F 391 -.SEEKERS' SERIES, No. 2. 
 
 .T38 
 
 Copy 1 
 
A STRAWBERRY FIELD. 
 
Cexas 
 Coast 
 Country 
 
 «^* ^* e^* 
 
 Hlso briefly describing 
 the resources of 
 Counties along the 
 6ulf, Colorado <St Santa fe 
 Rail>vay line 
 
 I 20th Thousand 
 
 Issued by the passenger Department 
 6anta fz Route 
 
 October, 1899. 
 
Corbitt & Butterfield Co. 
 Railway Printers, 
 
 Chicago. 
 
 Fuh\ 
 
Somewhat personal 
 
 Do you live in a climate where the winters 
 are long and severe? In Texas there is 
 practically no winter; one can comfortably 
 work outdoors the year round. 
 
 Is your locality subject to devastating drouths? 
 In the Coast Country of Texas the average rainfall 
 is fifty inches a year, well distributed through the 
 growing season; and no irrigation is required. 
 
 Is the soil of your farm worn out? Texas soil rarely 
 requires fertilizers; it is deep and rich and permanent. 
 
 Does it require all you earn for living expenses? The 
 cost is 40% less to build a house in Texas than in the 
 North, So% less for clothing, and 80^ less for fuel. 
 
 Are you now restricted to one main crop a year ? 
 Along the Gulf Coast of Texas a man can raise two 
 or three crops of vegetables and alfalfa per annum, 
 and more than one crop of some other staples; a 
 great diversity is also possible. 
 
 Are you interested in horticulture ? Texas fruit 
 lands annually pay $200 to $500 net per acre. The 
 fruit season begins early and lasts to a late date. 
 
 Is your northern farm worth $100 an acre, with 
 a high tax rate and low prices for products ? Why 
 not try the $10 an acre lands in the southern part of 
 Texas, where taxes are low and markets excellent ? 
 
 This pamphlet is intended for the man desirous of 
 more information on the important subject of where 
 to go for a new home. The descriptions are limited 
 to the southern portion of Texas, along the Gulf 
 
Coast, with some information about other sections on 
 the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway. Farmers, 
 fruit-raisers, land-owners and real estate ag-ents are 
 permitted to speak for themselves. The unsigned arti- 
 cles have been compiled from the most reliable sources. 
 
 Here is a country which it is believed offers ample 
 rewards for well-directed toil; where the homeseeker 
 may find cheap land, abundant crops, good markets, 
 a friendly climate and hospitable neighbors. 
 
 If, after reading what is herein contained, you are 
 sufficiently interested to wish to investigate further 
 by taking a trip to Texas and seeing for yourself, 
 remember that the Santa Fe Route is the direct line 
 from Chicago, Kansas City, Denver and other north- 
 ern and eastern points to the heart of the Coast 
 Country. For full particulars respecting train serv- 
 ice, ticket rates, etc. , confer with any ticket agent 
 or address the undersigned. 
 
 W. J. BLACK, General Passenger Agent, 
 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry., 
 ToPEKA, Kansas. 
 
 C. A. HIGGINS, Ass't Gen'l Passenger Agent, 
 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry., 
 Chicago. 
 
 W. S. KEENAN, General Passenger Agent, 
 Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Ry. , 
 Galveston, Texas. 
 
facts Hbout Texas 
 
 • • • 
 
 r^istOfiCill '^^^ fascinating story of Texas' 
 early life began, so far as white 
 occupation is concerned, with La Salle's visit to 
 Matagorda Bay in 1685. Later, in 1692, European 
 settlements were made at San Antonio, and in 1717 
 at Nacogdoches. Following the rout of the Mexi- 
 cans at the battle of San Jacinto in 1836 a republic 
 was declared, and in 1845 Texas came into the 
 Union. Here on the Mexican border has been suc- 
 cessfully evolved, by strenuous effort from diverse 
 elements, a united and prosperous people noted for 
 chivalric courtesy, civic pride and material greatness. 
 
 Its I^^tlft Texas takes first prize in regard to 
 area, production of cotton, number 
 of sheep, cattle and horses raised; amount of funds 
 set apart for free public schools and colleges, and 
 the size and finish of the beautiful capitol building 
 at Austin. It ranks fourth in wealth, about third 
 in railroad mileage, and fifth in population. 
 
 H Comparison with only six per cent of 
 ■^ Its land cultivated, i exas 
 
 produces more rice than South Carolina, more sugar 
 and sorghum than Louisiana, and more wheat than 
 the Dakotas. It has more prairie land than Kansas, 
 a larger coal area than Pennsylvania, and greater 
 oak forests than West Virginia; it raises more cotton 
 than Mississippi; can produce more iron ore than 
 Alabama, and excels New Hampshire in granite. 
 
 The State debt is less than $4,000,000. Taxable 
 valuation is about $900,000,000. Legal rate of 
 interest is 6 per cent, but 10 per cent may be charged. 
 These figures compare favorably with eastern com- 
 monwealths. 
 
 T|-Q Mt'Ca ^^^ Lone Star State extends from 
 the 26th to the 36th parallel of lati- 
 tude and lies between the 94th and 106th degrees of 
 longitude. The average length, east and west, is 
 800 miles, and average breadth, north and south, 
 750 miles. It possesses 400 miles of coast line; has 
 
navigable rivers equaling those of any five other 
 states, and 8,952 miles of railroad, mostly trunk 
 lines. From Texarkana to El Paso equals the dis- 
 tance from New York to Chicago. A man bicycling 
 on its boundary lines would travel over 4,000 miles. 
 There are 262,290 square miles of "room," and 
 hardly thirteen people yet to each square mile. The 
 Austrian empire, with about the same area, sustains 
 a population of 36,000,000; the German empire, 
 with less area has more than 50,000,000 inhabitants. 
 Texas could sustain a population of 95,000,000 
 within a territory equal to that of the British Isles, 
 Denmark, Greece, Holland, Switzerland, Turkey 
 and Belgium. A recent census shows that 255,000 
 farmers cultivate their own land, 95,000 are tenants 
 and 56,000 day laborers. 
 
 A VOYAGE DOWN CHOCOLATE BaYOU 
 
 7^ ♦\l*-%« Beginning with a level coast, 
 
 C/OpOgl'^P'^y there is a gradual ascent north 
 and west, to an elevation of 4,000 feet, which affords 
 excellent drainage. Three-fourths of this vast area 
 can be profitably cultivated. The southeastern and 
 southern sections are level and free from rock — here 
 is the famous fruit belt, rivaling California. Dense 
 forests of red and live oak, cedar, blackjack, mes- 
 quite, hackberry, sweet gum, pecan, walnut, cotton- 
 wood, sycamore, cypress, ash, elm, hickory and pine 
 cover the eastern district — there being 25,000,000 
 
acres of merchantable pine alone. The timber lands 
 comprise 45,000,000 acres, with 67,500,000,000 feet 
 of standing- timber. The center of Texas is an un- 
 dulating prairie, like the prolific plains of Kansas, 
 with succulent grasses — a fine stock country and 
 capable of raising immense crops of corn, wheat and 
 cotton. West Texas is broken by hills and moun- 
 tains, with fertile valleys. The Panhandle region is 
 a table-land, and noted for its fat cattle. 
 
 ftc^tlA ^^^ ^ ^^^^ ^^^ rich, deep soil of Texas needs 
 no fertilizer for standard crops. A moder- 
 ate top-dressing of cotton-seed helps to make a larger 
 crop, but is not absolutely required. Anything can 
 be raised that grows in the temperate zone. Sugar 
 cane, cotton, figs, olives, pears and grapes are a 
 remarkable success in the South. The Mediterran- 
 ean countries do not excel the Texas Coast Country 
 in raising fruit. In the Western sections the rain- 
 fall is sometimes insufficient, but artesian wells and 
 irrigation are aiding the agriculturist to control the 
 water supply. As a general thing plenty of rain 
 falls throughout other sections to mature crops. 
 Texas furnishes its citizens a good living. 
 
