r f > > :> '^ ? '^^ > >) > ^"^ ^ o^ > o:« ^,w= > > > >^ >> 3 >■ ^"~ > ^ * >> > > » > . > 3 > > v> :>> > >:> :>^ ► > > > > ► > 3 3 > o- 3 ~> > -o 2> > »^ :>> ;:>^^ :> > |LlBRiRYOFCOA'GRESS.| i) ^ • 4 ||laprm.L |opnri5W |a t f I ; UNITED STATES OF AMF;!IL'\ ' ■-■■ ':..-v '^■•■?^-'s^,<'^ x:> ^ » •> ^^ > > -■■ >">"^ i •>>:> > .^:.i W' - 5X> ^\^ ^* . i>^ :> ^ ^ . X>) ~> '■- ? " ^^"^ ^s ?> )'^^ -^ - -^^1' > > T> < ' j>J :> ^ ^ > "^\ % S 'r^ ?/ 7> J> > z> ^ ^ ^ J> "T^ N ? 5^ If !^^ '7> ^»> >' '_.^^ ^ ^' f3 ^X> ^"^ » ^ ^H^ I>> <*.vH 5-^3 TE^ IDS^ 1^ -:"> ^^ T3i> ~I> ~'^-= TE^ ""^^ -^^^^ I3E> ^ ;^- If II J-" >?.^ WESTERN TEXAS AUSTRALIA OF AMERICA; OB THE PLACE TO LIVE. Must I remain forever here penniless and destitute ? Is there no spot upon this wide-spread earth whereon I could live and accumulate a little to be called my own ? BY A SIX YEARS' RESIDENT. ^ CINCINNATI. FOR SALE BY E. MENDENHALL, No. 10 West Fifth Street. 1860. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, Bv E. MENDENHALL, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Ohio. 2^ "Z Ts^i NMs.W^ PREFACE. To drop the plow, spade, ax, and the like, aud travel over the earth until a country is found where these companions of the laboring man need not swing so heavily, where his task need not be so hard, whe«e his condition in life may be easily bettered, and then write home and to all the world, in the shape of a book, and tell poor mankind of such discovery, is what men seldom do. Men may explore the remotest ends of the earth, and draw the heavens near for geograph- ical, historical, and philosophical purposes, and they may crowd the world with their histories and impor- tant discoveries ; they may write of love, of daring deeds and lofty purposes, and upon almost all the subjects that commonly suggest themselves to the mind ; they may peruse the Holy Bible even, and write theological works enough to convert the whole world to Christianity ; and yet the poor man may look in vain among all these writings to find how to get his bread and raiment, how the means to educate his children, or how his pecuniary wants are to be sup- plied, and his earthly career made more pleasant to himself and family. The world is full of book-producers, but how few address themselves to the legions who are anxious to (ill) IV PREFACE. know where they can go, what they can do, and how they are to do it. The following pages were not designed so much for the literary world as for the generality of men. Nor were they designed so much to delight as to benefit. They were written principally for those who are and may be looking abroad oyer the earth for another and better range of operation, or a more accessible grainery of life; and although by the "huge paw" of a work- ing man, the interested reader will not stop to criticize, but will leniently consider that the writer is one of those poor but somewhat observing laborers, who has snatched a moment from time to tell the world of a field that only awaits the sickle to reap its golden harvest. As I have said, these pages may be considered as having been written to benefit rather than to delight. If the object is attained, what matters it to the reader that the writer is a bungler or anything but an ac- complished composer? So, if the reader is of those for whom this work is written, it is hoped that he may not stop to notice faults and errors, but read on and see if there is anything here suggested that may be to his advantage. A portion of this work was written more than a year since, which will account for any flicting statements in regard to time COISfTENTS. PAOB. Introductory, ■. 3 Cattle Raising, 14 Horse and Mule Raising, 29 Breaking Horses, JH'to'^il." 34 Stock Driving, ,,»».». 34 Camping and Story Telling, 36 Mustanging, 37 Catching- Wild Cattle, c .39 Hog Raising, ..vv J iV-. /.-.'. ... 44 Sheep Raising and Wool Growing, ....;..;... . . 1 V.- J.'. . . 48 Importation and Improvement of Stock, 63 Goats, 76 Alpaca Sheep, 80 Camels, ..vZ-iVV. . . . 81 ....;.. -i^-iWl^... 82 Dogs, 83 Fowls, 84 General Remarks, 84 The Grasses of Western Texas, 87 General Remarks, 94 Mexico, its Destiny, etc., 99 Lands, Vegetables, Fruits, Wines, Timbers, Flowers, Fencing, Mirages, Grains, Dwellings, and Building Material; Cisterns, Climate, and Health; Yellow Fever, Northers, Sea Breeze, etc., 120-144 CONTENTg • PAGE. Rivers, Droughty Section, Seaport and Interior Towns, Grasshoppers, and General Remarks, 144 Fish, Oysters, Shrimp, Turtle, etc., 156 Game or Animals hunted, 156 Game or Birds hujat^i^,]^ ./l-^.X 14 A. t <. "... 162 The Christian Man, 169 Merchant and Planter, — Rich Man, 170 Speculation vs. Drovers, 178 Cattle Shipping, 183 Beef Packing, 184 Speculation, vs. Horses, Mules, etc, 185 Land. Speculation, - % 186 WooJ and Sheep Speculation, 187 Mechanics,.. 191 The Poor Man, 191 Teachers vs. Schools, Churches, Ministers, etc., 202 Kinds of Labor in demand, 205 Hard Times and Money Matters, 209 Texas Almanac, , 209 Who and How to go to Western Texas, ' 210 The Beauties of our Land, , 216 Different Routes to Texas, , , . , 219 How to find a Location, 222 Emigrants' Camp, 226 Slavery, 227 Relaxation of Energy, 229 Encouragement to Home Industry, ., 230 Hopelessly Fallen, 231 Chance, 233 INTRODUCTORY. Kind Reader, take, if you please, an imaginary flight over the densely populated portions of the civ- ilized world, and consider how many there are who would do well to emigrate. Ask, in your flight, the legions with whom you meet if they would wish to emigrate, and then calculate the number whose answer was "yes, but where shall I go ?" No doubt such an answer, or one to the same effect, would fall from the lips of many thousands; and to many of those whose wish it is to find another and better country, the contents of this book may be somewhat interesting. How often has the poor discontented man retraced the fruitless efforts of his past, looked around upon his unhappy present, and gazing out upon the dark uncertain future, exclaimed with feelings of anguish, akin to despair, "0, what can I do, or where shall I go? Have I left anything undone that I could do in this unpromising land? Must I remain forever here, penniless and destitute ? Is there no spot upon this wide-spread earth whereon I could live and accu- mulate a little to be called my own ? Is the reader a poor man of family, whose house may be open and almost roofless, and whose children arc poorly clad, and the cold blasting snow storms of anotFier winter coming on, and do these shivering chil- dren stand around and cry aloud for a father's care? Well might the father say, " This is too much ; but 0, God, what can I do? Where, 0, where shall I go?" (iii) IV INTKODUOTOEY. Porhaps tlie reader is -a man of property, and hav- ing his credit too far extended, it would now take one half he has got to answer the demands against him, and he may say, ^'I am already as deeply in debt as my merchant will suffer me to go. There is no hope of making anything here; and if I were to make a des- perate effort to dispose of my effects, settle up my business, and start out in the pursuit of a more prom- ising country, where my little balance might accumu- late, where my efforts might be crowned with success, where 1 might live free from debt and the angry de- , mands of creditors, where I might make life more an object and live out a peaceful decline of years, and give my children a liberal and respectable start in the world — where," he may ask, " shall I go to find tliat country ?" Should chance open my book to the perusal of any whose feelings or situations might answer such or a similar portrayal, then let them read on. Methinks the reader is a young man whose cradle of infancy was no stranger to wealth ; whose boyish days were happy in the sportive play of school-mates ; whose youthful mind was ever elate with the brightest of prospects, and the green meadows of his father's land bade him smile, be joyous, and hopeful; but by the vicissitudes of fortune he is now rendered poor and unhappy, and would fly away from the taunts and jeers of those who were once proud to be considered his friends and equals. It may be you are an orphan boy, whose ears are unaccustomed to words of kindness, whose last bless- ing fell from the lips of a dying parent, and, galling in the chains of discontent, would got away if you but knew where to go. If so, cease the mingling of tears w^ith tliy sorrows, and road on. Possibly you are the resident of some dcnsely-popu- INTRODUCTORY. V lated country, where every trade, occupation, and pur- suit is overdone, and where you can not continue to live with hope of success in any business that you may be qualified to carry on. Are you the daring sailor, for whom the perils and hardships of.tlie sea have no further charms, and having furled the sail and bid adieu to hoarse com- mands, would you now seek that peace and profit which the billows of the ocean have failed to give t Have the prayers of an anxious and loving v/ife, whose mind has already too long dwelt upon the watery graves of the deep, induced you to remain upon land ? Perhaps you are the friend of some one whose wish it is to leave behind the land of his nativity, and look for wealth, honors, or contentment in another? If so, please read on; and should you deem it worth your while, call the attention of your friend to this book. Are you the laboring man of intellect, whose only want to render you worthy of your immortal nature, is leisure ? Would you burst the fetters of poverty while yet in the vigor of life, in anticipation of de- clining years, and accumulate a little to smooth the roughness of cares in your old and feeble days ? Are you the emigrant from eastern or European shores, now landing upon American soil, and would you find a beautiful climate and most excellent local- ity for your future abode in this great land of liberty ? Or are you the farmer's son, whose minor days are quite or nearly out, and would you now mingle with the tide of emigration, taking with you your habits of industry, to some distant country to work out your destiny of weal or woe ? Be you who you may, if your future is unpromising, — if you have carefully looked around you and can nowhere discover anything that merits attention, or, in other words, if you would bet- ter your fortune, read on. VI INTRODUCTORY. Be you who you may — Briton, German, French- man, American, or what not — whether living upon the snow-clad hills of New England, the lake-washed shores of the Canadas, the hights of the Highlands, or in the valley of the Rhine — if you are discontented with your present abode, and are determined to seek a fortune or better your condition in another part of the world, then patiently read on. It may be that §ome of you will be interested. It may be that some of you will be benefited. There is a land where the grass is ever green. A land where a beggar seldom is seen. I would not create an unnecessary excitement; I would not lead one single human being astray; I would not induce the rugged son to leave the aged and helpless parent to mourn the departure of his un- dutiful child; I would not have any one believe that anywhere upon the face of this wide-spread earth there is a country the spontaneous growth of which renders the labor of man unnecessary ; but I would have thousands and tens of thousands of human beings believe that if they were in a country with which I am acquainted and about which I am going to write, they would be by far better off than they now are or can ever expect to be by remaining where they are. I have no newly discovered gold or silver mines, no second California or Australian gold ex- citement upon which to enlarge, but I have a country, dear reader, of which to tell you, where, if some men could be, the prattling of their babes and the music of birds would be sweeter to their ears ; where the frown upon their brows would involuntarily dispel, and the tears of their children would no longer come forth from the sufiering of cold, nor mingle with the irosts as they fall ; a country where a man can labor INTRODUCTORY. VU with the hope of some day being lord of the soil ; where a man can be a man, not a dog ; a country where now and for many years to come there can be a glorious investment of a small or large capital safely made ; a country where, having myself resided for six long years, traveling it over and over, I have never y«t seen a public beggar or a person who lived by appealing to the sympathy of others. It may be that others have ; but I can safely say that such people are hardly known in this fortunate countr3\ A country, in short, where to my knowledge there are plenty of men who are worth from ten to one hundred thousand dollars, and who, but a few years ago, liad hardly a dollar they could call their own, and many of whom, had they remained in their native countries, would most undoubtedly have remained there forever poor, and at this time getting their daily bread with their daily labor, instead of being as they now are, among the wealthiest of this naturally great and delight- ful country, doing what they do at their leisure or pleasure. Now, kind reader, unfold, if you please, the map of the tJnited States, and upon its southern portion you will find a country or state that, for some reason or other, is called Texas. Here is the promised land ; here is the Lone Star ; here is the Australia of America. /I WESTERN TEXAS; OR, THE PLACE TO LIVE. It may be thought that through views of advantage, for the gratification of fanciful display or some reason or other, the writer is overdoing the thing and placing this section of country far beyond any real excellency or advantages that it possesses over other countries or neighboring states ; ^ut it is not so. Upon my word and honor, and as God is my witness, I feel from the bottom of my heart every word that I have said, and shall conscientiously continue my subject, taking with me to the end majestic truth as the guiding meteor of my pen. O how I feel, not the want of sincerity, but the want of ability, to enable me to do it justice. Texas ! Man, with all his ideas of perfection, might look in vain for a land more favored by creation and the government of man than this; and yet, compara- tively speaking, her habitations are mere dots upon her surface, while in many parts of the world people are cramped up for the want of room. Here the deni- zen goes forth and commits to flames the vast surplus of spontaneous growth, while the people of other coun- tries are carefully storing up every blade and spear that the soil, pushed to its greatest capacity, is capable of producing. Here the minds of men, ever so free and easy in regard to the cares of life, are revolving in schemes of speculation, and around them their cat- tle are cropping the luxuriant grass the twelve-month 10 WKSTERN TEXAS ; OR, througli, while in other countries the eternal routine of laborious preparation in summer for the necessities of tedious winters, render there, bo^h the minds and bodies of men, forever enslaved ; never dreaming that these constant cares of their lives, necessary upon a stingy and contracted plan, are robbing their very souls of their beauty; and their minds forever en- slaved for the requirements of the body, never drink from the fountains of thought, which are boundless and free. Let me introduce to our shores a stranger from across the ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. When land- ing, he is generally unfavorably impressed. He has cherished an id6a that soon the land of Texas will stand up in ready relief to his anxious eye. He looks around in vain for that of which Jie had dreamed, and inquires of the country. Hearing its many praises, he loses no time in preparation for some part of the in-' terior. He starts out over, what seems to him, an endless level. Soon herds of deer are bounding away before him. He sees cattle in every direction, and wonders at the immense waste of luxuriant grass. Although not satisfied with this broad level so desti- tute of noisy creeks and shady groves, he begins to be somewhat reconciled. Now the timely setting of the sun, casting her golden rays upon the dark green foliage of the earth, reminds him of the approach of night, and that here, as elsewhere, man must rest, eat, and sleep. Under the branches of a live oak or cluster of trees, not far from a lagoon or pool of water, ho turns in to answer the demands of his nature. He sleeps upon the ground, in the open air, 'neath the dew-catcliing branches, and dreams of all things glad and free. The music of the night, and the first greet- ing of his ears at the dawning of day, are the ever clianging notes of the mocking-bird. He rises to vvel- THE PLACE TO LIVE. 11 come back the beauties of day, and, being refreshed, starts oh his way. The scenes of to-day are those of yesterday, but toward night, in the distance, are signs of elevation, and at the close of day, upon hill-tops, from whence the view is delightful, that overlook the travels of the day and the sublimity of the distant plain ; close by the music of dancing little waters on tiieir way below, lull our traveler to the sweet em- brace of refreshing sleep. The arms of Morpheus again relax their hold, and the traveler awakens to a conciousness of the rich comings that must soon follow the now gray lights of the east, happy tidings of day. The glorious orb appears, and here are not only beau- ties tor the eye, charms for the ear, and sweet fra- grance for the smell, but a feast for the mind. Visions of happiness and hopes of fortune are now playing their parts around his joyful heart. Again upon his way, the surface now being hilly and undulating, and the traveler, divested of the last inkling of prudence, is eager to drink deep of these moistenings of the soul. Wondering on at the continued increase of natural beauty, unconsciously, upon some elevation he is now fixed, as it were, and naught but his eyes and inner faculties are moving. He looks and looks, wonders and wonders, and finally the tongue, ay, the very lips of the soul, burst forth: "Can it be that these broad unbounded meadows are perpetually green ? can it be that the sweet fragrance of these flowers, whose beauty can only be seen with beauty's eyes, are unceasingly mingled with the air as if forever to delight the breath of man and charm the flight of the honey-bee ? and are these birds of so many colors forever so sweetly niusicaU Is it possible that these herds of cattle, horses, mules, and sheep, the swiny tribe and all, live here the twelve-month out without the aid of man ? and could man live here throui^rhout all the 12 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, variatious of hoat and cold, with only the trees to shel- ter him, and all this in the United States of America, the renowned land of freedom ? Am I dreaming, or is this really so?" Such words as these will give the reader but a. faint idea of the surpassing beauty aqd delightful appear- ance of this country, from early spring until summer ; and in the dead of winter the stranger, from a snowy countr}^ would be equally delighted; although the flowers of the forests and prairies are not so plentiful and fragrant as in summer, yet he is here and can realize the comfortable sleeping out of doors at a time when he knows that frosty snows are covering the land of his distant home, and can see, as in summer, the cattle living upon the grass of the prairies uncared for by man. The traveler may go on for hundreds of miles, in difierent directions, penetrating the moun- tains, if he pleases, continually absorbed with the beauty, fertility, and healthful appearance of the country, and particularly carried away with the idea that the doors of wealth are here wide open to every one who will devote his best efforts to the improve- ment of the advantages that here lay before him. It is sometimes amusing to look over and consider the extravagant paper calculations of new-comers in regard to what can be done in Texas at the stock raising and farming business — i. e.^ as they sa}^ and with much justness, too, if men would only work one half as hard here as they do where I came from, con- sidering themselves proof against the habits of idle- ness, or Texas fever^ as the saying is here, to which many of the older settlers of the country have become addicted. The time was, and it is the case now in many places in western Texas, that men, by stepping to their doors or outside their camps, could shoot down a lat buck or doe, the meat of which is excellent, and THE PLACE TO LIVE. 13 the hides of which, by a simple procOvSS of tanning, with which all old Texans are familiar, make most durable clotlics. So it is not so strange that old set- tlers here, who were once so nearly cut off from the older states by so limited a communication with them, should have contracted habits of idleness, since most all they could do that then seemed advantageous to th.em, was to kill deer and other game for their meat and peltry, and flght Mexicans for their independence. For my part, I would withhold that severity of cen- sure that the old Texan very often seems to deserve for his relaxation of energy and loose morality. I would say to the old veteran, ''All honor to you for your services in liberty's cause, and happy may you live and die. But since such exertions as yours and your childrens' seem to prove inadequate to the devel- opment of the resources of the excellent country for which you fought and conquered, you certainly will have no objections to seeing this country inhabited by those who will turn its rich soil to the greatest ad- vantage, and its extensive productions to the good of mankind." • The state of Texas is a planting and stock-growing country ; its western portion being better adapted to the growing of stock, and not so well adapted to the growing of cotton and the great staples of the south ; the valleys or bottoms of its principal rivers, however, are fine cotton and sugar-producing lands, and a large amount of these commodities are now produced and exported from the state. Their production, however, is conlined principally to eastern Texas or the bottoms of the Colorado, and portions of the state east of this river. Many of the river bottoms west of this, how uvcr, produce more or less cotton, and some of them a large amount of it. But it is nmvQ the southern and Vv-estern portions of the state, generally, as well as the. 14- WKSTEKN TEXAS; OR, Stock-growing business of Texas, that are here to be considered. CATTLE RAISING. For anything like a real picture of many parts of this country, my pen might labor in vain. I can only wish that the reader miglit travel it over, as 1 have done, stand upon its elevations, and contemplate its beautiful form and the rich mantle that God has spread over it. How often have I wished that the farmers of the cold country, where I was raised, and the cold and snowy countries where I have l3een, could travel over western Texas, taking with them a knowledge of its climate and soil, its different kinds of grasses, and particularly a knowledge of the stock- growing business of tlie country. It is not so diflBcult for me to imagine how those lords of the soil, in sum- mer, and snow-drifts in winter, would feel, or what the impressions of such an excursion, accompanied with vivid recollections of their frosty homes, would be, but to spread out upon paper words that would justly convey my ideas of those feelings and impres- sions, would be futile for me to attempt. Would that the representatives of such feelings and situations as those that, in my beginning I attempted to portray^ could only know how well this country would be adapted to their peculiar wants — and O that thousands of unfortunate men, women, and children could exchange their present unhappy abodes for a home in this bountiful and most delightful country. Who that has a soul, or that can feel his accounta- bility to his God* would not open the channels of alle- viation to unhappy and suffering humanity? There is, across the deep, a country that resembles much, in many thiligs, the one about which 1 am going to write; the pursuits and productions of which. THE PLACE TO LIVE. 15 to a great extent, ave the same — Australia. She, like Texas, is a great stock -growing country. She has been more fortunate than Texas in some respects. Tlie lirst cattle taken to Australia were of English breeds, and the constant importations from England have since kept up and improved the cattle and other stock of this most excellent grazing country. The cattle of Texas are inferior to those of Australia ; but their vast, luxuriant range makes them thrifty and profitable to their owners. 1 believe they are a race of Spanish and French cattle — or 1 can safely say that they are generally Mexican, Louisiana, and Mis- souri cattle. Although they are generally rough, and not compact and heavy enough, they are large and rangy, and are fine cattle upon which to improve. But, withal, beautiful droves of beeves can now be selected upon our Texas prairies. The first sheep introduced into Australia were from those countries where improvement in live stock of all kinds has long since been a great object. Australia's adaptation to sh.eep and fine wool growing was finally discovered, and her importance as a great wool-pro- ducing colony soon demanded the attention of the English government, and from its patronage and en- couragement it is now the greatest and finest wool- growing country in the world. But is there no coun- try that is yet to be her compeer ? Has America no Australia to furnish her looms and enable her manu- facturers to compete with those of England ? Has America no country where w^ool can be produced sufficiently cheap and in such abundance as to place it beyond the control of the speculator, and counter- act, in its production and manufacture, the penny labor of Europe ? Cqrtainly she has ; and more than this, she has a country that will soon furnish her mil- lions of consumers— the poor, laboring men and all— 1() WESTFRN TEXAS; OR, with excellent bcefaiul otlief ineiits at reasonable rates ; a country to produce her mules — that most excellent cultivating animal — so reasonably low that they will be within the reach of all herikrmers; and this country, or part of the United States, is Texas, and particularly western Texas. There are now about two millions of cattle in Texas. Their average value per head is about six dollars. The raising of beef and veal cattle is an extensive and profitable business in this country. At this moment 1 am thinking of a man, an Irishman, who has twelve thousand head of these cattle. He lives upon the San Antonio river, and the bulk of his cattle range be- tween that and the Mission river, or over a range of country, probably, about thirty miles square. This man, I am credibly informed, not many years since followed the business of saddle-tree making, and has, by continued good management and economy, in- creased his stock of cattle I'rom a few head to this large number. He has, of course, bought cattle, but they were bought with the proceeds of his beef-cattle originating from his first little beginning of stock that he made at the saddle-tree business. He has also a large amount of other property, all of which he accu- mulated from this small beginning of stock and the proceeds of his saddle-tree business. He now^ thinks of disposing of a share of his other property and putting the proceeds thereof into cattle. Should this be done within a short time, he will have about fifteen thousand head of cattle, and other property necessary for their management to the amount, probably, of ten thou- sand dollars. I say necessary, as it will eventually be required, — probably three thousand dollars worth of horses, lands, etc., would enable this man to carry on his business at this time, giving all necessary attention to his cattle. I will venture to sav that if THE PLACE TO LIVE. 17 this person were asked what would have been his situation at this time had he remained in Ireland, his answer would be, a poor laboring man. He last year sold about five hundred beef-cattle, principally at eighteen dollars per head. He has this year sold eight hundred head of beeves at sixteen dollars per head. He will brand this year (1859) about three thousand calves. He probably would not take less than eighteen or twenty thousand dollars for his next year's increase. Not one of this large number of- cattle does he ever feed a spear of hay or anything else, nor has he any of them inclosed in pastures. His cattle are scattered over a large range of country, with the cattle of other stock-growers, and outnumber those of any other brand in his range. Stock men in this country, for the purpose of marking and branding their calves, collecting their beeves, and working with their cattle generally, go together on horseback in numbers sufficiently large to enable them to work to advantage. It is not unusual here to see as many as three or four thousand head of cattle brought together in one bunch for the purpose of selecting out such as may be wanted. Let the reader imagine himself upon a broad prairie, covered with scattering cattle as far as the eye can reach, and from twenty to thirty men and boys, mounted upon Mexican horses, swiftly surrounding thousands of these cattle, bringing them together with the cracking of whips and hooping of voices, or Indian yells, and when together the clashing of horns, roaring and fighting of bulls, and the dextrous riding maneuvers in separating such as are wanted from the main herd, make up an interesting and exciting scene. These are everyday occurrences here in Texas, saying nothing, at present, about the lassooing of wild horses, cattle, and other animals. 18 WESTERN TEXAS; OK, Men having large stocks of cattle are not particu- lar about bringing them home. There is generally company stock-pens built over the range, and they brand at the first convenient pens, private or other- wise, anywhere within the range, and turn loose, and collect, again and again, until their trip is made or their work completed. On returning home, however, from a stock-hunting trip, there is generally a goodly number brought to the ranche or headquarters of the business for the purpose of branding or haunting, par- ticularly if the drove be made up upon the outskirts of the range. Should a large stock -grower find his animal out of his range, or beyond certa'in boundaries, if he does not take it home, he works it back within these boundaries before turning it loose again. Men of small stocks of cattle are generally more particular about keeping them near home, and some- times those of considerable stocks have them haunted to a small scope of country. Having myself, last year, bought, for a shipper, the beeves from a stock of about fifteen' hundred head, belonging to a man who was living in the valley of the Nueces, I am knowing to the fact of his having his whole stock of cattle, except, perhaps, about twenty head, brought together in one herd in less than four hours' time, and this, too, by three or four Mexicans on wages of trifling amount. Probably the branding of this man's increase of stock and the whole care of his fifteen hundred head of cat- tle, does not cost him more than two hundred and iifty dollars per year, and his stock will turn off" one hundred three and four year old beeves, annually, at sixteen dollars per head right at home. The owner of these cattle is not able nor does he pretend to work, nor is there any necessity of his working, for his cat- tle will make him rich, besides supporting his family and paying for all the attention they require. THE PLACE TO LIVE. 19 Now, Mr. lord of the snow-drift of New England, Canada or anywhere else, do you think that this man would exchange his fifteen hundred head of cattle and place of residence for the best farm that could be found in any cold country, with the understanding that he should go and live upon it? No indeed, he would not. Although his fifteen hundred head of cattle are not worth ten thousand dollars, and his house a picket hut, stuck up on laud belonging to some one else, he would not exchange them, with the advantages of the range they have, and his residence, as humble as it is, for property of five times its value in a cold country, where he would be compelled to house up from four to six months of the year, to avoid freezing. He was raised among the destitute of Europe ; he has experi- enced the frost-biting and snow-beating winds of the north, and is thankful that he has found a better cli- mate and country. His expression is, ''I am sorry for the poor devils of those cold, snowy regions." A person having a small stock of cattle, or even eight or ten hundred head, need not pay out a dollar for hire, if he has a mind to ride and work with a stock-driving company. In fact I know a person who has fifteen hundred head of cattle, and by riding and working in company with other stock-growers, he ac- complishes his entire branding without paying out a dollar for hire; and other stock-growers, I know, who depend entirely upon hired help to work and manage their cattle. Others let their cattle and give a share of the increase or pay by the head for their branding. The usual share given by stock-growers for brandiiiir their increase, is every fourth calf or a dollar per head for each and every one branded. Not a few, but many, men in Texas have made fine beginnings and are making snug fortunes by branding and managing stocks of cattle for the fourth calf or a dollar for brand- OA WK9TF.KN TF.XA9; OK, packed upon the same horse or lioists, cart or w „ , belonging to diff-e^t -d'-djmls a,.^ a^^^^ to^a 1^^^^ tbi-tl,e purpose o '''^''"'^'"J " ^i^to the nnmber of by, the throwing ot rope ^°f J'^^^Pj"^^" ^i. generally retreat or take the fence tor 'f;"°«^"'^,^J''^,'je^ ^h,n ing the calves .narku^ he. ea 8 t mm g^ ^^^ Srr:r''^.:-r'irarrs may represent the brands' of the diAevcnt owners. ^ ^.^^^ have grown ^M^ altogahe u ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ haps. ill to you tnai a i^'w j^^*- ^ - ■ - , 1 had but two or three cows, a tew pigs and THE PLACE TO LIVE. <21 chickens, an old mare or so, and if my debts had been paid, I wouldn't have been worth a dollar in the world. We lived in that old shanty, and many a comfortable evening have I seen by the fire in that old fire-place. We had no land, but lived and cultivated most anywhere we pleased. We were often without much of anything to eat in those days but venison or wild meat of some kind. But my trusty old rifle was sure to knock down a plenty of that. The hundreds of cattle and horses that you now see around me and scattered over the range with my brand (diamond, O , or O, perhaps,) on them, are mostly all from these few old animals and their increase." How often have 1 heard them say that to get rich in Texas a man has only to buy a few animal^ and then lie down; but it takes a little more to get rich. He must brand up his increase in good season, and see that they do not stray off, or are not driven out of their range. A person having a start of fifty to a hundred head of cattle, will soon grow them up to a fine stock of several hundred or a thousand head, if he is careful to- liaxint them to a good range, and attend to them properly, which haunting can gener- ally be done in about a year's time. After being well 'attached to a' good range, near to one's ranche or place of residence, • they require but little attention, further than the branding of the increase. It is well known that if a poor man in western Texas can get a start in the stock business, however small his begin- ning may be, he is sure to get well oft* with but little exertion, and this beginning is so easily made that a person of the least capacity or money-making qualifi- cations, who is disposed to go into the business, is sure to make it. In the first place, he need not ex- pend a dollar for land, if he prefers not, and if he be economical and at all inclined to work, not a cent for Inmber. The broad, luxuriant prairies arc open and free to him for his cattle, and the timbers, in many places, at his disposal for the building of shanties, log- houses, and the making of rails, or whatever rougli improvements he might see fit to make for the pres- ent, until he should be able to purchase land of his own. I have known a person to own four or five thousand head of cattle in Texas, without owning a foot of land in the state, turning them loose in almost any range he might see fit, and building his ranche upon unoccupied lands. Others, I know, having thousands of cattle in Texas without an acre of land, who give a share of their in- crease for branding and the attention their cattle get, or pay by the head for branding, etc. The better way, however, for a man of small beginning, is to purchase a homestead, of a few acres at least, as soon as he can, as the lands are cheap and fine for cultivation. A man of any industry can improve a little farm, the proceeds of which will support his family or self while his stock of cattle are increasing to a number that will of itself support him in a few years, and eventually make him rich. His stock should, from the begin- ning, however small it may be, turn off a few beeves- every year, that is if his first purchase was made up of an average lot of stock cattle. An average lot of stock cattle, of difierent ages, in Texas, are cows and calves, yearlings and two years old, male and female, as they may run, including all females in the stock, but no beef cattle older than two years, and of course of the usual size, breed, and condition ; which breed, etc., along a wide scope of the coast of Texas, is pretty much one and the same thing. Back Irom the coast, among the hills, mountains, and timbers, and in more northern Texas, the cattle are generally more .compact in body, and pretty, not so wild, and of course niE PLAGE TO LIVE. 23 more easily managed by an inexperienced hand. But the breed and condition, or unkiudness of cattle in western Texas, should not govern the purchaser of limited means so much when buying for stock-raising purposes, upon the principle that the child must creep before he can walk. For instance, in the purchase of a stock of cattle in western Texas, the purchaser will get, for six dollars, cows that will raise calves which will sell for as much at six months old, for veal and other purposes, as will the calf of the same age for the same purposes, that may have been raised from a cow worth fifty dollars. And the new beginner might find himself under the necessity of parting with his calves and yearlings in order to get along. If the beginner of quite limited means and new to this country, should undertake the business with im- proved or imported cattle altogether, he might find his little means exhausted before he should have fairly commenced, and long before he could have acquired a sufiicient knowledge of the country to make his fine stock business profitable, and consequently subject himself to the danger of shoals, which, if the reader will follow me up, he will hereafter plainly see. In the purchase of cattle, the new-comer or beginner in Texas should aim to get as many beeves, of good age, in his purchase as he can, provided he gets his stock at the customary average price per head. I have known stocks of cattle to sell here for five dollars round, including a fair average of three and four year old beeves. And again, I have known stocks of cat- tle to sell here for seven dollars round, exclusive of all beef cattle older than two years. The first mentioned may not have been so gentle and easily managed as the last, but to the experienced stock-grower this dif- ference in the condition of the two stocks was of lit- %4: tie consequence in compjirison with the difi'erence in price. 