New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-05-03
TEXAS AS IT is.
Ill.
rur FRONTIER CITY.

81 TUE EXTREME CONFINES OF 49, 30
IN, OLD SPANISH MISsIoNs-'GRIcuLiOh M 80
,,p,s,rloN--wHEAr-GRow AND sloo
INC - ,,,nrxrI
,n,,, , SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT or THE ihln'NN''
evAxroxto. Tex. Feb. ID was unfortunate
ca - ~, an, vsv e. this outpost of clVlhza-
80 = charming article. published in H"P" 'h"y"-
..obo,,+ a wear 200. IN which san Antonio i ue-
- in d,,vipr and poeticI language as
oroa;so of bloom and pictuTesGueneSs'
r. ,rriter saw the Mace in all the loneliness OF
IT,. ,,rinr and saw it, too with the eyes Oh IN e"-
.,rsio.t for natural beauty. WIN TINS description
I'll IN mind set ont 10 explore the Town Oh Ia"
-, "norther" was blowing and
sz1ling rlin was falling, converting the pa%s III
= l,sr,- wastes and covering the barrow slue"a4
n.c,liar sticky. slippery slime more detest-
ohle than any other mud IN the world Inc mortimer
ON the poetry ont of Texas life. 1t penetrates
.rotbickcst clothing with ITS damp chilly BREATH
- Won feclmisanthropc and generally miserable
dds 20 vour irritation by provokingy refusing
., &C.. tbe mercury down below freezing point
v.,,,,.,t understand how il can be cold and
-. f-..gs The air feels colder than II does UP
N,rtb when the thermometer marks ten or fifteen
d.orees. Itcxtracts the warmth from you in about
ts mimi tes. and you can do nothing but retreat
ts.rip, ts YOUR room stuff the little soap-boX OF
-, r,ii ,s mesouit wood. stop the numerous
-,cl.s around the windows, and confound the ell
,,ote Nobody can predict the coming OF the
,ortber or say how long il Will last You 20 out
walk with the sun shining brightly and the
ras mild q. New-EnglanG june when, sud
So1, and without warning, the bitter blast Of the
nortber strikes you the mercury tumbles forty de-
,,r.es I'm balfas many minutes. and you are trans
sd from summer To Winter as suddenly as If Ma
tnre had abandoned the orderly course of the sea-
CONS and taken TO shifting them about like the
scenerv NJ a theatre in a sensational play.
The drearest February weather cannot, however,
rob san Antonio Of all its charms Ii is n city OF the
r,os striking contrasts. Here our pushing Western
cv,riza-.n comes in contact with the sleepy, dead
alive. Naturalization of Mexico. The palace car
meets The OK team and the panniered donkey the New
York drummer arTaved in faultless garments from
the Broadway shops jOstles IN the narrow streets
+rorlncbero i'm poncho and sombrero; and the BOs-
ton tourist. running away from consumption, en-
cou9t.rs the olauketed Indian Of the plains. Here
are fine stone mansions that would not be out OF
Mace IN the loveiest suburbs of Philadelphia. and
here are Mexican huts matched with cornstalks.
beside which the dwellings Stanley saw In Ngan-
da were models ofc0mfort Fine modern churches,
with carpctcd aises and cushioned pcws, stand IN
SIGHT of ID venerable Spanish cathedral where swaT-
+bypcuitents mufled in shaws, crouch on the stone
floor and tell their beads. Here spacious stores,
filed with as costly goods can be found IN East
eru cities. daily newspapers, banks, water-worAs
eas-works telegraph Offices. club and theatre;
and there are quaint and dirty little Mexican shops
adobe buildings with loop-holed battiement
Scared with bullet marks, long wagon trains from
Chihuahua and Monterey bringing silver and taking
back cotton, soldiers, priests, nuns, negroes
rreasers. half breeds, Comancles, dirt, dogs and
dcas. I'm five minutes walk from your hotel You
can find Yourself I'm what seems to be some town,
in the heart OF Mexico; continue your walk i've
minutes longer and the houses and people make you
fancy you are IN one of the pretty suburbs OF Mu-
nich OF Stuttgart.
san Antonio is essentially trading city. 1t sup
plies with general merchandise a section Of country
of immense extent IN al Of which there Is not
single town If sufficient size TO be a rival. wagon
trains loaded With goods 90 from here TO New-MeX-
leo and Arizona to the Northern States OF Old Mex
leo and 10 a tho settlements in Western Texas. The
norton OF Texas alone that is tributary 90 san An
tlniols Larger than the whole State of Ohio
No wonder that there are so many evidences of
wealth here. There is no agricultural country,
worth speaking of, however. on this side of the
Guadalupe. and none between here and the Rio
Grgnde 80 miles distant The San Antonio River
runs through the town in the form of a letter s,
and is spauued by five iron bridges made IN Cle7e-
land. Ohio Along the banks Of the stream for
short Listauc. above and below the town, is line
offerile fields aad market gardens watcTcd by rTi-
eating bitches, where corn, wheat, oats, rye and all
kinds of vegetables are produced in great abundance
TO supply the local market but the tact that humid
rcl- of acres once irrigated and cultivated now
growiugup 20 bushes aad weeds shows that this in
dustry does nov admit Of profitable expansion.
For d hundred miles eastward or southwark
10 the coast. 80 westward 10 the Rio Grande and
an indefinite distance northward stretches
vast region of rolling praries, and post OAK OPEN
mg. thckly covered with verGure I'D summer and
with dried grass In Winter. which natt-. has nd
mirab.y adapted for grazing and for nothing else.
The land agents try TO make euIgrant5 think
that this land IS fertile for general farming and VIII
produce large crops Of wheat. ii Is good, rich soil
and iu favorable years for rainfall will probably
give fair yield of wheat and other small grains,
bat the risks OF drought are too great and prices too
low To- make such crops profitable, 1 have the au-
thoritv Of Old German residents who know thecoun-
ty well for saying that emigrants who intend toIve
bvcultivatingt the soil had better not come much
west of the Guadalupe The circulars of the railroad
companies which have land to sell describe the
whole Of Western Texas as a land of promise, only
wanting the plough Of the industrious husbandman
10 produce all the grams. fruits and vegetables of
the temperate zone. The emigraut would be wls3
not to place much faith In these over-colored de-
scrptlOus. One OF the circulars, now DelOTe NE,
saws Irish potatoes grow as fine here as in any Of
the Northern States" 1t Is true that they grow
70 great size, but they are watey, 1avorless and
scarcely iii to eat. One is told that apples and
peaches can be grown here. asked an old citizen
about the success Of fruit culture and he said that
Texas apples were about a. tastelsss as shavings;
peaches we're little better, but not to be compared
with Northern fruit. pears still better, and p.ums
and cherries quite good.
Il the black, fertile lands of Western Icxas were
really adapted for wheat growing tle want o.