 IDl'C^^lltt'ft ■'■^ '^^95 the various products of this 
 |LrrVk^UUVtO gj.^^g (from fields, gardens, orchards, 
 ranches and factories) amounted to $223,000,000. 
 The values of the leading crops were: cotton and 
 cotton seed, $61,000,000; corn, $29,000,000; wheat, 
 $7,500,000; oats, $5,400,000; garden produce, 
 $2,850,000; potatoes, $2,705,000; hay, $1,335,000; 
 sugar cane, molasses and sorghum, $3,000,000; 
 peaches, apples, grapes, plums, pears and melons, 
 $1,645,000; millet, barley and rye, $685,000; garden 
 crops, $2,635,000; hay, $1,140,000. 
 
 Texas ranks seventh as a corn producing state, 
 first in sheep, eighth in hogs, and her herds of catfle 
 are one-sixth of the entire number in the United 
 States. 
 
 In 1897 live stock was assessed at $78,365,590, 
 the leading items being horses and mules, cattle, 
 sheep and hogs. Even the despised goat is quoted 
 at a quarter of a million " simoleons." 
 
 ft<»f\<^rtlci ^tc Material wealth is not all. Texas 
 C7I.I;WVJI». %.%.%.* ^^^ accumulated a permanent 
 
 school fund (comprising lands and securities) of 
 $75,000,000. During 1898-99, 11,045 white and 
 
2,958 colored teachers were employed in public 
 schools, and enough more in private institutions to 
 bring the total up to 15,000. Land Commissioner 
 Baker reports 38,000,000 acres of land surveyed for 
 the permanent school fund. All prominent religious 
 denominations are well represented by thriving 
 churches, and society in general is of the highest 
 order. The hospitality of Texas is proverbial; the 
 latch-string is always out. 
 
 #:- 
 
 
 'A LITTLE FARM, WELL TILLED, 
 
 IDublir L.aild<^ '^^^^^^ ^^^^^ remains upwards 
 t^**^**^ l*'<*liV*o q£ 4,000,000 acres of public 
 land subject to pre-emption by three years continu- 
 ous residence. By this means a married man may 
 secure 160 acres and a single man 80 acres. The 
 vast bodies of unsold lands belonging to the school 
 fund are leased on favorable terms. 
 
 R^«rtllf»r^<\ ^^^^ ^"*^ ^^^'^ ^^^ plentiful, coal 
 tVvbOUrCvb being found in thirty counties; one 
 bituminous coal formation on the Red River covers 
 12,000 square miles, with seams three feet in thick- 
 ness. Bituminous and lignite coals are mined in 
 the Nueces district, along the Rio Grande River. 
 Extensive deposits of iron are reported to exist in 
 eastern Texas, covering 1,000 square miles of sur- 
 face, many veins being ten feet thick. There are 
 surface indications of petroleum in several counties 
 
along the eastern border, and paying wells have been 
 sunk at Nacogdoches. Natural gas has been dis- 
 covered in several sections. Besides these three 
 fields of iron, three of coal and three of oil, three 
 distinct districts of copper have been opened up — 
 the ores of the Trans- Pecos region being extensively- 
 worked. Gold and silver mines have been discov- 
 ered near El Paso, and a 140-foot bed of rock salt 
 underlies Victoria. Salt mines are profitably worked 
 in a number of counties. Gypsum occurs in the 
 Abilene Country. Asphaltum, bat guano, marls, 
 mica and granite are found in paying quantities. 
 
 There is an abundance of sand-stone and marble 
 of finest quality and colors. The clays of Texas 
 are unsurpassed for making brick and pottery, while 
 lime and cement are easily produced. 
 
 C*t\f\%^ffi In general the climate of Texas is 
 V^lllllittV pleasant and healthful. The heat of 
 summer is alleviated either by altitude, as at El 
 Paso, or sea breezes, as at Galveston, or constant 
 land breezes, as on the interior plains. In winter 
 there is very little cold weather along the Gulf, but 
 in north and northwest Texas an occasional 
 "norther" forces people indoors for a brief time. 
 The extremes of heat and cold are not so great as 
 occur farther north. Farm work may be carried on 
 the year round with but little interruption from 
 severe storms. 
 
 Letting El Paso (3,700 feet) represent the Trans- 
 Pecos region of Texas, Galveston (sea level) the 
 Gulf Coast section, while San Antonio, Austin and 
 
 THE SEAUY HOSPITAL AT GALVESTON. 
 11 
 
Palestine (600 feet each) stand for the Western, 
 Central and Eastern districts respectively, and the 
 following figures regarding temperature and rain- 
 fall will show the variations in different parts of 
 this vast empire — mean annual rainfall — El Paso, 
 13.14 inches; Galveston, 52.80 inches; Austin, 35.78 
 inches; Palestine, 47.56 inches; San Antonio, 32.31 
 inches. 
 
 The mean spring, summer, autumn and winter 
 temperatures for the same places are: 
 
 LOCATION. 
 
 Spring 
 Degrees. 
 
 Summer 
 Degrees. 
 
 Autumn 
 Degrees. 
 
 Winter 
 Degrees. 
 
 
 69.8 
 67.7 
 65.3 
 69.6 
 73.6 
 
 83.6 
 83.3 
 79.9 
 82.3 
 80.5 
 
 71.4 
 67.7 
 66.5 
 68.7 
 62.3 
 
 55.3 
 
 Austin 
 
 51.8 
 
 Palestine 
 
 47.6 
 
 San Antonio 
 
 El Paso 
 
 53.8 
 47.3 
 
 The wealth on top of the ground, waiting to be 
 tickled into a laughing harvest by the man with the 
 plow, is what Texas depends upon to attract settlers. 
 And while cotton, corn and wheat are the " stand- 
 bys" — cotton leading in importance — the beautiful 
 region on the Gulf Coast, where ten acres will sup- 
 port a family and twenty acres is a competence, is 
 crowding other sections for first place. 
 
 FAMILY PETS. 
 
 12 
 
Zhc Coast Country 
 
 • • • 
 
 Slh^r^ Tt Tft ^^^ ^^^^^^ region of Texas 
 \A«»i/vi V ^v J,c» comprises that part of the 
 State bordering the Gulf of Mexico, from Sabine 
 River to the Rio Grande and extending inland nearly 
 one hundred miles. This pamphlet is more par- 
 ticularly concerned with the portion immediately 
 tributary to the line of the Santa Fe Route, embrac- 
 ing the counties of Harris, Galveston, Brazoria, Ft. 
 Bend, Wharton and Jackson. 
 
