The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-06-05

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location. The two principal railways in the
state are the st. Louis, Iron Mountain and
I Southern, reaching from st. Louis to Texas,
and the Little Rock and Fort Smith, run
ming from Little Rock, the capital of the
state, to Fort Smith. ON the line of the In
dian territory. The former line runs through
dense forest the most of the way from
\ Poplar Bluff to Texarkana, though it touches
many important towns, including the CAPT.
tai OF the state The largest of these towns
on the immediate line of the
railway are Poplar Bluff, Newport,
Judsonia, Austin, Arkadelphia, Prescott,
Hope and Texarkana- In addition TO these
there are many county towns situated with
i i'm from four to ten miles of the railway, all
/ of which are surrounded by well improved
country. The reason that so little improve
ment is visible from the railway is that the
/ United States granted the lands to the CON-
pany twenty-five years ago, and the road
was not completed until four years ago. AS
the railway did not possess absolute title I'M
| til the line was completed it could not place
the lands on the market; hence this tract OF
/ land. ten miles wide, was hardly touched by
an ak while the country On both sides was
/ placed under cultivation. The average price
of these lands is two dollars per acre.
individuals sell forone-third cash, remainder
in one and two years with 10 per cent. inter
est. The railway sells on various terms.
ranging in time from four to 10 years, with
| six per cent. Interest In either case the
| traveller will paw the purchase price of the
land and furnish all the material for fenc-
ing The railway buys all wood and ties Of
| fered, and so far have not had all they need.
The lands when cleaned produce on the
uplauds about the following crops: Corn,
per acre, 50 bushels; oats, per acre, %
bushels; wheat per acre, 10 bushels; barley
per acre, 80 bushels; rye, per acre, 16bushels;
sweet potatoes per acre, so bushels; onions,
per acre, 200 bushels; cotton, per acre, one
| half hale.
The finest strawberries. blackberries and
1 fruits of that class that have ever seen are
produced between Austin and Little Rock,
and have the advantage of being in the mar
ket a month earlier than any other accessi-
BILE point. Ali last season the Iron Noun
tain railway carried average of 10000
pounds OF berries from the station at Austin
to st. Louis daily. All the outfit that man
needs to open fruit farm in Arkansas is an
ak and a grubbing hoe, connected with
muscle Colonel MurIell at Austin opened
three acres of orchard and berries four years
I ago, and last year his net profits were SSl6
and the colonel is IS. He has apples the year
round, selling his early crop at StLouis
and his late one at Galveston and New Or
leans.
THE LITTLE ROCK AND FIT. SMITH ROAD
runs up the valley of the Arkansas river
through the richest agricultural rigion in
/
generally cultivated, owing to the fact that
previous to the war the finest cotton plan
tations in the country we're located along
this river. Lands average higher in price
along this road than along the Iron Noun
tam, but this company has adopted the
policy OF selling its lends, and bona fide
settler can generally get land at about what
ne is willing to pay for 1t.
THE EMPIRE OF TEXAS
| a.
as the best. There is one fact which should
be borne in mind, however, and that is that
the state has disposed of all of its lands which
are AT present available for settlement, ex-
cept the school lands. The enormous grants
made TO railways to aid in their construction
have been represented by land certificates
which were issued TO the companies and by
them sold or located upon the INDICATED
lands of the state The Texas and Pacific
railway, far as built, runs through
the richest and best settled part
of the state, but the company
owns no valuable lands east of Fort Worth;
in fact, none of consequence east of Weather
ford The section OF the state tributary TO
the Texas and Pacific, either along its main
line or the transcontinental division, is, in
my judgment, the richest agricultural region
in America. A glance at the map win show
that this district is about the size of the state
of Illinois, while it has more water courses
than Indiana and Ohio put together. A few
years ago this was the great cattle grazing
section, but settlements have made the
lands too valuable for agricultural pur-
poses, and the grazing field has been
transferred to Fort Concho and
west of that. Good farm lands in this sec
ton average in price from two and a half to
twenty dollars per acre, owing to their prox
unity TO markets and towns. These lands
are all held by railways and private individ-
uals; The Texas and Pacific railway has re-
Gently issued very elaborate maps, made up
from the surveys and records of the coun-
ties, showing the size of every piece of land
in the whole region and giving the names of
the owners on the first OF last January
These maps are the most complete docu-
nents OF their kind ever issued.
The International and Great Northern
railway owns much of this fine land, though
the company has very little good farm lands
along its line except on that portion lying
between Hearne aud Austin.
IL should be borne in mind that Texas is a
grain producing state naturally. Until
within few years cotton, corn cattle and
sheep were the principal products of the
state; but now hogs are being raised all over
the state, but not sufficient TO supply the
d-mand, as the shipments from other points
north will show 65.000,0O0 pounds of pork
into Texas, and every pound Of it from ST.
Louis or points farther north. i know of
but-one man In the state who makes
I AoioaiAS iORos n cptSAoANy budI
is judge Johnson at Columbus, on the
Colorado, He feeds his, entire corn crop
from $50 acres to hogs and cattle, and
he is making more money per acre from the
land cultivated than any man in Texas
Hog raising in Arkansas is. if any thing,
still more profitable in Arkansas than in
Texas, owing to the fact that they are fat
tened on the ac0rns and nuts of the great
forests rrf
The misfortune to the farmers in Texas
and Arkansas in old times and to the
old times southern farmer now is, that
they never engaged in general farming
They planted but one crop, and that usually
cotton, and il it failed they mad no other re-
source. The men who have engaged in gen.
eral farming-tbat is, those who have plant
ed wheat, oats, corn and cotton and raised
variety of live stock, including chickens and
turkeys-have grown rlch--sIn 1860 the corn
and cotton crops IN Texas were failure.
Since then there has been no general failure
of any crop. EE II
In conclusion, want to say. that any man