Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-04-07


trip in a wagon to Dickens, Motley,
Crosby and Floyd counties, 1 will give
the readers OF THE GAZETTE a few views
of that promising and desirable region of
country.
In company with D. T. Lancaster Of
this place, we drove into the valley of
& Duck creek, in Dickens county, and soon
found pure freestone water, which we
appreciated highly, as the water we got
Bin SION 9wal county was not good.
s Duck creek runs southwark and
enters the Salt Fork of Brazos in
Kent county. AS we Travelled up the
valley the country became more and
more beautiful, the valley widening out
and having the appearance of a vast
river bottom, the lands being a dark
sandy loan, in some places being some
what red, all Of il covered with a rich
growth OF mesquite grass; and the large
cottonwood timber along the creek and
q the beautiful creek reminds US
of our Imagination of Texas
before we had entered its Dor
ders Mr.. Lancaster said he was
determined TO own and farm on some Of
the lands here, as he believed they we're
the richest he had ever seen. We stopped
s at the Spur farm at night. 1t is a fine
farm, owned and run by the Espuella
e land and cattle company. We saw in
one field 600 acres of land as level as
floor, dark red sandy loan with very
deep soil, all having been cultivatssl in
sorghum. We decided that it couia nos
be beat anywhere. There was net rock
or stump or gully or Qbor
spot to be found in this S8eld.
E q be crop of sorghum last sSt8F was
& immense. II was harvested 9Th ma
chiuery and put in shocks, andthe job of
3 hauling If out into the adjoining pasture,
where $50 beef steers and 200 cows are
being fattened for the market, is no
small one. Another field of about 400
acres had Johnson grass in a great many
immense stacks, and still another had
& grown q fine crop of Milo maize, which
+ Mr.. Cook, the superintendent of the
farm, said is a very valuable crop. There
are places where a great many more fine
farms might be made in the Duck creek
region, but it belongs TO the Espuella
land and cattle company, the owners of
the famous Spur ranch. The stock
7 holders in this company live in
Scotland, and they own about $50
eections of the Duck creek land, and we
found a mortgage on record to another
Scotch company covering all of these
beautiful lands, so they are out of the
reach of the man with the hoe.
We left Dickens county and started to
EstacadO, assembled the mountain five
miles north of Dockum g ranch and
bound ourselves on 1.-the plains - 5000
feet above the sea level. We could look
back AMI see many mountain peaks, the
#grandest in appearance being Double
in ha Of
7StOnewall county, about sixty
miles distant. To the north
west we saw a level plain on which
i've could see nothing except what we
took to be post with box on it for re-
ceiving mail. We travelled straight
Howard it, but did not appear 10 get any
closer to it. We had to camp for the
night Oh the plains and a norther came
about midnight. Next morning we had
sQuite a cool time pursuing our journey,
the object we thought to be the mail
post being still in view, but when we had
iraveled about ten miles further we dis
covered that it was a windmill. When |
Ethe sun got up we began to see some
beautiful lakes (miTages) but they would |
boon disappear as we approached them. |
I'VE saw great many antelOpes and |
wasted a great many cartridges trying to |
kill them with our Winchester rifles, but |
they are always on the alert, and We |
Gould not get within half mile of them /
Nnseen, so we killed none that day. We |
Coon saw Blanco canon which, on ap- |
frOaching it, appears to be 200 or 800 |
Yards wide; but when We entered it found |
Ft TO be more than three miles wide and |
Shout 500 teet deep. White river runs |
ahrough this canon, and appears to be /
only a small creek, but it runs a large /
FolGme of pure good water, sufficient at |
oil times to run 100 barrel mill where a /
twenty-foot fan could be obtained. This |
stTeam has a fall of thirty feet over
cocks where it leaves the region of the |
plains, and. although this point is more
ahan 100 miles from any mill and is
IN the midst Of what appears to be the
best grain growing region in the South |
And settlers are rapidly pouring in, and
8readstuf sells very high here, yet no
One offers TO utilize this fine water power.
Leaving Blanco canon at Mount BlapGo
"a is eighteen miles yet to Estacado.
when long distance from the town you
Tan see great many windmills. The
tevel plains appear to be very rich and
Fertile and the fine mesquite grass is
tplendid here. AS you near the town
Spu can see that q prosperous farming
- immunity surrounds it. Every farmer
is windmill and there are q great
ERny in town. The people here have
IRE healthful appearance than any
per we ever saw. The water they
&c is the pureSt and best, being pumped
put Of wells about eigh ty-two feet deep,
fnd the atmosphere of this high reg on
peing the purest that human beings ever
Breath, II is no wonder that this is the
5fealthiest section IN our country. We
4toppeo here for few days and saw
Food number Of citizens of Crosby and
surrounding counties They all seem TO
p inquiring after the latest railroad
fews, aud almost every farmer or ranch
pan will tell you that the Fort Worth
e nd Albuquerque will be built across
Als tract Of land and that it
FIl be here IN less than two
u ears, and that land that can
low be bought for 81 per acre, will then
Pc worth $40, etc. The fact is, they are
~ very anxious for the road TO build,
fnd they hope 10 make Fort Worth their
narket IN short time. A large portion
- Crosby county consists of alternate
s4eCt ions of railroad nud snh0nI lands and I