 The location of the Coast country gives to it 
 unequaled advantages and possibilities. Lying 
 on the borders of the temperate and tropic zones, 
 and on the northern shore of a great inland sea, the 
 nipping and eager air of winter and the withering 
 waves of scorching summer heat are not known. 
 There is the gentle, budding springtime, lengthen- 
 ing out into the long days of June; succeeded by 
 summer, Nature's ripening time, which the trade- 
 winds daily sweeping northward from the Gulf tem- 
 per to a delightful coolness; and then the long, 
 bright, sunny fall, ending with a short, mild winter. 
 
 7|Tf^^4> T*. Tft This is in general a prairie 
 W4l7itt A,t A,0 country, an undulating plain, 
 rising five feet to the mile northward from the Gulf, 
 and embracing large forest areas along its water 
 courses. The timber is' chiefly oak, live oak, ash, 
 walnut, pecan, mesquite and sycamore. To the 
 west of the Brazos River in the coast country are 
 great tracts of cedar. For several years there has 
 been a large export trade in cedar logs cut far in the 
 interior, hauled to the Brazos and then shipped by 
 boat or rail to (^alveston, where they are transhipped 
 to Europe. The general surface is sixty to one 
 hundred feet above mean tide level, most of it suffi- 
 ciently rolling to afford good drainage into numerous 
 local streams and bayous, which in turn empty into 
 the bays along the great Gulf. Good water for 
 domestic uses is found everywhere under the clay 
 subsoil, and artesian wells are numerous. There are 
 few localities but which can be inexpensively drained 
 and the fertile land thus rendered fit for the plow. 
 
 13 
 
Proper drainage is the main problem here — how to 
 get rid of surplus surface water. An underlying 
 stratum of quicksand affords almost perfect sub- 
 irrigation. 
 
 Che ^Oil ^" ^^^^ river valleys the soil is a deep 
 black, sandy loam. Fertilizers do 
 not seem to be required. There is no " wear out " 
 to it because formed of alluvial deposits originating 
 in the rich lands of the North. The prairie soil con- 
 sists of three kinds of sandy loam, friable and easily 
 tilled; it rots quicker than the stiffer sod of Illinois 
 or Kansas. It is covered with a very compact sod, 
 that must be broken and allov^ed to rot before it 
 
 GUNNING FOR WILD FOWL ON BUFFALO BAYOU. 
 
 can be pulverized and, even then there seems to be 
 something that requires air and heat to rectify before 
 it will produce well. One year's work will bring it 
 into good productive condition, when, with proper 
 fertilizing, it cannot be surpassed. For pears alone 
 this is not necessary, as experience has fully proved 
 that if set on sod that has been simply lapped over 
 with several turns of the plow, the trees will grow 
 about as well as if the ground had been previously 
 prepared. 
 
 The black waxy or hog wallow loam (suitable for 
 sugar cane, cotton and berries), is exceedingly rich, 
 though more difficult to till. These soils are no 
 better than those found in the jNIissouri, Miami, 
 
 14 
 
Scioto or Kansas valleys. Their chief value lies in 
 the rare combination which Southern Texas offers 
 of a rich soil, abundant rainfall and genial climate. 
 
 I^K^ ti ^it\f-iktt '^'^^^ annual rainfall of the 
 \^n€ IVairirail ^exas coast district within the 
 rain belt is from 43 to 65 inches, well distributed 
 throughout the spring and summer; besides, the 
 heavy dews, a characteristic feature of the region, 
 furnish a source of daily refreshment for all forms of 
 plant life. 
 
 vy^ '^ J |^*#^*%rt Both soil and climate are 
 VariCO \i^rOp» adapted to the bountiful 
 production of a greater variety of field, garden and 
 orchard crops than any like extent of territory in 
 the United States. Indeed, omitting the apple, it is 
 well nigh impossible to mention any field, garden or 
 fruit crop which may not be grown here in the great- 
 est abundance, and of finest quality, if only the 
 right varieties be selected. 
 
 Fruits rivaling those of California and vegetables 
 equal to any grown in the North are ready for mar- 
 ket here a month to six weeks earlier than in the 
 district which has hitherto enjoyed a monopoly of 
 supplying eastern cities. This is possible because 
 the crop season along the Gulf Coast of Texas begins 
 early and stays late. During one of these long 
 periods two and three crops of many varieties of farm 
 and garden products may be grown, and the soil 
 apparently still be as vigorous as ever. Corn, oats, 
 sorghum, hay, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, sugar 
 cane, Egyptian and Sea Island cotton, Cuban 
 tobacco, figs, pears, plums, grapes — the list might 
 be expanded into a small catalogue. They all do 
 well. The farmer and horticulturist does not have 
 to urge forward his restless team of sun and soil. 
 Rather they require holding back, lest the land pro- 
 duce too abundantly, beyond the capacity of its 
 owner to properly care for the resultant marvelous 
 crops. 
 
 Fish abound in all the streams, while in the waters 
 of the (julf they are so plentiful as to fill the local 
 markets with a variety of finny creatures whose puz- 
 zling names sound queerly to the landsman. And 
 oysters — they can be had for the mere trouble of 
 gathering, if one will go to the Culf. 
 
 The man who deliberately stays hungry and poor 
 
 15 
 
in the Coast Country is worthless and lazy beyond 
 redemption. 
 
 Lay siege to a vSouth Texas plantation and you 
 could not starve out the owner. He would still 
 contentedly fill his old cob pipe with home grown 
 tobacco, every bit as good as the imported leaf; and 
 shake down ripe walnuts and pecans from trees in 
 the timber lot for winter use. Luscious pears, 
 peaches, strawberries and figs would form his dessert 
 ten months in the year. Hardly a day would pass 
 without fresh vegetables on the table plucked from 
 his own truck patch. From the product of white 
 acres of cotton and flocks of sheep could be fashioned 
 homespun garments good enough for anybody. 
 
 ONLY TWO YEARS FROM THE SOD. 
 
 Rich cane fields would contribute syrup and sugar. 
 Fat hogs and sleek cattle would grow fatter and 
 sleeker on river bottom corn and be transformed 
 into bacon or beef. There is also plenty of fuel 
 close at hand — while bayou and stream sustain fish 
 in abundance. Even the vagrant winds bring in 
 wild fowl from the Gulf. No one can be quite so 
 independent as the man who owns a good farm in 
 the Coast Country. 
 
 /^^^rtf- t\^ T -^ttA I'^rm and garden land in the 
 KA^^l Ol M^^nU (^j^jif (^Q.^^^ ij^H „o,^ costs 
 
 from $io to $25 per acre in small tracts, with a re- 
 duction if bought in large bodies. In the immediate 
 
vicinity of railroad depots and in some other- 
 wise specially favored localities, a higher price is 
 asked. There is considerable good fruit, berry and 
 vegetable land, not yet taken, which can be pur- 
 chased at an average price per acre of $io to $15. 
 Water rights for surface irrigation (as in California) 
 are not necessary, because the abundant rainfall is 
 supplemented by sub-irrigation. 
 