1 am here only trying to impress the idea that to make a snccesstul and anything like a rapid beginning with cattle in western Texas, the man of quite limited means should not be so particular about the kind of cattle to commence with. Let him buy anything of a Texas cow that will bring a calf, and get hlands, etc., has a tendency to degene- rate and run the stock down to puny, inferior animals. A person can keep his stock near home, however, and avoid all this by changing bulls, which costs him nothing, and by driving his stock, occasionally, away from their old stamping-grounds; all of whicli, in time, with a little watching, aVe sure to return. This pre- caution, however, is entirely unnecessary until a stock has become very large, and has been kept upon the same range for a long time. An immense number of the cattle produced in Texas are used for oxen, and many of them are driven north. There are many thousands of beef cattle now annually driven from here to Chicago and different markets north of Texas. It is a sino;ular iact that an inferior §8 WESTERN TEXAS; OK, beef is here grown to four and five years of age and then driven thousands of miles to a northern market, and this, too, at a profitable rate for the producer as well as the drover. New Orleans is, however, the principal market for the present great surplus of beef and veal cattle produced in wesffern Texas, but the time will come when Texas will produce more beeves than is now consumed in all the great markets of the United States. In the opinion of the writer, the time is coming when the same extent of territory in no part of the world will produce more live stock of all kinds than will the present domain of Texas. The man of means, it is needless to 'say, can at this time, and for many years to come, do more with his money in Texas than he can do in almost any, if not quite any, other part of the world, particularly at the stock business. With ten thousand dollars a person can buy in Texas a thousand head of cattle, a league of as good land as there is in the world, and establish for himself a comfortable and respectable home in the way of dwelling-house, etc., all of which property, in time, would be worth several hundred p^r cent, more than it would now cost him. Inclosing lands for pasturage is quite extensively commenced by men of means in some parts of Texas ; but the stock business here, as a general thing at this time, could not be made profitable by inclosing the stock of the country in pastures. In fact, from the nature and present state of things, such a course could not be generally pursued, and therefore our broad prairies are to be open for many years to any and all who may see fit to turn their stock upon them. Eventually almost every stock-grower in the country will require a pasture, but the time is far distant when the great bulk of Texas range will be fenced up — possibly fifty and pos- sibly a hundred years may not see this. The time is THE PLACE TO I,IVK. 29 coming when the cattle and different kinds of stock in this country are to be generally improved, and the better grasses are to be cultivated. Then it is that fencing will come into general requisition. It will not cost any more to pasture a Durham bullock than a Texas animal, and the Durham, all things consid- ered, is undoubtedly worth double the money. Who doubts, that if the present stock of Texas cattle were entirely of English breeds, it would be worth twelve dollars per head all round, instead of six dollars? When a great central railroad is put through Texas, from New Orleans via San Antonio into central Mex- ico, then look out for improvements of all kinds, and the going up of property in these parts. The time for the building of such road of course no one can now safely predict, but that such a road will some day be built, the most natural appearance of things renders certain. There are already many miles of discon- nected portions of it built. HORSE AND MULE RAISING. The stock man in western Texas has a wide field in which to operate. If he has a speculative disposition, there is, and is to be, a plenty of room for its gratifi- cation: while he can have some one look to his stock, they can be doing just as well as though he were all the time at home watching them. There are any num- ber of stock men, merchants, and speculators in Texas, who have made tine fortunes by driving horses and mules from Mexico to northern markets, or by bring- ing them here to sell to northern speculators, and to our stock-growers, or the planters of eastern Texas. I have known boys of fifteen and sixteen years of age, to go on wages with old drivers to Mexico with the ])rivilege of investing what little money they might liave in horses or niules, and put them with the drove 30 WESTERN TEXAS ; OR, ol' the employer; and many men who have started in this small way have become wealthy and large ope- rators. Many of these drivers, after selling out enough horses, mules, etc., to pay the entire purchase money and all expenses on their droves, have fine lots of mares left on hand, which they keep here for the pur- pose of raising horses and mules, wiiich, by the way, is no trilling business in this country. It is estimated that the horse kind in Texas now numbers about a quarter of a million, but the con- tinual driving of this kind of stock from Mexico to Texas, and from Texas to difierent parts of the United States, renders it very difficult to come at any correct knowledge of the number of this kind of stock really belonging in Texas. 1 should suppose that the tax- list of the state did not cover more than three fourths or four fifths, at most, of the horse kind really belong- ing in it ; and whether it does or not, the raising of mules and horses in Texas is an extensive and profit- able business. I am now thinking of a Dutchman who has made a snug fifty thousand by buying and driving horses and mules from Mexico to different states of tliis Union, and by raising cattle, horses, and mules in western Texas. He is now settled down in western Texas, loaning money at such rates of interest as could be paid in no country but this. 1 have been told that a mare colt, for which he paid five dollars, in Mexico, he sold in Illinois, when grown, for one iiundred and twenty-five dollars; and that a mare, for which he paid, in Mexico, five dollars, when on her way to Illinois, being kept over one season in Texas, brought him two colts, one soon after the purchase and the other the next spring, and all together brought him one hundred and forty dollars. Who wonders at his making fifty thousand dollars? 1 am an eye witness to greater doings here in west- THK PLACK Ti) IJVK. 31 cm Texas than I have just mentioned. I know of liien who have mares tliat \yere thrown in to them fur nothing, as sucking colts, when tliey jnircliased their mothers in Mexico, and some of these mares have had tiieir fifth and eighth colt since brought to Texas, and bid fair to have as many more, and their keeping has never cost them a dime. I have a knowledge of men, and there are plent}^ of such here, who have made large amounts of money or property by driving horses and mules from Mexico, and selling out such as they deemed advisable, and keeping the balance, are now here raising mules and horses at such paying rates, upon the capital invested, as was never heard of, ex- cept in Texas. Not a hundred miles from my place of writing, there is living a gentleman who, not many years since, came to Texas with a small amount of means, and commenced the. buying and selling and raising of mules and horses. 1 am told that he now has an increase of one thousand mules annually from his stock of mares. Think of this, reader! — a stock of mares that will raise a thousand mules annually, running on tiie big pasture of Texas, and for nothing ! The owner of this stock has recently built a domicil that has the appear- ance of being w^orth fifteen or twenty thousand dollars. He could probably build such a one every year with- out any strain upon his income. Here is a coun- try wide open for others who may wish to take his track. This stock, like horned cattle, find here the year through, more grass of spontaneous growth than it requires, and is managed with very little trouble and expense. I have known a man in western Texas liaving four or five hundred head of horses, mules, jacks, etc., without the help of more than one man to take care of tliese animals, and this help only a part 32 WESTERN TEXAS; OK, of the year during the branding season. This man, not many years ago, worked not two miles from the chister of trees under which I am writing, for a single cow and calf per month, worth at that time five or six dollars. He afterward went to Mexico with the old gentleman for whom he had worked, and invested his small earnings with him. He continued driving horses and mules in this connection for some time. It was but a few" years, however, before this laboring man had got more property than his old employer, he proving the most active and expert at the business. He is now settled here in western Texas, upon a tract of twelve hundred acres of fine land, 'which he owns, in addition to several thousand acres besides, raising mules and horses almost exclusively as a business. This is but one or two of the many instances that I might relate to prove this a remarkably good busi- ness. A stallion or herder placed with a number of mares, and kept with them altogeher for one season, will never after sufier any of these mares to leave his herd, unless it is from some accident. Mares are kept to- gether in this w^ay, in different bunches, for the pur- pose of raising mules ; jacks not answering the pur- pose of keeping them together. Horses fixed and used for this purpose, are called herders, and it is amusing to see them lay their ears and whip their mares into the herd when they get a little scattered out, or when a person is approaching them on horse- back or otherwise, and woe to the stallion or gelding that attempts to intrude or make his company agree- able to any of this bunch of mares. The herder whips him, if he can. They do not fight jacks, but are a benefit to the jack that may be placed in a herd with them. These herders are a great liel])to the business, and will continue to be so as long as horses are raised THE PLACE TO LIVE. 33 upon broad untenced prairies. The fact of a single herder keeping together fifty or sixty mares, on a broad prairie for a whole year, without ever suffering one of them to leave his herd, should be sufficient evi- dence of their utility, and that they will do this for a jack — submitting to Mr. long ears as the king of the harem — is a singular and striking proof of their utility in this open country. Horses are more inclined to stay together and ramble less than cattle. A person having twenty or even five good brood- mares, and a proof jack, by selling his mules at a year old and putting the proceeds thereof into mares, will soon get a fine stock of breeding animals on hand. A good average lot of yearling mules, from Mexican stock raised in Texas, will bring thirty dollars round ; a lot of half breeds of this age would bring fifty dol- lars per head ; a lot of common Texas mules, at three and four years old, from sixty to seventy-five dollars ; a lot of half breeds of these ages, from seventy-five to one hundred and twenty-five dollars, right at home; and mules of three and four years old, from American stock, are worth from one hundred and fifty to two hundred and twenty-five dollars per head. A pretty good average of Mexican mares can now be bought at twelve to sixteen dollars here in Texas, without going to Mexico for them. There is a certain point in west- ern Texas to which the Mexican horse trade tends. A person anywhere in this country wanting Mexican mares, jacks, mules, or horses, can go to the old town of Goliad, at almost any time, and there meet with Mexicans or speculators having such animals for sale. They of course can not always be bought there as cheap as in Mexico, as the men who bring them there generally do it for a profit; but frequently there are ^n-eat bargains made out of the Mexicans at this point. 34 WESTERN TEXAS; OK, BREAKING OF HORSES. The breaking of Mexican or our Texas raised horses to ride, is a wild and exciting business. When first mounted they are inclined to pitch, and a majority of them do their best to get the rider to the ground. Pitching, as I would describe it, is first putting the head down, then one end up, and then the other, ad- vancing forward every up and down, sometimes in- clining this side and that, generally with the fore legs straight and stiif, and the head always down, contract- ing or gathering at every jump, — a furious, rapid suc- cession of motions that soon exhausts the horse or downs the rider. An experiencea or professional rider is, however, almost certain to sit firmly in his saddle or hang on until the horse gives up from ex- haustion. The saddles of this country are of pecu- liar make, — of course well adapted to the riding of these horses. The Mexican manner of subduing these animals is adopted, to a great extent, by the people of Texas and those who come here. These Mexican or unimproved Texas horses are to be useful, and I might say almost indispensable, in this country so long as the stock of the country is left to range over unfenced prairies. There is no other kind of horses that would answer anything like as well for the stock business. Many of these Texas horses are beau- tiful pacing ponys, and of a variety of colors. When well broken, they make fine riding horses for ladies and children; and we, in Texas, think they are first rate riding horses for men. STOCK DRIVING. The driving of stock in this country is a peculiar business. All the native stock, even sheep, are liable to starajjede. Stampeding is the sudden starting and THE PLACE TO LIVE.' 35 running of a drove of animals from bcin^ frightened ; and no driving manager, however careful he may be, can always avoid a stampede. Things will very oi'ten happen to stampede a drove of Texas cattle that can not be foreseen — such, for instance, as the unexpected raising up of a man out of tall grass in front of the drove ; a first and unexpected quick clap of thunder and flash of lightning; or jumping up of a hog near to or in the midst of the drove; also many things, that watchful and attentive drovers can avoid, will some- times stampede cattle and cause them to run a long way before stopping. A drove of cattle once w^ell frightened and hard run, will afterward start without apparent cause. So it behooves the drivers to be cautious, for there is no regular rest with a drove of Texas cattle after they have once badly stampeded, until they are well quieted and broke in again. These remarks apply more to droves of beef cattle than to stock cattle ; although Texas cattle, of all kinds, will stampede. I was told an amusing circumstance by an exten- sive stock-manager in this country. lie says he once took a new-comer, a northern man, on a driving trip with him. Their cattle having stampeded in the night, every man jumped for his horse. The green man, who was an active, zealous fellow, mounts the first horse which he comes to, which was one that had been hoppled when turned out in the evening, when the day's work was done. After rounding in the cat- tle, "and running their horses, now and then, to the best of their speed, for two or three hours, to hold the cattle together and get them where they wanted them, the crowd of drovers all got together, and the verdant vaquero^ who had gloriously done his part, tells them that the horse he was riding had the d — gaits of any horse that he had ever ridden, and from his description 36 of the gaitSp some one of the crowd suspected that Yankee's horse must have been running with his hopples on. It being dark, the suspicious man gets down, and, upon feeling, sure enough the fore legs of Yankee's horse are tied together, which accounted fur the awfulest jumps, as he said, his horse had been making all night long. Of course the jug of Dexter's hest^ wiiich had several times passed around camp during the evening, had nothing to do with Yankee's case. CAMPING AND STORY TELLING. The stock-drover's camp is generally replete with stories in regard to horsemanship, lassoing maneuvers, wild horse and cow catching, etc.; and when in camp with these gentlemen of the pitching art, I always try to keep my end up. Upon one occasion, when in company with about twenty of these good-natured fellows, after hearing several well-colored stories in regard to mustang riding, etc., I came out with a story in regard to an old Dutchman and his son Hans^ who lived not far from where I was raised, and who were in the habit of raising horses, or, in other words, Jcej>t Dutch dairy. Hans was in the habit of going out in the summer to work on wages, and in the winter would come home and help keep hot fires, drink cider, and break colts. Hans, one day, took a colt from the barn-yard, and after leading him, with the bridle, out into the deep snow, without a saddle, of course, mounted iiim, and, after repeated efforts, could, not ride the colt to his satisfaction, turned him back into the yard. The old man, seeing this, comes out iu bad iiumor, and interrogated Hans: "What for, Hans, you don't stliick to dish golt ? — he musht pe proken, ui)d might as veil pe proken today as any dimes." "Veil, dad, he ish te dille himself; I can do noting TnK PLACE TO IJVF. S7 mit him." ''You vas^apont, Hans, you mus'dt dink zider gost noting. Tish mighty fine to vorm yourself py mine fire, und to notings for your grubs. Get te pridlo, you muslit ride him, Hans." Getting out the colt, Hans succeeds in riding him, but can not get the colt to go ahead as it should. The old man commg up says: "Hans, I has von contrivance by vich I can make^dish golt go ahead. 1 vil get on to de gold, and you go long town pehind dat sthump, and when I rides long py dare you trow your hat and halloo boo I" The old man with much difficulty reaches and is pass- ing the stump, when here comes the hat, with a fright- fur jump and ''boo!" from the top of Hans's voice. The colt, of course, with a tremendous jump, keels the old man heels over head and buries him in the snow. Hans, quickly approaching and shaking him, says: "Dat, am you 'kilt ?" "(9 no, Hans; jput dat r^as too t~npig a hoo for a little golt /" It is need- less to say, after this, I was called upon until my fund of stories was exhausted. MUSTANGING. Mustanging is among the wildest and most excita- ble games of the country. I have been told by difier- ent individual^ that they have seen as many as fifteen hundred or two thousand mustangs together upon a we^ern Texas prairie. Mustang pens, for the pur- pose of catching these wild animals, are built-in al- most all the extensive prairies of western Texas. These pens are strongly made, to the hight of ten and twelve feet, and sometimes with wings from a half to a mile in length. They are built where these animals frequent, and, if possible, over their extensive trail, among bushes or behind timber, where they can not see their danger, when approaching these pens, until th(3y are too inr within the wings of the pen to retreat, •I 8B WESTERN TEXAS; OR, unless it is by rnnning directly back upon their pur- suers, which they sometimes do when coming in sight of the pen; but generally, when this far, furiously take their cage, and not unfrequently with such force that the foremost ones, unable to stop from being pushed on by those behind, are smashed down, striking the fence, and, like a train of cars in col- lision, pile upon each other, until some of the hind- most flounce along on the pile over the top of the pen. When once in the correll^ and the gap safely secured with cross-poles, ropes, etc., boisterous work begins. Here the vaqitero can display his skill to his entire satisfaction. About twenty miles from ray place of writing, there is a family of young men who, several years ago, built a mustang pen which I have .several times seen. These young men, having correlled several little bunches of horses, and having made several ineffect- ual attempts to pen a certain valuable gang of mus- tangs running in their prairie, had abandoned the idea for a time, when, soon after, there came news to them that a couple of little.neighboring boys, on horse- back, had accidentally come upon this very lot of mustangs, on the old trail, in the very mouth of the wings of the pen. Dashing upon theiji and bravely pursuing their advantage, these boys forced them into the pen, and securely closed the gap behind them. Immediately all hands are on tiptoe, and soon, with a preparation of ropes and lassos, revolvers, clogs, hopples, blinds, etc., away they go to catch and sub- due the valuable ones, which are the mares and colts, and shoot down the worthless, which are the old stal- lions — worthless from being too obstinate and head- strong to pay for breaking, and when broken, disa- greeable animals. I believe there were about forty mares taken from this bunch and gentled, which sold THE PLACE TO IJVE. Okf for twelve dollars per head, after they were managea- ble in a herd. The gentling of these w^ild animals is a wicked busi- ness. It is often done by tying one fore foot of the animal to a block of wood or a weight that they can not take away, and then left to feed upon grass, being k'd with a Mexican halter once a day to water, and worked with in this way until sufficiently gentle to turn all together with clogs and hopples upon their feet. When manageable without the clogs, etc., they are taken ofi', and the herd gently and carefully worked in order to restore the flesli they have lost in the hard and tedious operation. CATCHING WILD CATTLE. There are forests in this country where horned stock, from being neglected, have run wild. Crowds of stock -boys sometimes go, with their dogs, and hunt these cattle out of the timber on to the prairies, and catch or shoot them down to prevent them from tolling their gentle stock away into these forests. I know of stock-boys who are in the habit of going upon moon- light nights, with a plenty of help, each man with several ropes to his saddle, and as still and adroitly as possible get between these cattle and their -hiding- place, when they are feeding on the edge of the pra- irie, and rush suddenly upon them and push them in a body far out into the open prairie, and hold them all together, if possible, and if not, when the captain of the crowd shouts, '^Rope, boys!" every man secures his animal and ties it down, and if he has time ropes another before they reach the timber. All being safely tied down they are left until morning, when a gentle herd of cattle is driven to each one and they are let up and into the herd and driven away to be 40 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, branded, according to a. previous agreement of the crowd ot* adventurers. There is anotlier way of getting liold of these wild fellows, and that is by tailing them, which is a lively business. I was once with a crowd of stock-boys when w^e came, unexpectedly, upon a bunch of wild cattle, some distance out from their thicket or place of hiding. The boys made after them, and one of our number caught and threw, by the tail, a fine heifer, and, getting quickly down, put a fore foot of the ani- mal over one of its horns, marking its ears with his jack-knife, for in case it should get up and run ofi* it would be his. Mounting his horse he dashed away and overtook the frightened bunch just in time to tail another before it made the thicket. This one was thrown to the ground, but for some reason or other it got away. This tailing business is nothing more than riding up behind an animal and catching it by the tail, and sometimes giving it a twist around the horn of the saddle, and, driving the spurs tg the horse, he jerks the animal to the ground with such velocity that fre- quently it will not attempt to get up for several min- utes. The faster an animal is running the more easily it is thrown to the ground. When driving stock-cat- tle, if an animal is not inclined to drive well and is continually breaking out of the herd, some driver takes after it and gives it a fall by the tail, after which it generally drives peaceably along. THE KIND OF MEN FOR THE BUSINESS. Now in regard to the kind of men who are calcu- lated to carry on the business of raising horses and cattle in this country. Upon opening the subject of stock-raising in Texas to men of the northern states or European countries, they would most undoubtedly THE PLACE TO LIVE. ^ give one to understand that they conBider themselves entirely unfit for a country like Texas, where the cows and horses are wild and are to be caught by throwing the rope or lasso, and managed of course by men who are acquainted with that art. But this would he a mutaken idea. There are men here from all parts of Europe and America, who are engaged in the stock business, and it is hard to say who are the most ex- pert with the lasso or rope, or who are the best man- agers and workers with the stock of the country. I can say, however, that I have seen a plenty of men here, both from Europe and the northern states, who could throw the rope with more certainty than any Mexican I have ever seen, whose business it always is from his childhood up. The knowledge of roping and managing the different kinds of stock in Texas is easily acquired. In proof of this it is sufficient to say that most of the men of Texas are from those states and countries where the use of the lasso is un- known, and where all kinds of stock are gentle; and these are the men who are raising cattle and all kinds of live stock here, and succeed so remarkably well. ''Where there is a will there is a way." 1 have heard old Texans remark that from those countries where cattle are driven by men on foot, come the best drovers and most prudent managers of Texas stock. I do not say the most expert in every respect, but I might say the most profitable. They are raised to know the necessity of working carefully and mildly with stock of all kinds. To be patient, attentive, and industrious with cattle or stock of any kind, in any country, is essential, and for this reason those men who come to Texas from those countries where cattle are gently and kindly managed, will help to moderate the rough- ness, wildness, and carelessness of the country in the management of its stock; and furthermore, it \^ through these new-comers that its stock is to be gen- erally improved and made valuable. I would not lead any one to suppose that they can come and man- age our Texas cattle and horses without adopting the ways of the country to some extent ; and these ways, as I have said, are easily acquired by the stranger, particularly the Americans and most Europeans. I am well aware that my accounts of wild doings in Texas would have a tendency to deter some men from coming here, if they were otherwise disposed to come; but I must here do away with wrong impressions. To carry on the stock business in Texas, thfere is no necessity of a person engaging in the business of wild horse or cow catching unless he prefers so to do. He need not brand his own increase even. There are al- ways plenty of stock men who are ready and willing to brand any one's cattle or horses at a reasonable price, and sometimes unreasonably low. He can also, as I have said before, work his cattle with other stock- men, and, if he is determined, can become very well qualified to manage his stock in one season. What one man can do, generally speaking, another man can do. There are many people in many of the over-popu- lated countries of the world who would be glad to emi- grate, and would do so were it not that they look upon themselves as unequal to the emergencies of the un- dertaking. Thousands of men never know their ca- pacities from the simple fact that tliey never try them- selves, and consequently live a life of comparative nothingness. Is it not right for any vigorous young or middle aged man to believe that if away off yon- der people are living and doing wonderful things, he could there live and do just such things? It is right for a person to give away oil* yonder matters a com- mon sense looking intp, so far as he conveniently can, at least. If the news of a newly-discorered gold region THE PI>ACE TO LIVE. 4S reaches his ears, might he not say to himself, " What are the prospects ? how extensive is this region ? what proportion of the men there are making anything, and how mnch are they making ? Is it a risky lottery of one chance in a thousand ? Do a majority of the men tliere dig for gold or for nothing ? and am I not as able to dig and go hungry, and endure as much hard- ship and deprivation for the sake of gold as any one of my inches ? Pa and ma are good people, but am I always to stay at home with them and all the children ? Who knows what I can do until 1 try ? So in regard to Texas. If men are there from Ireland and Ger- many with more property than a thousand such men would have ever made where they went from or where I am living, why could I not go there and make money as they have made and are making it, although the cattle there do require roping? If in one season this art can be learned, and I could manage ray cattle by working with others in the mean time, or as stock- men there work with and help each other, why could 1 not do as well there as any one? People are there from Great Britain, Germany, France, New England, and all the world, and am I not as smart as an Eng- lishman, Dutchman, Frenchman, Yankee or anybody else ? Why should I not be benefited by the sponta- neous growth of that beautiful country, and my cattle live upon that waste of grass, since it would cost me nothing?" Or another might say, ''I have a fine capital, and could go there and buy cattle and pay for the attention they might require ; speculate, in com- pany with some experienced person, in mules and liorses, wool and hides, and other products of the country; look up bargains in those leagues and im- mense grants of unoccupied lands; and live and enjoy myself in that delightful country, where a man can do more as he pleases and not live subject to so much 44 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, criticism, slander, and restraint, as in this old, worn- out country, where ])eople are too nervons, too meddle- some, too artiiicial and unnatural for my purpose." I will here say tliat a person, if he wishes, can buy in western Texas small stocks of cattle and horses, which are as gentle as they need be, or as much so as they are in any country where they are not stabled and fed with hay and grain. Many stock-men in Texas get up a large share of their calves and milk the cows for a little while, for the purpose of gentling the calves and keeping the cows near home, which has a tendency to keep the stock from scattering. I have known men to milk several hundred cows during the season a short time each, and it is not an unusual thing to see five hundred or a thousand head of cattle with bunches of mares and mules among them in front of the stock- grower's pen or place of branding, congregated there from off the prairie for the night; and the reader can judge something of the wildness or gentleness of these animals when 1 tell him that he can walk among them all, and put his hands on many of them, and some of them, when lying down, require kicking to make them get up out of his way. The reader must not think, from my remarks, that it is all wildness here. It is as much the way of managing the stock of the country, w^hether wild or gentle, that would be new and curious to the stranger as anything else. The ways of the country once learned, the cat- tle and horse business is many times as profitable, and a thousand per cent, easier, than in any snowy, cold country in the world. HOG KAISING. My remarks upon the stock business should have continued directly on from horned cattle and horses to other kinds of stock, without going off upon seeming THE I'LAOE TO LIVE. 45' irrelevancy, but from the fact that other kinds of stock can bo managed here withoutr the lasso or rope, and that a person from any part of the world can manage it to advantage from the beginning, if he knows how to manage it anywhere else. Raising h6g8 and noaking pork in Texas is a busi- ness that many men would prefer to any of the stock- raising branch. There are vast portions of this coun- try that are covered with different kinds of oak, pecan, and other producing timbers, and many are the thou- sands of hogs that come to the call of the horn out of these timbers and the prairies around for their bate' of corn. It is contended by many that there is noth- ing so profitable as the raising of hogs in Texas. It can be done upon a small or large scale with equal success. In this business it is necessary to raise a field of corn for the purpose of feeding your hogs suf- ficiently to keep them haunted wherever you may want them, and for the purpose of feeding the sows when their pigs are young; although some people pretend to raise hogs in this country without ever feeding a kernal of corn or anything else. But frequently call- ing them by the sound o^ a horn or the voice to par- ticular places, and feeding suflSciently to keep them gentle and from running away, is by far the most profitable ; and unless the love of ease in the shade has overcome their inclination to work, men will al- ways .raise corn for tolling their hogs, at least as the most agreeable and easy way of managing them. As I am not in a hog-raising section of country, and as my personal acquaintance with the business here is not very extensive, I will close the subject with a few remarks. I can say, however, that I have been well acquainted with the business in other countries, and have seen enough of it here to enable me to say mucli more in its praise than I shall take time to do. To 5 40 WESTERN TEXAS; OK, relate the best I have heard as having been done in Texas in the way of raiding hogs and making bacon, 1 fear might injure my cause, for 1 know it could hardly be credited by those who are unacquainted with the country. The constant emigration to the country, and the labor and attention that this business requires more than other stock pursuits, and the fact that other kinds of meat are so easily raised or ob- tained, occasions the neglect of this branch and ren- ders pork in great demand and at extremely high prices. Although there *might be the greatest abun- dance produced in the country, at fine paying rates to the producer, yet there is a vast amount of bacon,* pork, and hams imported into the state. Owing to its convenience, palatableness, etc., this kind of meat is generally preferred by the mass of people, laboring men particularly, to any other kind of cured or salt meat; all of which insures a good home market for the produce of those who may see fit to engage in this business and make such meat as is fit to eat. And I believe that there never was better pork or bacon than is made upon Texas mast. It is no more like northern or western beech-mast meat than a hard head-stoae is like a soft brick. The mast-fat pork of this country, when boiled, does not half shrink away, nor, when fried, does three fourths of it go to oil. It is more solid and firm, like northern corn or mush-fed meat, and is very sweet. New and extensive markets will continually open for the producer of hog meat in Texas. When the great {is to he) railroad shall have penetrated into central and western Texas from New Orleans, then that great city of the south may look this way for her supply of iresh pork and mutton, as she now does for her beef and veal. Working men can go into good hog-raising sections of western Texas and make THE PLACE TO LIVE. 47 a glorious beginning with but little capital. How often have I thought, when traveling over difierent portions of this country, that many farmers of the nortliern states and the cold Canadas, and many other countries, would be overjoyed to know what they could do here at this business. If men of small capital or limited means would interest the right kind of labor- ing men with them and come to western Texas and engage in this branch of the stock business, they could make everything around them smile. In the first place, the land that would* be required to make a re- spectable beginning at the business, would cost but a trilie, and could be bought upon easy terms. A stock of hogs could soon be raised from a few breeding sows, which would cost but little. I know of line stocks of hogs, numbering several hundred, that were raised in a short time, originating entirely from a few head of pigs, that cost nothing but the trouble of taking them wild from the timbers and taming them. Dwellings and improvements, that would answer the purpose for a beginning, could be made of timber handy by, with a little labor, and without the outlay of money ; and soon the settler could blow his horn, when hundreds of the swiny tribe would come at his call, and in seasons of plentiful mast, fine droves of fat hogs could be turned ofi' to advantage, or perhaps sal ted smoked and packed away to better advantage. I know of a gentleman who sold out of his smoke- honifte, a year or two ago, fifteen hundred dollars worth of bacon, all of which was grown and fattened upon the mast near to his premises. Others I know of here in western Texas, who carry on the business much more extensively than this gentleman, — I might say five times, periiaps, and not be far out of the way. Should a person be determined to go into the business upon an extensive scale, and raise corn for the fattening of 48 liis hogs, lie can do so with the most complete snccess. Early planting generally insures a good crop of corn in Texas. In the selection of a location for the hog business exclusively, a person should of course be somewhat more particular than when looking for a range for cattle or horses. This country seems, b}^ nature, to vary in sections, each being adapted to a particular kind of stock; although any or all kinds of stock will do exceedingly well in many sections of western Texas. The reason why men of capital should interest or bring laboring men with them to carry on the hog business, is that labor of the kind required is hard to get in Texas. This is unlike other stock raising in this re- spect, as it is in almost all others. Mexicans and white men, who are ready and willing, can be hired to work with horses and cattle, and Mexicans can be had at a low rate for the purpose of herding and work- ing with sheep, another kind of stock the raising of which in western Texas is considered by many the most profitable and agreeable of anything that can be done in the way of stock business. SHEEP RAISING AND WOOL QEOWING. I might as well say at the beginning of this subject that, although Mexicans are good herders of sheep, and work at low rates, northern men, Scotchmen, and Eurof)eans generally, who' understand the manage- ment of sheep, can do well here as managers, herders, and laborers with tiiis kind of stock. The rapidity with which the sheep business is going ahead in this country is sure to make a great deniand for labor of the kind required at the business, and northern men and Europeans as herders and laborers with sheep would be preferred to the Mexicans, whoso ways are too wild to suit those who are to be the great THE PI.ACK TO IJVE. 49 wool growing community of Texas. Another advan- tage that the northern man would have over the Mexi- can is, that his language is the same as that of the generality of wool growers who are to occupy the country. Germans are to be wool growers to a great extent in Texas, which will give an extraordinary demand for laborers at this business of the German tongue. Americans and all countrymen are glad to employ Germans as herders of sheep or for anything else. The growing of wool is to many a most interesting business, and one with which the writer is well ac- quainted. I have a knowledge of the wool growing business of the northern, eastern, and western states of the Union, and of diflerent parts of the world, and my opinion is that nowhere can this business be made more profitable • and pleasant than in western Texas. Years ago there seemed to have been a want of ac- quaintance with the business as adapted to the coun- try, which, by degrees, has been and is now being rapidly acquired ; and there are already many instances of success in western Texas that can hardly be equaled in any other country. 