The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-10-21
letter rro,n san s.ba.
sAs sABA, Tsxas, oe.ObeI 5. Sc.

SAN SABA, Texas, October 5, 1873.
Editors Democratic Salesman = Burnet
county Is no longer TO be ranked with the
frontier coanties-that day has passed
From and after the twenty y-fTst of this
month citizens are prohibited from carrying
arms within the boundaries of Bainet c uu-
ty. To .'break iu" the people Ia this new
regulation will at firs be uIiticult piece Of
work, and some lrouble is spprehended by
the executive officers of the county. The
stock boys and others are so accustomed to
the weight of their six-shooters that they
will be 10th 10 give them up. The town OF
Burnet is steadily growing with the general
growth of the county. Among other im-
provements in the town fine new court
house, of stone, Is being erected. County
script ia rather low, being worth only hfty
cents on the dollar. Formerly Burnet vas
almost exclusively stock county, but now
the farming interest takes the lead, and
much corn, cotton, wheat, oats, Potatoes.
ETC., is raised every year, the yield being
about the same as IN she counties below, ex-
cept wheat which is somewhat better,
averaging about twenty bushels per acre.
Still the stock interest of the county is very
considerable. Numbers of cows and horses
may be vet seen upon the prairies, and its
expectation of wool is by no means Insig
Iniicant. Among the business people of
Burnet may be mentioned Watson s. Ogle,
| dry goods and groceries Legett ds Carson,
groceries and tinware; Dave Haynie, Hquor
dealer; t. J. Taught, livery stable; DIR. A.
Shirk, druggist, and Mrs. Thornhill, hotel
kesper. Mr.. S. H. Stapp is the clerk of the
hotel, and also the town barber. Watson
& Ogle are good men and true, but they
yield their better judgment to local -preju-
dice and spell ''onions" ''ingurnS." Mr. r.
]. Taught has quit fighting, having fought
his way up. to q good livery stable, and
knows how to do the right thing by a tired
''critter.
Once upon lime there was man travel
ing through strange country and came
upon wide andm muddy stream. He paused
upon the brink of that river, and hesitated
to trust himself to Its drumlie current. But
his twas ground hog case" and, sink or
swim, he must CO. So he got off his horse,
took off all his clothes, tied them securely
to the top Of his head, RENOVATED, SAID his
''now / lay me, " etc, and plunged in. The
water was not over knee deep on any part
of the ford. So it was with me on leaving
Burnet for San Saba, a distance of sixty
miles, One who has never passed over the
route before expects at any turn OF, the road
to plunge into u bowling wilderness with
Indians and grinning ''varmints" all around
him. Every rustic of the twigs by an inno-
cent hog causes each separate hair to stand
on end, and he is afraid of the sound of his
| horses hoofs upon the solid ground. But
| each succeeding turn of the road brings to
his astonished view neat farm houses and
cultivated fields, lowing herds and bleatlng
focks. About twelve miles from Burnet.
as you reach the summit of the s'divide" bs7
1 A,--aa hn hn ID.
three distinct peaks of the Colorado Mo1n-
tains rise to view in the plain before you
like the pyramids of Egypt. These leaks
are about twenty five miles distant When
| first seen, and the intervening cointy Is
| filed with farms as beautiful as any In
Texas. One of the first settlers irthls hne
region is Mr.. w. H. Simms, who Is an old
subscriber to the STATESMAN, ari who says
that he expects to continue y take 1T as
| long as it continues to be thepaper that 1t
now is. Near the house of br. X. w. Hill,
! who lives further on towarCs the Colorado,
there grows grape vine which, for thirty
feet, is eightesn inches in diameter; il then
divides into two branches, each Of which is
twelve inches in diameter, and the whole
zine spreads over an acre of ground. The
grapes 1t bears are purple in color, seven:
eighth of an inch in diameter and the,
punches contain from ten to twenty, MIR.
Hill takes the STATEsMAN, the London
Times, the New York Herald, and the Gal
weston Neaos, and he and his family are Just
such people as you delight to happen in up
on after hard days ride on a mustang,
like Murchison's. On this road you strike
the Colorado river at the famous 'sMcAnel-
ly's Bend" This is a splendid body of just
such land as that lying below Austin. The
bottom IS timbered mostly with pecan, and
Major McAnellY will probably gather five
hundred bushels of the nuts this year with
in mile of his house. The Major was once
captured by the Indians. The Indians were
afoot, and, after keeping him day or two,
told the Major they would give him twenty
steps the start of them, and if he could get
away it was all right, but if they caught
him he was ''gone COON" Hard, hard in.
deed, was the contest for freedom and the
struggle for independence, but as the Major
is still alive the result may be anticipated.
He beat them fair race and saved his hair,
which was not so white then as it is now
Between the river and this place, dis
tance of fifteen miles, the country is very
rough, and there are but few houses. We
passed one ranch whose sole occupant was
an old rooster. Hon. Dan Triplett, who
| received your representative with open arms,
saws it is not good for an old cock to be
alone and ne shall undertake to furnish a
help meet for him. But more of Mr.. Trip
lett, and of San Saba, hereafter. IS "a