Year: 1871




especially so to those of this county. The food
gates of heaven have been opened, and again
the welcome rain, without which our mines OF
precious wealth are like unto a field of grain
without the reaper has already fallen to that
extent as makes it almost certain that the in
coming year will be one in which both the
farming and the mining interest can be followe d
with every confidence Of success. Both Of these
interests are dependent upon copious rainfall,
and in the successful prosecution of these indus
tries all other branches of business are, to a
greater or less degree interested.


Iu the year which closes with to-day, there
have been but few events which will be deemed
of sufficient Importance to be Incorporated in the
pages of history The conclusion of peace be-
tween those two great powers of Europe-Ger-
many and France, which ended war the un-
looked for results of which had astonished the
civilized world, and the successful establishment
of republic upon the ruins of imperial despot-
ism in the latter country, are among the most
notable. In countries, however, whose past
history and glory is connected in the main with





ism must, at least for the present. be looked upon
as experimental only. 1t is to be hoped that,
warned by the disasters which have been brought
upon themselves and their country by the selfish
ambition of their last mperia! ruler, the people
of France will adhere to the new form of gov
ernment which they have ordained, and suffer it
to be changed only in such respects as will
bring greater liberties, and inure to greater
freedom of thought and action to the masses of
the people. Il this be done, and the new form
of government become firmly fixed in the af-
fections of that nation, the year of 1871 will be-
come to France what l776 is to America to be
followed, let us trust, by results in the Old
World like those which succeeded the Tndepend-
ence of the United States in the New.


In our own country, there is more which we
exclusively to National and local affairs Polit-
ically, the ratification of the Washington trea-
ty, which promises to bring to a successful is
sue the settlement of the &" Alabama Claims, J"
and other matters of an international character,
without resort to the dread alternative of war,


ASt
mention the beginning, as it were, of u crusade
against the last of those " twin relics of ba1bar-
ism," the disgraceful practice of polygamy, now
in vogue among the Mormons of Utah. But
the one great historical event of the past year,
that which will go down to future generations
side by side with the burning Of London, and of
Rome, aud of Moscow-is the great Chicago
fire. One hundred and fifty millions of property
destroyed, and one hundred thousand people
rendered homeless at one fell swoOp of the fire.
fend, is an event of itself, sufficient to mark an
in the history of the nation which has suffer
ed the calamity. When to this is to be added
the forest fires of Wisconsin, Michigan and Min
nesots, by which the villages, the farm-houses
and improvements the valuable tracts of tim
Der and even the soil itself, was destroyed by the
irresistible element, we at no loss to deter
mine by what distinctive appelation the year
1871 will henceforth be known in American
chronology. Yet in looking back upon these
recent great conhagrations, and the loss of life
and other fearful calamities which followed in
their train we experience a feeling of mingled
pride and gratitude, at the indomitable energy
and heroism of the people of the doomed city ;
and the fraternal sympathy which their misfor-
tunes awoke throughout our own country and
in Europe. While yet the flames were pursuing
their career of destruction, The telegraph had
flashed the news through the length and breadth
of the land and from every quarter, " bread
cast upon the waters" came to the relief of the
homeless sufferers of Chicago.


The past year has not been so prosperous to
the people of this State, and of our own county,
as could have been wished. In country which
is so much dependent upon rain as this, it fol-
lows that a dry season." while it benefits no
one, will in many cases work great hardship
The three years of drought coming in success
ion, has worked great injury in portions of the
State, to men Of limited means, whose only re-
sources for the support and maintenance of their
families, lay in the returns which the soil would
the State where the Spring rains we're lightest,
many of the small farmers have suffered greatly,
in some instances if the newspaper reports were
correct, to the extent of being without the most
common necessares of life. Such a Winter as
we are now promised, will do much towards
aiding men of this class to regain the.rlo. ses and
enter once more hopefully on the future. Trim
ity county, from its great mineral resources has
not been affected to the same extent as other
places, yet even here the succession of dry seas
ons have made heavy drain upon the means of
our business men and others. In laying in their
stock for Fall and Winter our merchants have
been compelled to collect up as close as possible
to meet their freight bills and other cash pay
ments, which, coming at that season when the
least dust is being taken out has made times
unusually dull and money scarce. In other res
poets we have nothing to complain Of The
past year has been one of the healthiest ever