1 will here introduce extracts from a publication in the Texas Almanac, written by a gentleman who has had a good deal of experience in the sheep business in this country. He says: " In preparing a second article upon sheep-raising, in this portion of Texas, I find that I have but little to add to the experience 1 gave you last year; my suc- cess has continued most flattering since September, 1857. The winter of '57-8, although very wet, was passed without any loss worth mentioning; two ews only died, and both from extreme old age rather tiian iVoin any disease. At any time during the montlis of December, January, February, and March, nine out of ten of my wethers, although running without 50 shelter and with no other food than what they could pick or crop upon the hill sides and in the prairie Valleys, were in better condition for the butcher than stall-fed animals ordinarily are at the north, and since spring set in the greater number have been too fat for the shambles. ' Try and find one poor enough to kill,' has been the common request for three months past, whenever I have wanted mutton for my table. *'As an evidence of my success for the two past years, or since the first of May, 1856, I will give a ■ short statement of the increase in the number of my sheep, and in the amount of wool sheared. I doubt whether a greater degree of good fortune ever attended the efforts of any one engaged in the business. In May, 1856, I had some eighteen hundred and fifty sheep and lambs, all told. Had I not sold or killed any bucks or wethers, I should have been able to count over four thousand at the end of May of the present year (1858). From this it will be seen that I have more than doubled the number of my sheep in two years. Meanwhile, the increase in the amount of wool has more than trebled, as the following will show: In 1856, I sheared 2,800 lbs. In 1857, I sheared 5,100 lbs. In 1858, I sheared 9,000 lbs. And this, after selling and killing nearly four hundred wethers, and without purchasing a single animal. When it is taken into consideration that the quality of my wool has been materially improved by breed- ing from no other than pure. Merino bucks from the best flocks of France and Vermont, it ma}" safely be set down that, while the quantity of wool has* uiore than trebled in two years, its value has fully quad- rubled. Am I not right in saying that so great a degree of success has never attended the, efforts of any one engaged in the same business? ' "' '' THE PLACE TO IJVE. 51 " I can not reasonably hope for a continuance of such unparalleled good luck or fortune; yet I can see no reason why so great a degree of mortality should visit my flocks in future as ordinarily prevails among sheep in Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Vermont, at all times. Here in the mountains of Comal and Blanco counties, 1 believe it to be impossible for two great scourges ot flocks, almost the world over, to be generated and spread I have reference to the foot rot and the scab. Nor do I believe that that worst of all epidemics among slieep— the liver rot— can ever cause much loss to our flocks in this high and dry region. Not a case have I seen in two years, nor can 1 point to any causes in the mountains to give it a foothold. We might as well look for a visitation of the yellow feverin a region where even the lightest bilious attacks are almost un- known, and where physicians are compelled to resort to other callings than their regular profession to gam a livelihood; and if we are to go on and escape the diseases 1 have enumerated, we have undoubtedly the best region for sheep in the wide world. In proot, i would state that good grazing lands can still be pur- chased at from one to two dollars per acre, and that the cost of watching, salting, and caring tor a fiock ot a thousand head, does not exceed two hundred and twenty-flve dollars, or twenty-five cents lor each sheep per annum. How can the northern and western wool growers compete with us on lands which they value at from twenty to sixty dollars per acre, and where it costs eic^ht or ten times as much to leed a single ani- mal a year? As well might they attempt to raise suoar and cotton with the hope of gaining the protits nlade.in Louisiana and Mississippi, as to raise woo) as cheaply as we can produce it in Texas. ''Attracted by the heavy profits made in this region durincr the two last years (for it may safely be set 52 WESTERN TEXAS; OE, down that those engaged in the sheep business have cleared from sixty to eighty per cent, per annum on their investments), quite a number of gentlemen have started off this spring and summer in search of flocks, and others will doubtless soon leave. Some have gone to Arkansas and Missouri, others to Mexico. 1 am confident that those regions will be completely swept of all the surplus sheep they have to spare, and at prices at least twenty-five per cent, higher than ever paid before." Thus writes an intelligent wool -grower of western Texas, a Vermonter, I believe, by birth. Although this gentleman does not publicly ask people of any section or part of the world to come \o this country and engage in the sheep business, he does, if I am rightly informed, privately advise and even persuade his particular friends, wherever they may be, to come here and embark in it as the very best thing that they can do, or as the most safe, profitable, and interesting pursuit in the world. It is an old and favorite idea with him that he had rather witness his innocent, playful lambs dance, caper, and run about, than to witness the most beautiful theatrical or dramatic dis- play. He has a taste for this business, he loves it, and he makes money at it. He has seen much of the world, but admires the country in which he lives, and not only appreciates it as it is, but sees its coming greatness. And why should he not advise his friends to par- ticipate with him in the profits of a most interesting pursuit? Why should not his heart swell with emu- lation when he thinks of his cold, frosty, native re^on, in comparison with the mild and most inviting one of his adoption? It is but a short time since I met a young gentleman in Texas, on his way up the country with a flock of sheep. He told me that Mr. K. was THE PLACE TO LIVE. ♦ 53 the cause of hie coming to Texas with those sheep; that he, K., was a friend of his, and that he knew he would not advise or persuade him into anything out of the way. It would be a fortunate thing for thou- sands of cold countrymen if they were the friends and acquaintances of this gentleman, Mr. K., whose re- marks I have taken from the Texas Almanac. But in the absence of such friend or adviser, may not the writer's remarks be of some service ? He has himself had in charge six or seven thousand sheep in this country, though under most unfavorable circum- stances. He was raised at the stock and farming business, far north of this, and has an extensive prac- tical knowledge of not only sheep and wool -growing in the north, but all kinds of live stock, and having been nearly seven years in constant contact with Texas stock-growers, mapaging sheep, buying, driv- ing, and shipping beef and veal-cattle, branding and working with stock-cattle and horses, and, to a certain extent, with hogs, he ought to be well acquainted with and able to give a pretty good account of her stock- raising and farming business and capacities. To continue the subject of sheep and wool-growing in this fine country, 1 will introduce the operations -of an acquaintance, living not far fjjom my place of writing. Some years ago 1 spent a week with him at his sheep-range. About the year 1840, he com- menced with twelve head of Mexican ewes and a buck of common stock. In the year 1854, the increase of these few animals numbered nearly thirteen hundred head of beautiful sheep. That year the storm that blew down Matagorda, a town not far from where these slieep were raised, and proved so destructive to our coast, by the merest accident killed about seven hundred of this flock. This accident was their getting on an elevation that was afterward surrounded by 54 WESTEEN TEXAS; OR, water, and, when swimming off, the larger half of them stuck in a quantity of flood-wood and drowned; but the increase of the four or five hundred that sur- vived the storm have since brought the number of the flock up to somewhere near sixteen hundred head. This flock has been gradually improved, and now yields a good quality and fair quantity of wool, and produces the finest of mutton. The owner of these sheep is an old sailor by profession, who was born and raised in the state of Maine, and I v^^as going to say he wOuld not give his flock of two thousand sheep, together with his five thousand head of horned cattle, lands, and place of residence, for -his entire native state, and be compelled to go back there and live out the balance of his days, but 1 fear this wonld be too extravagant an assertion to make without first con- sulting the old sailor upon the subject. Had- not this flock met with the accident of l'854, it would now, probably, number four thousand and more. This flock of sheep was not raised upon such lands as are gen- erally esteemed good for the business, nor in what is considered a fair sheep-raising section of Texas, and the old sailor has told me that for weeks togetlier his sheep were left entirely to themselves, and always without a herdm*. They were raised, however, upon a peculiar spot, otherwise they must have been herded. This spot, the reader, if he pleases, can take almost any map of the United States and directly see. It is on the Gulf of Mexico, a narrow neck of land or penin- sula, extending from opposite the town of Matagorda down to Fascavallo, the entrance to Matagorda bay. The grass of this range was eaten down years ago by cattle, which made it better for sheep, and it being riarrow and nearly surrounded by water (consequmtly having no wolves upon it), the sheep were suflered to go for weeks together unlooked for, and the only herd- THE PLACE TO LIVK. 55 ing they got was at occasional times, when some one or more would go up the peninsula and bring them down for the purpose of working with ttiem or to keep them from getting too far away from home. This neck of land is now fenced across, Ihelleve; and it is my im- pression that there is no live stock property in these United States or anywhere else, all things considered, that is paying a better interest than is this flock o( sheep, numbering, as I said, nearly sixteen hundred head, and fenced into a pasture where they require no feeding, herding, or sheltering from one year's end to another. I don't know but the thirteen head of sheep that commenced this flock would have reached its present number, or the number it would have been without the accident, in some other countries with due attention, but to have been turned out to shift for themselves, winter and summer, as were these few head, it is doubtful whether they would have done as well anywhere else on the lace of the earth. The old sailor told me that his sheep would have done much better had he been more particular about having his lambs come at the right season of the year, lie says he has known many of his lambs to die from being dropped in the chilly, rainy weather of winter. The best protection that his sheep ever has is the banks of the beadi, which, in places, are high enough to break the wind to some extent. Now in conclusion about this flock of sheep. If such work as this can be done in western Texas, upon lands which, for the sheep business, nobody pre- tends are to be compared with the undulating, hilly, and mountainous portions of its interior, is there not good reason to believe that this country is to be sec- ond to n(^ne in the world for the raising of mutton and growing of wool \ and does it not deserve the attentitjn of tliose who are looking for new countries 56 most suitable for this business, with the intention of engaging in it ? It seems to me that it does. I might go on and enumerate many instances of good success at the sheep business in western Texas, but since everybody is finding out its adaptation to the growing of wool, through the papers and different channels, 1 will not occupy time and space in this way. A large portion and different sections of western Texas seem to be better adapted to raising sheep than to anything else. Much of this country is high, rolling, and dry, and to all appearances could not be bettered for the purpose in question. Experience is every day proving this part of the world to be every- thing that it seems to be for the sheep and wool- growing business ; and there are thousands of men in the southern, northern, and western states, the Cana- das, and the eastern world, who would do well to come to western Texas and engage in this business. There has been a good deal said of late in regard to the depression of tlie wool markets throughout the world. This, no doubt, should be a caution to those who are inclined to embark in the wool-growing busi- ness in some countries, but not to those who would commence it in western Texas. The truth is, with the right kind of sheep, wool can be produced in these parts for twelve cents per pound, and good muttons for a half dollar per head, and money in the business at tiiat. But does any one suppose that good French merino wool is coming down anywhere near this figure, or even as low as twenty-tiv^ cents per pound, to remain any length of time? And who doubts that good lambs and wethers will bring from one to three dollars per head, for years to come, in Texas? At this time wethers or good muttons are sold for ready cash here at three to live dollars per head. There is tiiis to be considered by those who would THE PLACE TO LIVE. # 57 make wool-frrowing their business. The sheep is a double producer in a compound sense of the word. Ist. In many flocks of this country a large number of the ewes have twin lambs, and many of them have two crops of lambs a year, (but experience has proven that it would be better for them to have but three crops of lambs in two years, or, in other words, it would be better to have the ewe recover somewhat from the effects of suckling before dropping another lamb). 2d. The flesh of the sheep being good to eat, if there should not be a demand for its fleece, there miglit be for its carcass or the surplus of carcasses, that the wool-grower might have on hand for sale. This being the case, by marketing his mutton he might be able to hold on to his wool for a better price, should he think proper, or, vice versa^ sell his wool and hold on to his mutton. This, in a manner, gives the wool-ofrower two chances to one ao^ainst the grower of other kinds of stock. But it is not every man's fortune to have a taste for the sheep business, or the patience to attend to sheep properly or in a way to make them very profitable. The hardier kinds of stock are much better for some men to raise, although there is not so much roughness and hardsiiip attend- ing the raising of sheep, and as an evidence of which I will here relate a circumstance. Having been in Australia, and when traveling in the interior of that beautiful island, upon which there are many millions of sheep, 1 frequently met with large flocks, and would often make inquiries of the shepherds pertain- ing to the business in that country. I, one day, when on a prospecting excursion for gold with a company of young men, accidentally came upon a flock of about three thousand sheep, with only a little girl and two shepherd dogs to look alter them. After inquiring of the shy little girl, of twelve or thirteen 58 » WESTEKN TEXAS; OR, years, who seemed to be almost afraid to talk to a stranger, where 1 could get some water, I went where she directed me, and there found a little hut and the mother of the little shepherdess, a Scotch woman of middle age, whom the cares of life seemed to have but little worn. This woman told me that she had the entire charge of this flock for weeks together, with only the assistance of her little daughter and her true sheplierd-dogs. In the season of shearing, trimming of lambs, etc., they were, to a certain extent, relieved of their charge, but, generally speaking, the whole care of the flock devolved upon the mother and daughter the rest of the year; and during the day either one or the other was always with the sheep, unless, at times when they were brought 'within sight of home and left with the dogs. At night the flock was inclosed in a yard adjoining the little house of the shepherdess, in which there were many cracks and openings, but through which blustering snow never came to in- terfere with its comforts. I was curious to know why the care of this large flock of sheep was left to a woman, the like of which was unusual in the country, and asked many questions. I learned that it was the discovery of gold upon the island to which she owed her situation, this discovery having created a rush to the mines of nearly all the men in the country; the flock she was watching having been left in a small inclosure by its former shepherd where it was likely to starve, the owners, who were merchants in Melbourne, being un- able just then to get any one else, she volunteered her services for a round price. " But," said she, the tears trickling down her cheeks, ^'1 had a little boy to help me then, or I could never have thought of such a thing. More than a year since it pleased God to take him from us, and I had no one to help me then but my little daughter, whom you sa LIVE. 59 Sorely," she said, '* when my little Johnny left us I thought I should die with grief; but beincr cheered up by those who were sent, for a while, to my relief and assistance, 1 continued on, as best 1 could, until an- other rush to the mines left me again with only my little daughter.. We now manage the flock, most of the time, by ourselves, and, with the help of thsse faithful dogs, get along very well." Thanking her for her kindness, and wishing her all possible good luck. I bade her good day, and went on my way, thinking of the trials and strange fortunes of poor mankind, and of the courage and fortitude of this woman. What other kind of stock could she have got along with as she did with these sheep ? Of course not any, which is pretty good evidence that wool- growing in these mild climates is not attended with the roughness ajid hardiness that is required at the raising of cattle and horses, or even sheep, in colder countries. Kow if a woman, with her little girl and shepherd- dogs, could do so much with a flock of three thousand sheep in Australia, what could not a man, having one or more little boys, do at this business in western Texas ? or a couple of young men, for instance, who were determined to make a fortune at the business ? It is the writer's intention to buy a flock of sheep, before long, and commence the growing of wool in western Texas. I shall go to some hilly or mountain range, and erect a comfortable shanty or two for the accommodation of my family, and then, with the as- sistance of ray little boy, now in his ninth year, I will manage my flock, which I hope niay number five hun- dred to begin with, but if it is not more than fifty, or even as few as twenty-five, I am determined to make a beginning, and the growing of wool in western Texas shall be my business in the future, unless 60 WKSTEKN TEXAS; OR, Providence otherwise decrees. Should I start off to- morrow, as I am situated, I would not think of buying a foot of land, unless I might meet with a chance of buying a small tract, which should suit me for a home and a sheep-range, and which I should buy (if at all) mostly on time, and upon most favorable terms. If I had plenty of money, my first lookout should be land, a large tract of which I would secure as soon as I could find one that should suit me. But as my means are very limited, I should take up at some suitable place for the raising of sheep, where I might feel myself justifiable in stopping for a while, and where, with the permission of the owner of the section, league, or grant upon which I might be, I would bring my flock and carry on my sheep business until I should be able to negotiate for lands of my own. Would not such a course as this be better for the beginner.of small means, than for him* to get a tract of land in a stock-raising country without having any stock to bring on to it or money left to purchase a beginning of some kind of stock? The time is coming when the beginner at the stock business in western Texas will have to purchase his lands at the start. Then, of course, his money will not go as far as it now will. It will then be harder for the man of quite limited means to get into the wool- growing business in this delightful country. Butit will be a long time before this fine sheep region is so oc- cupied that settlers will be obliged to buy much land in order to carry on the business — perhaps fifty years. Judging by the past, I should say that those w^ho engage in the wool-growing business in western Texas, and have a taste for it, after learning a few important lacts in regard to the management of sheep, will, in nine cases out of ten, succeed most admirably — such i'acts, for instance, as these: that sheep should not be THE PLACE TO LIVE. 61 let or driven out early in the morning before the dew is off, particularly into tall grass — short grass is best for sheep ; they should not be suflered to run upon fresh prairie burns in the winter season, etc., etc., all of whicli facts can be readily learned from men of ex- perience already in the country at the business. It has been the opinion of some, that in consequence of the great demand for sheep by those who have and are now getting into the business here, there must soon be a scarcity of sheep ibr sale everywhere in these parts. But thus far this opinion has proved incorrect. There has been for sale a plenty of sheep at the old town of Goliad, all along this season, and it is be- lieved by some that there will continue to be a plenty of Mexican sheep offered at this place for years to come. This is a point where Mexican stock of difier- ent kinds is brought by Mexicans and others, and as long as there is a demand for sheep, speculators will continue to bring them on. In fact I may safely say to any one who wishes to come to western Texas and engage in the business, he may come with a certainty of getting sheep somewhere here, should he prefer not to bring them with him. There are those here who have and others who will commence the sheep busi- ness and soon abandon it, for the want of experience and a taste for the pursuit. There will be some flocks oflered by such men. I know of men here who have the wool haggled ofi' their sheep, and thrown in the dirt together like pulled wool. They can hardly dis- tinguish coarse from the fine quality. Most of such men will give up the business to those who are better qualified to carry it on. A great many who have re- cently come on from Vermont, New York, Ohio, and other states, have brought small flocks of good sheep with them by railroad and water. This makes a pretty costly beginning, bat if it can be aflbrded, it 62 is no doubt the best thing that a person, coming on to engage in the business, can do, that is, if he has been acquainted with sheep-raising. The importation of sheep and hogs into western Texas is safer than the importation of horses and cat- tle. It is the impression of the writer and others that the demand for sheep here will cause speculators to bring them in across the country from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. They are already being brought from Missouri and Arkansas ; and that they will be brought from both old and new Mexico and offered for sale in different parts of west- ern Texas, is a certainty. Let me assure those who would like to know it, that there are a plenty of wide- awake fellows who know that this is bound to be a wool-growing country, and that sheep are in great demand here, and not a few of them will try to make a little money by supplying this demand from wher- ever the sheep can be got. I should say to those who are coming, come on with or without your sheep; you can not well go amiss. It might be well for many of you to bring a few bucks to improve the flocks you may buy. I would say to Illinois, Ohio, and the western states, you might as well surrender the sheep and wool-growing business, and bring your stock down here : we will give a good price for it. As for old New England, Vermont, and those countries where the grass grows out of the rock^, trudge along in your own way at anything you please, only send us a few more of your sheep, and some of those fellows who know so well how to manage them. This, remember, is the Australia of America, where we don't have to cut and cure a hundred tuns of hay to winter a thousand sheep, — no not a pound. This is the place to live, — where now the Indian is no longer dangerous to the white man; where now an unsteady THE PLACE TO LIVE. 63 government and the rouolmess of society is no longer an objection to the country ; where thinfjjs have changed and have become not only endurable but pleasant and attractive; where, from various causes, the importance of the country has but recently been fully understood ; and where now thousands of respectable and intelli- gent people, from all parts, are coming to make their fortunes and settle down for life. IMPORTATION AND IMPBOVEMENT OF STOCK. The furnishing of improved and good blooded ani- mals to the stock-growers of Texas, with which to im- prove their stock of different kinds, is to be an exten- sive business, in which many can and will eventually operate; and I believe the men who are best calcu- lated for this work are generally living in the north. , 1 do not allude to any particular section. The boys ( of Kentucky could, no doubt, do a glorious share in I the improvement of the stock of Texas, particularly her cattle and mules, and they are already here at it ; but as yet they have barely made an impression. The great work is hardly begun. I am not the fool to suppose that all I have to say must be listened to or followed as infallibly correct: I am aiming at the truth, and what better can any one do ? I have a favorite idea, that I will here suggest, in regard to raising fine bulls in Texas. For several years 1 have been engaged in the purchase and driving of beef and veal-cattle for a shipper in western Texas. 1 long since discovered that there are now and then improved cows, scattered over our prairies, among the common stock of the country, and sometimes there are stocks of cattle that have quite a number of such ani- mals among them. Their owners, as a general thing, do not esteem them very highly, as they know not their blood and value, and often do not distinguish C4 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, tbein from their other cattle. Some of these cows are lialf breeds, from Durham sires and Texas dams, some quarter breeds, and others more or less mixed with improved blood. I have often thought that if one had a suitable pasture, which might be of the cheapest lands in Texas, and was able, he could pur- chase these cows when and where he might meet with them, and bring them into his pasture, and then place with them a thorough-bred animal, from which he could raise a very good quality of bulls, that would answer remarkably well to turn loose upon our prai- ries, and commence the general improvement of the common cattle of the country. The increase of fe- males he could continue to improve, and finally bring his stock to a state of perfection. Meanwhile, he could be offering bulls of a better and better grade, until he would finally be able to offer No. 1 improved or thorough bred animals, that would answer to turn upon our prairies without fear of loss from exposure. As his cows, lands, and everything, but his thorough bred animal, would cost him but a moderate amount, it is plain to see he would be enabled to sell young bulls for much less than it would cost to import them, and still afford a profit. And although these animals would not, at first, be as good as full bloods, yet they would be what the stock-grower would not be afraid to buy, and much better for him to commence with than imported animals that might die from neglect, or which he might not feel inclined to attend to in a way to make it profitable. The partially -improved cows, of which I speak as being scattered over the country, are generally from animals that have now and then been brought here and turned loose, and have died irom neglect or some otlier cause. Sometimes they are issues from some one's animal who is attempting to improve liis stock. By selecting the choicest of THE PLACE TO LIVE. 65 unimproved Texas cows, even, and using them in the way above described, a person could make money at the business, and the stock-grower had better have half breeds, that are raised in the country, with which to commence the improvement of his stock, than to have many of the humbugs that are imported. Not far from my place of writing there is a pasture of several leagues, recently inclosed, now containing between three and four thousand head of animals. I The owner of this property, several years since, pur- chased a Durham bull, which he has kept most of the time in a pasture adjoining his door-yard ; during the season he has run with the gentleman's milch cows, j which are of the commonest Texas stock. This gen- I tleman has several crops of half breeds from this ani- j mal, and is now raising three quarter breeds, and ] next year, I understand, will have enough animals, I ' that are more or less improved, to serve all the stock I in his large inclosure. If this gentleman can improve \ from the commonest cows of the country, how much I better could a person do with the choicest of Texas ( cows, or the partially-improved ones to which I have alluded ? The gentleman who has this large pasture I is an exception in the business. 1 know of no other ( person in this part of the country who has made so j extensive a pasture. I I have mentioned this case only to show that by bringing on a fine bull, jack, stallion, etc., a j)erson I can raise fine stock here in the country for sale, all j things considered, to as good and possibly better ad- vantage than he can import such stock for sale. I 1 may be mistaken in this, for I am well aware that ; there are several gentlemen in the country who are k' making fortunes by bringing on improved stock from 1 the north and elsewhere, which they dispose of at good prices. 66 WESTERN TEXAS; OK, I said that the gentleiuan liaving the large pasture purchased a fine bull several years since. He has since purchased several fine bulls of the enterprising Kentucky boys who are here, and is now in advance of any one in this part of the country in the way of improving his cattle. I presume that not one in a hundred of the stock-growers of western Texas have made a beginning at the improvement of their cattle as yet. There are millions of useful animals in Texas that are not half as good as they should be, and the man who will come here with good improved stock and settle in the right kind of place, can raise from it and sell to good advantage all he can part with. I am acquainted with a young man, the brother of a noted and wealthy wool-grower in Vermont, who came to western Texas several years ago, bringing with hi i a fine flock of Spanish merino sheep, all the way from Vermont, and selling them out directly, returned to the same state and brought on not only a fine fiock of the same kind of sheep, both ewes and bucks, but male and female calves, and a fine breed of pigs, from all of which he has since been raising and selling at most profitable rates. This gentleman finds it impos- sible to supply the demand for his improved animals from the increase of his stock, and consequently con- tinues to bring them on from the north for sale and to keep up the excellency of his stock. He has ex- changed more or less of his fine stock for mares, and is now raising mules in connection with his importing and fine stock business. Last winter he brought on from Vermont and other states his fourth flock of sheep; this making him an extensive importer of fine stock into the state of Texas from the northern states every year, but one, since. his first arrival here with a flock of sheep. His last flock was partially made up THE PLACE TO LIVE. G7 of Ohio sheep; and he also brought on, from some- where in the north, a lot of tine stock for another gen- tleman. And right here, to show the reader how the importer of improved stock into Texas may subject himself to the danger of shoals, — of which I have spoken, — I will tell him something of the management of the gentleman for whom this stock was brought on. The stock consisted of some three hjjndred heavy wooled sheep, ewes principally, and some ten or twelve young Durham bulls and heifers, — (they were calves, yearlings and two years old.) After the first- mentioned gentleman had landed this stock at Powder House, in Texas, from ofl' the ship across the gnlf, it was given over to a couple of young men who were sent to take charge of it and drive it up the country. These young men, or boys, knew nothing about nor- thern stock, and could not have known much about stock of any kind, for they started out over the prairie and so managed as to be caught out in the night, miles from any dwelling, on the open prairie, and, instead of watching their sheep, they laid down and went to sleep. The flock wandered away from their camp or wagon, and the wolves got after it and killed some twenty head of the sheep, which cost, delivered here, the snug little sum of nearly twenty dollars per head. They gathered up the balance of their scat- tered flock next day, and went on, now driving too fast, and then too slow, or sometimes laying up when they had no business to be, starving their stock around some house where the grass was all eaten out, (it being the dead of winter), and so managing that by the time they had driven four or five days, or before they reached their destination, nearly all their tine Durham stock died, from the etiects of the voyage and the abuse of these young men, who were sent to drive them to their new home. Had there been some one 68 WESTERN TEXAS; OK, sent tor tliis stock who had considered that the voy- age had injured it more or, less, and that it should be driven and managed carelnlly, it no doubt would have reached its destination, and have done well. He paid double its value in the north, and the young men, or boys, should never have been sent for it, which proves a want of experience and attention as much as it does .danger in the business. The gentleman who brought them on and delivered them to these youngsters, went on foot witli his own flock, and arrived safely at home, in the interior, without loss or trouble; and he told me, when meeting him on the road with this very flock, that he could not wish for better success than he was having, or a better business than he was doing. I now hear that this fall he will go on to Ver- mont or Ohio and bring to Texas his fifth flock of im- proved sheep and other stock. This gentleman's ranche is situated on a beautiful clear stream of water, where almost all the country in his. vicinity is covered with scattering trees, the shade of which is just the thing for his imported and im- proved stock. The grass of his lands and range is the better quality of sedge, which is short and fine, and grows around the trees and u^wn the little open • prairies, which are skirted with the scattering trees of these timbered prairies. The timber upon his laud, in places, is sufliciently thick to enable him to take out enough to fence it up into fields and pastures, and leave enough standing for the purpose of shade, fire- wood, and other conveniences. Stock importers re- i quire more or less inclosures and pastures for their fine stock. This gentleman told me long ago that he had sold a large number of animals, getting for his bucks from twenty-five to a hundred dollars. ]S um- bers of such men as this could come here and settle over the country, at different points, bringing with TDE ri.ACE TU LIVE. 69 them their fine stock, the increase of which, together with prudent importation, would make them rich. They could sell tc^ the stock-growers around them, often taking horses, mares, cattle, half breeds, or Mexican sheep, in exchange for their animals, and become Texas stock-growers, as well as improvei-s and importers. Men coming here for this purpose should not be particular about bringing the most expensive stock at first, unless they might be the owners of such. But they should bring well-bred if not thorough-bred stock. Bring no humbugs, as this would result badly for those who might bring and palm them off'. There came to western Texas, a year or two since, some men from Missouri with a large drove of jacks. The jacks were all haltered, shod, corn-fed, and fat, — valuable jacks of course. They exchanged them for horses, mares, and mules, and the stock -growers of the coun- try who purchased them thought they were getting great bargains by giving ten or a dozen mules and horses for one of these corn-fed jacks, with shoes and halter-muzzles on. But after the Missourians had got away with their horses and mules, some one whispered that these jacks were nothing but half breeds, or per- haps, El Paso Mexican jacks, which had been driven around into Missouri, when young, .