LITERARY JOURNAL, 
 
 THE BEST REPUBLICAN WEEKLY, 
 
 THE BEST AGRICULTURAL ORGAN, 
 
 THE BEST WEEKLY NEWSPAPER, 
 IN THE KEYSTONE STATE. 
 It is in all respects ths exponential journal of Pennsylvania, going everywhere and 
 always striking the leading and representative men in each township. In support of its 
 claim as just presented, we invite attention to the current numbers of the paper itself. It 
 is precisely what is wanted for the family of the intelligent and enterprising farmer or 
 country merchant, and speaks for itself. 
 
 There is perhaps no weekly journal which gives so much interesting and instructive 
 reading in a single number. A casual inspection will justify this assertion. 
 
 FORNEY'S WEEKLY PRESS 
 
 Confessedly has become the most representative and comprehensive of Pennsylvania 
 journals, as a record of its news, for home use or foreign enlightenments; as an exponent 
 of its best thought: most intelligent, candid, and advanced on questions of political and 
 religious liberty and progress, of social order and development, and of literary and art 
 culture; and it is the ambition and effort of its proprietor to maintain and extend this 
 leadership, to still more elevate and widen the character of the paper, and to vary and 
 enlarge its interest and usefulness for all classes of our people; to make it indispensable 
 both for the State and for all in other States who would und< rstand Pennsylvania. 
 
 AS AN ADVERTISING MEDIUM 
 
 IT HAS 
 
 ^^rEQi Equal i® P§®m$ylyanm, ^sSrT 
 
 Either in the extent or character of its circulation. 
 
 Those wishing sample copies of THE WEEKLY PRESS will please address 
 JOHN \V. FORNEY office of The Press, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Specimen copies of the Weekly Press will be sent free to any address. 
 
 T IE IrTm: S : 
 
 One copy, one year, $2 00 
 
 Five copies, 9 00 
 
 Ten copies (and one copy to the getter-up of the club,) 1") 00 
 
 Twenty copies (and one copy to the getter-up of the club,) 27 00 
 
 Fifty copies (and one copy to the getter-up of the club,) 55 00 
 
 Ten copies, to one address (and one copy to the getter-up of 
 
 the club,) 14 00 
 
 Twenty copies, to one address (and one copy to the getter-up 
 
 of the club,) " 25 00 
 
 Fifty copies, to onr address (and one copy to the getter-up of 
 
 the cub,) fiO 00 
 
 One hundred copies, to one address (and one copy of the Tri- 
 
 Weekly Press to the getter-up of the club,) 100 00 
 
 All orders should be addressed to 
 
 J OHM W. FORNEY, 
 
 Editor and Proprietor, 
 
 S. W. Cor. Seventh and Chestnut Sts., Philadelp] 
 
>ic^arlai]d & rjfo., 
 
 And Wholesale 
 
 § BAQ BEALEBS, ^ 
 
 OFFICE, No. 18 DECATUR STREET, 
 PH1LADA., PENNA. 
 
 A large assortment of Booh and Mews 
 
 Printing, Writing, Manilla, 
 
 Hardware fy Wrapping 
 
 PAPERS, 
 
 Constantly on hand or made to order at. short 
 notice. 
 
 B. K. JAMISON & CO. 
 
 N. W. Co J-. Third and Chestnut Sts, 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 
 pAnd Dealersun 
 
 Gold, Silver and Government Bonds, 
 
 AT CLOSEST MARKET RATES. 
 
 Drafts Drawn on all the Leading Cities of Europe 
 at the Lowest Rates. 
 
 All the various bonds for sale in this market will be furnished 
 at regular advertised prices. 
 
 N. B. — Stocks bought and sold at the Philadelphia and New 
 York Boards on Commission.