The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1872-03-07
LETTER FROM TEXAS.


few itemslrom this part of Uncle Sans
domain.
Landing in Galveston on hot day In july
one sees city OF twenty thousand inhabitan $
built upon an island ofsand from which with
the sun almost overhead, heat enough is re
hected TO suggest the idea that it is in close
proximity to that place which all good men
tell us to shun.
The city stands but few feet above the
level OF the gulf, and during high winds
from of the gulf, it has been . number OF
times overfowed. a few days before ar
rived the water had stood three feet deep all
over the city. noticed a plumber of dwell
lings, the owners Of which had taken the
precaution to set upon posts Ave or six feet
from the ground, so as to be above high water
mark
Leaving Galveston by the TexasCentralR. r
for the first twenty miles the country is fat
wet prairie, with scarcely tree in sight. AS
we near Houston fifty miles from G., timber
becomes plenty, being principally oak and
pine. Houston has a population of eighteen
thousand, and contains number of large
manufacturing establishments. Besides fine
7. G. R. r. it has the Houston and Great
Northern Z. r. fifty miles of which are il
operation.
From Houston to Novasota the country isl
prairie and timber It was not thiekly settled
although the soil looked good.
Leaving N, for Hearne the prairie land
disappears, the country becoming more !
rough and broken, the land sandy and COW
cred with scrub oak.
AT Hearne one hundred and seventy miles
north Of Galveston the International R. r.
crosses the 7. G. r. r. Work was com
menced on this road one year ago last month,
| four miles west of Hearne, at the Brazos
river by Douglass Brow Reynolds 81 Co, OF
| Iowa, who have the contract of building one
hundred and fifty miles. They have seventy
miles of track down. and are pushing it
ahead as fast as men and money can do it.
The eastern terminus of the road is Fulton
Ark, wheR it will connect with the Cairo
and Fulton road.
From Fulton it runs in a southwark direc-
ton passing through Austin and San Anton o
to the Rio Grande river at or near Laredo, a
distance of over six hundred miles.
The state gives the company ten thousand
dollars per mile In bonds as fast SIS tbs road
is com pleted, the company agreeing to fl ish
fifty miles the first year and seventy FIVE
every year thereafter until the whole isl
finished.
A person would sappoSc that in as Old
settled IL part of Texas as this is that the
country would be thickly populated. Yet
between this place and Hearne distance of
nearly one hundred miles there is not town
OF two hundred inhabitants. The land is !
poor being principally sand.
This place contains a population of about
fifteen hundred, and is the county seat of
Anderson County, has two Hotels and a
number of stores, but no manufacturing In
terests. Four miles east of here the Pineries
of Texas commence extending co Louisiana
and south to the gulf.
The land too, is better being q gravelly
and clay soil, producing good corn and cot
ton. which are the staple products of the
state. Fifty miles north the prairie country
commences, the soil being q black loan
something like our northern prairies. Corn,
cotton, oats and potatoes, do we'll, but very
little wheat is raised, what -four is used
being brought from the north. Along the
streams there is plenty of timber. Oak, ash,
hickory, pecan, gum, elm and in the northern
counties, bois dc arc, or Usage orange.
The chills and fever prevail here to great
extent, also pneumonia and menin-
gifts. large number Of deaths occurring
within few weeks from the last named
disease, among the citizens, but have not
heard ola northern mans dying with it
yet. y#
The winter SO far has been fine although
we have had few cold clustering days. The
ground has beenlwhite with snow but it did
not remain long.
Farmers are busy blowing and preparing
to put in their crops. They find good deal
OF fault with the Freedmen, since the war
they have been in the habit of working plan
tations on shares, but they generally come
out in debt at the end of the year, some of
them are industrious and make money but
the majority will not work half of the time.
Provisions of all kinds are high. Flour
s14 per barrel, Irish potatoes $3.50 per barrel,
sweet potatoes 81 per bushel, onions IS pc \
barrel, corn 81. so per bushel, beans Sc per
buAhel, peas Is cents per pound. butter 60
cents per pound, bacon 90 cents per pound
hams 2o@25 cents perapound, beef SO IS cents
per pound, hay $50 q $40 per ton. Last
season was so dry that not more than half
q crop OF anything was raised, not enough
rain falling to lay the dust, from the middle
L - A.. 20 4hA Hrsf of SAntennhar. .A9a