^nd after being pushed through on corn and fixed up for sale, were brought to western Texas to gull the stock-growers with" which did not flatter the purchasers so much, although they proved valuable jacks to them, they not having as good or better ones, and some of them none at all. They were probably half breed jacks, raised in Missouri from Mexican jennets and ordinary Ameri- can jacks or something of the kind. Of course after soiling these animals for Kentucky or American jacks, they could not, after practicing such an imposition, come into the same section of countrv and do well 7 70 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, with another lot of jacks, although there are many men here who are glad to get half breed jacks, bnt they do not like to pay for full bloods and get but half breeds. There are men in the country who have brought numbers of improved Durham bulls here {of courso they were Durharn) and sold them for ft-om seventy- iive to a hundred dollars each at a year old. Many a dozen calves have I killed or "deaconed" at three or five days old, when the milk of the cow became good, which would have made much better animals than some I have seen that were brought here and sold, at one or two years old, for a -hundred dollars cash. Persons bringing stallions, jacks, or bulls here, should bring them when young, if possible. It does not make so much difference about the age of sheep, and not so much with the horse kind as with cattle. I'believe that from a year to two years old is a better age than older for horned stock to bring to Texas, al- though they are brought here of all ages, and when properly attended to, do very well. Swine, as a mat- ter of course, should be brought when quite young. The trouble and expense of bringing a half dozen lit- tle pigs, carefully boxed up, would not be equal to that of bringin^ne grown hog, and nothing like as disagreeable. Too much attention can not be given to animals when on their way here. It matters not what kind of stock it may be, it should have the very best of attention on the way, whether brought by land or water, and when arriving here from across the gulf, it should be taken at once to a suitable place for keep- ing it — that is, it should be taken (hogs, perhaps, ex- cepted,) far enough back from the coast to find for it high, rolling, and dry lands, good clear water, and a plenty of shade, where it will be sure to find a good quality of grass. Imported stock generally requires THE PLACE TO LIVE. 71 more or less fe^diilf? in the dead of winter, until it be- comes well acclimated, and even then there should alwavs bo a supply of hay or fodder laid in, in case it may be required, unless your stock should be upon a ninsquete range or a plat of Bermuda. The fall or winter season is the best time to bring such animals here. By being brought in the fall or winter, the warm weather of summer comes gradually upon them, and with care they are very sure to live and acclimate finely. The spoiling of the cow's bag, from having more milk than the calf can take, is made an objection-to improving the pi-airie cattle of Texas. But that objec- tion amounts to nothing, if the importer has got the beef Durham breed, which are not noted for superior milking qualities ; and whether they are or not, I know they will answer first rate for this country. I have traveled many hundred miles in the interior of Aus- tralia, and never in that country saw anything of the kind but improved cattle; and I believe all the cattle there are of improved English breeds, and many years ago there were ten million head upon that great island. Never did I hear any complaint of the spoiling of cows' bags in that country in consequence of their giving more milk than the calf required, and of course the calf is raised there as in Texas — or, rather, generally speaking, nothing but the calf takes any of the milk from the mother. I know of several extensive stock- growers here (and one is our ex-lieutenant governor) who are improving from the Durham, and they make no complaint of this kind; and if this is an objection, the introduction of male animals and a gradual im- ])rovement, from the first to the second remove, and so on, would obviate this difficulty. Let no one give this ol)jection to the general improvement of Texas cattle the least weight, if he has the beef Durham breed 72 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, i i to bring here. Everybody knows that the cow of this , breed is more inclined to fat than milk. I There are thousands of people in Texas who would i be glad to get animals with which to improve their milch cows, orfrora which to raise good ones. There ! are different kinds that would pay well to bring here. j The milch Durham or the red milchers from Ken- tucky would do very well. There are, no doubt, other kinds, with which the writer is unacquainted, and some that he knows of that he can not designate as of i any particular kind, that would be first rate to bring hei-e. Let those who bring stock of this or any other ! kind to Texas, to dispose of as good or thorough-bred, ' bring with them vouchers from respectable men of I standing in their communities that their animals are what they represent them to be and not humbugs. They can then advertise their stock in the journals J of the country, and offer it at public sale or otherwise. ' They can then, with propriety, point out to the stock- growers of the country the many advantages that I would result from a general improvement of their ani- I mals, and induce them to engage in the work. After having established a reputation in the business, the \ importers w^ord would be a sufficient voucher for the I good blood and excellency of his animals. I believe ' that nothing could be done, with the same trouble and I expense, that would add more to the wealth and pros- ! perity of Texas than to turn loose, upon her prairies, among her cattle throughout the state, ten or twenty I thousand beef Durham, or good improved bulls, that ' is, if these animals were raised in the country, so that I they might not die from exposure. But to raise them i in the country, of course tliere must first be extensive I importations and improvements. i It will be a glorious day for Texas when her stock of different kinds is well improved, particularly when THE PLACK TO LIVK. 73 her cattle and sheep are like the millions of these ani- mals upon the island of Australia,— when she is not outdone in the quality of her millions of useful ani- mals. What is more beautiful for the husbandman to look upon than a large drove of entirely thorough- bred beef-cattle, or a yoke of the right kind of oxen ; a lot of excellent milch cows; a flock of superior mut- ton, or a flock of fine wool sheep, heavily coated down to their toes and up to their eyes in wool; a drove ot mules, fifteen hands high and well put up; or beau- tiful and serviceable horses, and solid, heavy, and profitable ho^s? The day will come when the prai- ries, hills, and valleys of Texas, will be covered with such animals, and then the Lone Stab state will be the admired of all the great American constellations; then it is that the United States can boast of an Aus- tralia that is not across the wide deep, but near at hand, joined to her by the ties of sisterhood, in ready communication both by land and water, and all the relations that can make a great and free people a unit in feeling and interest. In conclusion, let no man think of coming to iexas with valuable animals, unless he has a taste for the business— unless he delights in the raising and taking care of such animals. For no other kind of a man can make money at the business; and such men, I know, can do as well as any one would wish to do at anything of the kind. Some men have no more busi- ness with this kind of work than has the ^'huge paw" of the honest laboring man with Blackstone. It is a business that requires constant attention, and no man but one who loves to feed and nurse his animals, w liosc knowledge of them is sufiicient to enable him to understand their natures and instincts, whose sensi- bility is such that he can not bear to see them sufler, who* loves to linger around them and consider theii 74 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, beauty and usefulness, watch tlieir improvement or decline, and readily render any attention they ma}' need, is fit to bring fine stock to Texas with the idea of raising from; it as a business, or making money with it. Let those fellows who can lie down and sleep by their fine stock, if need be, and watch over and take care of them on their long journey, and when here give the very best attention — 1 say let such men, or those who are able to hire such men, bring fine stock to Texas, apd'they are sure to make money with it, and no other kind of men can make money by im- porting improved animals into Texas, either to sell or raise from. I have written this last and made many remarks that may appear as discouraging to the importation of northern or foreign animals into Texas, only from fear that my remarks in favor o^' the business might induce those to pitch into the thing who have no busi- ness with the like. Some one who, perhaps, without this precaution, would start out for Texas with a lot of valuable animals, whose knowledge of them might I be but slight, and who might trust to others equally I ignorant to take care of them, and after their dying or I doing badly for the want of attention and good man- agement, would curse the writer of this book for get- I ting him into such a scrape. A year or two since I met a couple of Irishmen who I were driving a fine Durham bull. They had landed 1 in'Texas just the day before. It was a warn] day, and the bull had his tongue out, and althougli the j men were .on foot, the}^ were driving the iieavy fellow too fast. I asked them whose animal he was, and ! where they were taking him ? which they told me, i and added that he was brougijt from Kentucky. I then told them that they were not in the north where that bnll was raised, and unless they stopped pusliing THE PLACE TO UVE. 75 him they would never reach their destination with liim alive. I alanned them considerably, and they afterward moved him quietlj^ along. Had they con- tinued hurrying this animal as they were doing when I met them, he would never have been worth anything in this country, even had they got him to his owner in the interior.^ , , , r might mention caseaof caution in regard to im ported horses, jacks, and other animals, but trust, I have said and shall say enough to the wise. Now you that bring fine stock here, consider well what you do. With the right management and atten- tion tliere is nothing that would pay a person better; with bad management and neglect there is nothing that would more certainly be attended wdth loss. Bring for a beginning, until experience shall have taught you, the beef Durham or beef kinds of cattle principally; the milk kind to a certain extent; not overgrown horses, but something like the Morgan species of the north; the improved coarse kinds of sheep to a certain extent, but the finer kinds princi- pally. I believe what passes in the north for French meriiios are the best fine wools for Texas, as they are more hardy and better protected with an oily and heavy fleece than the Saxon or extremely fine wools, and can stand our climate without shelter of any kind. As for hogs, let every one be his own judge. I be- lieve the big Berkshire is considered a first rate hog for Texas. There is one thing about which, I trust, by this time the reader will agree with me, and that is tljat the man of limited means had better come here and purchase our common stock and improve it with ani- nials that he may bring with him or afterward get, than to invest all his means in foreign stock and run tlie risk of getting it safely here and acclimating it 76 WESTERN TEXAS: OK, successfully, that is, if his intentiou is to become a Texas stock-grower and not the furnisher of imported and improved animals. I will here repeat that sheep are brought to Texas and managed with better success in the hilly regions by strangers or those who are new in the country, understanding the business elsewhere, than any other kind of imported stock, unless it is goats, a kind of stock that I have as yet said nothing of, but which, if I mistake not, is to be highly esteemed and very useful in this country. GOATS. To present this subject in a light that seems to me most important, I will introduce an article from the Springfield Register upon the Cashmere goat: ''Some twenty years ago Dr. Davis, of South Caro- lina, at that time holding a government ofiice in Tur- key, actuated by a patriotism which was creditable to himself and likely to prove beneficial to his country- men, thought of the possibility of introducing into the United States some specimens of the Cashmere goat — the celebrated animals from whose wool is manufac- tured the Cashmere shawls. These animals are justly prized by the people of Thibet, who reap a heavy reve- nue from the sale of the wool, and who had preserved the stock zealously from exportation. Dr. Davis, with an ardor equal to that attributed to Jason, in his ex- pedition in search of the golden fleece, obtained the consent of the Sultan, and, organizing an expedition, entered the land of Cashmere, and obtained nine goats, two males and seven females. After great vicissitudes, and with a loss of several of his party, he succeeded in bringing these animals to Constan- tinople, v/lience he shipped them to Carolina. Six years ago the pure bloods had increase in number to THE PLACE TO LIVE. • 77 thirty, besides having been extensively crossed with the native goat throughout South Carolina and the adjoining states. Some enterprising agriculturists of Tennessee recently organized a company, and having purchased some of the pure stock, entered into the business of raising the wool grown from the cross- breeds. We condense from a statement furnished ns of this matter the following facts: '^Tlie wool from a third cross and a common goat is exceedingly tine, and is now manufactured in Scot- land, where it is worth eight dollars per pound ; each animal yielding three fleeces, averaging three pounds each, during the year. These animals have already been successfully Veared as far north as New York, and the quality of the mixed breed wool has been de- cided to be not inferior to that used in the Cashmere shawls, so extensively imported into this country. It is desirable to encourage these efforts to improve the blood and the product of the animals. The produc- tion of this \vool ought to be universally adopted; it does not require full blood, but the product of pure blood and the ordinary goat of the country, is all that is required. It has been ascertained that the wool from goats three generations removed from the pure blood,' each time crossed with the common goat, is of a most superior quality. B. F. Bristow, of Jacksonville, has some pure blood bucks, which he proposes shall be taken by the farmers of Illinois to cross with the common goats, and letters addressed to him will re- ceive prompt attention, and be responded to with full information. *' We trust that our farmers will take this matter in liand, and reap, at a very small cost, all the benefits to be derived from the product of a superior wool.'' Now in regard to the growing of this Cashmere wool in western Texas, 1 have to say that the com- 78 • WESTERN TEXAS; OB, loon goat of the country is already quittj pluntilul here, and that both old and new Mexico, 1 sliould judge from accounts, are half covered with them. Although I have had several hundred of these ani- mals in charge in this country, and have suen a good deal of them in different parts of the world, 1 do not profess to know much about them. So far as sheep are concerned, I was raised with my nose at the grind- stone. But goats 1 always looked upon as an animal of little value, and ibr some reason or other never had an inclination to learn much of them. But convert- ing them into wool-producers of a most valuable kind, and bringing them before the world in the light that the Register and others are doing, inclines me to think that they may yet become very useful animals, and that western Texas will be second to no place in the world for the production of this cashnere wool, from which is made the finest of fabrics. The same remarks in regard to the raising of sheep will generally apply pretty well to the raising of goats ; although the common goat will live and do well where the sheep wnll not, and to do very well I believe re- quire a somewhat bushy range. If heretofore they have, in. many countries, been comparative!}^ useless, I they have been most at home upon comparatively useless lands^lands of sterility, whose only growth was weeds and bushes, or possibly half naked liills vvith only here and there a spear of grass, a weed, and icrubby bush, or briar. But when they become im- proved so as to produce wool worth eight dollars per pound, if })ossible, or even one dollar, would it be prudent to let them run among bushes and briars where tJiey would tare, rub, and pull out more or less of their valuable coat, every fiber of which, at the price per pound mentioned in tlie Hegister, would be an item. It seems to me that then they would require THE I'LACK TO LIVE. 79 about the same kind of range and treatment as do sheep, in which case immense portions of western Texas would be just the country for them. Should they retain, after their improvement, the nature and habit, and require the treatment of tlie common goat, then they certainly would nowhere do better than in this country; fori have, time and again, for years, seen, thrifty and most, productive flocks of goats in all parts of western Texas ; and again, I have frequently seen large numbers of goats with flocks of sheep in Texas, said to be kept with the sheep for the purpose of keeping the sheep healthy, and these goats seemed to be thrifty and productive, and appeared to be doing as well as though they were away from the sheep in a flock by themselves. If, then, the Cashmere goat can be successfully and profitably crossed with the com- mon goat of the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Illinois, it most certainly can be more promisingly crossed with the millions of common goats of Texas and Mexico, where they require no food, winter nor summer, but what they crop from the range?. There is in Texas a few, and in Mexico thousands, of goats that are peculiar for their beauty and the value of their skins for fancy and water-proof or storm- proof pantaloons. They are called by Texans moun- tain goats, and they difier from the common goat of the country in their coat, which is, along the back and sides, from head to tail, down to their knees and gambols, a long, flouncing fleece of hair which gives tiiem, if they arc nqt beautiful in symmetry, that ap- pearance at least. . Having never seen one shorn or made -inquiry u|.)on the point, I can only say that I believe tliem not |:p be of the ^gly form of the common goat, but |>retty *in body and general appearance. It ajipears to me that this goat would be far better to cross with the Cashmere tlian the common, short- 80 WESTERN TEXAS ; OR, haired, ugly-looking goat of the country. If lengtli of staple in tlie fleece, and beauty in general appear- ance of body, is an object in the improvement, then I must be right. And again, their natural proclivity to a fleece must necessarily give a greater weight and better staple to the fleece of their progeny with the Cashmere, than can be given to the issue of the com- mon, short-haired and Cashmere goat. If, then, I am right, we have two superior breed? of goats under con- sideration. Shall they be brought together in western Texas, and the fleece of their issue made an article of profitable export? Are there those coming to Texas who will consider this matter, and -possibly bring on with them some of the* full blood or cross breed Cash- meres, and go into this business? or, I might say, lead the way an^ experiment in the business, and de- monstrate to the world that our inexhaustible range and millions of Texas and Mexican goats are to be useful in the production of Cashmere wool. I see there is a recent importation of these animals from the old world. There is no doubt a prospect of converting the millions of cheap Texas and Mexican goats into superior wool-producing animals. ALPACA SHEEP. Many years ago, when the writer was in New Eng~ land, there was an opinion prevalent among some of the wool-growers of western Massachusetts, that the South American Lima or Alpaca sheep could be successfully reared upon the Green Mountains; and a number of gentlemen had it in contemplation to pur- chase a large tract of that chain of mountains for the purpose of raising animals upon a pretty extensive scale from the Alpaca and the large EogHsh breeds of sheep. These gentlemen were of the opinion that the cross could be successfully made, and that the THE PLACE TO LIVE. 81 crrowing of the wool of these cross breed ammals would be a profitable business. That the Alpaca sheep could be raised upon the Green Mountains, they felt sufficiently assured from evidence near at hand, which was that a gentleman had a small flock of twelve or fifteen Alpacas, the most ot which he had raised upon these mountains. But by careful in- quiry and investigation it became doubtful with them about successfully crossing these Limas with our large Enirlish sheep, and they gave up the idea they had ot sending to South America for a number of the ani- mals with which to make a start. Since then I have heard but little of these Lima sheep, the wool ot a cer- tain kind of which 1 have always understood is valua- ble for the manufacture of shawls ; and if there is any part of the United States where they can be profitably raised, I should suppose that the mountains ot Texas would be admirably adapted to this purpose. I saw, in a number of Harper's Weekly or Monthly, a year or two since, an account of a small drove of Alpacas that were driven from South America, throutrh Mexico, to the United States, and shipped thence to England. This driving was described as a tedious and risky business. If these animals are worth all this trouble and expense to Englishmen, and can be profitably reared in eastern climates, do they not deserve the 'attention of Americans, and are not the mountains of Texas the place for them ? I heard a gentleman say, who pretends to know, that they would do exceedingly well upon the mountains of western Texas. CAMELS. Camels are already here in western Texas, breeding and doing good service for the government. And who knows how many of these ancient and hitherto, to us, 82 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, valueless animals that have been so long in the hand j. of the Arab and aborigines, or almost exclusively con- trolled by people of little cultivation and enterprise, are to become a hundred fold more useful in the hands of an enlightened and great people ? 'JACKS AND JENNETS. I believe I have said nothing about the raising of jacks, as a business, in Texas. It is not long since I heard the representative of the district in which I am living telling about an old gentleman who has a jen- net that supports his family. He says he is well acquainted with the old gentleman,- and knows him to be a truthful man. This jennet has brought him a colt every year for several years back, some of which he has sold for five hundred dollars wlien quit^ young. And from this animal the old man has raised a stock of females, besides her jack colts, which he sells only, that would produce jacks enough in a few years, if wxU attended, to make a person rich. I have frequently seen in this country half breeds from Mexican jennets and fine Kentucky jacks, that would compare well with many animals of their kind that 1 have seen in different parts of the world, said to be superior, well-bred animals; and I am prepared to say that almost any person in the north who has a fine jack, and a little money to spare, could bring him hei'e, and, by securing a number of good Mexican jen- nets at a low figure, he could get rich raising jacks — provided his management was judicious. He would have to take some pains to acclimate his jack, and keep him in good order for the first year or two. Ilis use to some one, over and above what he would require of him with his jennets, would pay for this and more too. The keeping of his jennets would cost him nothing but a little watching. Neither would the THE PLACE TO LIVE. 83 keeping of his increase cost him anything, unless he preferred to grain his yonng jacks, which no donbt would pay in the end. If he were situated upon a good musquete range he would require no grain to raise half breed jacks, that would bring fine prices at from two to four years of age. I have heard of good Mexican jennels selling in Mexico for two dol- lars and a half per head. They can now be bought ; at a low figure in western Texas. . DOGS. I believe I have considered the stock-raising busi- ness and the improvement of stock in Texas, with re- niarks upon all the different kinds of animals that are really useful and necessary in our country, unless it is I some of a different species, the raising of which would i not constitute a stock-grower of any country. There y is of the canine species a great surplus in this country, but instead of shepherd-dogs, which would be useful here, this surplus is principally made up of prowling ' wolves, and the mischievousness of the one deter- I mines, to a certain extent, the value of the other. I These shepherd-dogs are brought on from the north, I to a certain extent, and I am told are in great demand ( by the many who have gone and are going into the I sheep business. I suppose there are more of them I brouglit by land, with droves of sheep, than in any I other way, — which sheep, I hear, since the beginning « of this work, as I anticipated would be the case, are j . l)eing pretty extensively brought across the country from Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, and other states, into I northern and western Texas. It is almost useless, I ' suppose, to say to those who are coming here for tlie / purpose of raising sheep, that they should bring with . tliem, if possible, more or less of these shepherd-dogs. 81 As game is abundant, pointers, setters, and other hunting dogs, are valuable here. FOWLS. The raising of fowls in western Texas is the easiest of all imaginable employments. Not far from my place of writing a farmer, during the fowl- raising sea- son, keeps his little negroes at the herding of turkeys, hundreds of which he raises annually, and which live upon insects and grasshoppers in the prairie and about his premises. Chickens and all other fowls that a person may see fit to keep, do remarkably well, and can be raised in the country at little or no ex- pense. There are fowls in the north that would be an object to get in Texas ; but of the awkward Shang- hai enough are here, and can be easily obtained. GENERAL REMARKS. I believe I have not distinctl}^ conveyed the idea that some stock-growers of Texas r^ise stock of all kinds, in preference to raising one kind exclusively. One I spoke of, who brands about three thousand calves, and one who raises about a thousand mules, and this is their almost exclusive business; but others I know who raise cattle, horses, mules, sheep, goats, hogs, and even jacks, in moderate numbers of each kind, and also cultivate a snug field of corn, a plenty of vegetables and fruits. By so doing they can better manage to keep their stock near home, neither kind particularly interfering with the other, as the cattle range in the valleys, the sheep and goats upon the hill-tops, and the hogs in the bottoms or timbers. The horses generally take their choice of the cattle- range, and at times mingle a good deal with them, and again the herds of horses and mules are entirely THE PLACE TO LIVE. 85 hy tliemselves, and will have uo other stock with them. Our government has been in the habit of sending lier agents to Mexico for mules. She now consumes a large amount of the mules, horses, and oxen raised in Texas. She does much toward establishing the price of these animals, and is apt to pay pretty well for them. Government contractors in the transportation business, also consume a great many of these animals, particularly oxen. But who are to be the great con- sumers of western Texas' surplus productions ? Her exports will of course be mostly north and eastward ; her beef, either fresh or salt, is to be consumed by the cities along the whole Atlantic coast of the United States ; her mules and horses by the planters of the south and farmers of the west; and her wool, of what- ever kind, which I believe will yet be the most exten- sive article of export, by the manufacturers of the north and east. Then who should feel an interest in western Texas? I answer, the north, south, east, and west. But if the north and east are awake to their interests, they will get and hold a controlling influ- ence in the trade of Texas. The east should look with earnestness in this direction, for it is western Texas that will eventually be able to furnish the looms of New England with wool at about half its present cost, and leave a handsome margin for the grower. If I am right about the ability of western Texas to raise wool at about half its present cost to eastern manufacturers, should not the east push forward and secure a steamship communication between Boston and Texas, and at the same time show to the wool- growing world the great importance of western Texas as a wool -producing region ? Dot the hills and moun- tains and the immense sheep-ranges of western Texas witii the wooly tribe, and American manufacturers 86 Avill suppl}^ the place of imported goods to a great extent in the future. Wiiy should not the east reap some of the advantages of the large and growing trade of Texas, for which so many of her articles of manufacture and export are so well adapted? The importance of Texas and lier future resources are getting to be so well understood, that s.he is now watched with a jealous eye by different marts of the world. Her eventual extensive communication with New Orleans by railroad, will make her the principal dependence of New Orleans for her fresh beef and meat of all kinds. Who, in western Texas, would not be delighted to see a train of cars rolling away from the foot of her hills, over her plains, and through her fqrests, on to New Orleans, occupied by happy pas- sengers, and freight-trains loaded with beeves and veal-cattle, hogs and mules, and piled several tiers or stories high with sheep, to be laid down in good time and order for the butcher or purchaser ? Surely such a road will some day, not far off, make the people of western Texas glad, and will be the pride of and a strong hold of the Crescent City upon our trade, par- I tiality and sympathies. What a different country would our western Texas -be if it were within a few hours' pleasant ride of New Orleans. How would the cooped-up citizens of that place rush for the mountain air of western Texas, in the dull season and heat of summer, if that road, already commenced, was pushed on to completion. And iiow are these roads, the life of time in these days, to thread the rich mantle of western Texas and carry life and joy to the hearts of her people in the shortest possible time? Only by setting forth the ex- cellency of our country, and showing to the world its great advantages, which will call to our assistance thousands of enterprising men in the way of perma- THE PLACE TO LIVK. 87 nent settlers, whose interests and well-being would prompt tliem to labor for the cause of railroads, and whose patronage would be the needed support of such roads. .'•!'' 'the GH asses of western TEXAS. Having hurried over the different kinds of stock- laising, as it is now carried on in Texas, and touched upon the general improvement of the inferior stock of the country, etc., 1 will now venture an opinion that nowhere can the raising of stock of any kind be made more pleasant and profitable, at present and for age6 to come, than in these regions of country, and I will attempt to show the correctness of this opinion. in the first place, there are grasses in western Texas that, in connection with the advantages of the climate, for stock-raising purposes, I believe ai"e not surpassed in the known world. The names of the most superior of these grasses are Musquete, Bermuda, and Buftalo. The principal grass, however, of a large portion of this country is the Sedge. This, mixed with Wire grass and other spontaneous growth along much of the coast of the country, does very well at present for the rais- ing of the hardier kinds of stock, particularly cattle, as the business is now carried on; and further in the interior, upon the more hilly and mountainous por- tions of our country, this Sedge grass being shorter and finer, does very well for sheep, and will continue to do so until things become more crowded here. The day is coming when this fair land, this most favored of creation, must produce and contribute to the wealth and happiness of millions. It can not bo that a country like this, which gives forth in its rough, uncultivated state, a constant grazing livelihood to millions of useful animals, is to be always overlooked 88 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, and forever left the mere play-grounds of a few idlers, who do not appreciate the lovely spot that God has given them; which country, if generally brought into a good state of cultivated grazing, would be, to say the least, the great ever-green pasture of America, — the richest grass-plat of the world. I do not say that there are no industrious men in w^estern Texas. But that there is a want of industry and of different men here to make the country what it should be, or, in other words, to develop its capacities for production and usefulness, there is not a doubt. O that I could see w^estern Texas, its planting por- tion excepted, one broad sheet of cultivated Musquete and Bermuda, furnishing the consuming world more beef, wool, horses, mules, etc., than any other portion of the United States of the same extent. I wish those men of energy and taste, who are looking abroad for new countries with the intention of purchasing lands for stock-raising purposes, of any kind, might be in- duced to come here and travel over this country and satisfy themselves in regard to its excellency and wonderful adaptation to this business. But to return to tlie work of showing the correct- ness of my opinion. This musquete grass, that I said was so fine, is of several kinds, but generally known as tlie curly and bearded. There are large portions of southern, western, and northwestern Texas, that are covered with the§e musquete grasses, and when I have said that they yield abundantly, and that in the months of November, December, January, February', and March, (of course our coldest months,) the cattle running upon a musquete range are as fat as stock ever gets to be by feeding upon grass only, in any country, and that one single man, with a half dozen Mexican horses, can, in the way things are now man- aged here, attend to a thousand head of cattle, and THE PLACE TO UVE. 89 that horses, sheep, hogs, etc., can be managed com- paratively easy and cheap, I liave said enough, if true^ to prove that the stock-business here, ao far as profit and labor are concerned, is second to the same busi- ness in no part of the world. And there are plenty of good men who would vouch for the truth of what 1' say. But Texas will soon be much better than now for the raising of stock ; as her different kinds of stock are improved, so will her superior grasses be cul- tivated, and the means of keeping stock bettered. And yet, although the country is to be, some day, settled up and completely occupied, and mostly, too, by stock -growers, its capacities for useful grazing will be many fold greater than now, and the profits of the stock-business here can not for ages decrease. At I present, perhaps, nineteen twentieths of the grasses ( of the country go to decay, or are consumed by fire. ( This annual waste of grass will be gradually con- ' sumed by stock, and when too closely grazed, much I of it will eventually give out and be succeeded by ' weeds. This seems to be the fate of the Sedge grass, which suggests the idea that native vegetation, like \ the native man, must be pushed away, or else it must ( be cultivated. ( 1 have talked of the profits of the stock-business I here in ages to come, and let me take a wide and far- !