 ImprOVCineTltS supposing the land you buy 
 ■^ is raw prairie. The first 
 
 thing required is shelter for family and stock — the 
 next, a suitable fence. A two-room box house, set 
 on wooden blocks or stones, with two flues, may be 
 built for $150; for three rooms allow $225; four 
 rooms $325. A two-room frame house, plain finish 
 with porch will cost $325; three rooms $480; four 
 rooms $640, and five rooms $760, A four-room 
 frame house with fireplace and neat trimmings may 
 be put up for $1,000. Very little shelter is needed 
 for stock; cheap outbuildings will do until perma- 
 nent ones can be afforded. A barbed wire fence 
 with posts say twelve feet apart and strung with 
 four wires around 100 acres will average $roo in 
 cost. Where timber for posts is available close at 
 hand the expense will be much less. The cost of 
 sinking a drive well is quite reasonable. 
 
 f"illC lVl3.l*llCtS ^^ '""^t ^^^ people busy with 
 here? Cialveston and Hous- 
 ton have a population of 130,000 people. Galves- 
 ton is the chief seaport of the Texas Coast, and 
 Houston is its main railroad center. There is 
 considerable manufacturing and the carrying trade 
 employs large numbers of people. These persons 
 and the truck farmers, fruit-growers and stock- 
 raisers of the rural districts have a constant, near-by 
 market, with thickly settled central and northern 
 Texas not far away. 
 
 The counties of Brazoria, Harris and Galveston 
 are building a system of fine graded roads, part of 
 them shelled, leading to neighboring trade centers. 
 This employs some surplus labor and gives quick 
 and easy access to local markets, while the splendid 
 harbor facilities at Galveston afford the grower of 
 grains and the producer of fruits a seaboard market 
 for his surplus, at seaboard prices, untaxed by rail- 
 way tolls. 
 
 17 
 
^rtrt^ fttvi<tf\? Good schools and churches 
 \DOOa OOClCry ^^^ ^^cated in most of the 
 settlements, some of them levying special tax for 
 the support of their educational institutions. New- 
 comers need not fear they will lose sight of the little 
 red school house in the lane. The inhabitants are 
 industrious and law-abiding, and the country is ex- 
 empt from social disorders of all kinds. It is a 
 good place to come with your family and settle. 
 
 T't^^ T ^\v*(\ The following property is exempt 
 V.i;i^ M^awxy ^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^. Home- 
 stead of 200 acres and improvements in country, or 
 in city to value of $5,000; all farming tools, library, 
 five milch cows and their calves, two yoke of oxen, 
 two horses, one wagon, one carriage or buggy, 
 twenty hogs and twenty sheep, provisions and for- 
 age, also current wages. Homestead can be sold 
 under execution only for purchase money or for 
 material and labor furnished, and then only when 
 contract is separately signed by wife. 
 
 farming is in danger of being overdone for many 
 years. At Algoa, Alvin, Arcadia, Alta Loma, 
 Hitchcock, Manvel, Pearland, Dickinson, North 
 Galveston, I.a Porte, Clear Creek, Webster and 
 Fairwood there are about 25,000 acres under culti- 
 vation. It would hardly make a good-sized cattle 
 ranch up in north Texas. 
 
 Hn explanation ^ 
 
 The "Coast Country of 
 
 rainfall. The Government record for the last 
 twenty years gives from forty- five to sixty-two 
 inches, well distributed. 
 
 The year iSgg was an eventful one; winter and 
 early spring were unusually dry, but sub-irrigation 
 came to the rescue and good crops as usual pre- 
 vailed. 
 
 In June, 1899, the largest rainfall yet recorded 
 was had, resulting in serious damage to crops and 
 stock on the I^razos bottom, where for a hundred 
 miles the negroes who largely cultivate the rich Pra- 
 zos bottoms for a sliare of the cotton lost their all and 
 were assisted by the generous citizens of the state 
 and nation. Most of the Texas railroads were also 
 
damaged by the washing out of bridges aqd for 
 ten days traffic was impeded. 
 
 These facts were heralded by the press all over 
 the United States, and a false impression was given 
 that the country at large was injured. On the 
 contrary the prairie lands of the " Coast Country" 
 (which include nine-tenths of that rich section) were 
 benefited and the Coast Country cheap prairie 
 lands are now being purchased more rapidly than 
 ever. 
 
 Another fact should not be lost sight of. Those 
 rich Brazos bottoms — more rich than the Valley of 
 the Nile — raising a bale and a half of cotton to the 
 acre, have only been thus overflowed four times in 
 the last sixty-six years, in 1833, 1852, 1885, and now 
 in 1899. Only once in every sixteen years, the other 
 fifteen years raising the largest crops known any- 
 where. There is hardly any section in America 
 that from some cause does not lose a crop once in 
 from five to ten years. 
 
 This year of 1899 has demonstrated two things: 
 That the prairie lands never fail of a crop whether 
 too wet or too dry; also the wonderful recuperative 
 qualities that the soil and semi-tropical climate give 
 to that favored region. Hardly had the waters 
 receded from the bottoms before cotton, corn, kaffir 
 corn and seeds of vegetables of all kinds were prompt- 
 ly furnished the hapless negroes whose crops were 
 destroyed, and now in August of the same year the 
 farms are again green with new crops that will 
 mature in from thirty to one hundred days, sufficient 
 to more than support the families of these people. 
 
 T^f^^ ^IltllfV Else^^'^''^^^ ^^^ given in detail the 
 
 ' /^^^'^ advantages of the flourishing 
 towns that line the Santa Fe right-of-way from 
 Hitchcock to Houston. 
 
 Everybody in Texas "pulls" for Texas. Confi- 
 dence begets confidence. It is the firm belief of 
 every farmer on the Culf, Colorado cS: Santa Fe Kail- 
 way that he either has or will have an orchard or 
 small fruit farm just as good and just as valuable 
 as the hnest one growing, and it does not require 
 a very vivid stretch of the imagination to see, within 
 a decade, an unbroken line of manorial gardens, 
 country gentlemen's residences and closely cultivated 
 farms all the way from Virginia Point to Houston. 
 
 19 
 
6ulf Coast Climate 
 
 • • • 
 
 The temperature aion<j: tlie Ciulf Coast of Texas, 
 winter and summer, rarely varies to exceed 15° daily. 
 January is the coldest month in the year; during 
 "twenty years the minimum temperature has fallen 
 below 20° in five years only, below 25° in ten years, 
 and below 30° in thirteen years. The temperature 
 along the immediate coast has not reached a maxi- 
 mum of 100° in this period, the highest record being 
 98° in August, 1874. July is the warmest month. 
 Killing frosts do not usually occur at Houston or 
 Galveston until after December i and the unwel- 
 come visitation is frequently delayed until January. 
 Four years in twenty there was no frost whatever at 
 Galveston, and in five different years there was but 
 a single frost. The last hard frost appears any time 
 between January 5 and February i. 
 
