The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1877-03-07
Texas Letter.
BRAzos BoTroM's, Texas,
Fah. 10Th. 1877.

IOOs ASVAA1 Aosss
Friend LAS it has been some
time since l have written to you, will
try to give you an idea Of this particu.
lar part Of Texas. I am aware that
you travelled through here several times,
but as ! have been here some two
months now can give you very good
idea of the country. The land is very
much the same us it is in Colorado Co.,
or in other words the soil is good.
The country here IL as near dead
level as can be and have any slope at
all. Of course it slopes little toward
the Gulf, but so little that it is not per-
ceptible.
INTENDED to come north this spring
and get up into "Gods country" as
| Yankees down here are in the habit of
calling it. But as you know l am q
chronic hunter when l have ghost Of
4 chance, and have made some discov-
cries that have made me change my
mind. The number of deer there is in
this section is simply astonishing. /
have killed ten of them since / came
here. Shot them at distances varying
from 10 steps to 800. They are as
plentiful as cattle on the praries. l
counted IS in one drove here last Sun.
day. And wild turkeys. Their name
is legion.
Let me give a western Yankees ex-
perience with them. / went out with
my Winchester, when 1 first arrived
here, and directly I saw, perhaps, 100
wild turkeys us I supposed. l blazed
away ut them and killed one and as the
balance stood stock still, shot another.
They still showed no disposition to es-
cape and I quit shooting and trudged
to the house with the two I had, and
asked my comrade, Ga native to the
manor born if those were wild turkeys.
He looked at me and remarked casually
that was bigger fool than was last
week; and says he ~ never kno,red
more'n one or two Yankees that
knowed enough to chaw gum without a
receipt"
am going to s tay here while as I
said, but like yourself, I would not ad-
wise Minnesotian to come here unless
he has lots of wealth and then l would
not. 1 am doing passably we'll but
where one Yankee without means, get
ahead in this country, so Of them pres
entity get too poor to get out of it.
That is especially the case where men
with families are foolish enough to come
| here. I am at work for the best man
socially, morally and politically that
there is in this whole country. Other
! wise I would be out of this in short
metre can tell you. am fencing in
a tract of $500 acres for him to be
used as stock farm.
I cannot close without telling you of
a Ghost Hunt we had the other night.
It seems that the man who formerly
owned this property lived very fast
life and a bad one aad finally died a
violent death and went-well, that he
went direct to Abraham's bosom don't
think. My theory is that he went be-
low and upon finding more gentle socie-
| ty down there in the Internal regions
then he had been accustomed to, came
back to figure as Veritable Bul]dozer.
At any rate a couple Of us went after
him the other night accompanied by a
lot of freedmen. Ghost, Devil, or
what's his name, rose up sure enough
and scared the niggers previously near
ly to death and, to tell the truth, my
hair stuck up somewhat. I'm disbe-'
lever in ghosts on general principles,
| but confess this one gets me. After
all I don't blame them much for l
should not rest quite easy in my grave
in some parts of the State. But will
ventilate this ghost business and then
write again. Ever yours, A.