• ofi' view of the case. The Bermuda grass, I believe, I is not a native of this country, but nothing grows « more luxuriantly than it grows anywhere in these |. latitudes. There is not a mud-hole or a sand-hill in I western Texas where it would not grow w4th apparent I exuberance, and when set upon the rich plains or deep- 1 soiled prairies, over rolling, hilly or mountainous / lands, of any soil, it loads the earth as though it were stacked by hand upon it. I wish it were in my power to describe it. Among all the vegetable productions 90 ^YEstkRN^ TfexAS; or, of the earth, thei^id^^iOthingttiprebeantiftl} to look upon than this tineqnaled grass. When I think of its beauties and its ntiany virtues, 1 throw down my pen to ^i've it another scrutinizing examination and fnr- tWr eonsideration "before att^'itipting its description. When set out and unmolested, it puts forth a fine, solid stem ; from this stem other branching stems come forth, and then come clusters or cunning nests of fine spears, covered with fine blades, which, in con- nection with a like ofispring of other grand parent stems, make up a wonderful whole of thick, verdant, sweet, and nutritious foliage; so luxuriant and heavy, that, seemingly, the earth is burdened with its "weight, or, in other words, having matured and given up its juicy greenness, it seems to lay in woolen warmth or shady coolness, as if to protect its mother earth from the efiects of heat and cold, but really to fatten all healthy animals that may graze upon it. By taking several stems of this grass into the mouth and chewing it well, you will discover that it has the flavor of sheep- sorrol, though nothing like as tart. Its slightly tartish taste is undoubtedly the reason why animals are so fond of it. My description is of new' settings of this grass that have grown to maturity. If grown from old or well -formed sod, it would require a somewhat different description, and should be described in its dif- ferent stages — I mean its infancy, childhood, youth, and maturity. But it is useless tor me to try to do it justice ; and I believe that words were never given to man to adequately picture the beauties of nature. Now let us suppose it possible that, in the older set- tled states, or still older countries of Europe, where the lands are- all fenced into lots, fields, meadows, and pas- tures, there could be a pasture, inclosing stock, pro- ducing more grass than any land ever produced of Timothy, Clover, or any other northern grass, and ad- THE PLACE TO LIVE. n joiniug this pasture there is another, which, having had no stock upon it during the fall months, has grown a fine crop of grass and cured itself into the best of hay upon the ground. Now in the midst or dead of winter, when the first- mentioned pasture is likely not to afibixl sufficient grass for this stock, we turn the stock every day, after the dew is ofl' in the morning, on the pasture of self-cured hay, taking it ofi* before the falling of dew in the evening, to prevent tramping and uncleanliness when wet, as well as to prevent ^gorging and disease. • I say suppose it pos- sible that such a course could be pursued, and that this much might be all the extra work required for the wintering of stock in those countries, would it not be a hundred fold preferable and much less expensive than the present indispensable course of hay -cutting and curing, putting up for winter, and feeding out several times a day, from four to six months ot the year, besides building barns, stables, yards, racks or mangers, troughs for feeding grain, fixtures for water- ing, often shoveling through the deep snow to do your work, and having so many apartments for so many difiereut small lots of sheep, cattle or what not, and scores of other conveniences that are required tor the wintering or fattening of stock in these northern cli- mates or frosty regions of any part of the world? Think of this, my cold country friends, and try to imagine the virtue and beauties of these Musquete and Bermuda grasses, and this delightful country, western Texas, where they grow so luxuriantly, and where stock live and do well, summer and winter even, upon the rough, wild, and inferior grasses of the country. The Butialo grass is of short, fine growth, and is not found anywhere near tlie coast. It is excellent tor stock, where it is found in the high regions of the in- terior. It is very nutritious, and that portion of west- 92 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, ern Texas producing this grass is excellent for sheep and goats. It is not upon the buffalo or the Buffalo grass that the writer is inclined to dwell. This animal, with the red man, is fast migrating from the country of Texas, and surrendering the range to domesticated animals ; and although there are many of tliera in northern and northwestern Texas, I believe they will, ere long, be among the things that were, so far as this state is concerned. I judge from the fact that, not many y^^ars ag-o, they were known to occupy ranges here where now not a buffalo is seen within hundreds of miles. As for the Buffalo grass, it may be useful for all time to come, for aught I know. 1 am told by those who have traveled over it a good deal, and who have worked mules and horses upon it, that it is the strongest grass in the world, that animals will endure great hardship upon it, without grain, and that it is a good winter grass. I will venture to say, that in those latitudes where snow does not fall, the stock-business can be made as easy and profitable upon Builalo grass as upon any other: at all events, I should not be afraid to risk it. There has been a great deal said about cultivating northern grasses in Texas. This, I think, would be perfect nonsense. In the first place, there is no north- ern grass that would be half so good for this country, provided it would do well here, as our Musquete and Bermuda ; but the northern grasses, such as Timothy, Clover, Blue-grass, etc., 1 believe would not do here, and so far as I know, there has been no attempt made lo explain the reason why. I think I have myself discovered something to this effect, and that is that no grass can be hardy and durable in Texas but that which has a fine, compact or solid stem ; no grass that juits forth a coarse hollow stalk like timothy or clover, THE PLACE TO LIVE. 98 is fit for this country. Something like the Mnsquete or Bermnda, which is next thing to everlasting, or which is hard to kill out, will be the snitable grass for: this climate when our inferior grasses give way. '^ The surplus and cheapness of lands in Texas inclines many of its inhabitants to believe that unless a farm is situated upon a fine stream with a superabundance of timber and water, and more than enough of every- thing, it is not worth having. But if people of the north and other countries understood the manage- ment of stock, or generally believed that they could successfully manage the stock of Texas, and knew the profits of the business as well as the virtue of these lands, it would not be long before every rod of unoc- cupied land in the state would be made use of. But here it lies, munificently covered with grass, the gi^t and almost only dependence of the stock-grower, who rides over it day after day, and year after year, as though it was fit only for him to despise, and he calls it worthless hog- wallow, the grass of which he com- mits to the flames whenever it may please him — which grass accumulates for the want of stock to eat it down, the land not having more than two or three, or possibly a single head to the thousand acres upon it. This land were it in England or New York, would be considered the best in the world. I am now al- ludintr to lands near the coast, but there are thousands of acres in almost any county of western Texas, which are considered nearly worthless from the simple fact that people can let their tens of thousands of cat- I tie live upon them for nothing. What an idea ! I Hundreds of thousands of acres of lands in the state of Texas, in the United States of America, away from all danger of Indians, in peaceable sections, the soil of which is inexhaustible, and yet almost valueless. Land that if once put in a good state of cultivation ■9 94»: \vE^?pB|i . Tijj^As ; ok, will last forever, and if well set to Musqnete or Ber- muda grass and mowo^ twice a year, I believe wonld produce four tuns of the finest hay in the world to the acre, and equally good or better for pasturage. And this, too, in the finest climate, where snow is seldom or never seen, and where cattle, horses, sheep, etc., live the year through upon grasses that are no where to be compared with those under consideration. I would not have a better country than western Texas, although to those who do not look forward there are seeming objections to it now; but to the man who looks out upon the future of this great coun- try there is cause for wondering at the stupidity of men and contemplating coming events with pleasure and satisfaction. 1 said I would not have a better coahtry than this, nor would I, for the greatest objec- tion to it is the easy support it afibrds to man, thereby begetting habits of idleness. But energetic and intel- ligent men of the right stamp will yet fill it up. Now that the real condition and importance of the country is being understood by people of other parts of the world, it will not be long before dwellings will be near enough together upon these unoccupied lands in Texas to enable a person to see from one to the other, or to pass from one to the other in a few minutes. GENERAL REMARKS. I will here mention a few facts of a general charac- ter in relation to the Bermuda and Musquete grasses. I have several dozen fowls, and having no dogs, they are shut up every night to keep them from owls and vermin that live in the timber near my house. When let out in the morning, these fowls go directly to a plot of Bermuda around the house, and crop the grass as industriously for an hour's time as would a flock of sheep on being turned out of a fold upon fine grass THE PLACE TO LIVE. 95 of a morning. Fowls can nearly live upon it, if not qnite. The Bermuda grass, when eaten down so close that there is not a spear, stem, blade, or any part of it more than an inch long, is so thick with short green blades that there can not be a sign of the soil 8eea[ beneath it. It is a solid sheet of short, green blades, ; and hides the earth as well as though it were platted or knit together. So far as this grass produces — and I believe it will, when cultivated and pastured, produce as much as any grass that grows — it is impossible for the mind to conceive anything of the kind more per- fect and beautiful. The curly Musquete is something like it in appearance, and one might suppose it to be of the same family of the Bermuda ; it is considered by those who are acquainted witli both to be as good as the Bermuda. This much is certain : in tw months of December, January, February and Marchy this grass is well known to be as good as it ever isl- and I have repeatedly seen beef cattle off from Mus-i quete ranges in these months that I believe were as* good as ]S"o. 1 northern corn-fed beef. I do not say* that they would weigh with northera stall-fed animals of the same age, but they were full fat, and their flesh firm and heavy, yet tender, juicy and sweet. ( The bearded Musquete grass, besides producing a heavy bottom of fine blades, puts up a stem that heads something like barley, although in its native state nothing like as heavy as good barley — yet when com- pared with many other kinds of grass this bearded Musquete might justly be called grain ; and if well cultivated or once set in well prepared ground, I be- lieve it would produce of seed, besides its bottom growth, what would be equal to a pretty fair crop of barley or oats. It is contended by some that these Musquete and Bermuda grasses, for fattening cattle, are equal to 96 WESTERN TEXAS; OK, corn. Whetlier they are or not, if in the dead of winter they will keep stock fat, they are good enough, particularly the different kinds of Musquete, which cover hundreds of thousands of acres of unsettled lands in western Texas, upon which every one's cattle are at liberty to run. Now, you men of money, who are seeking new and line countries, let me ask you. How would you like to own a league of this mus- quete land in the valley of the Nueces, which is as pretty valley land as there is in the world, and already covered with this wonderful grass, which lands will produce corn, potatoes, fruits, and I might say, almost every good thing aburidantl}' , and wlij^re stock cattle can be bought at six dollars per head, brood mares for twelve and fifteen dollars per head, and where bikf cattle are now worth from sixteen to eighteen dollars, and will soon bring twenty dollars per head, at three and four years old, right at home, — and where half-breed mules at three years of age will readily bring from seventy-five to one hundred dollars — tiie lands being worth from one half to three dollars per acre. If the cry of gold was started across some broad ocean five times the width of the mad Atlantic, how^ many thousands are there who would sacrifice the little they possess, rake together every dollar they could, and blindly rush to those regions of gold — in nine cases out of ten to be disappointed, and either beg their way back or send home to get money to enable them to return, or possibly commit suicide, in despair, for the want of luck or pluck to dig through what they thought to be a fine enterprise, never dream- ing that here in Texas there are openings to which most gold diggings are no more to be compared than the least star in the firmament is to the glorious sun. 1 mean what 1 say. There are thousands of men who THE PLACE TO LIVE. 97 went in times of excitement to Calitbrnia and Aus- tralia, who, had they come to Texas at the time and invested the little money that it took to get them to those countries, would now be rich and independent men*, instead of being what they now are — many of them not only poor, but dissipated, gambling wretches, or, what is equally bad, spendthrifts of that which, by chance having made so quick and easy, they knew not its value, and casting it adrift, soon found them- selves in the rapid current of despair, and too often in the whirlpool of destruction. Why should- not men of the north and European countries come to Texas ? Beef cattle are already raised here and driven to the far north, and not only consumed there, but packed up and consumed per- haps by the ships' crews of every nation that may have a vessel afloat; and Texas is but just in her in- fancy at this business. She will yet astonish the world with her vast productions of different kinds of I meat, horses, mules and wool, or anything that is raised upon grass. If a beef can be grown to three or four years of age, as some contend, for two dollars and a h^lf, a good half-breed horse or mule of the same age for five dollars, fine yearling sheep for a bit per head, merino wool at an actual cost of not more than six and a fourth cents per pound, hogs and other animals, fowls, etc., proportionably cheap, why will not more of that great surplus population of other countries come here and produce with their labor, en- ergy, enterprise and capital supplies for those whom they leave behind ? If a person owning two farms — o» e upon which he might live, where from four to six months of the year the earth might be covered with snow, the otiier twenty miles away, where snow might never fall, tlie one at home good for the growing of grains, vegetables, etc., and where labor might be 98 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, ciicap aud plcutit'iil for the raising imd storing up of tins produce; the other producing the best of grass in abundance the year through, where stock of all kinds could live without any preparation for winter, and where he (the fanner) could raise his stock for one half or fourth of what it would cost him to raise it at home — would he not be likely to send his stock, with a portion of his family to attend to it, to the farm twenty miles away and let it be used for tlie raising of stock, and use his home farm for the raising of grains, etc., since if he were to use his grass farm for the raising of grain, this grain would have to be gathered and put in order for sale or use just as much as though produced on the home farm, which we will suppose could not be done to advantage for the want of cheap and sufficient labor ; and if the grass farm were used for the growing of grain, etc., it would throw the stock back on the home farm, where there would liave to be a useless and laborious storing up of hay, etc., for the wintering of this stock, and six months of the most valuable growth of the grass farm thrown away, and unnecessary labor and expense used in the wintering of the stock, when it could have YiTed with- out any preparation for winter, had the grass farm been unmolested and not put to the growing of grain, or had been left to produce its winter growth of grass and constant grazing for the stock. So in regard to Texas, when considered in connection with the older states of the Union and different parts of the world. As mankind are one great family, why should not that portion of this family at home which is yet too large, and w^icre labor is yet too cheap, where there arc many who are not needed, where the unfortunate ones of the family have too often to stint their bellies for the want of supplies or means to get them, where most of the soil could bo used to advantage for the raising THE PLACE TO LIVE. 9^ of grains, etc.-I ask why should not these over- erown branches of this great family send off more ot their surplus labor, energy, enterprise and capital to this part of the world to produce certain supplies tor tliose whom they leave behind, and take in exchange for them monev or an equivalent thereto in such thincrs as they inight require from abroad. Yes since the productions of this part of the earth are so cheaply and easily brought forth with so little labor and capi- tal where suffering from cold is comparatively un- known where extrcmes of heat are less oppressive than in cold northern climates, where there are so many leagues after leagues of cheap, unsettled or un- occupied lands, as good as can be, where is the great productive and fragrant green of the world, and beauty all around, where^ beggars are unknown, and fortune smiles upon nearly all. Yes, I say, since all this is let men pick up their things and come over here, and raise beef for New Orleans, Mobile, and soon tor Cuba, for Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and 13o8- ton for Canada and the Lord only knows where. Conie here and raise mules; come here and grow mutton and wool; come here and produce pork and bacon • come here and get rich out of this immense surplus of grass which is now consumed by fire upon the great pasture of western Texas. Here is the place to live ; here the glittering lone star, the beacon liarts of western Texas. There are many men here who delight in hunting the bear and who have good dogs for the purpose. Bear meat in this country is line eating when fat. They are somewhat destructive to hogs in the bottoms. Wolves. — There is no wild animal in the c(^untry so destructive as the wolf. They are of two kinds, prairie and mountain or cayote and lovo. The howl of these devilish things is yet to be heard upon almost any prairie in western Texas. They are, however, easily killed by scattering pieces of meat around the prairie, or wherever they come, with a' little strychnine carefully secreted within them. Stock-growers some- times drag a dead animal or a large piece of meat some distance through the prairie, and occasionally leave a piece of meat properly dosed with poison in its trail, and wolves, if there are any about, will fol- low up this trail and eat this poisoned meat, and are generally found dead not far from where they find these efl'ective doses. Stock-boys when cattle hunting frequently start up these rogues and give them chase. A number of us once came upon a wolf in the act of eating a calf that it had just killed. We took after it but it was so full of blood and fresh meat that it would occasionally stop and try to throw up to relieve itself and make better headway, but we were so close upon its heels he could find time only to gag and be ofi'. The boys were soon throwing their ropes, at which he would snap and dodge ; but a rope was finally fast- ened upon him, and the horse dashing away with one end of it at the horn of the saddle and the other snugly around a forefoot of the wolf, he dangled and dragged along Until he seemed quite willing to lie down and die from the blow of a quoit that was dealt upon his pate. These animals do not destroy as THE PLACE TO LIVE. 161 many calves upon our prairies as one would suppose they might. Wlienever a young calf is caught by one of them it gives tlie bawl of alarm and all the cattle within hearing rally around, make a great fuss and drive the wolf away. I have seen the prairie wolf take hold of a young calf when there was no other cattle but the mother of the calf about, and she alone would compel the wolf to let loose his hold. I once saw an affray of this kind where, after the cow had driven the wolf away from her calf, the whelp jumped at the cow and for a whole hour, at intervals, would cut up his antics around the mother for the pur- pose of getting the calf a little away from her in order that he might take another hold, but the calf instinctively kept close to the mother while she was desperately thrusting her horns at the cunning wolf. Sheep and goats, unless in an old settled place, re- quire constant guarding in some way against these animals in western Texas. Many wool-growers in the upper country have proof folds for their sheep, and others have their shepherds lie down of a night near their flocks with their dogs about them. Prairie DoQS. — Prairie dogs are sometimes brought in from the interior of Texas and domesticated. They are a curiosity, and being small many people are glad to get hold of them as pets. Since the discovery of the Pike's Peak mines I see much is said of them by the papers throughout the country ; but I have seen no account of their flesh being good to eat which I hear is the case. Panther, etc.— The panther, leopard, wild oat and tiger are found in different parts of western Texas, and are more or less destructible to all kinds of stock. They are frequently killed by our citizens and huntsmen. OooN, Opossum, etc.— The coon, opossum, jack 162 WESTERN TEXAS; OK, and common rabbit are as plentiful in western Texas and probably more easily secured than in almost any other country. Squirrels. — Of the squirrel I have seen but two kinds : one, a ground squirrel much like the northern chipmunk^ the other in size and color between the com* mon red and gray squirrel of the north, which last are very plentiful in western Texas. Mink, Otter, etc. — Mink, otter, beaver, musk rat and weasel I have never seen here, but am told that they are found in the upper country. Fox. — The fox is in the upper country and of dif- ferent colors — silver gray and red I am told. Polecat. — The polecat is here all over any of our prairies ; as I have heard it asserted the fur of these ill-smelling animals is found to be valuable, a person could pay himself to travel our prairies and kill them for their fur. How many of the animals that 1 have mentioned, and what other animals in western Texas, are valu- able for their fur, 1 do not know; but 1 should suppose that the huntsman and trapper might do well here in pursuit of animals for their skins and fur. Game, or Birds — Hunted in western Texas are the turkey, sand-hill crane, prairie chicken, quail, plover, snipe, pigeon, swan, geese, ducks, etc. Our fancy and song birds are the mocking-bird, red bird, whip-poor- will, bird of paradise, turtle dove, etc. The wild turkey is excellent for the table, and there are any quantity of them in western Texas. I have often been with crowds of stock-boys when coming upon droves or scattering turkeys in open prairies. Here and there would go a man or boy for his turkey, but not as hard as he could run at first. If he under- stands the work, he will try and keep the bird on foot as far as possible, for the purpose of getting it wearied THE PLACE TO LIVE. 1#8 before it takes the wing. But when he flies, the rider increases his speed, and if the turkey's wings give out any considerable distance from the timber for whicli he is making, the horseman is almost sure to overtake and capture him ; but if tl;ie turkey can gain the tim- ber, he is safe, unless the rider lias a revolver or gun, with which he can sometimes ride near to the. tree where the turkey is and shoot him down. In the spring of the year, when the males gobble, there are thousands of turkeys shot in this country by the hunter camping out or going early in the morning into the bottoms or timbers where they are, and, on hearing them gobble, carefully approach and shoot them down from their place of roosting. They are sometimes made to gobble by imitating the hen, which is often done with the help of a peculiar bone taken from the turkey, and so lixed that by placing it to the mouth a very accurate imitation of the hen turkey is made ; and many a strutting gobbler, in responding to the call of this bone, brings upon himself the un- erring level of the hunter's rifle. Most people, with a little practice, can imitate the hen without the aid of the bone. Turkeys are here frequently hunted with dogs, trained for the purpose of flying them into trees, when the hunter shoots them down. They are found high and low wherever there is timber. Sand-Hill Crane. — The sand-hill crane is a bird somewhat larger than the turkey, with much longer legs and neck, and no tail. They are of two colors — white and light gray — the former being a little the largest. During the winter and spring they are very numerous upon our prairies. Where they go to hatch, 1 do not know. They are rather shy, although plenty of them are shot; and when properly cooked they are fine for the table. Pbaieik Chicken. — Prairie chickens are nuwhere 164 WESTERN TEXAS ; OR, more numerous than here, and they are easily shot by any one who knows how to handle a gun. I have, repeatedly, seen a gentleman and his wife riding in their bnggy along the road or through the prairie, and every now and then stop their horse for the purpose of shooting a prairie chicken which their pointer had set, and which the gentleman would shoot while stand- ing in his buggy. After picking up the bird and re- loading the discharged barrel, the gentleman would get in and drive along until soon the fixed position of the dog would brmg them to a stand, and bang goes tlie charge for amother chicken. A dozen of these birds are soon obtained in this way, Upon our prairies. Their nests are frequently found with a dozen or more' eggs, which sometimes afford the stock-boy a hearty meal. The New England quail are plentiful here, and are a pretty mark for the hunter; and there is no more tempting dish than their plump little bodies make. A prettier sight there never was than a couple of quails with their dozen little ones, just off the nest, tripping along upon a sandy level. I have never seen them driven into nets, as in Illinois. I believe they are a little more shy here than in the North. Like the prairie chicken, they are found all over western Texas. Plover, Snipes and Pigeons. — Plover are here in abundance, but near the coast, principally, I believe. Tiiey are a plump bird, and pretty game. Snipes are everywhere, fat and fine, in western Texas. Wild pigeons are seldom seen near the coast, but are more or less plentiful in the upper country. 1 suppose the more general production of the cereal grains nearer the coast would bring them there. Swan. — Swan, geese and ducks are here during the fall, winter and spring, in such numbers as were never seen in any country but this. It is not unusual in THE PLACE TO LIVE. 166 spring to see our bays and lakes for miles out, and along the beach as far as one can see, covered with millions of these water-birds. The beautiful swan is more shy than geese or ducks ; but a good marksman may kill thousands of them. Their downy skins are very valuable when well preserved; and why a good marksman could not make money here at the saving of these beautiful, downy skins, I do not know. Their skins are worth several dollars each. It is said .that when coming upon a flock of swan on a windy day, when out upon our prairies, if they are suddenly rushed upon, on horseback, and driven with the wind, they can not fly up, or rise from the ground, and they are easily shot among in this way. * Geese. — Geese frequent, in flocks of hundreds, our short-grass prairies, and fatten upon tender grass and herbage. They can be seen by thousands at a time, in different flocks, upon our prairies. They light near dwellings, where the grass is short and sweet, and where they can nearly always be found for weeks to- gether. They are a little shy, and know pretty well the distance to keep from an armed man. But any one can shoot them, and a good marksman can take down as many as he wishes. Tliey are of two kinds, and are here called brant and geese. The brant are of a dull blue color, and their noise is more like the noise of the domesticated goose of pur country. The geese are of a brown color, with black about their wings, breast and head. They are not considered first- rate eatirg, though, when well cooked and with the right kind of dressing, they are very good. It is not long since I saw a person who had a hat lantern con- structed, with which to bewilder geese in the night. With this 'Horch-hat," as he called il, he said he could go among them and kill them with a club. He said lie could get to them in ponds of water better than anv 15 166 WESTERN TEXAS; OK, where else — the reflection of tbe rajs of light upon the water having a peculiar effect upon their eyes, I s-np- pose, is the reason of this. Should they fly up before getting near to them, he said they would come all about the light, which would enable him to occasion- ally strike one down. I have no doubt that the hat- lantern, torch-light, or whatever it might be called, would prove successful in approaching geese in very dark and foggy • nights, as I have myself made fires in thick clusters of trees near to ponds of water in which there were geese, and after frightening them up they would fly about the motts, and frequently come so low that they would strike the trees, and come flopping and tumbling down through the branches to the ground. Of course, when striking and tangling in the trees, the flopping of their wings could be heard, which would enable one to get nearly or quite under their place of falling, and ready to pick them up or strike them with a stick. Sometimes, when striking the trees with their wings spread, they would lie where first lodged, upon the dense foliage, for a half hour or more, dazzled by the light of the fire through the branches ; and wheh tired of their position, would com- mence flopping, and down they would come. It takes a dark, misty night to do this, and in such a night a number of persons could soon procure feathers enough to make a fine bed, and as many geese as they would wish. I have several times, when cattle hunting, camped near ponds of "water in which there were thou- sands of geese ; and during the night, wolves, coons, or animals of some kind, would, every little while, slyly rush in upon the geese and keep them flying and squalling, and often succeed in catching them.* Let the reader imagine himself, of a dark, misty and stormy night, out upon a prairie in a cluster of trees, in which there is a large fire. It being a wet time, THE PLACE TO LIVE. 167 the ponds all about these trees are full of water, in which there are thousands of geese and ducks, and loud-voiced cranes are about. Now, suddenly, rush into these ponds, upon your horse, among these geese and ducks, and start them up ; soon they are flying in every direction, and the air is alive with these squeak- ing birds. The strong winds hurl them here and there in their efforts to rise and contend with the furious gale. The bewildering blaze brings them to and fro about and above the cluster of trees. lN"ow, being lost and allured by the glimmering of the fire, they come too low, strike the trees, and fall an easy prey to those underneath, provided they are keeping a sharp loo]v- out and get ready for the fall. Upon such occasions I have known sand-hill cranes to join in the dark and noisy confusion, and come flopping down through the trees, and run directly into the fire. This, no doubt, would be new to many Texans ; but any one who will take the trouble to try the thing, in a dark and stormy night, and in a suitable place, will find my statements correct. Ducks. — Wild ducks are of many kinds and colors in western Texas, and their size is from that of a ban- tam hen up to that of the smaller brant. Many of them are not only beautiful in color, but excellent for the table. When returning, in the fall of the year, from their periodical northern flight, they go every day to the mast producing timbers and fill their crops with acorns. When the acorns, etc., are gone, they live upon tender herbage and grass. The little boys of the towns or country go out upon their gentle ponies, from whose backs they can safely tire their guns, and soon return with tine lots of ducks, geese, etc., etc., hanging to the horns of their saddles. For many months of the year they are very plentiful in and about all the fresh waters of the country. They 168 are also along the coast in bayous, salt water ponds, and, as I have said, line the beach of the bays. 1 am told that they lay along the shores or shallow waters of our bays and live upon the little fish and what they can find in the muddy bottom. SoNQ-BiRDs. — Of our song-birds I will mention only the mocking-bird, which is indeed the most interesting of the feathered tribe in' all the land. If the western Texan's dwelling is well-surrounded with shade-trees, he -is not only blessed with the music of these birds by day, but can hear their wonderful mimicry the live- long night. .Fancy Birds. — Of beauties I will mention the red- bird, whose song is sweet, but without many varia- tions. They have become so tame, when about the door-yard, that they will come to the door of the house and pick up crumbs of bread within an arm's length of you. My little boy has had them so tame that they would come every day from the timber to the door of the house for their feed of crumbs. Ugly Birds. — Of our ugly birds I will mention the buzzard, which is valuable as a scavenger. If an ani- mal dies upon our prairies, these birds are the first to discover it; and many a dead animal is found and a valuable" hide saved by the stock-grower, who observes these birds as they collect and fly over the dying or dead animal. It is said that* these birds fly to a tre- mendous hight every day of their lives. They have a singular habit of standing upon branches of trees, fences, etc., and holding out tlieir ample wings, per- haps for an hour at a time. Does not this, and their high flights, indicate that they need considerable air- ing in order to be agreeable to their not very sweet smelling selves? The egg of the buzzard is much like tliat of the turkey ; and although the color of the THTi; PI.ACR TO LIVE. 169 grown bird 18 dark or quite black, the young buzzard is white, and a comical looking thing it is. The Eagle.