Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-07-16
eco WEST" NO LONGER.
Facts for Young Men OF Tennessee
BY One Who has Tried It..
Thousands of Dissatisfied TenneE.
aeeans in Texas who Can
not lei Rack.
MEHrHls, TEsS., July Is, 1875.

MEMPHIS, Tenn, July Is, 1875.
To the Editor Of the Ledger:
Last March | was induced, through
the iatteriug circulars put forth BY rail-
road officials, to leave my native State
Of Tennessee and seek my fortune in
the great Vest Although warned
by friends that the Vest was a failure
and a myth, / could realize my mistake
only by the saddest experience.
/ arrived at Dallas, Texas, early in
March. Looking out over the beautiful
prairie, which was quite green at that
season, and seeing that the soil was very
rich and land cheap, l was led to believe
that the land Of promise was reached.
People told me hat forty bushels Of
wheat, seventy-Gve bushels Of corn and
a bale of cotton to the acre was not un-
usual in Northwest Texas. Later OBJ
s~ervations prove this to be a rare occur
renee. This, TO q Tennessee farmer,
looks very enticing, and draws annually
so, 900 young men to Texas, who find,
after it is too late, that there is no ready
market for their produce. Corn, in the
fall, is worth twenty-five cents per
bushel. Wheat, at threshing time, could
not be sold for more than fifty cents per
bushel. q
The farmer buys his bacon at twenty
cents per pound and groceries proper
tionately high.
Thousands Of young men go to Texas
who have no capital and are obliged to
work on farms at from six to fifteen dol.
lars per month. Many young men who
left comfortable homes in Tennessee are
now ont on the bleak p~rairies living on
bread and meat alone, their wages
hardly clothing them.
l visited Denison, Dallas, Jefferson,
Texarkana, Waco and many smaller
places. l also made a trip from Dallas
west two hundred miles to Colorado
river. The country from Dallas to the
Brazos river is very fine indeed. After
crossing the Brazos the country is a
broken, high, dry prairie for more than
one hundred miles. The banks Of the
Colorado are lined with timber, while
the soil is very fine. This land car be
taken up by any n who will improve
it for three years, and costs about seven.
teen dollars to get one hundred and sixty
acres. But the frequent incursions OF
the Indians to this. country keep back
immigration and prevent the pale-iace
from entering, except when we'll armed.
A.few hardy "coW-men" have, however,
opened Q rancho on this stream, and il
they escape the s~calping-knite Of the
Comanche will soon make their fortune.
Northwest Texas is settled up by pee
pie from all parts OF the world, but more
from Tennessee than any other State,
Among the latter there seems to be 8
general dissatisfaction. While there are
a few who have made fortunes in Texas
there are, thousands who would gladly
give all they possess to be back in Ten
nessee. $50
met Mr.. G, W. Fink, an old school
n ate fresh from Greenville and Tuscu-
lum College. He is qualified to occupy
a high position in society. But instead
he is now working on a farm, near Dial
las, for a humble subsistence, and is not
able to get out Of Texas.
These reports may not be believed by
a blinded and excited number of young
men in Tennessee, but experience is a
profound instructor, and those who "go
West" will reap their reward in poverty
and tears. Along with the abundant
crops in Texas comes the scarcity of all
kinds of fruit and vegetables. This, with
the scarcity of wood and water, is enough
to stay the tide Of immigration to Texas,
Young men of Tennessee will do well to
stay at home and profit by the experience
of others. 99ia JOIN T. M.
L NH H. H.. t..a.M. ....|. "...H. ...I.
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