The Russellville Democrat., 1891-07-02
Texas AsIt Is
AsPERMoST, Texas.
lima 81 1891

uut Att AcVA*
Editor DEMOCRAT: / am due yoI
and my friends In Pope county {
letter from this the Lone Star State
of Texas, and when say that thii
state is five times the size Of Arkan
sas, and one fifth larger than elthei
Germany or France, you then have
but little conception of its vast area
But / don't suppose you care Il
know any thing about its size, it's
the soil, the climate, the advantages
and disadvantages, especially In this
part Of the state entirely new and
edging closely on to the Staked
Plains, that you wish to hear from
/ am now in Stonewall county, which
/ lies between the Fort Worth and
Denver railroad on the north, and
the Fort Worth and El Paso on the
south, sixty five miles from market
and about $50 miles west OF Fort
Worth. SO am in the west, where
Horace Greely told the young man
to go and grow up with the country
But when / step ont here in the
morning and look in any direction
at once conclude that the country
| is full grown and the young man
about the size of q frazzlc, hence he
has room to grow. Lands here are
mixed as everywhere else, but some
as fine as any river bottom with q
dark red, stiff soil, then red or dark
sandy loan. 1t lies in large or small
bodies and is adapted to the growth
of wheat, oats, corn and cot
ton with garden vegetables in
abundance. The country is beauti-
ful and the lands exceptionally fine,
ranging In price from two to five
dollars per acre. The state sells its
lands at two dollars per acre in not
less than I6O lots with $50 cash,
balance forty years at 5 per cent. in
terest, with an option Of paying up
alter three years OF residence and
acquiring patent. Other lands al,
ready entered can be had for about
three to five dollars per acre, with
one. fourth cash, balance in three
years at 10 per cent. interest. AS the
country settles up the lands advance
in price so a great many people
who jump sections of land and hold
for an advance to get bonus, then
sell and 60 further west. You are
required to live on the land and oc-
cupy 1T as homestead IN order to
hold, but when you leave one home
stead you can take up another. All
the lands originally belonged to the
state. The opening for a man to get
section of land here now of the
finest quality was never very much
better, but / will give you both sides
of the picture before close and you
can decide then. ! think wheat and
oats particularly adapted to this eli
mate and this soil-many fields
show that they will yield from fifteen
to twenty fye bushels per acre on
sod land. Corn looks as prolific as
the finest bottom corn in Arkan
sss, and vegetables grow on sod land
almost equal TO our fertilized
gardens. So the land is all one
could wish and prettier farms were
never owned than can be made here.
For seasons of rain, this would be
willing to risk for think the land
will stand much longer without rain
il it has to, but / belieye from what
the older settlers say, and the growth
and appearance of vegetation that
the seasons here have been fairly
good. As for health there is no
complaint--chills and fever un-
known, but people do get sick oil
though it is regarded as exception
ally'healthy. You now have good
land cheap and health, and along
with these good things you will want
water and wood two things exceed
ingly scarce here. and the further
west the harder to find. with few ex
ceptions. Water is used mostly from
tanks or we would call them ponds
or small lakes, which are accessible
generally to every living thing that
uses water, most of it looks like weak
cider or sometimes blue black mud
and is by no means finely favored.
The sun rises and sets shining in it,
30 the ice is all melted out. This
place is fortunate to haye water
within one mile now, but if it gets
dry they move out five miles to a
larger tauk and ii this gives out
they pass on to the river ten miles,
and fill up the barrels. And i'm
agine sometimes the happiest
woman in this town is the one who
has a barrel of water for Sunday,
whether it is blue or cider colored.
Although this can be remedied by
digging cisterns or wells can be dug,
but the water Is not so good. SO
much for water. Now it gets cold
here in the winter and the wind
blows almost necessarily, frequently
all night as well as all dav. w ood