 Cwo Decades p^i^L^ofS S'^t ot 
 
 cial, U. S. Weather Bureau, Galveston. He keeps a 
 careful tab on the daily weather and is authority on 
 the climate of Galveston. As Galveston may fairly 
 be considered representative of the Coast country, 
 his reports from a record of twenty years prior to 
 1 89 1 are of great interest and value. 
 
 l)r. Cline publishes the following statistics with 
 regard to temperature : Normal, 52.3° in January 
 to 84.6° in July; highest monthly mean, 63.7° in 
 February to 86.2° in July; lowest monthly mean, 
 46.7° in January to 82° in July; maximum (highest) 
 75° in February to 98° in August; minimum (lowest) 
 11° in January to 70° in August; greatest monthly 
 range, 26° in February to 58° in January; least 
 monthly range 14° in August to 30° in November. 
 The normal precipitation is 52.48 inches yearly, 
 well distributed through the growing season; average 
 number of clear days per year, 133; average number 
 of partly cloudy days, per year, 140; average num- 
 ber of cloudy days per year, 92; average number of 
 days with some sunshine, 318. Prevailing direction 
 of wind is southeast; average hourly velocity ranges 
 from 8.0 miles in July to 11.9 in January. 
 
 21 
 
Gulf BfCCZCS The Texas coast winter is 
 more a name than a fact. In 
 summer the weather is without noticeable variation. 
 This evenness of temperature is what makes it possi- 
 ble for the farmer to work comfortably out of doors 
 nearly every day in the year. The genial southern 
 trade wind, blowing over a thousand miles of salt 
 water, brings both warmth and coolness, and con- 
 tributes to maintain a similarity of seasons. This 
 v^^ind is always in evidence, but rarely moves with 
 enough violence to stir the dust. During a long 
 period, only a few times has it blown a gale, while 
 cyclones are unknown. 
 
 No matter how fervent may be the direct rays of 
 the sun, a step into the shade brings pleasant relief. 
 The nights are uniformly agreeable. Occasionally 
 there is a hard frost, preceded by a strong wind from 
 the north. It is the " norther," the fag end of wdiich 
 drops down from snow-covered Dakota prairies to 
 inform Texans that Christmas is coming. Sensi- 
 tive ears and tender plants have hardly felt its nip 
 when the flurry is over, and the all-pervading Gulf 
 breeze resumes its sway. 
 
 GxpCVi^Q Views H^^^- N- W. McLaln, ex- 
 director of the Minnesota 
 state agricultural experiment station, is an enthusi- 
 astic convert to the allurements of the Gulf coast 
 climate. In a newspaper article he says : 
 
 " Many of those who have lived there for years, 
 speak confidently concerning the general healthful- 
 ness of this region, daily visited by the salt sea 
 air. The trade-winds blow every day from the Gulf. 
 They dispense life to vegetation and health to the 
 inhabitants, wherever they reach. The long sum- 
 mers characteristic of this latitude, are by them 
 rendered not only endurable but enjoyable. 
 
 " On Christmas Eve it seemed strange to see bare- 
 footed boys gazing at Santa Claus and his reindeer 
 flying over artificial snow in the shop windows 
 in Ilouston; and the salutation, ' Merry Christmas' 
 sounded like a joke at a funeral. On New Years 
 day, it seemed rather unseasonable to sit without a 
 coat or hat, on a porch literally covered with roses, 
 and elegant Marechal Niels blooming out on the 
 lawn. On the twelfth of January I pulled oranges 
 from fine old trees, among the most luxuriant gar- 
 dens and lawns in Victoria. The nineteenth day of 
 
 22 
 
January I walked through a small held of alfalfa 
 sown the twenty-eight day of last October. The 
 growth completely covered the ground, and the 
 plants averaged eighteen inches in height. January 
 22d, in the gardens and fields near Alvin, I found 
 the people picking strawberries." 
 
 ^Jrt lVLill<ll*i^ Malaria is not prevalent in 
 ' the country except when in- 
 
 vited by carelessness or ignorance. Though this 
 is a flat region, it has but few tracts of swampy 
 land of small extent. Where forests occur, along 
 the bayous, they are devoid of undergrowth; a sign 
 that nothing is present productive of ague. The 
 surplus rainfall drains into the Gulf — chills and 
 fever only appearing sporadically along overflowed 
 and undrained river bottoms. On the high open 
 prairies, malaria is an almost unknown visitor, ex- 
 cept where water is permitted to remain stagnant. 
 
 Colds and catarrh cause more suffering and 
 deaths in the New England states alone, than the 
 combined diseases of the Oulf Coast. No deadly 
 epidemic diseases have visited this section for a quar- 
 ter of a century. Periodical fevers are almost entirely 
 absent. 
 
 r^OUStOH Calveston and Houston are both 
 healthful cities. Dr. Robt. McEl- 
 roy, city health officer at Houston, says : 
 
 " The health of the city of Houston compares 
 favorably with any city in the United States, the death 
 rate for 1 8g8 being very small, undoubtedly caused by 
 better sewage, more paved streets and the universal 
 use of artesian water. Our death rate for the four 
 pastyears was as follows: 1895, 13.5 per 1,000; 1 8g6, 
 10.4; iSg7, 13.5; 1898, 9.7. Malaria is comparatively 
 unknown now, due principally to use of artesian 
 water, of which there is an inexhaustible supply. 
 Better surface drainage and sewerage also adds much 
 to our improved condition. Contagious diseases are 
 comparatively unknown. Our mild climate, cool Gulf 
 breezes and freedom from sudden changes in tem- 
 perature makes Houston one of the most desirable 
 places to live in found anywhere in the South." 
 
 ^^IY^Q^^I^ P>om a recent report issued by 1 )r. 
 W. C. Fisher, health officer, Gal- 
 veston, it is learned that the general health of that 
 city has been good, notwithstanding the outbreak of 
 
 23 
 
dengue fever during the fall of 1S97. Statistics 
 show that out of a population of 50,000 there were 
 only 166 deaths during the months of August, Sep- 
 tember and October, 1897, as against 175 in i8g6 
 and 1S7 in 1895. This too with a growing popula- 
 tion. 
 
 Increased sanitary efficiency has brought about 
 this condition of affairs. When the $300,000 ap- 
 propriated for municipal sewerage has been spent, 
 the general healthfulness of Galveston will be even 
 better. 
 
 During 1897 the death rate per thousand was a 
 fraction under 14, and considerably less for 1898, 
 which is a good showing. 
 
 It is noteworthy that typhoid fever, diphtheria, 
 scarlet fever, cholera infantum, and other like 
 diseases are almost unknown here. For example, 
 there were only twenty deaths from typhoid, scarlet 
 and malarial fever, and but eight from diphtheria in 
 that year. 
 
 fj 11^ The summers in Texas come early and 
 •■■^^^y stay late. If that long succession of 
 warm and sunshiny days when one instinctively 
 seeks the shady side of the street becomes mono- 
 tonous to those who cannot get away for a summer 
 vacation, there is, to offset this, only two months 
 of winter, and that resembles a northern October. 
 
 You will like it here when once acquainted. 
 There is a fascination in what at first sight appears 
 undesirable. The soothing Gulf airs are a perpe- 
 tual invitation to cease worry and fret and hurry. 
 They call to just enough indolence to prevent the 
 human machine from too hastily wearing out. 
 
 It is not a misdemeanor to be a trifle lazy in 
 Texas. 
 