— The king of birds, both the gray and bald eagle are here; and in the motts and lone trees out upon our broad prairies,^heir nests ol' sticks and coarse material are found. Here their shrill notes are heard in detlance of everything but man, and when he approaches to disturb their nest or young, they hover around as if to say, "Thou art my only dreaded foe." THE CHRISTIAN MAN. Who doubts that this is the place to live ? Although the luxuries and refinements of older countries are not so much to be found ; although some of us who are here might be better than "we are, and a better state of morals and more decency might exist in some places; yet education, religion, society, mor- als, etc., are fast brightening up, and are certain to do as much for western Texas as these great elevators of man can do for any part of the world. And it is a good country for the good and Christian man.' And why? Because there is a plenty of room here, and the good man can be unmolested in the enjoyment of his religion and property, and his example would exert a good influence upon those around him ; because the good man's character would here, as in other places, stand transcendently out, and he would be looked up to and respected for his virtues. There are a plenty of men who, if not very good, have a reverence for the moral man, and would act uprightly and conduct them- selves properly in his presence and within his knowl- edge, when otherwise they might not. I suppose no one would deny that a greater moral restraint would make a happier country of this, and that more truly ujoral men would benefit our comnmnities, which should make it an inducement for the Christian to come, and / 170 WESTERN TEXAS;. OK, a satisfaction lor him to live here, since he could do it so profitably to himself and others. Rich Man. — This is a good »;ountry for a rich man, because he can here invest his money with more cer- tainty of a fine income, '^th less attention, and feelHig less anxiety for its safety, than .he could in almost any other country. He can here purchase property, not with fear or apprehension of a depreciation, but with a certainty of its advance in value. He could here, if I may be allowed the expression, be a kin^ among men, and not a man among kings. Gentlemen, or moneyed men, are living in nearly all the towns of western Texas, who own large stocks of cattle, horses, etc., upon our prairies, and- who sometimes own a ranche, riding-horses, etc., for the management of their stock, and again they pay by the head, or give a share of the increase for branding and the little at- tention their stock requires. MERCHANT AND PLANTER. Thi^ is a good country for the merchant, because the profits of trade and traffic are large, and the mer- cantile business, well managed here, is sure to make a person rich in a short time — at least, so it seems to me. I do not exactly understand the reason why, but certain it is that merchants, as a general thing, do better in western Texas than I have ever known them, as a class, do in any other country. I have frequently heard it remarked by merchants here, that stock- growers are their most ready cash customers. It is not unusual for the cotton crop of western Texas to fail, consequently cotton -growers frequently run long accounts. But the stock -man, always on hand with the money or a crop of beeves, mules, or something that will readily bring the cash, keeps the merchant on liis "taps" until the planter makes a crop, which THE PLACE TO LIVE. iTl enables biui to settle his long running account. Cot- ton, for the last season or two, has done better, and has raised the drooping hopes of many who had al- most given up western Texas as a planting country. How much of the country west of the Colorado river bottoms \vill prove itself as reliable for cotton, I sup- pose is not yet determined. I have always considered western Texas as a great southern stock country, and I have yet to change my opinion. But if the seasons were generally different, I suppose there would be no better cotton lands than the river-bottoms of western Texas. I am acquainted with a large slave-holder, who, years ago, abandoned the raising of cotton in onef of the best localities of western Texas; as too un- certain a business for him, «« he said. He turned his force to tiie raising of mules, cattle, and the extensive production of pork, bacon, etc. I have talked with other large and reliable planters of western Texas, who say they would not exchange their localities for any that they know of in the older cotton-growing states, and probably not for any in the world. It may seem a contradiction to say that the mer- chant of our country does remarkably well when the cotton -grower, who should be, to a great extent, his support, does not so well. But the truth is, cotton- growers are also, to some extent, stock-growers, and of late better crops of cotton have been produced ; and it is to be hoped that the seasons of western Texas may continue favorable for the production of tins "king" of crops, and call to the country planters to occupy all its good cotton lands. Should the seasons of western Texas continue favorable for cotton, plant- ers could not do better than come here and secure the rich bottom lands of the country. A good share of our merchants, in addition to their stores, have stock -ranches, and not untivquently ex- % 172 WE8TKKN TEXAS; OR, change goods for stock; and by employing a stock- man to attend to tlieir ranches, or their stock, if they have no ranches, they carry on the two branches greatly to the advantage of each other. The mer- chant frequently concerns some sharp-eyed fellow with him, and sends him off, with a little money, to Mexico for a drove of horses and mules. He some- times sends on, in charge of an experienced, trusty follow, a drove of horses, mules, or beeves, to the north ; and, in purchasing such drove, he frequently collects outstanding accounts, or exchanges goods for animals, to some extent, and often making up a drove, by hook and crook, and getting it well on the way, he goes on by water and rail in time to meet his dl-ove, at some designated place, and, turning it into cash or good short paper, to the best advantage he can at Chicago or some other point, goes on to New York and pays up, makes a fresh purchase of goods for his store, and comes home. Merchants also purchase and exchange goods for various products of the country, such as hides and peltry, wool, pecans, moss, etc. They also engage, more or less, in shipping beef and veal-cattle,' mules, horses, etc., to New Orleans, Mobile, Cuba, and other places. Previous to the last two seasons, I noticed that it was not an unusual thing for a merchant to get a mortgage upon a plantation and negroes in western Texas. But I have never yet known a stock-man under the necessity of mortgaging his property in order to make ends meet. This is not because the stock-grower does not go in debt, but because when, from any imprudence, or from going in debt for cat tic, lands, or to his merchant, finds himself troubled to meet his payments, he can do as 1 have repeatedly told him. But the planter, when he gets ''pinched,'* THE I'LACE TO LIVK. 173 can not sell his cotton and su<^ar until it is in the bale or hogshead, unless he pledges liis crop before it is grown, and then, from drought or some other cause, it might fail, leaving him in the merchant's debt, his expenses are hciivy and his debts increasing, which too often results in a mortgage upon his plantation and negroes. There are other reasons for the ill success of the planter in western Texas. In coming to the country with his force and family, he incurs a large expense, and in the purchase and improvement of new lands, building, etc., another large outlay follows. His ac- count, upon arrival here, commences with his mer- chant, depending, as he generally does, upc^n his first year's crop to meet his engagements, which crop is to be raised in a new climate, where the seasons are dif- ferent, and upon new land, the like of which he is unaccustomed to tilling, and the correct management of which he does not exactly understand ; and having relied too much upon his ability as a cotton-grower in the old state from whence he came, and consequently being a little extravagant and regardless of expense, lie too often finds himself in debt, with perhaps but a fourth of a crop of cotton, which barely pays the ex- pense of raising. Now comes the land-holder for the balance due upon the plantation, and the merchant for a mortgage upon his negroes and other property, which staggers the planter and leaves him but a short and unsuccessful career. Now, although I am out of my place, I will venture to give the ])lanter who comes to western Texas a little advice, that may not be to his disadvantage. When he arrives let him be moderate in the purciiase of lands, which sould be of the ricii river bottoms, with perhaps a strip of prairie. Let. him invest, say one half or a portion of his means in cattle and 174 WESTERN TEXAS; OR. horses, and of course he would jret a stock of hogs, and if in the right kind of range, he might get a flock of sheep; but he should be careful how he meddles with sheep, unless he. has a great taste and inclination for the business. Now we will suppose, that with this kind of a start, his first and possibly his second crop of cotton fails. How is the planter to get along? Is he to be broken up? If he has been prudent and economical, it seems to me, not. Although his cat- tle, horses, and sheep, might not, at first, aflbrd him as much of an income as would abundant crops of cotton, yet, in case of failure of his cotton crop, his stock would be his salvation. And again, should the country o^- his particular locality eventually prove too uncertain for the growth of cotton, could he not plant his rich bottom lands in musqiiete and bermuda^ and still- be " king" in the way of stock-grower? I have known several planters to come here and go in debt, as I have stated, and from the failure of crops become largely involved, when, if they had in- vested a portion of their means, or parted with a share of their force, and put the proceeds thereof in stock, they would have undoubtedly got along until they could have been favored with a good season for cot- ton, the large proceeds of which would have swept their debts away. 1 do not say this for those planters who are here and know ten times as much about the thing as my- self; but for those who may come to the country in circumstances that could be easily embarrassed in this peculiar climate. To the planter who has started as I have suggested, 1 say as I have said to the stock-grower: If he finds liimself cramped to meet his payments, let him turn to his stock and dispose, if need be, of all the male animals or beef-cattle, young and old, from his stock, THE PLACE TO I.H K. 175 to the best advantage he can; part with his yearling mules, wether sheep and Iambs, wool, or anything that will not injure the increasing capacity of his stock. At the same time, let him watch old and suc- cessful planters, and make all necessary inquiries in regard to the proper management of the cotton crop in western Texas; let hi,m work early and late, break- ing up and preparing his lands for a good crop, whicli, by perseverance, will surely, sooner or later, bless him and enable him to "square his yards." Would my remarks discourage the emigration of cotton -growers to western Texas? ' Let us see how this really is. In the year 1860 wo will bring A. from Alabama to western Texas, with a force of negroes, and settle him upon a certain river, where he shall improve a place with the expectation of getting a crop from the first planting. He con- tracts debts with the idea of paying them with his first crop of cotton ; and, feeling sure of a crop, he has perhaps made some debts that he could possibly have avoided. His crop, from some cause, fails. He gets the payment, now due upon liis plantation, put over to next year, and his merchant is also put off until the next crop. The next year he gets no crop, or but a slim one, and he begins to feel the weight of his debts, which are presented for payment, and he has nothing with which to meet them, except his negroes and the plantation with its appurtenances. The result is badr A. and his family, overseer and all, write home to their friends in Alabama not to come to western Texas, and tell them their troubles, the whys and wherefores. Their correspondents, and all who hear from them, spread the gloomy tidings from western Texas, and people^tay at home. But let us, in a few words, bring B. the same year (IS(>()) ti» western Texas, and settle him upon the saui'i 176 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, river. J3. also goes in debt, and improves a planta tion. But he does not buy as much land as did A.. instead of which he buys a stock of cattle, mares, or sheep, and possibly brings with him a jack and a few bucks, for the purpose of raising mules and im- proving the flock of sheep he may buy. His first and second crops of cotton turn out a& did those of A. He now depends upon his stock, which he sells off, as I have directed, as close as it will do without injuring its increasing capacity. B. makes another effort for a crop, which results most favorably. The consequence is, that he and thos*e about him write home to their friends and say, "Although our cotton, etc., did not do so well for a year or two, our stock kept us along, and this year we have made a tremendous crop, which has set us away ahead. We have learned the coun- try, and a glorious country it is. Come to western Texas, my friends, and do as we have done, and you will never be sorry." The result is, the friends of B. and family circulate the glad tidings from weetern Texas, and more or less of the recipients of these good accounts make their way to the country^ Is this discouraging the emigration of planters? or is it putting a fiea in the ear of the planter who might come to western Texas and run through his property, for the want of just such a hint as this, and thereby retard the settlement of our cotton lands % And again, you southern boys, please read my book, which may seem to have been written more for the Yankees, but only for the reason that I happen to know more of them than of you, and know them to be the people to make a great wool-growing country of this, and develop its resources and importance in other respects; but in many of my remarks I ha^e used the term northern to designate people north ot Texas. I would not apply my remarks in regard to the fail- THE rJ.ACE TO MVE. 17*? lire of the cotton crop to eastern Texas, nor even cen- tral Texas; for, if I am not mistaken, the Colorado bottoms are equal to any lands in the state for the growth of cotton, and the seasons along this river, I believe, are uniformly good for cotton. To return to j;he merchant, whom I have purposely mixed in with the planter and stock-grower, as he is so peculiarly interested in the whole country. I said that the profits of trade in this country are large. This may seem to conflict with much that I have be- fore said, unless it should appear that the profits of all kinds of business are -correspondingly large, which is generally the case. It is a fact, that the merchant's profits upon his goods in western Texas, compared with the northern merchant's profits, are as a half dime is to a penny, or thereabouts; and this may be said of mechanical business and trade generally. What is bought in the north at wholesale for a penny and retailed for two pennies, is here retailed for half a dime at least. Were such a ferry as the New York and Brooklyn established any where between two cities in the south, however large they might be, the cost of a ride from one to the other would probably be ^vq cents, at least, instead of a penny, as in the north. The blacksmith, for shoeing a horse in western Texas, will have more than double the amount the smith gets for the same job in the north. This is a true scale of prices upon which business is done in this country, and why should not merchants and tradesmen do well here? If a trinket of a penny's value, in a mercantile or shop establishment of the north, would here sell for a half dime, and often a dime, and if the foregoing is illustrative of business in general, what say you, merchants and tradesmen, of all kinds, to this' being a good country for you? It may justly be said tliat it ^vould cost more to run a ferryboat, to get articles of 178 trade, and the blacksmith's iron, etc., in the south than in the north, but this difleronce of cost of raw material in the two ^sections, is nothing to compare with the difference in profits. The penny or cent is rarely seen here. I do not mention this as a credit to the country, nor as a dis- credit to those states or countries where they are used. It is only to show the profits of trade in western Texas that I speak of this coin. I believe that a coin of this small value is a good indication. It is a proof of enterprise and industry. We will suppose that the penny coin of New York city -might be done away with, and that nothing less than the five cent piece were there used, what would be the profits of the Brooklyn and New York city ferries, when getting five cents for what they now have but one cent, and with which they make money ? The great necessity of the penny or small coin in the north is a striking proof of economy, and, more than all, of ingenuity. Were it not for the invention of machinery, and the ingenuity and economy of the machinist and ship- wright, how could such crowds of people go in the convenient and quick way that they do, for a single penny, from New York to Brooklyn ? I would not make people small, but if ever the time is when the penny will be indispensable in the south, it will be when there is more productive skill and in- genuity among her people, and when the profits upon articles of trade are not as large as they now are, or when more business is done to realize the same profits. SPECULATION -^.9. DEO VERS. Western Texas is a good country for the speculator, so far as articles of speculation are produced. Because, by buying here, tiie speculator has not only the chances of a rise in the price of his property, but the advan- THE PLAGE TO LIVE. 179 tages of buying in a country where things are easily and cheaply produced, and such things, too, as can be cheaply exported to those countries where they are more laboriously and expensively produced. For in- stance, a beef can here be grown to a weight of six hun- dred pounds at a cost of two dollars and a half, and driven for two dollars and a half to a country where it costs, perhaps, twenty-five dollars to raise a beef of the same weight, and from that, with the twenty -five dol- lar beef, on to the same market at the same expense ; which, no doubt, (although the twenty-five dollar beef is worth the most money), would result in a big ad- vantage to the purchaser of the Texas beef over the purchaser of the twenty-five dollar beef — provided, the Texas beef is driven by the right kind of experienced drivers. And when the cattle of Texas are improved, there will be a still greater advantage in favor of the purchaser of Texas beef-cattle, if speculation or driving north be the object of the purchaser; and in fact, if those northern men who now come here and take beeves to Chicago and northern markets, would man- age difierently, they would make much more money than they now do. If, in the place of taking wild, rough, light-quartered animals, they would take choice cattle only, and employ experienced managers and drivers, they would, at anything like the present prices in Texas, always be very sure to make, and with good luck, their profits would be large. And by always demanding choice cattle, the stock-growers would see the necessity of improving their cattle, which improvement would make a demand for blooded stock, which the drover might take on to Texas with him when he goes for a di*ove of beeves. Should a northern drover think of doing this, he should go on to Texas with his fine stock in the fall, and sell out 180 during the winter, and get ready to start in early spring with his Texas beeves for the north. A drove of about seven hundred beeves was driven from middle Texas to Chicago, about two years since, which, it is said, cleared about ten thousand dollars. This drove was no doubt very well managed ; but there was a large number of inferior cattle in it, and had they happened to have gone into a bad market, these inferior ones might have caused a loss of money upon the drove; whereas, if the whole drove had been choice cattle of our country, they might have gone in- to the same supposed bad market and still have made money. To my knowledge, there have been many men here, within the last six years, who have bought large droves of Texas beeves for northern markets. Some of these men have not done well, simply because they did not know how to buy, select, and drive Texas beef-cattle. When a northern man comes here for a drove of beef-cattle, let him come in time to look around and see where he can buy to advantage. He need not make any noise, or let people know wj^at he is about, until he finds a large prairie or extent of country where the beeves, for the year or two previous, have not been much culled or sold out. When found, he should se- cure such cattle, unless they are known to be generally wild and bad to manage. There are certain prairies in Texas where northern men should be very careful about bu^^ing: and wherever, or of whoever, he may buy, his contract should call for all his or their beef- cattle ; that' is to say, all such beef-cattle as he, the purchaser or- his assigns, shall consider good and mer- chantable; and then, in his selection he should not take a light, rough, washy and ugly beef, nor those that are at all staggy. But he should select those that are uniformly smooth, with as clean necks and horns THE PLACE TO LIVR. 181 as posssible; and, if the judge or selector is capable, those that would be most likely to drive and feed kindly, and, above all, those that are well quartered, or put up in a way to take flesh with fat, and be sure to weigh well. Of course, the drover or manager would have his men ready, and most of them with him, and his contract should call for the delivery of the cattle across one large river, or stream, at least, at some point where the balance of his men should be in readiness to help count and receive them, and where the wagon, camping material, extra horses, and the whole complement of drovers, cook and all, should be in readiness to move the cattle on, or hold and herd them here as head-quarters, until-, perhaps, the drove is made up with cattle coming from other points. At this stage of the enterprise, if the manager and drivers understand their business, they will use the utmost caution, and give all possible care and attention, to avoid a fright or stampede ; and for a week or fort- night, if the men study their own good even, they will use the greatest caution and do all they can to help the sleepless, wearied and care-worn manager prevent a fright or stampede, and watch closely that none may get away — after which time, if all has gone right, there is not much danger. Yet, unless a man is all attention, and is proud to do his duty, he should not be allowed a place among the faithful, hardy and trusty drivers of a Texas drove of beeves. Whoever starts a drove of our cattle north, should, by all means, employ an experienced Texas manager, and consult him in regard to the kind of drivers to employ, and possibly in regard to the purchase of the cattle. The place for receiving a drove of Texas beeves, or for holding them, or a share of them, until the drove maybe completed and ready to start, should •^e where wagons or men on foot do not frequent, atid, IT) 182 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, if possible, where nothing might occur to frighten them. The writer has driven tiiese Texas beeves for several years, and for the two last years, in driving many droves, he had but one stampede to speak of and this he would have avoided had he not, necessa- rily, at the time, been away from the drove. A north- ern or western drover should always receive and start his cattle from Texas during moonlight nights, if he possibly can, and as early in the spring as the grass will do, when the weather is almost sure to be fine. By moonlight the drivers can see what they are about when around the herd, and by the time they have to do without the light of the moon, the cattle should be well broke in, §o as to drive and manage without diffi- culty. A drover should be as sure as possible and se- cure the right kind of men,. and, besides paying them the wages agreed upon, he should treat them as lib- erally as he consistently could, and then he should ex- pect them to do their duty. If he is inclined to be penu- rious, let it be with some one beside his drivers ; for a lot of drivers will do any amount of mischief to the employer they do not like, and vice versa^ they will watch over and almost die, if need be, with the cattle of any drover with whom they are well pleased. I mention tliese facts simply because I have known northern men to come here and not do as well, by sev- eral thousand dollars, as they might have done in the purchase of their droves, and then, to save money, would employ inexperienced hands, and undertake to carry the thing through on the cheap or stingy prin- ciple, and, consequently, get into trouble and make nothing. The true way is to purchase the cattle as shrewdly, closely and judiciously as possible, and then compensate the drivers liberally. Save money out of any one but the drivers, and if you are the man for the bueiness, you are sure to make money in the end. THE PLACR TO LIVE. 183 and that largely, too. By tretiting. the drivers liber- ally and*well, 1 do not mean that you must give them their own way, or let them impose on you. Use them right, and they will suffer you, as it were, to see that they do their duty. The purchaser should remember that he is not going to market every week or month; but that he has a long way to drive, and that it costs no more to drive a choice Texas animal than it does an interior one, and the chances are ten to one in fa- vor of the choice animal. For five long years I have bought and driven Texas beef-cattle, and I have made a good deal of money for those for whom I worked ; and I know that the right kind of men can make money, with as much certainty as their is in human affairs, by driving Texas beef-cattle to northern mar- kets ; but they must be '' up and dressed " for the busi- ness. I have recently heard of one of live or six part- ners, who w^ere each more or less interested in three droves of beeves that were driven from western Texas to Chicago, last spring ; and the partner of whom I speak wrote home from Chicago that his share of the profits on the two thousand cattle they drove, would be over $9,000, and I believe there were at least two other shares in the company whose interest was as large or larger than his. In this large lot of cattje were the eight hundred head of which I spoke, near the beginning of this work, as being the sale of one stock grown at $16 per head. CATTLE SHIPPING. The shipping of beef and veal cattle from western Texas, to New Orleans, Mobile and Cuba, is an ex- tensive and, to those who are calculated for it, profit- able business. The writer is largely experienced in this trade, to which he owes principally his knowledge of western Texas. It is the buying, driving and shin- 184 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, ping of beef and veal cattle from diflerent parts of Texas to New Orleans, lor a wealthy company, that has, more than any other one thing, given the writer such an extensive acquaintance with tlie pursuits and inviting condition of the country to foreigners. There is room here for competition in this business, and it is to be a large and growing trade in western Texas for, I might say, all time to come. The writer could enlarge to almost any extent upon this subject ; but as no great good could arise from such enlargement here, he will simply say that not a few haye made and are making money at this business, and that '' Yankees " and Germans are among thosQ who are doing as well as any in the trade. I will fur- ther say that, without any experience in Texas, I com- menced this business for $60 per month, and soon got $75, and then $100 per month, which situation I gave up to write this book. Had I continued, I could, prob- ably, have commanded any reasonable price for my services. I mention this merely to show what a verd- ant man or plow-boy from the north can do with the wild stock of Texas — ^. 6., if he is of the right stripe, and not afraid to work. BEEF-PACKING. Packing beef has been often attempted, but without success; but recently it has been successfully carried on, to some extent, in western Texas. It is a well-known fact that if a process were generally understood whereby beef could be packed in Texas so as to keep, and pass inspection in our large markets, it would soon be an extensive and, no doubt, profitable business. There has been, to the writer's knowledge, within the last three years, several hundred barrels of beef packed in western Texas, for the New York market, which bore inspection, and did very well for the packer, THE PLACE TO LIVE. 1S5 although he labored under great disadvantages in the operation of packing. The beef-packing business in western T^-as, deserves the attention of enterpris- ing men. That it pays to drive beef from Texas to Chicago, thousands of miles, and pack it, has been well demonstrated ; and why should it not pay to pack it in Texas, if the thing could be extensively done, and ship it instead of driving so far to the great markets of the country. The writer has recently learned that a gentleman has just come on from the north to Texas to invest a large amount of money in this business^ He knows a process of packing that will no doubt in- sure success in the business. We have several months of cool weather in winter that certainly ought to ad- mit of profitable beef-packing. SPECULATION VS. HORSES, MULES, ETC. Horses and mules have been, and are yet to a great extent, driven north, east and west from Texas. They are so cheaply produced here, and the work of improv- ing them will be so rapidly carried on, that soon the speculator will be able to get fine horses and mules in western Texas for one half the amount that it would cost to raise such animals in some of the northern state. These animals are more easily managed and driven than cattle. Our horse drovers, after getting the ani- mals accustomed to each other and well broke in, fre- quently, when driving through our open countries, turn them loose without a herder when night over- takes them, and generally find them all together, not faroflf, in the morning. But great care and watchful- ness should be exercised until the animals are recon- ciled to each other, and are inclined to stay together or follow the bell-man of the drove. Sometimes mules will unavoidably stampede from the scent of wolves 186 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, or other animals, and varions other causes. But an experienced manager is at home with them, and sel- dom meets with any loss. Such a manager should always be employed with a drove of our Texas horses or mules. The immense amount of this kind of stock in Texas and Mexico, its rapid increase and the cheapness of its production, should certainly call the attention' of speculators this way. I know of a Missourian who has, for the last eight years, taken a lot of yearling mules from Texas to his farm in Missouri, and after feeding them on corn for a season, has taken them among the planters of the south, and sold them, gen- erally, at large profits. He told me that he raised a hundred a(ires of corn annually, and that he disposed of it in this way — some seasons at several dollars per bushel. The bringing of those cheap Texas jennies to an abundant corn country, and raising half-breed jacks on corn for the Texas markjet, would not be a bad business. Fine jacks and stallions can be exchanged for Texas mules and horses at a profitable rate, pro- vided the thing is properly managed. It would pay well for a speculator or Texas stock-grower to buy up old, foundered and used-up mares, anywhere along the Mississippi states, where they could be bought cheap, and driven carefully on to Texas, with a little expense, and kept there for the purpose of raising mules, or sold to the stock -grower in exchange for mules, beeves, or something of the kind. It would pay the specula- tor, who is watching for rare chances, to peruse well this book. LAND SPECULATION. From the appearance of things the land speculator could nowhere do better at present and for many years to come, than in Texas ; but this business is too much THE PLACE TO LIVE * 187 on the "shark" order to admit of much encourage- ment from a friend of the poor man. 1 think 1 could write many interesting pages upon this subject, but it would conflict too much with the spirit of my work. WOOL AND SHEEP SPECULATION. In the opinion of the writer there will be in twenty years not less than ten milliojis of sheep in Texas, and possibly twice that number. In the meantime would not the speculator be justified in looking that way for wool, mutton, etc.? There are those who could probably come here at this time, and do well at the purchase of the common qualities of w^l in small quantities. Those, raising fine wool, 1 believe, gen- erally know pretty well where to send it to get good prices or realize the most out of it. But many of those who have small lots of coarse-wool sheep fre- quently sell their wool by the fleece, at much less than its value. 1 will close this subject by suggesting that the wool speculator read this work through, and per- haps he will be better able to judge of the good chances and wide fi^ld for his operations in this country than myself; certainly it would seem that the wool speculator might do well in a country where this article is so easily and cheaply produced. I will say that the speculator can hardly go amiss by taking sheep from the northern and western states, across the country, to northern and western Texas, provided he understands the business of buying, drivings and man- aging sheep, about which I will here drop a few re- marks: All who are acquainted with the sheep business know the danger of overdriving them. When starting a flock for a long journey the greatest care should be used not to overdrive them for the first few days, if you do the very next day the chances are that some of your flock will begin to lag and go behind, 188 WESTKRN TEXAS; OR and are to be carried in the wagon, and eventually to be sold for a trifle, given away or to die. In regard to age, condition, soundness of feet, etc., any person of tlie least experience should know.' Sheep in a four- rod road will nibble their way along as fast as they should go without being driven ; in fact, there should always be a man ahead to keep them back when in- clined to go too fast. When going through forests, marshes or places where there may be poisonous vege- tation, sheep should be well watched, and if possible they should be well tilled with grass and not hungry when starting into such places, and they should be put throu^i as soon as it will do. There should always be an antidote for poison in the profusion wagon or near at hand. When driving a large flock in an open country, in warm weather, they should be strung out and not suf- fered to huddle together too much, which heats them and often results in many wind-broken sheep, and is injurious to them in other ways. They should not be suflered to gorge themselves or drink excessively and then driven fast. When drivkig through an open country the flock should always be guarded in the night by one man at least, and the shepherds' degs should be in their places. If droves of sheep are not closely watched in our prairie countries tliey are lia- ble, in the night particularly, to divide up and stroll off' in gangs, and too often wolves get among them before they are found, and frequently it is impossible to trail or find them witli6ut troublesome and expen- sive search. Lastly, but by no means leastly, when coming to deep creeks or rivers, the gi-eatest caution sliould be used that your sheep are not drowned or in- jured by swimming. A healthy, strong sheep will safely swim a river of good width, provided it can have a good landing ])lace and the cm-rent of the river is THE PLACE TO LIVE. 189 not too strong. A flock of sheep should never be put into a rapid stream, unless there is a broad, easy land- ing upon the opposite side, and then a few should be tried first, to.see how they make the landing. There should always be a person at the coming-out place to squeeze the water .from the wool of any sheep that is too miicli exhausted to get out without assistance. A large flock of sheep should be divided and swam in parts, or else it should be strung out, and lut few allowed to go in abreast ; and there should always be two men, at least, at the starting-in point, and should anything go wrong in the water, or at the land- ing, that would be likely to huddle them together or interrupt their swimming in the least, the flock should be instantly stopped and driven back, and grea,t care taken that the balance of the flock does not take a run and get the advantage of you in their determination to follow those that, perhaps, are yet in the water and not out of danger. A safe and excellent way to swim sheep is to have the flock, or a portion of it, upon the waters' edge, where there should be a skifi", with two men in it — one to sit aft and row the boat, without throwing out the oar in a way to frighten the sheep ; the other to sit still aft of him, if possible, and to draw with a rope one or two strong sheep from the flock gradually into the water, as others are inclined to follow, calling them in a low voice with the sound to which they are accus- tomed. The moment they begin to follow, start the boat and head it so as to strike the opposite landing pretty well up. Without some awkwardness, this way of swimming sheep can not but succeed. In fact, it is a good way to swini horses, ^nd cattle also, if you have an ox or an animal that will lead well into the water. I could say much more upon this subject, as ray ex- 17 Ferience in the business has been quite extensive ; but have said enough to caution any inexperienced or careless person who may start out for Texas with a drove of sheep. I do not think that in driving from Illinois to Texas, through Missouri and tlie Indian territory, there would be much swimming to do, un- less it should be an unusually wet season ; and before rising much by putting sheep into rivers, I should pay for crossing them on ferries, or in some safe way, particularly if the flock is not generally in good condi- tion and strong. In conclusion I will say, what I have in substance often repeated, that a drove of sheep, or animals of any kind, should always have a good, ex- perienced and prudent manager, when driven such a journey as the one in question. Such a trip would naturally be eventful, and emergencies might arise; consequently, whether gfting from the north to Texas, or from Texas to the north, with stock of any kind, a trusty, experienced and prudent manager should be employed. I once knew a Pennsylvania drover, who came to Texas and purchased a large drove, consisting of six hundred beeves, for the Philadelphia market. The stock-growers all got the start of him in the sale and delivery of their cattle, and then, to cap his bad man- agement, he hired shop-boys, town-loafers, and inex- perienced men to drive this large drove of beeves, sim- ply because he could hire them cheap. The conse- quence was, that his drove wandered off several times, and many of his beeves were ne'ver found. A lot of green hands, without the right kind of a Texas stock- driving manager, will frighten a drove of Texas beeves, horsey or mules, in a»way to bring disaster upon the drover. Had this Pennsylvanian employed a number-one Texas beef-buyer, driver and manager, and had con- THK PLACE TO LIVE. 191 suited and advised with him in regard to the selection, purchase and delivery of the cattle, and in regard to the employment of drivers, etc., his speculation would have proved a paying and pleasant one; whereas; the result of his bad management, of course, brought down his curses upon Texas and everything in it. MECHANICS, Of various kinds, will find Texas, and particularly western Texas, an excellent field of operation. The country is prosperovis, and building is going on very extensively. Besides dwellings, stores, warehouses, wharves, and the like, there are cotton-gins, grist- mills, saw-mills, various factories, bridges, etc., being constructed. • Manufacturing of various kinds is quite extensively carried on, and its material extension in many branches is confidently anticipated. Why should Texas send her vast amount of hides abroad to be tanned, while she is so well supplied with the finest of tanning bark ? There are a thousand and one sug- gestions of this kind that I might make in regard to this country, were it not that I have other matters under consideration with which 1 wish to conclude this work. I will say, in conclusion to mechanics, that the country is fast filling up. Emigration is continually pouring in, and an increasing demand for your capital and services is to be the result. And furthermore, that 1 know a plenty of mechanics and mechanical laborers, who have invested their profits and savings of their business and labor in stock of some kind, and giving it in charge of stock-growers to brand and look after, have become important and wealthy men. THE POOR MAN. Western Texas, of all others, is the country for the 192 WESTERN TEXAS; OK, poor man ; and also for the man who would retrench, or who is unable to keep pace with the prodigality of the times in the country where it may be his fortune to live. I have somewhere spoken of a chister of trees as the place of my writing. Many of tliese pages were written in the open air, 'neath this group of live oaks, in the fall and winter season. During winter, much of the time a person may set comforta- bly In the shade of a tree for the purpose of writing or anything else. Of course we have cold snaps or northers, of short duration, and short spells of cool, chilly weather, but no snow in western Texas. Con- sequently it is a country where the poor man can get along without expending all he has for the purpose of building a house to make his family comfortable. He needs not a dime to build, in our timbered sections,»a house in which his family could be comfortable and respected, and where he could live until his busi- ness and prospects would justify the erection of a bet- ter and more expensive one ; and, aside from the very few and cheap house-keeping material that would be required to get along for the time, he could put all he might have into stock of some kind, and then buy a home to the best advantage. If it is not more than five acres to begin with, it will do until the increase of his stock, and what he can pick up in other ways, will enable him to buy more-. Small stock-growers resort to various means of money-making, outside of the stock business, the object of which, very often, is not to draw from the increase or proceeds of the stock for the support of the family, or for any purpose, ex- cept some solid investment that will add to their wealth. Almost any land-holder will suffer a poor man to set- tle upon lands suitable for stock-raising purposes, with the understanding that the settler shall buy us soon as lie is able, or at some stated time. THE PLAOE TO LIVE'. ' 193 I will say, that in western Texas the titles of lands have been much in dispute, and are somewhat so now. It therefore behooves* a person to consider the title he is to get, before paying hi^ money for land. This is often an advantage to the settler, from the fact that tlje contending parties will allow him to improve a ph\ce, with an understanding that he shall pay to the party whom the law shall decide as being the rightful owner, and from whom a good title can be perfected, which often gives the settler ample time to get ready to pay for his place by the time the successful party, in law, is qualified to convey to him