Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-07-01
THE TOWN OF
Y GA KU M
Read and Learn of This Beautiful Land, for
Truth is Stranger than Fiction"

TRIBUTARY COUNTRY.

A two years. growth of this remarka-
BILE town has succeeded in demonstrating
the fact that 1t has come to stay. The
"little station on the prairie' which
was surveyed and plated by the railway
company in the spring of 1887 has de-
veloped into thriving business place,
and to-day contains not less than
twelve hundred persons. We are 10th
to give any figures on our
population, because, on account
of its rapid increase, an estimate for
one month would be inadequate for the
next.
LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION.
Yoakum, the most f1ourishing town in
Southwest Texas, is situated half mile
east of Brushy Creek, on the main track
of the San Antonio g. Arkansas Pass rail-
road, between San Antonio and Houston.
The county line of Lavaca and Dewitt
counties runs through the town, dividing
it in twain It is the terminus of the
Waco division of the same road and will
also be the end of the Austin divisions
when completed. The location of Yoa-
KUN is especially favorable both from
commercial standpoint and a natural
aspect. The scenery surrounding the
town is a beautiful park-li prairie, re-
lleved by the wooded valley of the
creek and timbered point terminating
on the eastern boundary. Two high
ridges, running parallel southeast and
northwest furnish a naturally healthy
location for the city. If man does half
as much for Yoakum as Nature has, it
will undoubtedly and inevitably be
city of size and great commercial I'M
portance.
SURROUNDING COUNTRY.
The country adjacent and tributary to
Yoakum cannot be exceIIed for health
fulness, while the soil is 30 fertile that it
is capable of sustaining d dense popula-
ton. The gentle western zephyrs and
soft sea breeZes fan the cheek in summer,
while less favored sections are sweltering
in the heat. All the country needs is de-
velopment. On accountpf its location,
being several miles from market until
the advent of the railway 1T has not been
settled and put into cultivation as extern
sively as other regions nearer market,
but less fertile. The crying need of the
country is more farmers, and the black
rich land seems to say ''tickle me with
the pillow and IL laugh with an abund-
ant harvest. Forty bushels of corn or
bale of fcotton per acre is
oats, rye and other cereals
are likewise produced in proportion.
Raw lands are valuable, and range in
prices from ten to twenty dollars per
acre, according to distance from town,
location, etc. These lands are rapidly
rising IN value, and in few years, when
the country becomes more thickly popu-
lated, a "well fixed' farmer can hardly
be bought out. There are few-verY few
improved places for sale, and those that
are depend for their price on the perma-
nency and value of their improvements
The Guadalupe river, one of the most
picturesque and gamy of southern
streams, is but ten miles west of the city,
and here the forester botanist, sports
man and artist may find a rich field in
which TO follow their respective pastimes.
The valley lands are composed of a rich
alluvlal loan; on the prairies are found
dark and light sandy loan, lnterspersed
with chocolate and black hog wallow
soils. All these lands are capable of easy
and productive cultivation The post
oak lands, which border the town on the
east, are suitable not only for the gen.
eral purposes of agriculture, but are es-
pecially adapted for wine culture, an en-
terprise too much neglected in this
Warren, Isabel and other species of
grapes have been tried on a small scale,
and all do well. Mustang and Winter
grapes grow wild, as well as pecans,
persimmons, wild plums,
etc.
AS the town grows the necessity for
nurseries and truck farms will be more
keenly felt, and those who embark in
these enterprises will reap rich reward.
To further encourage these industries,
the s. A. s. A. p. railway company has
offered special rates on this kind of
freight TO Northern points.
THE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
of this section are cotton, corn, ribbon |
cane, sorghum, oats, rye, millet and |
nearly all other kinds of small grain. |
Johnson and Mesquite |
grasses all do well, the last named being |
indigenous TO this section The con- |
tiguous country TO Yoakum is well |
wooded, the native
being live oak, post and pin-oak, hick-
DRY, blackjack. elm, pecan, ash, hack
berry, mulberry, walnut, cottonwood, |
willow, etc. etc
The town of Yoakum, on account of its /
railway outlets, offers unsurpassed ia
cilities for the location of a cotton seed /
oil mill, cotton spinning factory, paper
mill, wooden factory, brick kilnS. ice
factory, etc. etc. The water supply is
and can be used for any
and we think that a system of
would be well patronized
Other branches of business are ably rep
Hotel accommodations are
abundant and cuisine firSt-class. |
glance at the map heading this article
win satisfy you of the importance of this