The Russellville Democrat. [volume] (Russellville, Ark.) 1875-1898, 1883-02-22
Rambles in Texas.
mo-. 6.


and night, and saw but little of X.
From what did see came to the
conclusion that it is a considerable
place. Notwithstanding the cold
wind there was an amount OF stir
which indicated business. Cotton
wagons we're crowding the principal
streets all day. And one would
Judge from this fact that very proe
ductiye soil surrounds the place In
all directions. There are great
many substantial buildings on the
two most popular streets. Some of
them are of stone and some of brick,
and some not so substantial are Of
WOOD. A good big fire will soon do
away with them. / saw signs of
very rapid improvement, many new
buildings going up. There are sew
eral railroads coming here, and the
proper pluck and perseverance will
make Dallas the second city in Tex
as in the near future.
! I left Dallas on the T Il p at 6 a.
m. in company with Rev. j. H. Wof-
ford, for Terrell, in Kaufman county.
We reached this thriving town at
about 8 4. m. The country through
which we passed, is high rolling
prairie, apparently very productive,
: | could not tell whether it was "hog
wallow" or not. Terrell is rail-
road town, but very thrifty, in the
midst of good country, and filed
up with a citizenship which is alive
to its own interests; public spirited
and liberal. ] spent three days here,
the hoL ored guest of Mr.. and Mrs.
Kell. took in the town generally
as far as was able. There is large
cotton mill doing an extensive bus
mess in the way Of making Irvine,
rope, cloth etc. Tie superintendent
invited me III, and gave me liberty to
go all through and see all l could,
but he was too busy to go with me,
and about the first thing | saw on
entering was these very impressive
words, hung up so that all might
read and understand. Operatives
not ollowed to talk to visitors" Now
wasn't that aggravating. swal.
; lowed my veXation and went on, and
saw all / could, which / assure you
was a great deal. In. the upper sto
ry the raw cotton goes in and comes
out in. the shape Of Irvine, thread
! rope or cloth. | am not sure about
the rope but the others am. The
weaving is done in the lower part of
the building. There were perhaps
30 looms in operation. How many
spindles / did not learn. Besides
the profit to the owners, it furnishes
employment to great many hands,
mostly females. thought while ex-
: aiming this establishment that the
southern people could be the most
Independent people in the world ii
they only had the will to be. They
have the soil, they can raise all they
: need, and If they could be convinced
that it would be cheaper to make
their own hog and hominy and man.
, ufacture their own goods at home,
and would do it, they would be the
most independent of people. But
southern smokehouses and corn
] cribs are in tire north The country
around Terrell can furnish all the
raw material for several such mills,
and ! was told it was q healthy
country.
: On Monday morning about Dec.
IL, at $3.50 | was on board the train
: "homeward bound" The first point
of any note, after leaving Terrell, is
Wills Point, growing town o. per-
haps 1000 population, | only had a
glimpse. 1t presents an inviting APP
pearance. Soon after leaving this
place we passed out of the prairies
into the timber. Texas timber land
is not much if any better than Ark,
, hills. Mineola comes next. l am
: not able to say whether it is much
town or not. 1t seems To be rather
scattered. | think there are not
i. many good buildings here, at any
rate | did not see them. This is a
railroad crossing, but have forgot
, ten the name of the road which cross
es the L d Z at this point. This is
a very broken country and contin-
ues so all the way until you reach
Ark. Longview at the junction of
the International and Texas Pacific
is handsome town. Here we had
the offer of dinner: but no thank
you, don't wish any. If the dinner
is in keeping with the outside APP
pearance OF the eating house, shall
not be blamed for not eating. i may
have missed good dinner, but am
not hungry now. After leaving this
place we passed Marshall and Jeffer-
son but could see but little of either
from the road. From Jefferson to
the Arkansas line there are a great
many saw mills, at each one of which
may DE seen huge stacks of lumb her,
a great deal OF which is designed for
shipment to the southern part OF
Texas, where it will command from
$22.50 to $4,000 per thousand.
But night is coming on, and we
are nearing the Arkansas line. But
| here miles from Texarkana, is a