The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1879-10-16
TeXaS OF TO.DaI.

October gives this interesting sketch OF
the greatSouthwestern State: Texas may
be, for convenience sake, divided into
eastern, central, and western sections.
TIE first, or timbered portion, has the
Trinity river as a western boundary.
This region exceeds the area OF the
State Of Now York. Central Texas may
be defined as including all of the vast
prairie lands from the Trinity to the
Colorado, leaving beyond a territory
larger than both of the former, and ex-
ceeding the size of any four OF our or.
dinary States, as the western portion.
The hrst-named is the Oldest in point OF
Auglo-Saxon civilization. The prairie
loan lands ere in condition of evolu-
tion OF progression, and being the most
fecund, the great centers of population
which multiplied generations will pro-
duce will be located within the bounda.
ries given. Much of the far western
lands is arid ana unculitvable. The
Staked Plains are the most notable ex.
ample. Western Texas will be invaded
in time by the miner; for its mineral
wealth, as already revealed, is consider
able. The tide Of emigration to this
section will doubtless reverse the gen
eral order OF things, and move eastward
through Arizona. Railway communica-
tion, hereafter spoken of, from the
Pacific, will materially contribute to
this result. At present the extreme
point of eastern encroachment is the city
of San Antonio, which is only a city OF
the Anglo-Saxon by virtue of conquest,
and marks the limit OF a daring, bril-
liant and intellectual civilization, whose
impulse was eastward, and which built
a garden in the plain about the time
that the French took root in Indiana,
and the good people of New England
were exercising themselves about the
Salem witchcraft delusion. 1t is reason
able to assume that history may repeat
itself in this instance.
The wooded country of Eastern Texas
yields rich variety Of useful woods.
yellow pine, cypress, red and white oak,
hickory, pecan, and cedar predominant.
ing. The Trinity, Sabine, Neches, An
gelina, San Jacinto, and other rivers
afford rafting facilities and water-power
at times, although water is an uncertain |
commodity in the State, and nearly all
mills have steam-engines. A new road
will soon bisect the lumber districts,
springing from Denison, near the Red
river, and traversing the State to Sabine
Pass, which is sixty miles east of Gal
weston, and already an important lum-
beripg point.
The transcontine ntal division of the
Texas and Pacific, as well as its main
line from Marshall westward, affords an
outlet for the northern section, while |
the International and Great Northern
road passes through its western tier of
counties, and road toward New Or.
leans connects Orange, on the Sabine,
with Houston. Before the construction
of the railroads, one of the greatest diff
ficulties which the prairie settler had TO
encounter was the scarcity of and ex-
treme cost of lumber 1t sold as high
as sixty and seventy dollars per thou
sand feet, and was often hauled hundreds
of miles by ox-teams. The Texan lum-
herman finds his market toward each of
the cardinal points of the compass.
The cleared lands in the valleys yield
a good quality Of cotton, to the extent
of bale of five hundred pounds to the
acre. Some rice grown upon the low
lands bordering the Gulf, as well as the
stable known as Sea Island cotton.