Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-07-10
Of the YOrkville Enquirer.
THE RED RIVER COUNTRY.
CHATTANOOGA, July B, IL,

THE RED RIVER COUNTRY.
CHATTANOOGA, July 5, 1873.
Ispent some time in upper Louisiana, along
the famous and peculiar Red river, and in.
tended to have written the ENQUIRER more
fully the result of observations than contained
in the letters from Shreveport, but was pre-
vented by other engagements. take this op-
portunity to put a few notes on paper that
you ought to have had four weeks ago. If
news was like whisky-the older the better
the reader would be the gamer by perusing
ancient letters but as the reverse is the case,
I will endeavor to be brief.
Red river is a remarkable stream, having
its headwaters near the line of New Mexico
and flowing eastwardly, forming the boundary
between Texas and the Indian Territory. En-.
tering Louisiana, it takes southeastern
course and empties into the Mississippi, some
two hundred miles by river, above New Orleans
In Louisiana, it flows through the finest
cotton country in the world. For FIVE hun
dred miles magnificent plantations lie upon
either side. They are magnificent in extent,
richness and depth of soil but the improve
ments are in all stages of dilapidation and
decay. The war, closely followed by the in
terminable political troubles, has depressed
property in that region, until the finest cotton
ground under the light of the sun, can be
bought for ten dollars an acre. I was shown
plantations worth, before the war, from seven
ty-6ve to hundred thousand dollars, that
could now be bought for from fifteen to twen-
ty thousand. Everybody wants to sell, but
there are few buyers. Perhaps better oppor-
tunties for buying cotton ground were never
offered than can be had in Louisiana at this
time. The planters are discouraged on ac-
count of the never-ending turmoils, and want
to leave State in whose future there is so
little hope.
The Texas fever has possession of a good
many of them. There is the same mania for
going to Texas that we observe in other, and
even better regulated States. This is, to say
the least of it, foolish; for nowhere in that
much.pufed State will the soil compare with
the Red river section of Louisiana.
You have been troubled some in your State,
/ believe, with the Texas fever. The only
cure I know for the disease is experience.
Let man sell out his home in an older State,
90 to Texas, and in six cases out of seven, he
will regret it in less than year.
came down Red river from Shreveport on
the steamer G. H. Durfee, and among the
passengers were several disgusted Texans re.
turning to the older States. They did not
find Texas the Ell Dorado they expected.
They complained of fever and ague, poor wa.
ter, hot weather in summer, and cold blasts
in winter, scarcity of timber in some parts,
and too much of it in others. Texas, to be
sure, has number of advantages, but the
disadvantages we'll nigh overshadow them.
THE GRANT PARISH FIGHT.
Asyou are aware, the chronic Louisiana
troubles eliminated two months ago in a
bloody battle between the whites and blacks
in Grant Parish on Red river. One hundred
men were killed outright. Many versions
were given of the affair." all of which were
more or less untruthful OH account Of party
bias. The facts in the case are these: Both
parties claimed to have carried the Parish at
the last election. Gov. McEnery commission
ed one man as sheriff, and Gov. Kellogg
another. These two sherifs each tried to
hold the Court House. Nash, the Democrat
ic sheriff, summoned the whites to bel p him
"enforce the law" Shaw, the Radical sheriff,
summoned the negroes to help him "enforce
the law" Both parties assembled, to the
number of two hundred or more, and fight
was the consequence. The negroes were whip
ped and driven out of their rude entrench-
ments. Part of them ran down the river and
got away, while the rest took refuge in the
Court House. The whites could not dis}odge
them. They at last fred the building.E Be-
fore doing this, however, they claim that the
negroes proposed to surrender, and that, while
negotiations for peace" were going on, the
negroes treacherously shot two white men,
Messrs. Hodnot and Harris. This exaspera-
ted the whites, and they fired the Court House
and shot the negroes down as they ran out.
Seventy-nine were thus killed. The white loss
was four killed and eight wounded. Several
negroes were killed before the Court House
was fired, so that the total deaths by this fool
ishness amount to full hundred.
The trouble is over now, and peace reigns in
Grant Parish. 1t is lamentable that conflict
between the races should have occurred but,
taking all the facts in the case, tits not strange.
MINOR MENTION.
The water of Red river is, as its name in
dicates, red. It takes it from the soil of up
per Texas and the Indian Territory. People
living along the river use cistern water, and
only resort to the river when their cisterns
are dry. 1t is really not fit to drink, and no
man, having proper respect for his inside, will
swallow it. The steamboats, use Mississippi
water, which they store in tanks for the pur-
pose.
The people along Red river have no way to
communicate with the world, other than by
steamboat. When the river runs low, as it
always does in summer, the condition of affairs
among the population is best described by the
word "dry." Being without the usual guam
tity of reliable news, they of course have an
immense amount that is not reliable "Grape-
vine" dispatches, believe, is the name for it.
In high water, steamboats, pass from Shreve-
port to New Orleans in three or four days, or
even less. The distance is seven hundred