an indisputable title. There is, however, an endless amount of good lands for sale in western Texas, the titles of which are perfectly clear and undisputed. In fact, the courts of the country, within the last few years, have settled questions of law and firmly fixed the titles to a vast amount of the heretofore disputed territory of Texas. Now it is to the poor man, who arrives in western Texas with but little or nothing, except his head and hands to get along with, that 1 would address myself for a while. I will hereafter mention some of the dif- ferent kinds of labor for which there is a demand in western Texas. But besides these, there are many things to which the poor man, particularly the apt and hardy northern man, can turn his attention with but little or no monej^ to start with. Where I was raised, 1 know of men who were in the habit of going into the deep forests of the country to hunt deer for their peltry and venison during the whole winter season. They would travel upon their snow-shoes from one month's end to another, separated from all human habitations by scores of miles, and were well satisfied if they could get the hides and saddles of one or two deer per day, which they would lug upon their backs for miles into camp, and perform more hard work in 194 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, a tedious, snowy country, to secure ten pelts, with their two quarters each, than it would require to secure a hundred in this delightful country. If a person will use the right means in thi^ country, he can make more money at this business than he could in any country I have ever seen, and I have been in many ])arts where deer were considered plentiful. And the beauty of the thing is, that here it is not cold, tedious, and dis- agreeable. The hunter could here settle in some se- cluded place, where he could go on foot and do well, but with his gentle Mexican pony, trained for the pur- pose, do much better; and where he could go with a slide or stone- boat, drawn by a gentle yoke of oxen, and secure ten or twelve deer per day, the hides of. which he could tan and get fifteen dollars per dozen for, in a northern market, if well tanned ; the process of which tanning is easily learned. Deer-skins are dried and packed away untanned, for the merchant, to a great extent, in this country. The carcass of deer, when so plentifully secured, unless the huntsman were living near some town, would not sell, but his family could be well and constantly supplied, and a drove of hogs could be i^di or kept about home with this sur- plus of wild meat. These remarks, I am well aware, would seem to conflict with remarks that I have and may yet make : but there are, in all countries, men "who will seclude themselves for the purpose of hunting, and why should they not be in Texas as well as anywhere else? Would the hunter doubt his ability to make money in a country where there are millions of deer, and where, upon many of our prairies, there can be seen droves of hundreds every day, and where, on horse- back, by looking in difi'erent directions, a person can sometimes see five hundred or a thousand at a time? How often have I thought, when traveling over this THE PLACE TO LIVE. 195 country, that hundreds and thousands of huntsmen, in different countries, would bo delighted to know what they could do here, and would come, it* they knew, and convert these wild animals more to the use of mankind. It certainly seems a pity that they should live in such numbers upon our prairies, with- out the least expense to a mortal man, and left so use- lessly to die with old age, or fall a prey to wolves, panthers, tigers, and other useless animals, when they might be so easily secured and made to answer a bet- ter end. Huntsman, why not come here and send a bullet to the hearts of these old bucks, and make soft and beautiful leather of their skins, and send it to your cold countrymen to clothe their hands, in the shape of mittens and gloves ; with which to make soft shoes for the old and feeble, and whip-lashes for the drover, or note-layers for musical instruments, and a thousand other purposes? Why not come here and secure millions of these geese and ducks, and send their feathers to your cold countrymen, to make warm nests for their shivering maidens, in which they may sleep comfortably, when the cold frosty winds whistle around their chambers ? Come and send home the snow-white, downy skins of the swan, to comfort the cheery cheeked daughters of icy lands: come and de- coy our animals of fur, and make use of this great waste of everything. The different towns of the whole country require more or less hay and wood, and the grass upon the prairies is free to any one who has a mind to cut and make hay of it, — and who knows how to swing the scythe and manage the mowing machine? Many a little load of prairie hay have I seen sold for ten and liftoen dollars; and many a tun of northern hay have 1 known to sell here, in our sea-port towns, for forty dollars; while the interior of the country is covered m With musquete grass, wliich makes the best of hay, and all around these coast- towns there is heavy sedge grass that will do very well, and is now taking the place of nortiieru hay. Mowing machines are being brought on, and quite extensively used. Farmers and stock -growers save more or less hay for -the working stock that they wish to keep up and handy by. Tliey give employment to these machines. Al- though a pasture of musquete or bermuda grass, near at hand, would obviate this necessity, yet men are slow to cultivate grasses in a country that has always yielded abundantly and does now, except immediately around extensive ranches and farms that have been occupied for a long time, where the grass is eat out. There is an immense amount of freighting done in the country by ox, mule, and horse teams. Many a rugged man gets his start at the stock business by freighting goods into the interior. It is not unusual here to see as many as twenty heavy-loaded wagons, in a string, drawn by from four to six yoke of oxen each. Mexican horse and mule teams are considera- bly used, but more by the Germans than other people. The government freight business is very large in west- ern Texas. Heretofore the government has done its own freighting from the coast into the interior, but recently this business, in the lower country, is con- tracted out, and the contractors employ Mexicans or re-let their contracts, in parts, to those who own a large number of Mexican carts and oxen, which are driven by Mexicans. It is not unusual to see a string ot thirty or forty Mexican carts, all loaded for the interior, with government stores and supplies. The oxen are yoked by the horns. These Mexican ox yokes are nearly. a straight stick, grooved a little to fit the head, just back of the horns, and snugly lashed to them with raw- hide straps. It seems rather cruel to men of the THE PLACE TO LIVK. lOf older states to see these animals work in this way ; but the weight they pull, the distance they travel, and the amount they will endure in this pediliar yoke, is astonishing to all. It is nevertheless a wicked way to use oxen, as holding the head in one position t'ur many hours at a time, is evidently very painful, and the appearance of the ox is always that of great suf- fering. Mexicans are becoming a little Americanized in this respect, and are adopting, more or less, the American way of working oxen. It takes some little capital to get at the freighting business; but' a man of good character can generally get together a few oxen and a wagon on time, and get at the business with but very little money. There is always more or less job work, of man}^ kinds, to be done in the towns 6f the country, such as street-making artd repairing, garden-making, building fences, and getting material out of the timbers for fencing, break- ing up prairie lands, furnishing the towns with veg- etables, butter and milk, poultry and eggs, game, oysters, tish, etc. The gathering of moss, v(^ith which the forests of portions of western Texas are loaded, and which is used to a vast extent as a substitute for hair by the upholsterer and manufacturers of innumer- able useful articles of furniture, etc., can be done by any one. This moss is prepared for sale and use by rotting and washing of the covering of its tiber, which resembles much in appearance and answers to a great extent the same purpose as the hair from the tails and manes of horses, etc. The rotting is done by buryiii,;- it in the ground for a length of time. It is then taken up and washed, picked, pulled, and cleaned, until lit for use. Thousands of people buy moss, in the shape of mattresses, lounges, etc., who do not know what they are buying, as it answers the purpose very well, and is often sold for hair. 198 WESTERN TEXAS; OK, The gathering of pecans in western Texas, during the fall and winter seasons, often pays the poor man handsomely. , Men with their families, children and all, turn out and gather hundreds of bushels, for which they get from two to four dollars per bushel. Many a poor man and family have got their start in this way in Texas, aad become wealthy stock-growers and farmers. I have before stated that the forests of this country are tangled with grape-vines, which yield abundantly of juicy fruit. There are those here who are turning these grapes into money, in the way of wine and brandies, any amount of which can- be made, and the grapes are free to all. There is to be any amount of hedging done in west- ern Texas. Unsuccessful attempts have been made at hedging, or, rather, those who have contracted for the growing of hedges have abandoned their work and left it for others to complete. The reason of this, I sup- pose, has principally been the want of a knowledge of our climate and the soil, which would undoubtedly have enabled the contractors to complete their con- tracts, as those who have continued the work, 1 hear, have made out first rate for themselves and have suc- ceeded to the satisfaction of the planters and stock- growers for whom the hedging is done. Of course, tliQ Osage orange is principally used, and is no doubt the best plant in America for this purpose. There are land-holders, stock-growers and planters in west- ern Texas who would, no doubt, rather build their own hedges than contract for the rearing of them, provided they could save anything by so doing — which, prob- abl}', they could by employing men who understand the business. There are men in the northern and western states who could find employment here at this business, and I presume there are those who could THE PLAGE TO LIVE. 199 make money at the setting an4 rearing of iiedges un- til a year or two old, or until a complete stand is in- sured and sufficiently grown to be given over to less- experienced hands to work and manage. Scores of men in this country have attempted to make fences of this kind, and have failed for the want of expe- rienced help and management. That fine hedges can be made here, is a certainty ; for I have seen here and there through the country, shoi't pieces of fence of this kind that was as good as need be for any purpose. In fact, I have seen short pieces of hedge-row that grew up and came to a good fence in the open prairie, with- out any attention after being set, and poorly cultivated and trimmed only two seasons, and then left for thou- sands of cattle to tramp and interfere with, if they were so disposed, every day. And, again, I have seen good, w^ell-grown hedge-fence from other kinds of plants in this country ; but 1 am sure the Osage, with good management, is much superior to anything that can be used in the country for the purpose of hedging. Young men who understand the setting, pruning, and correct management of hedges, could go to Texas and soon accumulate enough to start the stock business. The producing of honey can nowhere be made more profitable than in western Texas, from the fact that bees can work almost the whole year, and that the prairies and forests are covered in such profusion with ilowcrs and blossoms, and the different material from which they extract their honey. They are not liable to freeze here, and are perfectly secure from all the dangers and difficulties of winter in colder countries. It is said that bees do not do so well here when kept in the open prairies as when kept near the bottums along the rivers, or in the prairie forests, whore the winds do not interfere with their flight to and from thei/ honey flowers, or the material from wliicli they 200 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, extract the sweet. If Uiose men whom I have known at this business in other parts, were here, taking one half their accustomed pains at the business, they could soon make money enough to enter largely into the stock business. The poor man, without a dollar, can secure bees from the forests and till as many hives as he pleases; and a person with a little spare means could build those shelved bee-houses which have long since proved so fine and profitable, and which pre- vent the trouble and losses* from swarming. The writer is himself a poor man, and, as few as his virtues may be, he can say that he has been good to the poor man ; and when I tell him that I have been in all the grand divisions of the globe but one, and have seen much of the world, and that western Texas is the finest and most promising country of any I have seen for the poor man, I am not trying to deceive him. When I tell him of a country where a few square yards of strong cloth will make him a house tliat will do him until he can make something to enable him to erect a better one; of a country where he can pasture his cow, his sheep, his horse, his hogs, etc., all for nothing; where snow never comes; where the soil never freezes ; where the man who has the least bit of money-making tact is almost sure to get rich, or become independent; in short, of a country where he can live and ask but little or no odds of those who gripe their money; where he can shoulder his gun and go forth with a certainty of returning with meat for his family; where the lustrous rays of the sun, moon and stars are cheering to his heart, and afibrd him a greater delight than do the cart-wheel dollars give to the sordid and miserly man; where he can contemplate the bounties and beauties of nature with enjoyment, regardless of the dazzle and grandeur of fashionable life and empty show; and where, as I havr THE l-LAOK TO LIVE. 201 before said a man can be a man— not a dog ; I say, when I tell the poor man all this, and that this is the pkce to live, I know he will not think that I am try- f,^ to deceive him. Wlien 1 tell •>'- that I have swnng the ax, the cradle, the scythe, the fork, the hoe the spade, and have stood by the plow, and have toiled in the field year after year ; have chpped the fleece from thousands of the wooly tribe, and have done al- most evervthing that the laboring man does in nortu- "n coSies-"he ^«l admit that I ought to know what is good for the poor man ; that I ought to be a competent iudge of a country's advantages and snit- ableness for him"; that 1 ought to ieel an interest in his well-being, since I have realized and ^now so well his task-since 1 have realized and know so well the stiflened joints that sometimes almost refuse to move when he rises at the break of day to return to the field to work on and lend his mite in the production of tha which clothes and feeds the rich, which warms and nonriehes the sick, and showers such blessedness upon man. ' Yes, be will admit that 1 ought to know all this, and undoubtedly do know it, and am telling the truth So, farewell poor man ! with these and a thousand other things I might toll yon, until I meet you in western Texas. But you may say hold, ioi a moment, and tell us why you are so poor, alter being so long in this fine country, where you say it is so easy to become rich. This yon have a right to ask, and it is my duty to answer you, which I can do in a few words. The writer happens to be one ot those whose disposition it was to climb lortnnes ladder by skiiiping too many rounds for the purpose ot going too rapidly "up, and, 'consequently, losing his I'oW, came prostrate to the ground. And when coming to Texas, Lfter trying his fortune in different parts ot the world, instead of improving little advantages that lay beloro 202 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, him, instead of buying a few cattle, a small flock of sheep, or something of tlie kind, and going gradually but surely up, he misplaced his confidence and under- took again to climb the quick way to a fortune, and this time the ladder, whose ascent he would iiave hand- somely made, proved deceitful and rotten. My read- ers may not all understand this, but there are, perhaps, a few who will, and that will answer the purpose. When arriving in Texas the poor man should not be discouraged, and suffer himself^ think that there is nothing here that he can do. He must remember that he is from the same country where old Texans came Irom, and he must pitch in at the best thing that of- fers. Let Texans know that he is neither ''pepper nor salt," ''sponge-cake or dough," but rough-and-ready for the work of the country. Pitch in at any price, for awhile, and let 'em know what you are good for, and you will soon be all right. • t TEACHERS VS. SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, ItflNISTERS, ETC. Common school teaching, in western Texas, is that to which I would call the attention of the poor man of education. The recent census of Texas shows a pop- ulation of nearly half a million of people. Conse- quently the pupilage of the state is large and rapidly increasing, which makes it an inviting country to the teaclier — a broad, expanding field for this fraternity. The school teacher can here put his earnings into stock, and have it attended to as well as though he gave it his personal attention ; and during vacation he can ride among it and satisfy himself in regard to the business and management of his cattle, sheep, or wiiatever kind of stock he may have his money in- vested in. By laying out his surplus money in this way, he would soon have an income from his cattle that would equal his salary for teaching, and before THE I'LACE TO LIVE. 203 iflany years, with prudent management, he could take up his abode in some good grass region, with his hun- dreds, and possibly thousands of cattle around him. I can imagine nothing more encouraging to the pa- tient and perplexed school teacher, than to have an opportunity of investing his little surplus or savings in a way that it shall be rapidly compounding, or in a way to get the free use of a great natural pasture, upon which the increase of his stock will carry him on to wealth. Let me ask the district teacher how he would like to have his brand upon cattle that are grazing on the commons, and all about him, the keeping of which might not cost him a cent, and the marking and brand- ing of the increase of which he oould pay for by the head, or give a portion of it for the branding, etc. — among which he might ride at leisure times upon his pony that might always be close by, staked out, or hoppled upon grass near the school-house. All this the teacher realizes in this country, and the stock-boys are glad to see him start his fortune and reap the ben-, cfits of the yielding earth in common with them. If is not unusual here to see a half-dozen or more horses staked upon grass near the school-house ; and what is more encouraging and satisfactory to the friends of ed- ucation than to see those horses, coming from the out- skirts of the district, loaded down with healthy and happy children, on the way to school. If the teacher prefers it, his investment might be in a flock of sheep, or a herd of mares, to be kept by some one not far from his place of teaching.' In sev- eral instances I have known this course to be pursued by teachers, who would at times ride with the stock- boys, help drive and brand, and become acquainted with the business. And I presume, should I make a little inquiry, I could find out many here with fine 204 properties who, in the commencement, pursued this same course. It is not long since I knew two young men, brothers, to purchase five hundred head of cattle, paying a por- tion down and depending upon their salary as teachers and the few beeves they might have the next year to pay their notes for the balance. Of course there are many high schools in Texas, good teachers of which are appreciated and well re- warded, and there is a disposition in the south to depend more upon itself for the education of its children. They prefer having schools near home rather than be compelled to send their sons and daughters north for an education. There reasons for this are many and sound, and this determination w^Il be the origin of many private common and high schools and colleges whidi, of course, will multiply the demand for teachers of all kinds. Teachers of music can nowhere do bet- ter than here. Ornamental education of the different kinds is sought and well paid for in this country. The school fund of Texas is very large, and there »is always a great surplus for educational purposes iu the treasury of the state. Our system of schools is very popular, and we boast of affording superior means of education to the many. In fact, our school system is claimed to be a model after, and an improve- ment upon, the school systems of the older states. This, I suppose, arises from there being people in Texas from all the different. states of the Union, and the manifest disposition to introduce here anything that is good from any of the older states. The voice of New England is heard in Texas. It is needless to say that the churches and religious societies in Texas exercise a powerful influence upon the morals of the country and lead many into the holy bonds of the Christian religion. Churches and places THE PLACE TO LIVE. 305 of worship are quite niiineroiis uiid rapidl}" increasina:, :md our clergj arc proud of their country and hxbor devoutly and with zeal in their cause. Our benevo- lent societies and institutions speak well for the hearts of our people. It is not unusual to see the brand and mark of our ministers upon the cattle of our prairies, and many of them have fine stocks of different kind of animals which have frequently accumulated from little begin- ings. The generous stock-boy sometimes by way of compliment and as a commendable act, puts his minis- ter's mark and brand upon one of his heifer calves. Of course all would look out for the minister's cattle ; and, as he is so generously remembered, his stock i» ever on the increase, and as a natural consequence becomes large and valuable^ the proceeds of which afford hinx an easy support for his family and enables him to educate his children as he would wish to at home or abroad. One minister I know who is not only the shepherd of his flock in church, but the shepherd of his flock on tlie prairie — a beautiful flock of the woolly tribe. Often when working with a crowd of stock- boys I have known some one or more of them to brand all the motherless calves they might find on the prairie, and now and then a yearling that had left its mother, to some little orphan girl or boy. I have nowhere mentioned that when a stock of cat- tle is neglected, and the calves get to be yearlings and leave their mothers before being branded, they are liable to be taken up and branded by any stock -grower who may find the;n. This is perfectly right and will make stock-growers look after ttieir business in time. KINDS OF LABOR IN DEMAND. From the beginning of this work it has been the writer's intention to note down every description of 18 206 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, labor for which there is a demand in western Texas, also all the different vocations and branches of busi- ness in which men are engaged, but the want of space and time and the writer's neglect to make a memo- randum of his observations, from time to time, upon these points renders it quite impossible for him to do so. As a general thing the different branches of bus- iness of a country indicate the kinds of labor wanted, and by reading this work the laborer of any kind would be pretty well qualified to judge for himself whether western Texas is the place for him or not, even though I should say nothing more upon the sub- ject. I will, however, after adding' several branches of business to those already mentioned, put down sev- eral kinds of labor for which it occurs to me there is a good demand in western Texas : Lumber-men with portable sawmills could nowhere do better than in the timbered sections of the country ; good hotels and boarding houses do remarkably well here ; good thorough farming, independent of the stock business, pays exceedingly well — half-way ioose farming does not pay, for in this case thrifty weeds are sure to take the field. The livery business nowhere does better than in Texas — the prairie grass is free to the livery- man, which he can have merely for the price of cutting and drawing to his stable. The sale of northern wagons and carriages of all kinds is very extensive. It is enough to say that the pursuits of the towns gen- erally of any civilized country, such as butchering, draying, blacksmithing and general mechanical busi- ness, pay well here. Laboring men about our coast- towns and wharfs, generally, get good pay for their services. Stage-drivers get from $20 to $50 per month, and many of them soon get into the stock- business or become speculators in horses, mules, etc. Horse, mule and ox-teamsters get from $20 to $35 per THE PLACE TO LIVE. 207 ihonth, and can accumulate by being economical and investing their savings in stock of some kind. Stock- drivers get from $20 to $40 per month, and soon be- gin to accumulate property in the way of stock, etc. Beef-buyers and drivers get from $40 to $125 per month, and with economy and good management can soon get rich. Northern and European sheepherders or sliephards get from $15 to $30 per month, and can get ahead by putting their savings in sheep. Sheep- sliearers get from four to six cents per head for shearing. Managers of large flocks of sheep get from $30 to $50 per month, and- can get rich by investing their surplus means in sheep. Plantation overseers get from $300 to $1,000 per year, and many of them work their way up in the world. Clerks in mercan- tile and other establishments get from $250 to $2,500 per year. Laborers at general farming get from $15 to $25 per month. Ditching is done by the rod and pays the laborer well. There is a great want of ser- vant girls in western Texas, and any number of good servant girls could get good situations at fine prices. In conclusion, thousands of apt and handy me- chanical and general laborers could find enough to do in Texas and would find it profitable to go there. Although railroads have progressed rather slowly thus far in western Texas, they are sure to be built and thread our country in all directions, and this will create a renewed demand for labor of all kinds. The constant emigration of wealthy and enterprising peo- ple is sure to bring about the extensive construction of railroads, which will open a wide field for all kfnds of business and labor. It is thought by many intelli- gent men that a railroad reaching the Pacific will some day have an eastern terminus on the gulf coast of Texas. It would seem that such might be the case. Indians, snakes, poisonous insects and m^isquitos 208 . WESTERN TEXAS; OR, are supposed by some in the north to be the great phigaes of Texas. Along the bordering settlements of Texas, at times, Indians are troublesome. But new settlers seldom go where they would be likely to be disturbed by them. In all the writer's travels, for years, in western Texas he has never seen an Indian here unless it was one who passed for a Mexican. The opinion abroad in regard to Indians is entirely wrong. Tiiey are only troublesome at those points where new-comers would not be likely to settle. Snakes and poisonous insects are quite plentiful in parts of western Texas ; but where cattle and hogs or stock of any kind are kept they soon disappear. Hogs devour them, stock-boys shoot them and they give way to civilization . During the writer's six years residence and travels in western Texas he has never known a single individual bitten by a snake or a poisonous insect. That they do bite and that some of them are deadly poisonous, without ready relief, I suppose is certain. But men are so seldom bitten by them, and they so seldom die when bitten, that I can see no good reason why there should be so much noise made about them. The people of Texas think no more of snakes and insects and give themselves no more uneasiness about them than do the people of other countries. I suppose the awful reports sent abroad from Texas about them are from new-comers, and women princi- pally, wlio no doubt have a perfect horror for and loathe the snake or poisonous insect, as they picture them by accident under their hoops or in some way in their imaginations over and around their heads. Musquitos along the coast of Texas and as far back as the level country extends, are at times quite plenti- ful and to new-comers somewhat annoying. But they too give way to civilization ; as the country is settled and is trampled by stock they diminish in number. TIIK PLACE TO LIVE. 209 The settler who locates upon an elevated dry sppt, at a reasonable distance from ponds of water or a dense forest, need never be troubled with musquitos about his dwelling or anywhere within its vicinity, if he has stock around him to eat down the grass and tramp the soil. HARD. TIMES AND MONEY MATTERS. ' It is an interesting fact, that what is known in other states as hard times, is never known in Texas. To be sure, men get cramped in business, but it is from their own bad management, or some local cause, and not from a general stagnation in the business of the coun- try. Although Texas imports largely of those articles that she will eventually export, which mu&t neces- sarially act as a drain upon the country, yet money seems always to be plenty, and business uniformly active. I might give some of the reasons for this, but it is enough that it is so. TEXAS ALMANAC. Persons wishing to know more of western Texas than this work affords them, can, by addressing Mr. Richardson, of the Galveston JVews^ Galveston, Texas, obtain an annual, statistical, and general history of the state, called the ''Texas Almanac," together with a cheap map of the state. This almanac gives a description of every county in the state, stating its agricultural capacity, and price of lands, the amount, price, and kind of stock raised in each county; the condition of schools, churches, railroads; and, in fact, a large amount of useful infor- mation pertaining to the state and its prospects. For general and correct information in regard to Texas, no one could do better than send for the Texas Almanac, which is issued at the beginning of every year, and 210 should be in the hands of every one who thinks of going to Texas, or wants reliable information in re- gard to it. '^\' WHO AND HOW TO GO TO WESTERN TEXAS. To make a comfortable and respectable home in western Texas, there is nothing like as much required as in the north. A hundred and one things are used, ip doors and out at the north, that are not really needed here. Therefore, whoever starts out fur tliis part of the world, with a family, should tajie sucli, only, of their household things, farming utensils, — bulkly, heavy, and cumbersome ai*ticles, — as they may think will be really necessary here. It does not pay to move old, worn-out furniture, hardware, and the like, so far. So I would say to' those who go to Texas — reduce your stock of movables as reasonably low as you can, and depend upon buying in Texas, wliQu you find what you really need here. I do not mean by this that you should leave all your woolens and warm clothes behind, or your nice, nearly new cook-stove, or your favorite bureau and mirror; but simply that you should not take such trashy, half worn-out stuff as is not worth moving. Get what you c^n Ibr such things as you will, not need in Texas, bring it in your pocket, and invest it in stock and lands here. There are a plenty of families in the north who Have enough about them that they would not need in Texas, which, if sold, would buy cattle, mares, sheep, and stock enough of some kind here to give a person a respectable and encouraging start in the w^orld. There are thousands of families in the north whose circumstances are embarrassed, and who are constantly pushed to get along, whose movable property, in and about their houses alone, including silver, China ware, etc., over and above what would THE PLACE TO LIVE. 211 bo needed in Texas, if turned into casli, would buy in this country a beautiful flock of sheep, a fine tract of land, and erect a comfortable dwelling upon it. Think of the change, you who feel pressed and poor^ yet with enough around you, more than you need, which, if turned into money, would make you rich, in the most delightful climate and beautiful country. How many fathers there are, who, if they knew how far their little properties would go in Texas, would sell out and find their way here immediately: how many there are who will tug along the path of life, and leave their children but little or nothing, while others will go to western Texas, invest the little they have and live out an easy decline of years, and leave all their children a fine property. Could the sons and daughters of many a family in those cold and snowy regions, only know how they would be de- lighted here upon the evergreen sod of Texas, and how wealthy they might get here, they would give the father no peace until he should "pull up stakes" and sUrt for the Lone Star land. 1 said this was a good country for the man who would retrench, or who is unable to keep pace with the prodigality of the times where he may be living^; Are you the man whose property is groaning undS* the extravagance of empty show, and whose course must be changed in order to avoid the unreasonable demands of inexorable and unfeeling fashion, and its ultimate disastrous efi'ects? To be plain, are yoti the man who must get away from where you are, in order to curtail your.expenses and place your sinking means in some country where they will afibrd yoH a better income, and enable you to meet the necca^ities and requirements of a large and growing fjuuily, witliout being constantly harassed by creditors, with the pros- pect of finally surrendering your all in keeping up ap- 212 WESTERN TEXAS : OR * pearances in the circle in which your family is movinor? If 80, sell ont, settle np, get ready as best you can, and come to western Texas. You can here provi(ie yourself with the best of lands, for a trifling amount, and build you a spacious and comfortable house, and all necessary improvements, with but a small outlay of money, and be as free from the follies and whims of fashionable life as you please; and yet you need not be entirely secluded and shut out from good bi» ciety, unless in your selection of a home you preter so to be. By looking through this country, any one who is in pursuit of a home, whether a professional man, merchant, or mechanic, can find the place that would suit him, unless he might* be more nice than wise, and look for that which no new country ever affords. The farmer or stock-grower can find a section that is good for the raising of cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs, with- out his producing, if he prefers not, anything for them to eat, — a section that is good for raising wheat, corn, and almost every vegetable that grows, various de- licious fruits, which need not be far away from a good school. But on account of schools, society, religious and other matters to which I shall now devote a lew j* \ P^ges, I shall advise a way of corai^g and settling in Western Texas that 1 believe will make the foreigner overjoyed with the country, and result most gloriously for himself and posterity. There is one thing about settling in new countries to which I would call the particular attention of the emigrant, and that is the mistaken idea that friends are to be found in distant lands to fill the place of those of early life. I care not how beautiful the coun- try, or what advantages it may offer to the settler, or what kind of people and society he may there find, he will not be as well satisfied with and as well contented in such country, by leaving all his relatives and friends THE PLACE TO LIVE. 213 of early life behind, as he would be if more or less of such friends or relatives were settlers with him. A person may start out and travel over the world alone, and not feel his separation from youthful friends so nmch when he carries with him the idea of some day returning to mingle again with those to whom he became attached in early life, memories of whom he cherishes in connection with thoughts and comings of the future. But when he goes alone, or even with his family, to settle down in some new country, among strangers entirely, he is too apt to feel a loss of that which he can in no way make up. Time may roll on, and years may go by, and he may return to the home of his birth, which, although he loves, he would not exchange for that of his adoption, yet he asks, where are the friends of my early days, with whom I used to caper and play ? where the cheerful and intelligent girls, in whose company I once loved to be? where the good old people of my neighborhood ? where the friends of my youth, those friends of my happy days, such as I have never since found, the loss of whom has left a vacancy in my heart, a dreaminess in my life? How often has the settler exclaimed, O for one good old-fashioned neighbor and friend ! Therefore, I would not ask a person to leave behind that cluster of endearments that have forever entwined around his heart, and all his relatives and friends of old, to take up an abode in a distant country among strangers. Paradise itself, with all its enchantments, could not withstand the encroachments of feelings occasioned by the thoughts of leaving all the friends of early life, to accept an abode even in her most favored spot. Judging the feelings of others in this respect by my own, I am always glad to see parties of emigrants linked together not only by feelings of interest in and dependence upon each other, but by feelings, if possi- 19 31^ WESTERN TEXAS; OK, ble, of solid friendship and kindred love. Such kind of emigration is worth while. But to hear a person relate that he has left everything that was dear to liim, friends, relatives, and all, perhaps across the wide deep, or thousands of miles away, it makes me sad, although he may have come to this line country, where his prospects may be ever so good, yet it is sad to hear his tale of loneliness. A person of talent or shining abilities, of property in abundance, or one who is gifted in the way of getting into society, and can always make himself agreeable to others, or, in other words, ofte who can adapt himself to circumstances, might not feel the fopce of these remarks, as would those who are without these qualifications. As a gen- eral thing, the lonely emigrant or family, who settles in a distant country, among strangers, forever mourn their complete separation from relatives and friends of early life. There is something of still greater importance that the lonely emigrant is too apWto feel the want of, — that is a way to educate his children properly, and give them the advantages of moral and religious ex- amples and instruction. Strangers in new countries, and in Texas particularly, do not seem inclined to set- tle near each other, but very often locate as far apart as possible, for the purpose of gratifying their avarice, and having a vast range for their stock, where, per- haps, one spear of grass in a million is not consumed by their cattle. But relatives, friends, old acquaint- ances, and even those who go from the same section of any country to a new one, are apt to settle with a view to neighborhood schools, society, religious ad- vantages, and many other inestimable interests. And it is well known that when people settle in this way, those feelings that have so long existed between them become strengthened, and they learn to regard each THE PLACE TO LIVK. Sl5 Other as brothers, and their intimacy is a source of such happiness to them as they could not have at- tained by settling separately and among strangers. I would not be understood that the thousands of men and families who go alone into a new country, are never happy and contented ; but that when they do so, they go without a peculiar source of happiness, for which they may ever after look in vain. 1 know the world is full of reputation, wealth, and steadfast friend- ship, that took root among strangers, in strange lands, yet who knows of the sadness occasioned by the thoughts of this separation from every one, and all, that was once dear to the possessors? who knows wliat it has co^t them to do without a single friend of old? I have noticed that settling among strangers is apt to create an indifference in regard to the education of children. Parents are too apt to say that "My chil- dren are not going to such a school, among strangers, and with such and such children. 