 24 
 
I^owns and Colonics 
 
 • • • 
 
 IJelow may be found a detailed description of the 
 more important cities, towns and colonies situated 
 on or contiguous to the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe 
 Railway in the Gulf Coast country. The various 
 jMennonite colonies are mentioned elsewhere. 
 
 flfltfrt^ The town of Algoa and its fruit land sub- 
 j:HVjV'<( urbs lies on the main line of the Gulf, 
 Colorado & Santa Fe Railway, midway between 
 Houston and Galveston. The location is a favor- 
 able one, both as regards quality of soil and near- 
 ness to important markets. The town proper is 
 growing nicely, but no effort has been made to boom 
 it — rather it has been the desire to first settle up the 
 fertile surrounding country, A first-class shelled 
 road leads from Algoa over a free wagon bridge to 
 Galveston, so that products can be rapidly handled 
 either by rail or wagon. 
 
 Some 2,000 acres of land adjoining Algoa have 
 been platted into small tracts, ranging in size from 
 two to forty acres. Each tract fronts on a public 
 road and all are within one and a quarter miles of 
 the station. The object has been to make this an 
 ideal place for orchards, gardens, etc. There will 
 be no taxes to pay here until the year 1900. Prices 
 of land are governed by location; liberal terms 
 offered actual settlers. 
 
 XJ|4->« f <^vM>i Alta Loma (population 700) is 
 /lira J^Oma ^^^^ ^^^^ station beyond Hitch- 
 cock, being seventeen miles from Galveston, on the 
 main ( iulf , Colorado & Santa Fe line. It is the center 
 of the Gulf Coast's magnificent fruit belt — a high 
 prairie, heavily sodded with native grasses, and drain- 
 ing to the Gulf by an almost imperceptible descent. 
 
 The soil is a black sandy loam, several feet thick, 
 with a yellowish clay subsoil, all underlaid with 
 coarse gravel. 
 
 Alta Loma has plenty of pure fresh water, ob- 
 tained from artesian wells at a depth of 550 to 700 
 feet. In this vicinity are nineteen artesian wells. 
 The water works for the city of Cialveston were 
 
 25 
 
located here at a cost of about a million dollars. 
 Five million gallons of water are delivered in the 
 city every twenty-four hours. 
 
 The entire tract of 8,000 acres is surveyed into 
 subdivisions of ten, twenty and forty acres, and is 
 traversed by roads so arranged as to afford every 
 ten-acre parcel easy access to the station. 
 
 Alta Loma has a fine public school building- with 
 an attendance of 200 children; has two churches, 
 Eaptist and Presbyterian; has a first-class canning 
 factorv and preserving works, the plant represent- 
 ing an outlay of more than $10,000 and doing a 
 prosperous business; also has a shirt and overall 
 factory employing quite a number of operatives. 
 The township has about thirty miles of graded roads 
 and a fine system of drainage. Hundreds of acres 
 are now planted in fruit trees, vegetables and flower 
 gardens. "Alta Loma," in the language of its 
 founder, "has not a man, woman or child but what 
 is well clothed and well fed. Its people are healthy, 
 prosperous, law-abiding and happy." 
 
 /ilvilt ^^ Brazoria County, near Mustang Bayou, 
 surrounded by fertile prairies, and at the 
 junction of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe main 
 line and Houston branch, is the wide-awake city of 
 Alvin. Its present population is 
 estimated at 2,000 people, chiefly 
 acquired within the past seven 
 years. There are 
 about 5,000 peo- 
 ple within three 
 miles of the cen- 
 ter of town. All 
 kinds of retail 
 business are ful- 
 ly represented. 
 Alvin now has 
 several spacious 
 
 school build- ADOORYARDAT 
 
 ings, several at- 
 tractive church edifices, and no saloons. 
 The Methodist College for Southern Texas and 
 Louisiana is located here. Ice factory plants, two 
 cotton gins and a vinegar establishment are recent 
 acquisitions, brick and drain tile works and a can- 
 ning factory are assured. Several substantial brick 
 business houses are being erected, and franchises 
 
 27 
 
have Deen granted for electric lighting, street car 
 lines and a telephone exchange. There is an abund- 
 ance of pure, palatable water, obtainable at a depth 
 of 15 to 20 feet, and several strong flowing wells of 
 choice artesian water. 
 •^ The climate of this nook is even and healthy, 
 being pleasantly affected, summer and winter, by 
 the Gulf breezes. The soil is a dark, sandy loam, 
 with clay sub-soil, underlaid at a depth of 10 or 15 
 feet with water-bearing quicksand. Average annual 
 rainfall is 45 inches. 
 
 The LeConte and Keifer pears here find a con- 
 genial home. Peaches, apricots and plums are suc- 
 cessfully grown, and the Japan orange is being intro- 
 duced. Grapes are a success, the dreaded grape rot 
 being practically unknown. Strawberries do well, 
 if the ground is properly prepared, the fruit ripen- 
 ing in January and continuing to yield until June. 
 It is not uncommon to pick ripe strawberries here 
 Christmas day. The cape jessamine is extensively 
 cultivated around Alvin, forming an important prod- 
 uct. All kinds of vegetables flourish — in fact, the 
 briny atmosphere, sandy soil and early seasons make 
 this the truck farmers' gold mine, two or three crops 
 a year being easily grown. Three crops of Irish 
 potatoes are frequently raised in one season. Dairy 
 products command good prices, and poultry-raising 
 is a source of profit. 
 
 The nearness of Houston and Galveston, with 
 ample service over the Santa Fe Route, supplemented 
 by excellent country roads, brings Alvin in close touch 
 with unexcelled local markets. The privilege of 
 attaching loaded cars to the fast freight train for 
 northern points is assisting fruit and vegetable 
 growers. In i8g8 the shipments by express from 
 Alvin to northern and eastern markets amounted to 
 15,164 crates of strawberries, covering a fruiting 
 season of more than eighty days. The cash prices 
 ranged from $4.00 to $4. 50 up to March loth, $3. 50 
 for the next two weeks, $3.00 for the following two 
 weeks and $2.75 for final clean up — as compared 
 with only $1.50 per crate in many berry districts. 
 
 Tit^\ai'^t*A^trt Amsterdam is located twelve 
 
 southeastern part of Brazoria County. This town 
 was started three years ago by the Texas Coloniza- 
 tion Co., which owns a large adjoining tract. 
 
 28 
 
This is an exceptional body of land, owinj^ to 
 proximity to the Gulf and excellent drainage as well 
 as the superior quality of the soil. Prices range 
 from $12.50 to $15 per acre, on very favorable 
 terms to actual settlers. To get to this property buy 
 a ticket over the Santa Fe Route and get off at Alvin, 
 taking a private conveyance thence to Amsterdam, 
 
 3|#^^^|^ Arcadia was settled in the spring of 
 1S90. It is situated on the line of the 
 Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway, twenty-one 
 miles from Galveston, and twenty-nine feet above 
 sea level. The soil is a sandy and black loam, 
 underlaid with yellow clay. For vegetables the 
 sandy loam is generally preferred, though both are 
 good for fruits. 
 
 The whole country is sub-irrigated at a depth of 
 five or six feet, rendering it drouth proof so far as trees 
 are concerned, although even vegetables rarely suffer. 
 
