The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1854-05-13
CHE Craucllcr.
For The Cecil Wing
SKETCHES OF TEXAS;
NO. Nv.

After travelling all day over the vast and
almost boundlcss pralies which lie between
Whcclock, Robertson county, and the Trinity
river, it was pleasant to arrive at a spot
That town, the county seat, contains, per-
haps, a hundred inhabitants, and is situated
in the midst of a vast prairie.
For blackjack and prairie I reckon Texas
can beat the world Travelled from the
Trinity, through almost one interminablc
forest of black jack anda species Of timber
called post-oak, which is cousin German to
k,jack. 1t is a larger species of the black
jack, or stuntod oak, and can afford log for
a cabin, sometimes twelve or fourteen feet
long. There is some pine mixed with the
tcnsiyc forests Of pine about the Sabine, but
with some few exceptions like these, Texas
is most mistrahly tinbcrtd country.
Near the old San .tntonia road, which was
the one Travelled th,lS far through Texas. the
settlements are very thin cast of the Trinity,
but north and south Of the read the country is;
said to be well settled. The eastern portion
of the State is the oldest ard the most
thickly settled portion of the country.
No large prairios make theirapp,arancc on
this road until you draw near the Trinity riv-
er. While slowly vending my way through
what appeared an intcrminablc forest of bIack-
jack, in company with a travelling friend, and
specializing on the first impression the sight
of a prairie would have upon us, we assembled
a little hill, when 10 a prairie of five miles in
length, and a mile and half i'll width, broke
upon our view. Far away, on the wide waste
of dead grass, hundreds of cattle were seen
moving about: while about half mile to our
left flock of wild turkeys were strutting and
goLbling: but deer, those noble animals which
we had been looking for ever since our arrival
unable to obtain glance, were nowhere to be
seen. After riding over a swell in the prairie
however, and drawing near clump Of black
jack timber, we frightened from among the
bushes small lot of der. They threw up
their noble heads and showed us their agility
by bounding over the bushes and making a
short race out on the prairie, when they stop
ped, and tuning, gaztd at us as we rode
along.
The settlements are principally on the riv-
crs, the interior portions being almost oXcu-
sivcly devoted to grazing.
After crossing the Trinity, we left the old
San Antonio road, which is a great thorough
fare of Texas, and known 10y every person,
young as well as old, living any where in its
Northumberland striking to the left, shap-
Cd our course for jacksonville, the county
seat of Madison. When about fifteen miles
west of Trinity river, we met two Louisian-
ians, who were exploring the State. As they
met us, they came up cursing Texas. They
had entered it by way ofthc Gulf, procured
horses at Houston, and ridden through differ
cnt portions of the southern country, and had
seen the richest land in the world they said,
on the BRACES bottom-land that would pro-
which an alligator coudn live, it is so sick
ly. They were making their way for the
eastern portion of the country, where they
might procure some water and food fit to
drink and cat.
When we arrived within two miles of Madi-
sonvile, and on the edge of one of the finest
nrairies that VIC had met with, a young Louis
1anian was erecting cabins. His negroes were
all at work, some splitting out clapboards,
and others preparing logs for the buildings.
They were using the miserable black oak
timber, which was the best, however, to be
had. Some were in the woods mauling rails
cut Of the gnarlcd black. jack butts, every
variety of length, from four feet 10 twelve.
This young Gotten planter seemed in high
spirits with his wild prairie farm, for which
he had raid two dollars per acre. asked him
what he intended ftncing it with. lie point
8 e Tbs b!ask, iaeks ysmalksa thsx would