The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1883-01-18

property III 1901 1JOhNyaAo
Assessed value of live stock .
In 1852. ................. zOo,zzJ
*Aprt taken from Lee county IN 1874.
Assessment rolls of 1882 not filed at data OF
publication.
Ninety per cent of its area, of Col
square miles, is arabic and nearly
equally divided between dense forests
and high, rolling prairie. Besides a
broad belt of prairie, extending across
the county nearly centrally from
northeast to southwest, the heavily
timbered sections in the southeast and
northwest are interspersed with many
small prairies. The forests are conf
posed principally of oak OF several
kinds, hickory, pecan, ash and cedar,
the oak predOminating, and all OF
large growth. Not exceeding one
twentieth part of the arabic land is
under cultivation, in farms averaging
about fifty acres. The character OF the
soil is dark loan ON the prairies, and
a reddish brown alluViOn, of greater
depth and much richer, on the bottoms
of the BraZos river. Being equally well
adapted to stockraiSing and agrlcul-
ture, the-two industries are generally
combined, but the great fertility OF
the prairie lands, and the increased IA
cilitleS of transportation, are tending
to give precedence to the latter inter
est. The usual yield of the staple
products is, of cotton, on the uplands,
one-third to one-half of bale, and on
the BraZos and Yegua bottoms, not
unfrequently a bale to the acre; corn,
20 to 80 bushels; wheat, from 10 to 10;
and oats, 30 bushels. The average
rainfall is about 40 inches per annum,
and usually distributed throughout
the year SO as to insure uniform crops.
All garden vegetables raised in this
latitude yield in great abundance,
Peaches, pears, apricotS, plums and
the early varieties of apples grow and
mature well. Several kinds of native
grapes of good flavor, dewberries,
DlackberrieS, whortleberries and pecan
nuts are the never-failing products OF
the forests.
The number of live stock in the
county is as follows: Cattle, 14,779;
horses and mules, 1853; sheep, 1880;
hogs, ii ,253. The native grasses, the
mesquite and the sedge, furnish an
excellent range almost the year round,
and all kind of live stock, except
sheep, are raised without feed. Sheep
are kept in small hocks on the farms,
and, with the run of the fields in fall
and winter, very little feeding is ne
ceSSary. The pecan, acorn and hickO-
ry nut mast rarely fails, and hogs re-
quire only sufficient corn to keep them
gentle until they are put up in the pen
to fatten.
Wild lands can be bought at from s.
to $40 per acre, and improved tracts
at from $40 to $25. Cultivated land
on the uplands and prairies usual
rents at from 50 to So per acre; on the
BraZof and Yegua bottoms, at from So
to So. Farm labor is in great demand
and is paid 81 to $50 per month.
General freight to Galveston, to
which the trade of the county flows
is TO cents per hundred.
Improved farming implements are
coming into general use, especially in
the prairie lands, to the great advant-
age of the farming interest.
The principal water-courses, besides
the rivers named, are Buffalo, Second
and Davidson creeks, the latter OF
which biSects the county nearly cen
trally from northwest to southeast
These and their many tributaries dis
tribute the water supply for stock
county. Water for domestic use is
obtained from wells at depth of from
20 to 80 feet, but for drinking water
cisterns are preferred.
The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe
railroad passes through the county
nearly centrally from southeast to
northwest, and has three stations
Caldwell, Lyons and Yellow Prairie
The former, with population OF
about 800, is the principal trading and
shipping point. Danville, Fraimville
Hookersville and Tunis are small but
thriving villages OFF the line of the
railway. There are two factories at
Caldwell for the manufacture of wag.
ons and of agricultural implements
both limited to the supply of the
home market, but operated with sue
cess. There are also two steam saw
mills in the county. which furnish
lumber of good quality at SIT to $40
per thousand, and one steam Touring
mill, which turns out an excellent art.
icle of flour at $3.50 to So per hundred
pounds.
The county is free from debt, and
has a cash balance in the treasury
For a scholastic population in 1879
there are AZ public schools, with fail
average attendance; also number OF
private schools of the first and second
grades, which are well sustained
Church conveniences are, upon the
whole, not by any means deficient
either in reference to the number OF
edifices or the regularity of religious
exercises. The people are orderly and
peaceable, and the laws are enforced
There is no prevailing disease of any
kind, and the general health good, the
only exception being occasional at
tacks of a malarial type, which yield
readily to home treatment.