 Artesian water can be had at a depth of 100 to 
 600 feet, the quality being better at the greater 
 depths. Every variety of vegetable succeeds well. 
 Tomatoes ripen by the middle of May; strawberries 
 are ready for picking last of February, and bear 
 abundantly until June, a yield of $150 to $300 per 
 acre not being uncommon. LeConte and Keifer 
 pears are always vigorous, absolutely healthy, and 
 bear an average of eight bushels to each tree six 
 years old. American grapes are uniformly healthy, 
 productive and free from rot or mildew. Cotton 
 does well without manuring, the yield ranging from 
 one-half to a full bale, and in lower locations sugar- 
 cane is a success; it is not hurt by frost before the 
 first of December and rarely prior to the middle of 
 January. l*ears have been planted here on 3,000 
 acres and peaches on 200 acres. The largest orchards 
 are owned by B, F. Johnson, C. Peterson, J. Whai- 
 ton Terry, C. E. Angell and E. C. Lamb. 
 
 There is no malaria, the sea breeze sweeping it 
 av/ay. Land is for sale at reasonable prices. 
 
 }il*COlil -^^cola, in Fort Bend County, is the 
 name of a pretty town on the Gulf, 
 Colorado & Santa Fe Railway, where that road 
 connects with the International & Great Northern 
 and the Sugarland & Areola Railways. This prom- 
 ising place is eighteen miles from Houston and 
 forty-three miles from Galveston. 
 

 ^B| 
 
 J 
 
 ^^^HSkbNE^^^Vb^S^hk ^ %i i^^i^j 
 
 i^^H 
 
 H^l^a^ 
 
 ihH 
 
 HHH|^ 
 
 ^^^HpjBB 
 
 ^^^^^^SK^Sx^'^'^ 
 
 ^wH 
 
 WK^K^^^^^U^i*- 
 
 |Bf 
 
 BS^ffip^ \^M'^^^S9^'i 
 
 ^'fijj 
 
 «i|^I^fc''^^l ■4vi^'^^'fK;|; 
 
 ).* ..,,!iSB|| 
 
 mm^mm|R|^ ^L» '*^^^!Sii^< ^^^ 
 
 '^'^'fSBl 
 
 i[HHRm#'^^i''''Hfl9 ^ ' ' .'^ k'^ 
 
 pi 
 
 M^l^jyt ' ' ' 
 
 
 '''MHt^'" 
 
 -j 
 
 Ie^I .1 
 
 -# 
 
 3PH^^' /^ ^ JflHIJISH 
 
 '1 
 
 ^^^^s^ -^^^J^H|gH 
 
 •f 
 
 Bfl^^^^^^jHOp^^He' r^?^ 
 
 "^/"X- 
 
 
 
 ^^mB^f^^' ^^''1 
 
 
 ^^g- ■#■':■ Iti 
 
 '/il 
 
 ^^m^MlLt'l^ 
 
 1^ 
 
 ^^^BSHCKpR^^ssMr^^ -> 
 
 
 
 I J 
 
 ^^^^^^^^^^H'*' Jp • '>' ^9 
 
 %sd 
 
 HK'iii'H 
 
 ""^Kj^" 
 
 HP^BEV^^^^HqMK y^AA^JBBBD 
 
 "■>^K 
 
 ^^^^SB^^^IHH^K o^jIka^^^H 
 
 JfTi.' 
 
 ^^H^HH^^^bH 'v^^^H 
 
 .*• 
 
 HB^^HbR ; ,'^^kJ^I 
 
 v; 
 
 iBHU^'^^^m 
 
The country round about is filling up with a 
 desirable class of farmers, more than one hundred 
 families having settled here. Here is the dividing 
 line between the immense stretch of black prairie 
 extending eastward to Galveston Bay and the 
 bottom lands of Oyster Creek and Brazos River 
 on the west. West of Areola the bottom lands have 
 been utilized as cotton, sugar and corn plantations; 
 they are now being divided into farm tracts and 
 rapidly taken up by small farmers. The eastern 
 prairies were originally devoted to the grazing of 
 cattle; these also are being placed upon the market 
 in small holdings. 
 
 Good drinking and stock water is obtained any- 
 where in the Areola region at a depth of 20 to 40 
 feet. Pure artesian water flows freely when tapped 
 300 to Soo feet below the surface. 
 
 Nearly everything grows here. Cotton makes one 
 bale to the acre; the corn product is 40 to 50 bushels 
 per acre; oats are a success, the annual yield per 
 acre averaging 60 to 75 bushels. 
 
 At Areola is located the sugar plantation and fac- 
 tory of J. H. B. House. Cane yields 20 to 30 tons 
 per acre and the factories pay about $3 per ton for it. 
 
 Truck gardening is also quite remunerative. 
 Beans, onions, peas, cabbage, potatoes, beets, toma- 
 toes, melons, etc. , grow to perfection and bring high 
 prices in adjacent markets. From $200 to $500 can 
 be made from a winter garden of two acres, and the 
 same ground planted in summer with grains. Pears, 
 strawberries and all kinds of fruit do well. Tame 
 grasses — timothy, crimson clover, bermuda and 
 alfalfa — are successfully grown. 
 
 Areola has three railroads, two sugar factories, a 
 lumber yard, two hotels and livery stable. It desires 
 a general store, cotton gin, newspapers, brickyard, 
 drug store, canning factory and floral garden. 
 
 €'dH^ Edna, Jackson County (population 2,000) 
 lies near the waters of Matagorda Bay, 
 but has little water front, thus being beyond the 
 range of any coast storms. The land is level. 
 Much of it needs artificial drainage to become pro- 
 ductive; this can easily be accomplished by taking 
 advantage of the many fresh water creeks, such as 
 Mustang, Sandy, Navidad, I.avaca, Arenosa, Benan, 
 
 81 
 
Coxe's and Keller. These streams are skirted with 
 timber, furnishing an abundance of fuel and fence 
 posts. About 70 per cent, is prairie and 30 per cent, 
 timber. 
 
 The soil is fertile, producing corn, cotton, vege- 
 tables and fruits; corn yields an average per acre of 
 30 bushels; sweet potatoes, 200 bushels; prairie hay, 
 one ton, and cotton 300 pounds. With proper cul- 
 tivation pears are particularly successful. Good 
 water is plentiful. The climate is healthful. 
 
 Edna, the county seat, is located on the line of 
 the Southern Pacific Co. sixty-seven miles west of 
 Rosenberg. It is a growing town of 1,500 inhabi- 
 tants, closely in touch with the surrounding country. 
 Edna's public schools, churches and stores are far 
 above the average. 
 
 Unimproved lands, in tracts of almost any size, 
 may be bought at $4 to $10 per acre. Higher prices 
 are charged for lands near the county seat and rail- 
 road, or for improved farms. Prospective settlers 
 in the Coast Region of Texas are invited to exam- 
 ine what is offered in the vicinity of Edna, in case 
 they should not find exactly what is wanted at a 
 point nearer the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Rail- 
 way 
 
 ^|_ C<iHiPO Seven years ago there was no El 
 Campo. Today the town has a 
 population of over 1,200. More than twenty new 
 business enterprises have been established here 
 within the past year. Wharton County is being 
 rapidly populated by a very enterprising class of 
 people, largely consisting of Swedes. There are 
 very few negroes. 
 
 Around El Campo is some of the richest soil in 
 Texas, high and comparatively dry. The surround- 
 ing country, which was once a large cattle pasture, 
 is being divided into fruit and cotton farms. 
 
