The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-07-12
HOW TEXAS GROWS.
IayIor's Rise and Progress Cold
and Clear Facts-N hich Show Up
for TayaS

IOr IeAds.
Irregular rrespondence.l
TAYLOR, July 9, 1888.
As L threatened last week, l will
inflict another letter ON the tens OF
thousands of readers and lovers of
THE STATESMAN. l give the begin
ming of Taylor, its situation, sur
roundings, wealth, business, etc., as a
typical railroad town of Texas, which
springs to solid and active life, full
grown in day, as it were, from the
products OF an abundantly fertile
country, like Minerva sprang forth
from the brain of Jupiter full grown
and in complete panoply. As this is
intended as a letter for those who
wish to know what we do in Texas
and for accurate information, L will
not "circumlocute," but will proceed
Immediately to business.
TAYLOR's BEGINNING.
Were you ever at sea in a storm
And did you ever watch the waves as
they rushed madly along trying to
keep ahead of the wind, when sud.
denly the gale veered, and other
waves were sent rolling at right an
giles with the others "a chopping sea-
with here and there a smooth place
Well, imagine such a sea suddenly
CONCEALED and you have the country
surrounding Taylor. | can liken the
irregular but picturesque fluctuations
Of this country to nothing else. In
1876 (about the latter part of June. ]
think, those John the Baptists of the
great mo,iern ciViliZeTS and wilder
ness developers, a corps of railway
engineers, appeared there and began
to proclaim the coming Of the Inter
ternational railroad by laying out this
town. 1t was first called Taylor.
vlIle," after that prolific newspaper
CORES pondent, IN. \. t." On. A
TAYLOR, and the willie" has since been
eliminated, which is great improve
ment, as IN. A. T." never lived here
Since the railroad arrived the sur,
rounding country has indeed "blos.
somed as the rose" Very few farms
were opened up anywhere near the
new town, either toward the east, the
south or the west, though there were
flourishing settlements toward the
north along the st. Gabriel river, one
of the prettieSt perennial streams tC
be found anywhere, and which ever
flows toward the BraZos, scattering
plentiful yields all along its rich val.
leyS. AS an indication Of what rail
ways do for our counties, | will state
that now nearly one-half Of the lands
within radius of eight miles of Tay-
lor are being worked, and as they
are Of the same character as all the
rich, hog-wallow prairie-lands Of this
state, they are producing abundant
crops of corn, oats, wheat, barley, cot
ton, millet, rye, vegetables, fruits
etc, besides furnishing fine pasturage
for thousands of cattle, sheep and
horses. This, it must be remem-
bered, has all been brought
about since 1876, at which time the
celebrated Wilson farm was the only
farm within five miles of Taylor
The town was incorporated in 1882
and Daniel Moody, Esq. was made
mayor on the 21st Of June of the
same year. He was reelected and
still serves. and the aldermen are
Messrs. NJ. r. HoXie, j. w, WOmack,
II. Dickson, S. Riley and j. A. ST.
mons, all among the most prominent
and solid citizens of Taylor and Will,
hanson county. Mr.. John L. Olive
is marshal, and will be candidate
for sheriff at the next election.
TAYLOR TO-DAY
is doing an immense businesS-a safe
growing and permanent trade is
being built up with large scope OF
country. Her stock interests are
simply immense, and, be it said TO the
praise of the StOckmen, q very large
per cent OF all stock owned by them
are improved by the introduction OF
blooded stock among them-sheep,
cattle and horses. [ ascertained, by
diligent inquiry, that there are nearly
10000 cattle owned by men whose
pastures and residences are sufficient
ly near Taylor for them to make it
their postoffice and, by estimating
those whose poStoffice is at Circlev1lle
it will be found that the number OF
cattle owned by individuals in that
region will reach nearly 10000 head!
Sheep men whose postotfice address is
at Taylor own sheep aggregating
100000 head-a large per cent i'm
proved. Several thousand head of
horses are owned by the above stock
men also. When we reflect that Tay-
lor represents only a few miles
square of Williamson county, and
that it has been the natural offspring
of railway development and a rich
country, the above figures, coupled
with those below, are pregnant with
interesting facGs, and contain material
that should engage the attention OF
people of other states and countries,
who seek homes where earnest and
honest industry meets with sure and
ample reward. Twill state that all the
figures presented may b erelied on as
accurate.
TAYLOR'S BUSINESS.
| am under obligations to Mr.. F. d.
Ungles, in charge of the freight office
of the Missouri Pacific railway here,
for courtesies in laborously assisting
me (by going over his boo6s)in making
the following calculations of ship
ments and receipts during the past
year. This task was anything but
humorous, but Mr.. Ungles would
patiently search around for other
books as fast as ] would intimate that
other figures We're necessary to make
the matter reliably accurate. During
last season Taylor shipped a fraction
ship more this; during last year she
shipped 278 cars of cattle, the value of
which would reach over 100000; she
shipped 66 cars, or over 1900 head of
sheep; horses, 1856 cars, or over $3.50
head; oats, so cars, or about 10000
bushels; corn, IS cars, or near
ly 1900 bushels. The ship
ments of oats and corn will
be nearly three times larger this sea-
son than last, it is thought, on account
of a larger acreage and less demand
for home consumption. Mr.. Ungles
says that the other shipments are
more than 100 per cent over any pre-
vious year, hence a corresponding in
crease may be looked for this year.
Hay is also shipped in large quanti-
ties. To cOunterbalance the above the
receipts of freight at Taylor were
about double last year to what they
were the previous year, and Mr.. I'm
giles informed me that from careful
comparisons made with the receipts
to date with last years, they will this
year double over last. The receipts
of staple articles were, in round fig
ures, as follows: Flour 10000 pounds
bacon, 100000 pounds; other merchan-
disc, such as dry goods, boots, shoes
ETC., 100000 pounds,
IMPROVEMENTS.
Taylor now has fine system OF
waterworks in operation, and the
company is erecting a new reservoir
at an altitude of seYenty-hve feet
higher than the highest point in the
CRY, which will give ample pressure
for any emergency. HYdrants are