Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1872-08-03

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forest, and drink in the magnilicen
prospect.
Our progress began with larri
son county, Of which Marshall is thu
county seat, extending into Smith
Upshur, Vanzant, Dallas and Tar
, rant, Along the whole route un'
cultivated lands can be purchased
for two dollars, and the best for
EIGHT DOLLARS AN ACRE.
Much of our ride toilsome. We
had heavy work TO got over deep
morasses, and sometimes we had to
tear through tho toughest roads.
Frequently we had to go long
distance for water; but had wo
known how You in the East were
saifering from sunstrolses---thn mol
ten sun pouring down on yonr d.
voted heads, in such cities as wash
inglon, Now York, and PhiIadel-
phia- we had not longed for home.
We suffered little or nothing from
the Southern sun; and when, at the
end of our first day, we entered
Tyler, we were hungry enough to
enjoy tho direst fare, and tired
enough to sleep on the hardest floor
and TO bid defiance to tho mosqui-
toes, which, however, visited us but
rarely. Tyler is the county seat of
Smith, with a thriving population
looking forward TO the completion
of our railroad, which passes
through its northern townships.
The whites are in the majority.
People have to
WAGON THEIR CROPS
fifty TO q hundred miles to the near
est depot, at Long View. Fine
farms can be bought here for three
dollars an acre. Timber can be
purchased at the saw mills for ff-
teen dollars per thousand feet, but
the cost of transporting it to the
railroad is so great that it sells at
from fifty to sixty dollars a thous-
and. When the railroads are fin
ished lumter can be had as cheapIy
in Texas as in almost any Of the
Northern States. 1t is only ncces-
sary to remember the enormous
cost of transporting the cotton,
corn, lumber, and other materials,
to see the crying necessity for rail
roads.
After sound sleep Colonel Scott
reused us at dawn, and, ut the end
of a pleasant ride of twelve miles,
we entered one of the sweetest of
villages, named.
MOUNT SYLVAN,
where q luxurious breakfast was
spread in little house, presided
over by Mrs, Dollahite. No catfish
and waffies at the falls of Schuyl
kill, near Philadelphia, could have
becn more de!iShtinl--nny. not even
the luscious repast of Taft, near Bos-
ton, nor yet the far famed feastcd
at the High Bridge in New York,
could have been more toothsomo.
We were now on the Memphis and
e! Passo stage line, under the
charge of Major Wright, chief man
ager, whose efforts to contribute to
our comfort We shall alwas CRATE.
fully remember. 1T was interesting
to watch his attention to his hcrses
and his guests, especially when we
remem Der that this limo traverses
over soven hundred miles through
varieties of climate and peoples.
Now that the old stage coach days
have passed away in the East, |
like to sit and study the institution
on the great frontiers Of the South
west, and to listen to the quiet hu-
NOR ofthe driver, the quaint express
sions Of tho passengers, and the
numerous incidents common TO such
q life. We reached the country
town of Vanzaut, Canton, late in
the evening, grateful that we had
escaped with whole bones, for our
cquanimity was sorely tried during
that memorable experience. Van
Zant is called in derision the
FREE STATE OF vANzANT,
because of its hard fares and harder
thorough fares, but, notwithstand-
ing bad roads, the fields around us
were bright with cotton and corn,
the people happy and every body
full of expectation about the rail
road. Cultivated lands in Vanzant
are worth four dollars an acre, and
unimproved one dollar. Provisions,
all the farmer wants-can be had at
very low rates. Little Or no feed
for the stock is needed in winter
One man can easily clear from three
to five hundred dollars year by
farming, with nothing but his own
hands. The vote here is 746 white
to l4S colored. Our landlady at
Cantor, Mrs. Young, was II young
woman from Indiana, blessed with
a husband who came from near
Fairmount, Philadelphia. She mad
certainly bloomed into Il thorough
bred
TEXAN MATRoN.
We had now accomplished some
eighty miles. and next morning at
day started for Kaufman, one
of the most fertile counties in Tex
as, called after David s. Kaufman,
of Cumberland county, Pennsylvan-
10. The soil was black sanity
loan, immensely productive. 1t
averages from twelve to fifteen
hundred pounds of seed cotton.
from twenty FIVE to forty bushels ol
corn, fifteen bushels Of wheat,
twenty to twenty five bushels OF
rye, and from forty to sixty bush
els of oats to the acre. The best OF
these lands could be bought at from
fifty cents TO one dollar and a hall
an acre before the war; now they
average from three to twelve dol
lars. Corn sells at 81 per bushel.
wheat 81 so, oats rs cents, rye 75
cents. The average price Of labor
here, as in all the counties along
the line of our road, is twenty del