New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-06-14
TEXAS AS IT is.
".
ON THE FRONTIER.

CHEAP RICH LANDS AND PLENTY OF ELBOW |
ROOM.
tFRoM SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE'l
FoRr WORM, Texas" The Queen City of the
Prairies is what the enthusiastic inhabitants call
this outpost of civilization. 1t is not city and is
not at all queeny, but one must not be too particu-
lar about terms in Texas and little exuberance IN
n new country is always pardOnable Imagine
middle of cheap little pine houses on NIL sur
rounding a towering courthouse big hotel ana
few brick blocks; broad black streets. without SIDE
walks stretching ont to the fenceless pralrles
general appearance of crudlty, rawnesS ana mu'n-
room growth; in the streets BUSTING population
of energetic men, careless OF dress uhshEVeh VI
face and reckless of looks-teamsters, cowboys
frontier farmers gamblers, desperadoes, jewish
phopkeepers adventures Of every SORT sturdy I'M
migrants looking for a location lover 1t ali the
bright blue Texas sky, and you have picture of
Fort Worth To a stranger the best thing about
{he place is the view from the top Of the court
house. over miles and miles Of rolling prairies.
dotted here and there with isolated farms,
and sprnkled with herds Of ca le feeding
on the yelow-browu Wiuter-cure,. grass. TO
o newspaper man gathering information abont
Texas. the town is specially interesting
rs the most distinctvely frontier settlement
reached by rail- the present terminus Of the Texas
Pacific Road, the point of departure for the wagon
trains that 90 out to all the new Northwestern
counties and the rendezvous of the stock-raisers
who pasture their cattle the vast vacant territory
that stretches away for two or three hundred miles
westward When the railroad reached here I'VE
years ago, the place. then insignificant border
hamlet took a prOdigiOus start and grew up TO q
population Of about ten thousand souls win
amazing rapidlty Now it is at stand
still. and when another section Of the ROAD
now building is opened thirty miles to the next
will rudou There
will remain. however prosperous town which will
iu,Droye with the development Of the surrounding
country The loss of two three thousand lnhabl-
tants Of the type that keep the frontiers of civil
ization will improve the place in moral point OF
view and if they take with them their little shanty
dwellings or sell them for kndling-wood, the loss
will not be serious
living IN CLOSE QUARTERS.
No money is wasted on dwellings here. Most of
ihe people seem to be camping rather than living.
The boxes they inhabit hardly be called
bouses dwelling with two rooms is thought
quite comfortable one with three is luxurious, and
one with four arstocratc. Little one-story buildings
put out big signs announcing Private boarding.
but YOU would look in vain for any privacy. there
being usually three beds IN the parlor and two in
the dining-room, while the wash-basin, towel and
comb for all the boarders are conveniently placed
II the front porch. Saloons are surprisingly uumer-
habitants-and there is a low theatre of the vile
variety type but on the respectable side Of the ac
count must be placed a bright little daily news
paper n street-rairoad mile long, two or three
churches and a number Of substantial banks and
business houses. Doubtless there are hundreds OF
good citizens, too, who came to grow mp with the
country, and who stay away from the saloons, and
spend their evening with their families, as good cit
liens do in more stable communities.
The biggest thing architecturally and financially
nj Fort Worth is the courthouse. There is
mania for building big court-houses in Northern
Texas and the little country towns rival each other
IN the size and costness of their temples of Justice
In Iowa OF Kansas, if you fine building loom
ing up in IN the distance the praires 1t is sure
10 be public school-house in Texas 1t is invari-
ably a courthouse. Probably the people in this
State feel impulse to assert IN some tangible ana
impressive manner the majesty of their oftlnsulted
laws 1 can account in no other way for
their extravaganza in the one matter OF court
bouses The Fort Worth county capitol is an
astonishing structure of novel deslgn-a big
rotunda. surmounted by a cupola, and four little
wings stuck on like spOkes TO a hub. 1t cost
100000 but, although IL Is only about two years
old the interior is IN a shameful state OF dirt and
Capidation. The plasteT.has fallen off the ceiling
of the courtroom and filters the stairs and the
halls below Around the tables Of the lawyers and
-
filings. tobacco guilds and plaster, and everywhere
ebout the building are heaps Of dirt and rubbish.
] called on the County Treasurer, and found that
official engaged in adding TO the accumulation of
tobacco Juice around the legs of the stove SLOW
euly bed and pile of wood occupied large part OF
the office The treasurer praised the courthouse
as the finest and most convenient building Of the
sort in Texas, and he seemed wholly Obllyous to
its shabby and filthy condition.
THE TEXAS COWBOY.
There is no better place than Fort Worth to OBJ
serve the cowboy, that peculiar product OF wild
frontier life He comes here from his home on the
plains 10 spend his money at the saloons swasgern
the streets. buy himself new sombrero with silver
rord and binding OF bright-cOlored braid. and make
merry with the painted sirens of the variety theatre
FuIl of strange oaths, free with his cash and bis
revolver boisterous lawless, but not bad-hearted
the cowboy is a character sal geHcis. He IS apt to
mako himself obnoxious in crowded town.
Int seen on his native heath, cantering
over the plains his swift mustang
swinging his lariat and shouting his whOOp and
haloo to the fleeing steers he Is picturesque spec
tacle. He lives in hut or a tent sleeps IN Summer
rolled In his blanket in the open air. is in the saddle
from morning 10 night settles his quarres with
his six-shooter looks upon killing venal offence
md on catte-stealing as a capital crime, and Is al
together the most free and Independent fellow to
be found in this peculiarly free and independent
country.
From Dallas to Fort Worth the railroad trayerses
nm omen country of level plains and rolling praries
with the exception of a strip of ten miles Of oak
forest called the First Gross Timbers. There are
few little villages and good deal of farming is
done in patches here and there, cotton being the
main CROP but corn and wheat being raised TO
a considerable extent. The soil Is a brown loan,
d 81 oil tIa