Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-09-14
Observations in Texas by Worcester
County Man.
IcoRREsPoNDENcE OF THE spY.I
VIEW DELL PnA1nIr. Hill 90. Tcxas. J

| grafton for Texas, and DR.. T. W. Taylor and
| Thomas Harvey, Esq, of Richmond, Indiana
| representatives sent out by colony forming al
that place to settle in Texas, 1 left ST. Louis on
the evening of August "A, via Missouri, Kansai
and Texas railroad, for Texas. The country
through the Indian territory l shall leave for thi
present, and only speak of Texas, so far as
| have been able TO see it.
The first town we reached after crossing III,
Red river, in Texas, was Sherman, the county
| seat of Grayson county. This is a small town
| OF some 1900 inhabitants. The court house
stands in the middle Of the square, and is sur
| rounded by stores mostly built of wood, nearly
every other door being a rum shop. The town
| supports three newspapers such as they are
and innumerableland agents. All in all, the place
| is pretty rough, made so, am told by the ap-
| preaching railroads.
| The country through which we passed going
from Sherman TO Dallas, in the counties oil
Grayson and Dallas, is what may be termed
midland prairie. The soil is a rich black loan,
impervious TO water, and when once wet be-
comes like sheet of wax, sticking to the feet
AMI wagon so as to make travelling almost i'm
| possible. The lands of Grayson, Dallas and
| Collins counties are Of this class, and are con.
sidered by the natives to be the best lands in
the state for wheat, corn, oats, ryeand potatoes
but am satisfied from what have already seen
that this is not the case, and that the black
sandy loan Of Navarro and Hill counties is far
superior for all kinds of grain, unless it may
| possibly be wheat and corn.
The prairies are interspersed with small groves
of scrubby oaks and the native Usage Orange
trees. The magnetism limestone underics the
whole surface, and the water is hard and can
not be used with soap without considerabl,
| trouble Lands in this part of the state art
high in price, and are generally held by specu
| lators.
Dallas is a pretty little city of 5000 nhabi
tants The Texas Central railroad has just been
completed to this place. This is eventually
destined to be large city. All that is now
lacking is northern enterprise and capital to i'm
prove it. 1t is very dirty place, and the people
seem to take pride in keeping it so.
The face Of the country from Dallas to Col
Lippard's prairie home in Hill county, via Cor
sicana, is most yarigated, From Dallas to Cor
fine rolling prairie, frequently varied by the bot
toms and valley lands of Trinity river and other
small streams which the Texas Central railroad
| crosses. These bottom lands are very rich in
soil, but not as healthy in their unsettled state
as the upland praries. From Corsicana to
View Del Prairie, in Hill county, the home OF
| Col, Lippard $50 named from the fact that from
| bo ba
for distance of twenty-five miles, and the trav
/ eler can overlook five counties) with the excep
| ton Of the bottom lands along Richand creek
| and its tributaries, the country is generally
quite rolling, and is made up of sloping, rolling
high rolling prairie, and occasionally some
what broken. The whole country is underlaid
with the very finest quality ofmagnesiau lime
stone, which is the best building material in the
state of Texas Although the high rolling
prairies are often covered with small stones or
shale, yet the soil Of this portion of the state is
mellow, sandy loan, Of the richest mold, and
the best crops of corn, cotton and the small
grains have seen in the state / have seen grow.
ing here. The surface of this land is covered
with the sweetest and most nutritious grasses;
hence this region is peculiarly adapted for stock
raising, and particularly for sheep.
The soil for the most part around the home OIL
| Col Lippard is a rich sandy loan, and, with the
exception of very small tracts in a few localities
| is always mellow aud receives the efforts of the
| farmer and cultiyator most kindly Hence it is
that il yields so bountiully in proportion to the
amount Of labor expended upon it. Col. j. II
| Lippard was Union man, and suffered many
wrongs during the war at the hands of his
countrymen; among others his property was
| taken from him for the use of the confederate
armies, and when the war closed and for several
years thereafter he was a bankrupt in property
and prescribed for his politics, so much so that
he could not live at home. In 1869 he came tc
live upon the place he now occupies, without
friends and with but few dollars in money
His wife, native of Illinois, and one Of the
nobest Of women, together with his
family of four small children, came
with him. They decided to make a
second start in life, to build them home for
themselves aud children. This was the third
time they had commenced in like manner since
the war ended. But perseverance eventually
conquers, and so has Col. Lippard. The colonel
being called from home as register of election
member Of the state convention to frame a con.
stitqtion and as commissioner of immigration
he has been at home but little of the time, and
the improvement of his farm, consisting Of $50
acres of timber and prairie has devolved upon
! his young wife (now 3D. She has had the
| general management, and herself and girl now
fourteen and boy now twelve years of age, with
their own hands have broken fenced, and now
have in cultivation one hundred acres of corn,
cotton, oats, and potatoes, together with grow
ing their vegetables for family use. They have
also planted twenty-five acres in peaches, APP
Piles, pears and grapes, and now have hundreds
Of bushels Of peaches growing upon trees raised
from the seed three years ago. The seeds were
| planted, and the trees have been transplanted
| and yesterday saw pear tree in bloom in the
| yard-all this has been done by Col Lippard's
wife and children. They have also fenced one
hundred acres for pasture land. They have
several hundred head Of cattle and horses, be.
sides the farm to look after. Mrs. Lippard has
as good formi and as rosy checks as the
finest Fifth avenue belle in New York. What
will my northern friends think Of this for a
country life? Those ladies in the north who
have never seen well day in their lives if they
Will come here and do as Mrs. Lippard has done
] will guarantee perfect health to them Al
most everything that is grown in the northern
and middle states can be produced on Mrs. Lip.
pard's farm; wheat corn, oats, barley, rye buck.
wheat, tobacco, hemp, potatoes, sweet potatoes
and all kinds Of melons and garden products most
| abundanuy. Besides this it produces the best
| cotton to be found in the state when properly
| attended. And as to its capacity to produce
| fruits, no section of the country can surpass
! Navarro and Hill counties INF variety nor il
| quality Even California cannot surpass these
counties for fruits, except it be in few foreign
varieties. Almost everything in this line
that has been tried has succeeded well, as the
wonderfully large and well favored apples
peaches and pears that tits producing from yea
to year testify, and especially so of small fruits
strawberries, raspberres, gooseberries, etc, etc
| The grape is unusually hardy, productive ant
Of the best quality, growing wild on thu
| streams.
Timber Is abundant in this part of the state
and natural groves of Usage orange and China
umbrella trees, grow in abundance for shade OF
the praries. Cattle, horses, and sheep live tn,
year round uDOu the natural prnSses tbC mos