Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1871-08-05
For the Dallas lleFsldl
Dfouth Ia Texas.

4 appeared an interesting eOmmuhi
= cation, sigRei W, A, Z, uhder lh
! above caption, The subject il on
b Of great Interest, and tho writer il
!, question, while protesting no spe
I eial theory 10 regard 10 il, beyonC
3 "a suggestion Of its probable period
ieal recurrence about every thirty
. i've or thirty'sir years, makes som,
! excellent hints as TO the best mod,
, Yet known Of guarding against il,
: Effects, 10 wit; by deep blowing
} early planting aud thorough cult
yation, To determine tho correct
meas Of any theory in regard TO the
, regular periodic return of drouths,
} il Is essential 10 be accurate in Ms,
eertsining what year ia the past
have been signAli,ed by drouth.-
In doing this, w. a. +. falls into at
least one error. ne names the six
years OF 1872 10 1877 Us period
"when tho dry reason was repeat.
ell" | well iememteF those years
in the region embracing Austin,
San Antonia, Gohfhlcr, hka the
coast. | will state my reccollec.
tions of them and 20 n little farther
back, 1889 was dry year in some
sections, but ON the Guadalupe
corn crops were iinc;-in 1910 the
spring was splendid-latcr u drouth
was fcared-but on the 10th OF June
il commenced raining and contin.
ucd at intervals for thirteen days,
all the streams being up-crops We.
ry fine e;-lsil was dry season,
but being preceded by wet winter
crops were good, tho corn though
not 50 heavy, was the soundest and
sweetest have over seen grown in
Texas;-lSi2, fine spring, abun.
dant scasonablc rains-a rainy
June and July, and the fall and
winter very wct;-lSt3, u rainy
year, followed by mild, wet win.
ter, in which sweet potatoes grew
on till spring;-lS44, much like tho
preceding, but closed with cold,
wet winter;-lS45, beautiful
spring, frequent rains through the
crop scason-the autumn dry-the
winter, 1886, cold, clustering and
wet;-lsi6, the most beautiful crop
year | had seen in Texas up to
that time, vast amount of rain
from April till the 10Th day Of Au-
gust, from which time it become
comparatively dry. The Kentucky,
Tennessee, Arkansas, Illinois and
other troops passed through the
west, and u heavy German emigra-
ton entered through lndianola-
bloody flux prevailed in malig-
nant form, and it is yet remember
ed rs the sickly year, not only
among soldiers and emigrants, but
citizens also. Tho streams were |
often swollen and in the intervals |
between rains, the sun was unusu-
ally hot. Tho year closed with Il
dry winter. My rccollections Of
1917 are not so distinct, but it was
not season of drouth and, late in
the summer, there were heavy
rains ;-lS48 was a fair year, crops
being good. In December the chol-
ora destroyed sixty out of ono hun
dred and twenty U. s. Soldiers just
landed at Port Lavaca, without
spreading elsewhere, or even
among the citizens. Thcyear lS49,
opened beautifully-crops were
planted early and excellent stands
securcd-but on the night of April
18th, when corn was from waist to
"head high" there come such
white frost as to kill every stalk in
all that country. The people, more
enterprising then than now in that
region, replanted with cheertullness
rains fell propitiously-in June
and again in July the lower streams
overfowed and crops were abun.
dant. In March tho cholera ap-
pcared first ut IndianOla, then ut
Lavaca, Victoria and San Antonio,
where both Gems. Worth and
Brooke died. In January, 1913,
all the rivers of Texas ovcrfiowed
their bottoms from highland to
high. land, for week or ten days,
and great numbers of cattle were
drowned on the Trinity, Brazos
and Colorado.
Thus ! have referred to eleven
consecutive years, only two OF
which (ls39 and 1S4l) could be
classed rs seasons Of approximate
drouth, and in neithpr was there u
serious failure of crops. excepting
some districts in 1889, IN ls43,
the late Col. Elliot Of Corsieana,
leaving this town of Dallao in q
canoe, descended in it to the coast
and made tho entire trip to Louis
vile KY, by water.
Long ycare ago | often ponvers-
I'd with old Mexican citizens OF
San Antonio about drouths in Tex
as, they all referred to two or three
periods within their own rcoollec-
tions or That of thsir fathers, in
which exttemc drouths had pre-
vailed, but their lives had been con-
fined to that region, which is no
criterion for tie country, east of the
Colorado. From such sources of in
formation, nearly forty years OF
personal observation and such cri-
teria as the supposed age and dying
out OF timber in certain localities, L
do not believe that at any time
within hundred to a hundred and
fifty years past, the Oarth Of this
country, from the Trinity valley
west, was ever dry to us great u
depth rs it become between the
winters of 1873 and 1868, since
when streams, springs and wells
have been uniformly flush. This,
as ! learn from othOrs, is the nrs'
conside 10 drouth since the DC
ginning cf 1gg5-six and a IAN
wears. aud bore in Dallas we have