1 will wait for a better opportunity." And from the simple fact of being among strangers, thousands of children are neglected during that period of their lives when all possible at- tention should be given to their improvement. For th«se and many other reasons the writer is strongly in favor of party or company emigration and neighborhood settlements. Certain it is that when people of like peculiarities of society and life go to a new country, and take up near to each other, they are better qualified to appreciate and understand the ex- cellencies of such country than would be the lonely emigrant, whose mind from the nature of things would be more or less occupied with that which renders, as it were, daylight in appearance too much like dark. Therefore come not alone but bring with you more or less of your old friends and western 216 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, Texas will prove to you as near to that paradise of poetic and Bible renown as would any country in the wide world. Come in a way that memories of the past and cherished things of yore will not weaken your judgment and ability to appreciate your present surroundings. Bring the spirit with the body and you can then understand, ^ • THE BEAUTIES OF OUR LAND. I do not mean to say that new countries should be filled up by people all from the same country, but that a few intimate friends or families, or people from the same sections, of the same conditions of life, would be happier settled near to each other than among strangers in a new country. I said that people in Texas are inclined to settle away from each other. This is the case to a great extent with the stock- growers of western Texas, and the reason for their so doing, aside from their separation from their friends of old and their forgetfulness of duty and disinclination to society, is that their minds are so glutted with the superabundance of the country that they are con- stantly gathering up their cattle from among other peoples' stock, where perhaps the tops of the grass are onlyl eaten off, but not one hundredth part of it con- sumed, and pushing them far out upon ranges where nothing but the Indian, wild horse, deer and the like have for past ages made any pretension to possession or consumption of the inexhaustible production, where they can have it all to themselves and as little as pos- sible to do, and too often smother their duty to their children, society, and almost everything that belongs to man, but property and money, or idleness and ease. To be sure, they get upon their horses and go several trips a year, for the purpose of branding their in- crease, amounting in all, perhaps to three or four THE PLACE TO J.lWl. 217 mouths' work, such as it is, and the balance of the year is too often most wofully squandered or unprofit- ably passed away. 1 would not have the reader understand that these remarks set forth the habits and condition of all fetock- growing communities in western Texas, but that there is too great a disposition among ouf stock-growers to settle far away from each other, which deprives them of the advantages of schools and society, the cause of which, to a great extent, is the want of intimate acquaintance, earl 3^ attachments, and like peculiarities of life and raising. There are a plenty of stock-growers in western Texas, living some distance from a neighborhood or school, who mount their children upon horses and they gallop away to school ; but some are too indiflerent in regard to schooling for this, and others live" too far away to send their children to school. Many send their chil- dren to towns to board and attend school, or to a boarding-school; but this occurs too often after their younger days are neglected. Now I will suggest a way of emigrating to western Texas, that would result most gloriously to the settler and his posterity; and I can see no reason why it should not be practicable. If I were a resident of an old, densely-populated country, where perhaps I could find nothing profitable for me to do, and should take it into my head to go to western Texas, and should be pleased with it, and prefer to make it my home, what objection could there be to my returning and interest- ing with me, if possible, a half dozen or more of my former friends, for the purpose of settling in that fine country, in a way to be satisfied and contented ? and for our convenience and benefit, what could be more becoming than to interest with us several mechanics of different kinds, say a blacksmith, shoemaker, tin- 218 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, ner, gunsmith, wagon-maker, cooper, harness-maker, tailor, millwright, carpenter, and possibly other me- chanics; a merchant and pliysician, an attorney, a good schoolmaster, a printer, and a minister of the Gospel, and as many of the laboring class as the com- pany might see fit to induce to join them ? And after getting together ftnd appointing the right kind of pru- dent managers, should there be found a want of funds to enable the enterprise to go forward, how would it do for the managers of such company to communicate to some gentleman of ability, ''that a number of re- spectable citizens and families [of whatever place it might b^ have determined to go in a company to western Texas for the purpose of settling there as farmers, stock-growers, mechanics, merchants, etc., to improve the country and be useful to themselves and mankind, that there are poor people in the com- pany, and that it is in want of means to enable it to go all together, and settle down in a way to get along and be satisfied as pioneers, and we as their managers are authorized and instructed to request you to ad- dress the people of on the subject of emigni' tion^ for the purpose of forwarding this work. Gould you make it convenient to interest, with, your influ- ence and talent, the people of in this subject, and let this company feel their obligation and grati- tude to you for having rendered the assistance they so much needed," etc.? Could not something of this kind be done, and col- lections taken up in this or a similar way, with per- fect propriety, to enable poor people to emigrate vvitli those who are better off"? Would not this be the way to advance the work of civilization; to carry light to benighted Mexico? Would it not be somewhat in imitation of the great Austins, the colonizers and fathers of Texas ? Were the noble Austins the last THE PLACE TO IJVK. 219 of old Connecticut's sons who will brave the dangers of the frontier and open up new fields of civilization, and call out the usefulness of men ? Would not a man of mind be proud to sound his voice in such a cause? would not his soul fill with eloquence when considering such a subject ? Would not the people of any community be eager to listen to an able speech and orator upon such an occasion? and would they mind a quarter or a small admittance to the hearing of such an address? Methinks I hear the voice of an Everett, eloquently discoursing upon the expanding importance of this great landi.^ carefully lifting the vail of the future, and prudently directing the emigrant upon his course. Methinks I hear the voice of a great and wise man commending this laudable scheme of emigration. Methinks I see a group of intelligent men earnestly considering the prospects of western Texas and mineral Mexico, and they decide to come and live in. these money-making and happy regions. The spirit of a Washington pervades our whole coun- try, and the same God that watched over the battles that won the liberties of America, is still watching over this expanding confederacy, and it is to be hoped will never a»bandon it to an unhappy fate. A very good way for poor people to get to Texas, is to get in with those who are taking stock there, either by land or water. Go along and help drive or attend to stock, and so work your way to the country. There are many going in this way. DIFFERENT ROUTES TO TEXAS. Those who go to Texas from the southern states, generally go by the way of New Orleans, and across the gulf of Mexico, or by lied river to Shreeveport, or some point on this river, where they leave it and cross the country by land, both of which routes to Texas arc 220 WESTKRN TKXAS; OR, much traveled. There are different routes for those who go from the north, east, and west. There is i\ regular line of packets running between Boston and Galveston, which affords a quick, comfortable, and reasonable passage. There is also a good line of packet ships from New York to Galveston, and there is regular steamship communication between Galves- ton and the ports of western Texas, Indianola or La- vacca, and Brazos -Santiago. There is also a i-egular line of the smaller class of ships running l)etween New York, Indianola, and Lavacca, western Texas. There are also schooner* running from Boston and New York, and vessels from Philadelphia to Galves- ton and western Texas. There is a quick stcamsliip and railroad route between New York^ and New Or- leans. Many northern people take this route to Texas, and some take what is called the southern route, by way of Washington, on to New Orleans, and across the gulf. The last two routes are principally for pas- sengers, and not so much for freight and luggage. Otlltrs go the western route, and down the Misr^issippi river, either to New Orleans or the mouth of Red river, and thence on as above stated. The price <»f passage from Cairo and St. Louis to New. Orleans, is from twelve to thirty dollars, according to circum- stances. The distance from Cairo to New Orleans is about a thousand miles. The price of passage across the gulf, by steamship, from New Orleans to Galves- ton, is invariably fifteen dollars, and twenty dollars to Powder Horn or Indianola, and I think about twenty- five dollars to Brazos-Santiago. There are two routes from New Orleans to the ports of Galveston and Indianola — the inside and the out- side route. The inside route takes you over about seventy miles of railroad, extending from New Or- leans to Bnrwix bay, thence by steamship across the THE PLACE TO UVR. ffSi ^ulf. The outside route is performed entirely by steamships, down the Mississippi river to its mouth, and thence across tlie gnlf. Some prefer one route, and some the other. The price of passage over either is the same. Th"ere is do change by the outside route, and the ships are larger than those of the inside route. The Burwix bay or inside route is several hours the quickest. It will not be long before the Burwix bay railroad will be extended on to Galveston and central Texas. Those w4io cross the Mississippi river at St. Louis, above or below, and go by land to Texas, I am unable to direct, further than to say that there are noted cross- ings at all the large rivers, and good routes are to be found, of which any one can learn anywhere along the Mississippi river. There are regular thorough- fares across Missouri, Arkansas, and the Indian terri- tory, to Texas, whicli are perfectly . safe, and along which animals get all the grazing they need, free of expense. There are many going these overland routes on through northern to western and southern Texas. People going these routes with wagon and horses, or oxen, can lay in and occasionally buy provision, camp out, and. travel very cheap. Sheep and all kinds of stock, I learn, are being largely driven across to Texas from the western states. The higher up the route the better it is considered for stock-driving, as grass is more plentiful, there is less timber, fewer settlements, and the crossings of rivers are more shallow and easily got over. The roads higher up the country are said to be better. Some, who drive cattle from Texas north, go entirely nround Missouri, by going through the Indian territory, Kansas, the corner of Nebraska, into Iowa, and so on. Some drovers cut across the upper or northern portion of Missouri. It is said that forty thousand sheep, on their way to 322 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, Texas, passed through a Bmall town last year (1859), oil one of these overland routes. Probably not less than a hundred thousand sheep will be taken into Texas, from difierent points north of Texas, this year (1860). Let them go: that is the* place for them. I see it is stated that two hundred and fitty tiiousand sheep were brought out of Mexico into Texas in 1859 ; but this must be a mistake. Many are the wool-growers who are now making their way to western Texas. The man who can make a raise of a pair of horses, or oxen, and wagon, and a small flock of sheep, had better join some friend, niix flocks, and find this way across the country to the sheep region of Texas, that is, if he would make a fortune at the business. The man of but little means could, if he chose, take his family in this way, and drive his sheep along with but a trifling additional expense. He could take in a wagon nearly all that a small family would require, at first, to keep house with in western Texas, or that portion of it where snow is seldom or never seen ; where cellars, filled with vegetables for the winter, are not required ; where houses, plastered and air-tight, are also not required ; where a little open shanty will do until a better one, or a good house, can be built. In going these overland routes to western Texas, a person may pass through the wheat region of the coun- try, and no doubt many would be pleased with northern Texas, and would settle down before reaching their destination. HOW TO FIND A LOCATION. When arriving in western Texas from across the gulf of Mexico or any point at sea, unless a person may have friends in the country and knows to what point in the interior he is going, the questions will THE PLACE TO LIVE. 223 naturally arise with him : '^ Wiiat shall I do ? Where shall I go to find a location ? How am I to satisfy myself in regard to this country ? And, possibly, he may ask what am I to do with my family that they may be comfortable and yet not bring a heavy expense upon me, while I am engaged in exploring the country to find what may seem to me a suitable loca- tion, for my business and my future abode, where I could make it profitable and should be satisfied to live? A family or a number of families arriving upon the coast of Texas in this way, to accomplish these ob- jects in a judicious and an economical manner should, if their intention is not to live upon the coast, go a little into the interior, where the unoccupied country is rolling and dry, where there is plenty of shade, wood and water, and after camping upon some pleas- ant stream, in a way to get along comfortably, with perhaps not more than one-fourth the expense of board- ing at a hotel. I say after accomplishing this in a judicious way, the gentlemen of the families or such of them as may be best qualified and are agreed upon lor the purpose, after securing good, substantial and gentle ponies, saddles and traveling equipage, coffee and cotfee-pots, tin -cups, sugar, dried meat, bacon, hard biscuit or flour, and possibly a Mexican who can talk your language to pack and lead your pack mule or horse, to look after camping fixtures generally, and do the cooking. I say again, after the first is accom- plished and the last secured, the gentlemen agreed upon, with a map of the state in their pockets and a jnemorandum of what has been learned at hand, should start out and give the country a good looking Those who intend wool growing as their business should, of course, go to the sheep raising sections, ex- jimine the ranges and different flocks of sheep, talk 224 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, with shepherds and proprietors, and be not afraid to push a little further on ; go up this creek, cross over and down that creek, make all necessary inquiry and when a good-looking unoccupied range is found, where lands are for sale, satisfy yourselves in regard to its suitableness for you — learn who has the title, for the owner may be a hundred miles away, learn as much of the title as possible, and be careful that you are not imposed upon by those who would not have you buy as well as those who might be anxious to sell. Con- tinue your work in this way until you have found the place you want, and then either buy, lease, contract or make arrangements for a home upon it according to circumstances as I have repeatedly directed. In looking out for ranges of any kind, whether for cattle, horses or sheep, a good hog-range will never come amiss. But if sheep-raising is the principal thing in view, do not surrender its claim to that of hogs* or anything else. If a range for all kinds of stock is desired, a small section of the range at least should be quite rolling and dry. This, of course, should be for the sheep. For horses the country must be moderately rolling, and if it is hilly and mountain- ous even they will do well. For cattle, or Texas cat- tle at least, it matters not so much. I believe the stock-growers of western Texas, who make the most money at the cattle business, have their stock upon ranges near to the coast. But I would say to those who take Durham stock or northehi cattle to Texas, not to attempt to keep them too near the coast on ac- count of occasional wet seasons and musquitos. Now, if the reader will carefully observe what I have said throughout this work, although some of it may seem of but little consequence, he will, if he set- tles in western Texas, be able to steer clear of many TBE PLACE TO LIVE. 225 bad bargains and blunders that he might otherwise make. There is one thing in regard to building spots in the lowlands of Texas to which I would call particular attention. When I speak of lowlands I do not wish to be understood as meaning wet or swampy lands, but the lands along the coast which are generally wide open prairies, much inclined to a level, but here and there slightly and sometimes considerably rolling, also, at greater or less distances, divided with streams and rivers, along which there is generally more or less timber. Now this section along the coast, which is an immense cattle range, has heretofore been consid- ered, its river bottoms excepted, the poorest portion of the state, unless we except also the desolate plain in the far west. But this is a mistake. These low- lauds will yet be found the most valuable in the state* I have no room to give my reasons why, but it is enough to say that they are rich, inexhaustibly rich, and are sure in time to be appreciated. What I am now at is this : When a person locates himself upon these coast-lands he should aim to secure a building spot that is somewhat sloping or rolling, and where if possible the sea-breeze can have a fair sweep — not behind a thicket of timber and underbrush, but an open spot where the water will readily run off. I do not mean by this a hill but a sloping or rolling spot. If these directions are observed and cistern- water used, after one or two year's occupation and ac- climation is experienced, sickness and musquitos will be strangers to your house and surroundings. This subject of finding a location in western Texas, if rightly treated, would be very lengthy; I will, there- fore, drop it with the few suggestions I have made and return to the camp of the families of those who went in pursuit of a place for a future home. 226 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, Around its fires are seated upon chairs, boxes, blocks or whatever may be at hand, mothers and daughters, little children, and perhaps fathers and young men. They sit in the open air and talk of their recent distant homes, the land of their birth, and of scenes in the past. Perhaps, ere the sun had sunk in the west, the daughters of this group had returned from a stroll up the creek or the valley below, from whence they brought the flowers of winter time. The young men have returned from a hunting excursion, through the grassy forests or over the great prairie in the east — they met the prowling wolf, and gave him chase, and their hearts beat quick as their steeds dashed away and drew close upon the canine's heel. The whelp, exhausted, fell to the ground, and the happy crowd with shouts of joy gathered about. Witli a sneaking look the . victim begged for mercy — but, alas, " thou art the curse of man and beast, and with convulsive jerk thou shalt stiffen and die as we batter your wicked head." Now, over the plain a herd of deer are seen, and like foolish boys they give them chase, and the deer outrun them in the race. They saw another herd and cautiously approaching brought some of its number to the ground. Thus while the talk goes on the sweet venison for supper is prepared and the merits of camping life are discussed. It is agreed that their change is a happy one, and that their new country is promising them a delightful future. Days and weeks go by and their camp begins to seem like a natural home — they feel that they are free from the restraints of artificial lite, and are likely to do as they please. Nature becomes more their study and life seems unbounded and free. Now those who went to explore the country in pursuit of a place for a set THE PLACE TO LIVE. 227 tleinent having returned, they soon strike camp and start off for the range of their future abode. Thus I will leave the party to make their settlement and shed its influence around, perhaps in the center of be- nighted Mexico. SLAVERY. Although I have seen a great deal of slavery as it exists in the south, I have not acquired that practical knowledge of it that I might have done. Much of my time in Texas has been spent with that class of peo- ple who have but; few and many of them no slaves at all, and in sections where slavery is not considered profit; able. But from the acquaintance I have with this institution, I should say let it alone. Were it left en- tirely alone, in the opinion of the writer, labor in the United States would find its true level. It is easy enough to talk about the evils of slavery, and to agi- tate with a view to its abolishment, and were there but a few thousand slaves in the country they could be set free and no great calamity would arise from it. But when men talk about setting the millions of ne- groes in the south free, it is time we are talking about ruining the south, and producing a great national ca- lamity. What could be done with the slaves if liber- ated ? Should they be left to work as free laborers in the south ? Let me say to those of this opinion that when in Africa, not long after the liberation of the slaves at Cape Colony, the writer put up at a hotel kept by an intelligent English lady who had a great deal of difficulty to get along with her house- hold aflairs in consequence of her slaves having been set free. 4 She said that since the slaves of the colony had been liberated, there was no dependence to be ])laced in them; that they were a nuisance, and would not S®8 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, work enough to keep from starving, and only at such times as they pleased. Sometimes the lady and her daughter would do the work of their large house, and again they could hire one of the liberated slaves and get along- very well until the hireling would get drunk, or take a notion to lounge in the street. I saw a plenty of idle ones in gangs of five, ten, fifteen, and twenty, all over town, and they were saucy and impudent enough. The lady told me that a farmer of her acquaintance, after giving up his slaves, attempted to hire them, and get along in this way. When his crop of oats was ripe, he went for his help, and found two of his men under an orange tree, with a jug of whisky. He made known his errand, and their answer was that they did not want to work ; but after long persuasion and extravagant ofiers, they finally agreed to come and cut the farmer's oats, after they had eaten all the oranges ofl' the tree, and drank up their jug of whisky. What an orange and whisky orchard it would make of the south in exchange for its most beautiful cotton fields, if her slaves were liberated and left free in the country. Now let us suppose that the slaves of the south were set free, and sent away to take care of themselves. My father once had a negro: they called him Jack. When sent out for a basket of chips, he would fall asleep while picking them up; when climbing a fence, he would sometimes get to the top, go to sleep and fall down. Jack wasn't profitable without a whip behind him, and he was n't niggers enough to pay for an overseer ; and for this reason he was either given away, or sent ofl' to shirk for himself.,j At all events, the story runs that lie went to riding horse on the canal — got asleep — fell in — and drowned, of course. Now, if the great mass of negroes in the south were THE PLACE TO LIVE. Bent to shirk for themselves, in any part of the world, would they not fall into the canal, or what would bo equally bad, get asleep while picking up their chips? If slavery can live in contact with freg labor, let it live, and peaceably too. Slaves are human beings ; why turn them upon the world to starve ? Go to the cotton and sugar fields of the south and look about you; ask yourselves where could these millions of negroes be so happy, and where so useful to mankind ? Then consider and treat things according to circum- stances, and think and talk of things that are practi- cable. RELAXATION OF ENERGY. I have somewhere said that the greatest objection to this country is the easy means of support that it af- fords to men, which has a tendency to beget habits of idleness. Some attribute the lazitiess of men in Texas to the peculiar effects of the climate upon the system; but I believe, and I ought to say, I know that such is not the case. The most thrifty and robust young men that I ever saw, were the anglo or white natives of Australia, and if ever there were lazier white men than the Australian stock-growers were, then I have not seen them in my travels. The health of Austra- lia is better than that of Texas, for one reason: — its nativfc! growth of vegetation is not equal to one third or fourth of that of Texas, and its trees shed a thin scale of their bark instead of a mass of leaves; con- sequently, there is no vast decay of vegetable matter as in Texas. Therefore, other things equal, the air of Australia must be purer than that of Texas, wlien first settled. But when the country around the settler, almost anywhere in western Texas, is relieved of its immense annual decay of vegetation, there is then, in the opinion of the writer, no real cause for relaxation of energy in the settler. Pure, wholesome air and 20 230 WESTERN TEXAS; OR, water, will never take away a person's energy, nor render him unfit to .labor in any country; neither will it make him lazy. But a country that will aflbrd a good living, and make a man rich, without his storing up but little for winter, neither for man nor beast, and is otherwise peculiarly easy for the occupant, would very naturally make him lazy ; and to excuse himself, it does very well to say that a white man can't work in this climate. The truth is, men can work in Texas as well as in any country, and I sincerely believe that most of the time it is the most delightful climate to labor in that I have ever known, unless a person suf- fers himself to think that he is in a country where there is not much labor required of him, and indulges himself too much in this way until, perhaps, he thinks he can't labor. I am well acquainted with foreigners here who labor the year through at the cultivation of the soil, and they tell me. that it is all nonsense to say that a man can't labor in Texas. That there is no necessity of his working so hard, is very true; but that he must for this reason become lazy and idle, is absurd. The industrious man who comes here from any country, can continue his industry as pleasantly and more profitably than in almost any other country. ENCOURAGEMENT TO HOME INDUSTRY. Texas has now under consideration a bill to en- courage the establishment of home manufactories within her limits. It is couched in the following terms : '^Be it enacted ty the Legislature of tJie State of Texas : That from and after the passage of this act, whenever any person or persons shall commence the construction of any manufacturing establishment, for the manufacture of silk, cotton, or woolen cloths, or for the purpose of manufacturing articles of use or ^E Tf.Acm TO IllVE. 21!^ 1 ornament of iron, eopijer, or silver, from the nativo ores or native metals, he or they shall be entitled to receive from the state of Texas ten sections of land, of 640 acres each, for every $10,000 invested in said manufacturing establishment or establishments, upon the terms and conditions hereinafter prescribed." At one dollar per acre, (should this bill become a law), there is offered $6,400 for every $10,000 in- vested in manufacturing of different kinds, upon cer- tain conditions. This certainly ought to encourage the emigration of foreign capitalists, and it seems tome that it might pay them to look into the matter and see whether it becomes a law or not, and what the conditions of this bill are. I am sorry to say that I have not got them at hand. They are no doubt favorable to the capi- talist, and as there is certain to be a strong and con- tinual emigration to Texas, those who accept this proposition from the state would be able to locate lands from which they could^no doubt realize one dol- lar per acre at least, before long. HOPELESSLY FALLEN. I have stated that the disturbance by Cortinas and his followers upon the Rio Grande, would be of short duration. I did not mean to say by this that our dif- ficulties with Mexico and her embittered factions were at an end, fori believe there never will be any perma- nent and lasting peace between that country and the United States, until she is in the hands of some other power, or becomes subject to our government in some way. I simply meant by saying that all would soon be quiet on the Rio Grande, that Cortinas and all out- laws in that quarter would be driven out of Texas, and that the state would take care of her own frontier in a way that people would be safe anywhere In the 232 WESTERN TEXAS; 0«, settled portions of its limits. Statesmen may dream and ponder, and they may exhaust ' tlieir skill in schemes of reconciliation ; treaties may be made and patched up, and confidence may be for a time -some- what restored ; bat all will be of no avail. Mexico's bright days, if ever she had any, are gone; her peace- ful sun hath sunk never to rise again. A brighter sun than she ever had must transform her into a dif- ferent sphere. • Seeing the recent accounts in regard to the content tions and hopeless condition of Mexico, I am induced to add a few lines to what I have already said upon the subject. I will now suppose that the Canadas on the north of the United States, instead of being pos- sessed as they are by a powerful and progressive i^eo- ple, were in the hands of a comparatively ignorant, weak, and retrograding people, with a tottering gov- ernment and the elements of self-destruction within it, and that this country, instead of being a snowy, freezing one, was one of a mild and pleasant climate, and of a broad musquete surface, covered with horses, mules, sheep, etc., abounding in the richest of mines of almost every mineral, and in consequence of this weakness and inability to take care of themselves, they are taken into the United States, or under her protection in some way, and their country opened to a reciprocity of trade with her people, as are the Canadas at present, and every body allowed to go into and trade as best they could, on an equal footing with any and all. I say, suppose that this might be the situa- tion of the Canadas, how long would it be before the Yankees on their borders or near to them would be among them and have all the trade of the country in their hands? and how long would it be before these rich cultivating and musquete lands, these cattle, horses, etc., would contribute to the wealth of these THK PLACE TO UVE. 233 Yankee merchants and epeculatorg? Happen what will, the people of Mexico are probably to remain in their country until their race shall have become ex- tinct or lose its identity, and they are to be consumers, and they are to labor in the cultivation of their more productive sections of country. And the Yankees, being superior merchants and tradesmen, farmers and speculators, to the Mexicans, should they settle in Mex- ico, — which they surely will,— would soon reap the profits of their trade, and make " ten strikes " at the purchase of their property and at the cultivation of their lands with the labor of the peons and otherwise, I may be considered a little too fast about this, but it seems to me to require but little penetration to see about where this Mexican people and country are going, provided the United States remain a unit and continue to flourish. There is broad daylight exam- ples before us to tell us how this thing will probably work, although it will take many ages to put Mexico where it would be a glorious thing, could she be to-day. CHANGE. There are no doubt many who would wonder that the lands of Texas are so cheap and so lavishingly bestowed upon capitalists, corporations, etc. There is so much of them that if, by giving a large portion of them away, capitalists could be induced to invest largely in manufacturing, and railroads could be ex- tensively constructed, the balance of her lands, would be wortn much more to the state than they all now are or ever would be without such encouragement. It is only from accident that Texas has so long es- caped the attention of the business and intelligent world. Had her superior adaptation to sheep and wool -growing been known, and could she have been 234 WESTERN TEXAS; OK, occupied by a diflerent people when Australia was found to be so well adapted to this business, there would no doubt now be at least thirty millions of sheep within her limits, and other stock and business in proportion, and many of the great chances now offering to the world in Texas would have been im- proved long ago. I will here state that the winter of 1859-60 has been the most severe one ever known in Texas, and the severity of this winter will no doubt be much talked of; but if such a winter is only known once in a long lifetime, and the stock upon our prairies gen- erally live through it without the least attention, and with but little loss, no one will be deterred from com- ing to Texas on account of such an unusual winter. The death of bare-bellied Mexican sheep should not deter people from coming to western Texas, as they will die in an unusual cold snap, where improved sheep and other stock would hardly feel the cold. This winter will no doubt induce many stock-grow- ers to cut a stock of hay to feed in case of emergency hereafter. It is well enough for stock-growers in any part of Texas to save a stack of prairie hay to feed any animals that stay immediately about home where the grass may be short, although it might not be needed except for oxen, milch cows, work horses, or something of the kind, one year in ten. In writing a book of this kind, there are many, no doubt, who would say nothing but nice things about the country of which they might be writing ; but I have considered the dark with the bright side of my subject, believing that no man of sense would expect to read of a new country that could be honestly con- sidered as without an objection. Men are raised dif- ferently, and are of different tastes, consequently no new country would be appreciated or would suit every THE PLACE TO LIVE. 235 body at first; but after living in western Texas a while, there are few who would leave it to live ' in any other country. In conclusion, I will say that I have tried to treat my subject fairly, and that I have no interest in de- ceiving people in regard to Texas, neither have I any disposition to do so. I have written simply because I believe western Texas, all things considered, is tlie most delightful country I ever knew, and that there are tens and hundreds of thousands of people who would be much happier here than where they are ; and furthermore, I believe a large emigration of the Anglo- Saxon or American race to this part of the world, would be of incalculable advantage to the country, particularly to the future of degraded Mexico. i WESTEM TEXAS, i THE AUSTRALIA OF AMERICA; THE PLACE TO LIVE. Must I remain forever here penniless and destitute ? Is there no ^^ spot upon this wide-spread earth whereon I could live and accumulate $§*- a little to be called my own ? . M^ BY A SIX YEARS' RESIDENT. r Sfc 6aC]XCI XNATI: FOR SALE BY E. MENDENIIALL, No. 10 Wkst Fifth Strekt. 1 S(50. ft mf m ■/ c m W w i .' «: « . cc <: CC c C c- ccc d CICC ■C(?^ c CCC CC(- C rf^f IB rf^ cc< CCC Co <: occ C c: crt < C^C crcc c c CC ^ c c Ofr ^ C c c c CC ^ c ^c C_c C c c C c C c ^ c