The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-10-07
special ccrre-ponaene@.
Letter rron BlaReo.
BLAkeo, BIanco .eonnty. Te1as /

! BLANeo. Blanco county, Texas, !
September e6 1878.
Editors Dehaoerasie lStatesmas-Th coun
try around ..Ddpping spring" IN Hay
county, is beautiful The scenery Is wiiS
and rugged, but the extensive Dnppin.
| Spring Valley is fertile and will be popu
lated. DR. j. NJ Pound and Major J. L
Wallace are the oldest settlers lu the valley
having moved there in 1854. Corn and c. {
ton will average the yield of the iowei
prairie lands, but Major Wallace says wheat
will not Ii is fine hors, country. t,ui
sheep do not prosper. Thecharacier Of The
Grange" does not suit them. Major Wallace
estimates that 20, 600 sheep have died in his
vicinity since ne had been living there.
The neighborheod hiss 'meeting house,
and school house. On each Sunday about
one hundred people meet az church, and
the Sunday school is eagerly attended. In
the neighborhood sixty children of scholas-
tic age might constitute fine school. The
one they have at present is poorly attended.
The ''sprlng" gets its peculiar name from
the fact of its being supplied by constant
dripping of water from an oyerhangirg
ledge of rocks. The rocks are almost com
pleteiy hid from view by covering of
''naiden's hair" Qern). W. t. Chapman
keeps the stopping house" at the spring.
He keeps very good house, and it is the
only tavern between Austin and Blanco.
THE DEAD MANS HOLE
is place with a cheerful name a few miles
from Dripping Spring. In the early days a
man was found dead there, and hence the
name. The ''hole'' is round basin cover
ing about one-quarter of an acre, into which
the water of small creek plunges with a
fall of about twenty feet. Some cow boys
tied three long ''stake ropes" together and
let them down into this mole but failed to
find bottom. The general opinion among
the citizens is that it is the entrance to the
''bottomless pit" and that Old Nick has
been seen to come up there, and that after
washing off the sulphur and tucking his tail
decentiy away he invariably takes his way
toward Luling They also say that the wa
ter seethes and boils for twenty -four hours
after the old fellow comes up. This story
must be received with due allowance, as the
natives are disposed to boast of their natural
advantages. t-+
"e@ BLANco CITY AND COUNTY.
Blanco city has population of about GOO.
1t is beautifully situated in very large and
fertile valley on the banks of the Blanco.
river. 1t is surrounded with fine farms and
stock ranches. 1t has two schools we'll sus-
tanned There is bot one house for public
worship, which is used in turn by all the
denominations. The Blanco City House,
kept 10y Mrs. Brown, is one OF the best
country hotels in the west. o. NJ. Brown,
called ''Big Brown" runs tn, livery stable,
and no mans horse suffers when in
his hands. The leading merchants are
Speed s. Cage, j. W. Alex. George, and
John Robinson. These are doing a good
business. Mr.. George is ''strickly cash"
man and no mistake. He'says the Governor
could not get five cents worth of tobacco
from him on one hours time. This will be
considered rather hard on the Governor,
but Mr.. George will make no exception. If
the Governor hasn't mind to pay for his
tobacco when he comes up here, he can
simply borrow a chew, or go without. j.
D. Rust ('Josephr0 keeps the wholesale and
retail liquor house. Joseph says he hands
out good article, and those who have tired
it assent. Amon9 the excellent attorneys
are John t. Brown and A. w. Moursund,
who are commended to parties having
land matters requiring attention here. Mr..
Moursund is a native of Norway, and is
making quite reputation for himself here
ahouts. Your correspondent is indebted to
John T. Brown for much courtesy. Mr..
Brown probably knows more about the
land matters of the county than any one
else. Our old friend Charley Crosby, for
merly of Austin, is the aistrict clerk, and
keeps one of the incest set of books in the
State e i-siii - - 10, lriflft r.