The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-10-08
Texas-As ii Was, Is, and Will Be.

There is no portion of the American
Continent so rich and varied in history as
the State of Texas. 1t has been owned
and possessed in turn by France, Spain
and Mexico has been an independent re-
public. a star of first magnitude in the Con-
federacy; and is now a loyal and law
abiding State of this Union, and the Mecca,
the land of promise. to which al eyes are
turned.
But two short years ago Texas was as
remote from the Western States for all in
land commerce as the Mountains of the
Moon; but now, railroads have touched
her with their magic wands and her re-
hottest settlements are reached with but
one setting of the sun.
As this State is now attracting such uni
versal attention we believe we cannot
please our readers better than by giving a
few statistics and information of general
interest. The area of the State is 274,000
square miles, or liz, 100000 acres. The
population, in 1850, was $1,000 in 1860
it was 100000; in 1870 it was $4,000. and
now approximates !, 100000, and is filling
up at the rate of about u 900 per month :;
not attracted by glittering gold or mines
of silver, but for quiet homes, Old-tashion-
ed farming and stOck-raising. Her taxa
BILE property, in 1850, was SOL 100000.
She lost $S5.000,000 worth of slaves by the
war, and yet her taxable property in 1870
was $240,000, 600, and probably double that
sum now. The next assessment will in
clude the railroad property of the State, Of
which there is already in operation about
1000 miles. The public domain belongs
exclusively to the State, the United States
having no interest in it, and Of this she
ha with n lsrr Oh hand n railroads
instead of bonds, thus securing a vast Sys-
tenn of internal improvements without in
curing a heavy bonded debt or burden
some taxation upon her people. These
lands have been given to railroads, in al
ternate sections, the even numbers being
reserved by the State as school lands, and
are now placed upon the market Ito
actual settlers only at Sl.50 per acre on
a credit of ten years with interest at
ten per cent. per annum. She also
gives to each immigrant a homestead of
100 acres, on condition of his or her liv-
ing upon it for three years and paying
the surveyors fee, never more than
twelve dollars. This may be taken from
any of the public lands of which she still
has S5,000,000 acres unappropTiated after
all her certificates are redeemed. The vast
extent of the country gives her great va
ricty of soil and climate. About $4,000
square miles is the estimated wheatregion,
and seventeen to twenty bushels to the
acre is about the average. In the elevated
or mountainous region of the State ii is not
uncommon TO see wheat, corn and cotton
growing in the same field. Sugar and to-
bacco grow to great perfection; all the
small grains, Irish and sweet potatoes,
fruits, and garden vegetables ripen from
six to eight weeks in advance of the
Western States, which afford her a
market without competitor The esti-
mated value of her cotton crop for 1874 Is
$50, 100000, and her annual export OF
beeves is about S7.000,000. The region
west of San Antonio River is the finest
sheep range in America, and wOolgrow-
ing is reaching mammoth proportions and
men are making rapid fortunes. One
man who had but 1900 head at the close
of the war. has now $4,000. and fifty
leagues of land. Sheep-raisers are coming
from Australia and California and settling
there. All kinds of stock live upon the
native grasses without other food and with
but little attention. State taxes are but
fifty cents on the one hundred dollars;
county taxes about the same. Her free
school system gives to every child in the
order are as rigidly maintained, and crime
as readily suppressed, as in any of the
States. Every neighborhood is supplied
with church privileges and the cause of
the Bible is well maintained. The climate
in many portions of the State is superior
TO that of Italy, the mean temperature be-
ing 81 degrees; the mercury rarely reaches
90 in summer, and as rarely falls to 80 in
winter The air is so Dure that fresh meat
exposed to a free circulation will not spoil,
and the Mexieans and Indians save their
meat by drying it in the open air. For
health the country is unsurpassed. The
death-rate of he.city Of San Antonio is
only thirteen in a thousand per annum.
The mean annual rainfall for the past
seven years has been 80 inches. Lands in
farms yield an annual return of SIC per
acre. The State borders upon the Gulf OF
for over 500 miles, and her products
reach tide-water at trifling cost. The wa
ter is generally abundant and of the purest
limestone. The timber in the northern