Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-04-04
CHILDRESs COUNTY.
The Southern Gateway to the PanhandIs-Its
Lands, Their Location and Adapta-
bility-TOwn Notes.
Correspondence of the Gazette.

Correspondence of the Gazette.
CHILDREss, TEX, March 31.-Chil-
dress is the first county reached from
Fort Worth in the Panhandle on the
Fort Worth and Denver railroad and is
therefore the Southern gateway to the
Panhandle. 1t contains about 500 200
acres of choice agricultural and grazing
lands, of which 220 $40 acres are state
school lands and 270 1850 acres are rail-
road lands, large part OF which has
been located and sold. The county was
organ lied in May, 1887, and since that
time hundreds and hundreds of set
tiers have located and taken up
school land as homesteads, and now the
railroad land is actively on the market.
The county is well watered by Red river
which divides the county, running
from west to east. 1t also has many
small streams and springs of living wa
ter. The deep banks of streams, in
some places almost perpendicular walls,
afford shelter in the winter from severe
weather. The soil is generally of deep
red or chocolate loan. Crops planted
last year and the year before made good
returns, and the growing crops of
wheat and oats promise more
generous yield than any past year. Wheat
last year, made about eighteen or twenty
bushels per acre, oats from twenty-five
to thirty bushels per acre, and corn from
forty to fifty bushels per acre. Mlllst,
mllomaize and sorghum made yield Of
from six to ten tons per acre, and vege-
tables, pumpkins, kershaws and melons
were abundant, and as fine specimens as
were grown in any country. We believe
there is twice as much farming being,
done in Childress as in any other Pan
handle county. Rye, wheat, cats, mill
let, sorghum, corn and Egyptian corn
are the chief products. A large number
of fruit trees and grapevines were put
out last fail aud this spring, and in few
years we will have all the fruit and
grapes we can consume, and to
spare Water is found by digging from
ten to twenty feet in the draws and at
the head of streams. In other places the
depth is from forty to sixty feet. The
under strata in some places is gypsum,
and then the water is not fit for family
use, but this is easily overcome by build
ng.dams across the heads Of streams and
storing pure rain water in abundance.
Beside the school and railroad lands,
there are about 5000 or 5000 acres Of
vacant public. or homestead lands IN
Childress couRty subject to location by
actual settlers under the state homestead
law. The state donates 100 acres of this
land to the heads of families, and eighty
acres to single persons over the age OF
eighteen ysEfTs; the only cost to the
settler being the surveyors fee and pay
ing the state for the patent, both to-
gether being mere trife.
The laying of the cornerstone OF
our new S37 ZOO courthouse will take
place about the 25th of May, when
we expect to have the customary cere-
monies at the laying of corner-stOnes,
a big barbecue and grand dress ball at
night. At that time the Spring Palace
will be two or three weeks old. An
invitation will be extended to Governor
Ross and Ex-Governor Hubbard, and
all the candidates for governor and
other state offices to be present and
talk to our people, and see "the gar
den spot' in all its glory. Our pro-
gressive committee will endeavor to Sc
cure an excursion from Fort Worth to /
Childress for So the round trip and thus
insure the attendance Of q large crowd
from distance.
couple Of gentlemen from Easta
Texas, of ample means, were in town
few days since negotiating for lots TO
build $50 200 brick hotel, and dirt on
the foundation will be broken soon. ]
Our new Methodist church is almost
completed, and will soon be ready for'I
dedication.
The young men of the town had a
meeting Saturday night last and orga-
nized q military company of cavalry, to
be part of the National Guard. The
following gentlemen were elected OFF,
GERS: ". T. Levy, captain; Harry
Edwards, first lieutenant; w. NJ. Hol-
land, second lieutenant. A committee
was appointed to draft a constitution and
bylaws, and were also instructed to
select name for the company. 81