Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-10-29
ITASCA.
This Beautiful Little City Conspicuous
in the Race for Substantial
Improvements.
The City and Its People, the County and lis
Products, Advantages, Healthfulness.
A Welcome 10 ALI.
ITAscA. HILL COUNTY. Oct. 81, Is

that none can deny-and while the raplu
growth OF small towns into hourishing
cities is unsurpassed in the history of any
other state in the Union, and the in
creased interest in the progress of the
times was never at such q pitch as evil
denced by the innumerabie private and
public enterprises that are being deVel-
oped in our towns and cities, II must not
be thong ht for once that our beautiful
little town is on the standstill; for she Is
not, she is keeping rapid pace with her
sister towns in substantial improve
ments.
Iiasca, situated on the Waco line of
the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroad,
forty-five miles south OF Fort Worth, in
the eastern portion of Hill county, one
of the finest counties IN the state, is in
the midst of the richest and beat devel-
oped agricultural district in the state OF
Texas. This section for many miles
around Itasca consists of the most beau
tiful -olliHg prHirIes, the richest and
finest productive lands In the world and
sufficiently uudulatng to provide splen-
did drainage, but not enough 10 wash.
These prairies consist only of the deepest
rich, black waXy, fertile soil, wholly
unsurpassed in any country for quality
aud quantity of Its products. The soil,
when in proper condition to be stirred at
all is as loose aud mellow as an ash
bank, and no soil in the world is easier
cultivated and kept clear of ali poisonous
growths than is this black land. The
soil being very deep and strong aud hav-
ing n good subsol II Is the most durable
soil in the country. These black lands
run in mott ton or IN tnn n
fifteen years in succession, and the last
year seems TO give us satisfactory yield
as did the FIRST or second year. Those
products that we try to cultivate grow
more luxuriuntly and give more salts
factory yield in no known country. The
products grown most successfully are
cotton, coru, oats and wheat, also both
sweet and Irlsh potatoes and onions yield
in abundance. Notwithstanding the sur
rounding country has suffered from
prolonged druuth of nine weeks, the av-
erage yield of the feecy staple this sea-
son will reach one half bale per acre.
This section is blessed with an abund-
Guce OF as hno pure treestone water as
can be found anywhere. There is some
thing very peculiar about the water, or
wells rather. We have to bore from one
hundred and thirtY-tve to two hundred
and eighty-fv feet for water, but when
onco obtained it is an inexhaustible
supply.
The water rises within sfty or seventy
FIVE feet of the surface, sid with three
inch cylinder and windrukll attached, the
water cannot be loweref an inch, even
though the mill be permitted to run
month at time. pne of these wells
with windmill attacha can be found i'll
many of .he farm yqSds.
The farmers in ths surrounding coun-
try are an ndustrioSs, thrifty, indepen-
Deb. class of peopl& nearly all of them
haves$pmes, paid tSr, too, and are out
of dehA generally clinging to the old
motto, 'sssRay as lpu 60" They live in
good comthSiabA homes. costing from
$1,000 TO Sl5O8t 9Th many of the neces-
sary Convenie&s1s 10 make home pleas
anr; II is no &Eequent occurrence to
fnd these comtSft&N{s country homes.
The farmers sIand SSia.k men generally
are giving yfeat desElsf attention to
the raising * imported'Seattle and
horses. TheH are a number of very
large ranchesShat raise extensively the
finest cattle horses and mules some
imported jahs and jennets-jacks cost
ing from Sp0 TO $1,000. The blooded
horses raisSf are mostly copper bottom,
Steeldust SSsIOrgan Percheron Hamilton
ian, Leyyathau and Norman, costing
from $3.50 10 $1,000. The horses raised
here are inferior to none, not even the
noted Tennessee and Kentucky horses.
The imported cattle are principally
Holst5in, Jersey and Durham. Both
cattle and horses are very healthy, and
hogs are exceedingly go. Hogs in this
section are less subject TO cholera or dis
ease of any kind than II any other
locality we know.
With such surroundings; a rich agrl-
cultural district efficiently high aud dry
to make It exceedingly healthful, pure
waters, similar in quality aud quantity
to artesian water, the farmers, on
whose industrious efforts turn the wheel
of progress, in easy circumstances,
what else should the consequences be
other than an enterprising wideawake
town with a substantial growth? The
same is ltasCa, q toTn of population of
1000. ltasca with her churches, her fine
school, her good pure water aud her
health giving breezes is q town of pleas
ant homos. Three churches, Methodist,
Baptist aud Cumberland Presbyterian,
with good membership, and two other
churches, Old School Presbyterian and
Christian, will be built soon.
We have one of the best schools In the
country. good, durable framed school
building that cost $4,000; an enrolment
of pupils, 800 in number, under the
supervision OF one of the best instruc-
tors in this country, and another pleas
ant, successful scholastic year is antici-
pated. The town being incorporated
with regular corps of conreuial, duty
loving officers, the best of order prevails
Itasca has much to be proud of and
she does duly appreciate everything of
merit she has. The town, like the sur
rounding country, is blessed with an
abundant of good water, haveing many
OF those peculiar wells in which the wa
ter rises within fifty or seventv-tive feet
of the surface. thirteen of which have
wind mills attached.
The town has three fine steam gins, with
a capacity OF twenty-five TO forty bales of
cotton per day, and those three gins will
put up about 4G00 bales this season. The
or a good deal OF it, is shipped
direct from this point to Liverpool. |
There are several hundred carloads of |
farm products shipped from this point !
every season, such as corn, oats and cot |
Lao 80 h.