The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-07-12

,tracted the attention of miners who
ave made extensive investments. !
he coal is undoubtedly superior
luminous. and is believed to be |
About one hundred
liners are now actively employed, !
nd from six to eight carloads of coal
re daily shipped. While numerous
arties are prospecting, only two
hines are now actively Operated-one
v the Texas Central coal and manu-
company, and the other by
iodman & Mcdonald. We visited
hese coal mines with an unusual in
crest, and went all through them.
They enter from the surface and go
into the mountains about
100 feet. The excavation made IS
lbout four feet, and in this space coal
s obtained from eighteen to thirty
,wo inches thick, and it is believed |
,he thickness and quality will i'm
prove.
Learning that Goldman 81 Melon
aid had obtained the best quality and
quantity of coal in this region, we
went carefully through their mine.
1t has three layers. The upper one,
which is Immediately under layer of
slate rock, is about eighteen inches OF
solid bituminous coal; next to this IS
clay, then comes layer of what the
miners call carbonate coal, which is
even better than the regular bituml-
nous. A YaluelesS block coal follows
this and the succeeding and last layer
Is like the first, except not quite SO
thick. Owing to the richness of this
mine and the great energy displayed
by its proprietors they have been able
to work it wholly without capital.
The Central railroad has engaged all
the coal they can eXcavate at $40
per ton.
SOCIETY
over the entire county is now quite
good, the rough element incident to
frontier life having wholly disap-
peared, and the inhabitants almost
altogether composed of well educated
persons from thickly settled sections
of the old states. The people are law
abiding. Since the organization OF
the county only four murder cases
have been before the court, and in all
this time only II persons have been
convicted of felony. and misdemeanor
cases have been comparatively few.
A spirit of progress prevails and
the church and educational interest
is warmly promoted. The Methodist
Episcopal church has three congrega-
lions in the county; the Methodist
Episcopal Church South has seven Or
CARNATIONS; the Baptist missionary
has four or five organizations; the
Cumberland Presbyterians three or
four, and the Christian has sew
eral. Church service is largely
attended and numerous Sunday
schools exist in the county. Neat,
desirable chuszsh houses are in
most instances already provided. The
secret orders are all well represented.
Masons, eOdd Fellows, Knights of
Pythias and Knights of Honor are all
well represented and organized into
convenient lodges.
FREE SCHOOLS.
Aside from the private schools and
| colleges this county has a thoroughly
organized free school system, which
is Zealously supported by an active
public sentiment. There are forty
| two free schools organized for 992
pupils within the scholastic age this
year. The only fund now available
is that received from the state, which
this year amounted to $4057. Its dis
bursement shows that it will sustain
four months school this year. The
pro rata is 1896 per pupil. Many of
these schools are supplemented by
private funds and taught much
longer There are twenty school
houses in the county held in the name
of the state for the county. These
houses are worth about $500 each.
This county has it's own school land
which will hereafter be available. OF
the four leagues granted the county
one was given to secure To-
cation of the others, one has
been sold on twenty years
time. The two leagues still belonging
| to the county are very excellent land,
and one is situated in Crosby county
and the other in Floyd.
Anyone desiring to emigrate is
| already informed as to what he can do
here with capital. If industrious,
and without capital, the chances of
success are equally fiattering; in fact,
the men who came here few years
ago with nothing are now the most
wealthy and prosperous citizens OF
| the county. Laborers can readily Sc
cure employment. Farm and other
manual labor is in demand, and 500 a
month, or S1.75 a day is paid. Men
working in the coal mines make from
$50 to $50 a month, or from So to 81
a day-owing to their skill and eXpe-
rience, though very little of either is
required at the outstart. Laborers on
the railroad are paid $50 a day; for
| driving cattle, $40 to $50 a month
Rock quarry-men get 50 and $3.50 a
day; carpenters, $3.50 to 81; stone
and brickmasonS, $3.50 to $S4 So
Board in the country can be had at
from 81 so to $12 month, and in the
towns from $3.50 to 800.
EAsTLAND
was laid off and mapped for town
in 1875, 10y Daugherty, Connellee and
zimmerman, who, by liberal offers, in
duced the people the same year to
make it the county site, though stu
ated in what was then an absolute
unsettled Wilderness country vast
in natural resources but without pop
ulation. 1t was rapidly settled up by
the efforts of the citizens of the
county, and has kept up with the
county's wonderful progress. 1t has
permanently built up until it now
commands IL good local and foreign
trade, and has population of about
500. The Texas and Pacific railway
runs through the town and has a de-
pot on the main street, with conve-
niences of shipping by either of two
express companies, or as general
freight. Last year 688 bales of cotton
were shipped; this year 4S8 to date.
This year ten carloads of cattle and
hogs, twenty carloads of sheep and
forty carloads of building stone have
been exported. The public square is
surrounded by several handsome bus
mess houses, among which are six two
story and one three-story building.
The most attractive building adjoining
the public square is the three-story
hotel, which vies in Importance with
a two-story stone Touring mill with
grist mill and cotton gin attached
Several neat residences adorn the
suburbs, and others are in course of
construction. The Baptists have "a
neat church in course of construc-
ton, and the NJ. E. Church South has
an excellent church house neatly fin
ished. The M. E. Church has a hand
some stone church, with seating
capacity of three hundred persons, is,
perhaps, the most commodiOus stone
church in the western country. The
Maso.s and Odd Fellows have their
respective lodge rooms. A substan-
tial two-story stone Jail has already
hpnn hui1t and the commissioned