Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-05-16
MENARD COUNTY.
Some Interesting Statistics from One
OF the Thriving Counties OF
West Texas.
A Good Tieid for q Permanent Invest
msnt Of Capital-A Prominent Place
la Texas History.
correspondence Of the Gazette.


Correspondence of the Gazette.
MENARDvILLE, TEX, May lathe
population Of this county is 1900 The
total amount Of assessments is s |, $50, 900
The resources In cattle, horses and sheep
rich farming lands, iron and silver ore
are unsurpassed. The water power is ex'
celeut, The banking points are San An.
gel0, Austin and Fort Worth. Owing to
the great inconvenience caused by dis.
lance, these points advance money on
short time, only Ia the spring Just before
the sale Of stock aud wool, terms II per
cent, with 10 per cent. of amount add.
tionol for attorneys fees, In case the sum
Is collected by legal process. With the
exception If the spring months, II is
almost impossible to obtain money here
on any terms. hundred thousand dol
lars could be safely let out at 10 per cent.
with undoubted land security. Above all
we need bank or permanent loan
agency 1 would give good interest, for
mon y can be safely loaned at IL per cent.
The speculative period has passed Money
would be borrowed to build pastures and
upon land which the people already own,
There Is no newspaper published In the
county, and OF this we stand in great
need. The county can support good
paper now, and the paper would grow
with the country.
A railroad is greatly needed TO carry
the surplus stock 70 market and develop
The mineral resources Of this region
Wooden and Touring mills would do well,
because we have unsurpassed water
power. The wool and grain are grown in
the vicinity, while the mills can be run
every month in the year.
Grazing lands sell ut from 81 to So pei
acre, unimproved farming lands from So
TO 81 per acre, improved farming land
from SO to $50 per acre. Farming is pur-
sued both with and without irrigation
All kinds OF small grain do we'll without
irrigation, Welding from thirty-fve TO
sixty bushels per acre.
The price Of cattle is from $40 to $40
per head; the price of sheep from Sl.50
to So; stock horses are from $40 to $50 (;
work horses are from S35 to $50.
The Vaughn Agricultural and Mechan-
ical Ditch company has been in success
full operation for eight years. Ithas been
recently purchased by men OF means, who
will in the near future increase
the capacity OF the ditch to 425
cubic yards of water per second and
leugthen the ditch TO distance of
eight miles. The ditch passes through
Menardville, the county seat. No county
in the state offers greater inducements
to Investment than this, because every
thing is In an undeveloped condition,
awaiting the magic touch of enterprise
and capital. Our county Is frequently
eyi!ed by her enemies, but the days OF
the siX-shOOter have passed, and there
never was moro law-abiding commu-
nifty than this, the last grand Jury having
found only three bills of Indictment.
The Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe rail-
road viii soon be finished to Hutching-
son, which is only sixty miles distant.
Within three months we will have d.
rect communication with the above road
by stage line.
Menardvllle can boast of one OF the
finest schools In Wos.ern Texas, regular
preaching by able ministers, sub
stanligl and newly constructed court
house aud jail, town hall, telegraph
office, and the Australian hotel, which
has been recently erected the same
being complete and new in all of it's ap-
pohtmen's, giving good beds aud the
best county fare 10 the capitalist, the
tourist, the invalid and the home
seeker. The hills abound in game,
while the rippliugS San Saba river
offers fine sport to the angler. The good
roads throughout the county furnish
pleasant drives In all directions. The
county is situated in an elevated rolling
country. The rainfall is eighteen inches
per annum. The atmosphere is lnylgora-
ting, being pure snd free from malaria.
There are several physicians in the
county but none can depend upon his
practice for livelihood. An outdoor
life in this section is almost sure cure
Tor all pulmonary troubles The sum-
mers are delightful, there being almost a
constant breeze from the south, while
the nights are so cool as to make a blau-
ket necessary for comfort. There are no
mosquitoes except few near the
streams. The writer sought health in
the once famous region Of Florida, and Ia
Tree TO say that the people OF the North
should seek health in Western Texas in
stead OF Florida. Let them study the
question and they will be forced to this
conclusion. Menard county deserves A
prominent place in the history Of Western
Texas.
About one mile from Meuardviie is the
old Spanish fort built in 1884, all OF whose
inmates were years afterwards massacred
by the Comanche Indians; the same hay.
ing occurred at religious festival within
the walls of the fort The Indians had
previously protested Christianity, and had
oeen baptized, as means Of strategy,
Twenty miles below Menardyilie is
BoWie's battle ground, made famous In
1884 by eight men and two boys making
a successful resistance for thirteen hours
IN continuous battlc, ON an open praire,
against ESQ Indians, forty Indians having
been Killed and thirty wounded. The
Bowie mine is yet yelled In mysterious
uncertainty, Rocks, trees and cliffs pro-
claim aloud the history Of former DAYS.
while our old frontiersmen are still elo..
quent in all these and in many other ira
ditlons of those stirring times.