 El Campo has butchers, bakers, lumbermen, bank- 
 ers, grocers — in fact every leading branch of trade 
 is represented. The New York, Texas & Mexican 
 Railway furnishes good shipping facilities. 
 
 The business district is composed of substantial 
 wooden structures of modern architecture, while 
 large, spacious churches have been erected by several, 
 denominations. 
 
PEAR ORCHARD NEAR FAIRBANKS. 
 
 ^3.il*b^1lkS Fairbanks is located twelve miles 
 northwest of Houston, on the 
 Houston & Texas Central Railroad and on the main 
 county thoroughfare, called the Washington County- 
 Road. This is now macadamized out from Houston 
 to within three miles of Fairbanks. Work is rapidly 
 progressing on about five miles more. 
 
 The land in that vicinity is a black, sandy loam, 
 mostly prairie, with strips of timber along the creeks. 
 The elevation is from five to eight feet to the mile, 
 which affords excellent natural drainage in connec- 
 tion with the railroad and county road ditches run- 
 ning through the center of the property, and a creek 
 on either side. 
 
 The lands around the town are being rapidly 
 settled by thrifty northern farmers, who seem to be 
 contented and doing well. The prices range from 
 $5 to $io per acre. There is a sawmill and planing 
 mill within four miles of Fairbanks, which supplies 
 cheap building material. The best of well water 
 can be had at the depth of 15 to 30 feet at a cost of 
 50 cents per foot with pipe and pump all complete. 
 
 A general store and lumber yard, carpenter and 
 blacksmith shops, school, postoffice, depot and 
 express office are part of the conveniences of the 
 town. Newcomers have organized and expect to 
 raise vegetables and melons in quantities, so that 
 they can ship in carload lots to northern markets. 
 Some of the finest vegetables and melons on the 
 Houston market in the ])ast three years were raised 
 at Fairbanks, and a number of carloads were shipped 
 to northern markets with very satisfactory results. 
 

Mr. C. W. Hahl has several acres ot canaigre 
 planted which is doing: nicely, and promises to be a 
 profitable crop; this is used for tanning purposes. 
 It is becoming very popular where introduced and 
 the demand cannot be supplied. The profit per acre, 
 at a conservative estimate is from $.',0 to $50. 
 
 Galv^fttOfl ^^^^^ cities rise and flourish in re- 
 V/aiVVOVV^Il sponse to a need. Rarely are they 
 created by individual fiat or caprice. 
 
 Galveston supplies a distinct want, that of ocean 
 port for the Southwest, and therefore will grow stead- 
 ily year by year, keeping pace with the territory it 
 serves. The city is built on the extreme eastern end 
 of Galveston Island, just off the Gulf Coast of Texas, 
 is six miles in area, and has a population of nearly 
 65,000. 
 
 This fact appears remarkable; that a city of that 
 size should transact business equal to other commu- 
 nities with three or .four times more inhabitants. 
 The anomaly is easily explained. The finest land- 
 locked harbor on the Gulf of Mexico has given Gal- 
 veston an immense carrying trade. Here come ships 
 from European and South American ports to carry 
 away cotton, corn and wheat, in exchange for 
 money or foreign commodities. So profitable has 
 been the handling of these exchanges that conserva- 
 tive merchants and brokers were content to reap 
 assured gains without seeking to bring in strangers 
 by heralding to the outside world the city's manifest 
 advantages. Already this is the third richest city in 
 the United States according to population. 
 
 Galveston was not discovered in the true sense of 
 the word, until a few years ago. Then the great 
 West awoke to the fact that by means of the Santa 
 Ye Route it was linked to a first-class deep water 
 port, the largest and deepest on the Gulf Coast, sev- 
 eral hundred miles nearer the interior than is New 
 York City. For example: Galveston is 220 miles 
 nearer to St. Louis, 739 miles nearer Denver and 483 
 miles nearer Kansas City than New York is. 
 
 The United States Government estimates that 
 $6,200,000 is required to secure a channel of suffi- 
 cient depth across the bar at the entrance of the bay. 
 Now there is more than 27 feet of water at average 
 tides, which will be increased to accommodate any 
 craft that floats. Jetty construction was begun in 
 1885, but work was not actually pushed until iSgo. 
 
The south jetty is seven and one-half miles long and 
 the north arm has been extended nearly six miles. 
 
 During 1896 there arrived at Galveston 28 vessels 
 from foreign ports, of which number one-sixth car- 
 ried cargoes, not including the small local craft. 
 The clearances were 303, all with cargoes. The 
 number of vessels entered in the coastwise business 
 that year was 369. A gratifying increase in ocean 
 trade is reported for 1898. As an exporting city 
 Galveston ranks fourth or fifth, and has regular 
 steamer lines to Houston, Key West, New York, 
 Brazos, Santiago and Morgan City; also between 
 Galveston and the foreign ports of Hamburg, Bre- 
 men, Antwerp, Liverpool, Manchester, Tampico 
 and Vera Cruz. 
 
 Four miles of completed wharves, on the bay 
 
 COTTON WHARF, GALVESTON. 
 
 front, with room for more, amply accommodate 
 existing trafiic. Four immense grain elevators have 
 been erected, with storage capacity of 2,500,000 
 bushels; other elevators are projected. During the 
 commercial season, after September i, tfie docks are 
 filled with bales of cotton. Cotton is the chief staple 
 of Texas and half of it comes to Galveston, making 
 this the first cotton port of America, an honor 
 previously belonging to New Orleans, the value of 
 Galveston cotton exports, season of 1898-1899, 
 being $51,271,392, against New Orleans' $35,355,- 
 647, the former gaining nearly $12,000,000 and the 
 latter losing $10,000,000 in comparison with 1S97- 
 1898 — a remarkable showing. Every bale of cotton 
 
1 !■> 
 
 Ml 
 
 Se^^r: - 
 
 ONE OF THE GALVESTON ELEVA10RS. 
 
 leaves in the city from $i to $1.50 to pay for hand- 
 ling, wharfage, etc. 
 
 Cotton and woolen mills, bagging, binding, twine, 
 rope and lace factories are established here; the total 
 of manufacturing establishments is 43. The tish 
 and oyster business will soon rival that of Baltimore. 
 
 The total exports for 1896 amounted to $56,000,- 
 000; customs-house receipts for 1896, $191,945, 
 These figures give a fair idea of the business pass- 
 ing through Galveston. 
 
 Hon. A. J. Rosenthal, deputy collector of cus- 
 toms, has compiled the following interesting addi- 
 tional data respecting Galveston's commerce: 
 
 " The tonnage of vessels which have entered this 
 port for the last three years was as follows: 1898, 
 899,112 tons; 1897, 642,465 tons; 1896, 496,045 
 tons. It is to be taken into consideration that 
 during the months of our war with Spain the coast- 
 wise trade with New York and Boston was entirely 
 suspended. 
 
 The following table shows some of the exports 
 from the farms of the State of Texas, via Galveston: 
 
 Cotton. — 1898, 1,982,618 bales, 1,557,480,207 
 lbs., $55,789,071 value; 1897, 1,380,728 bales, 
 724,882,228 lbs., $53, 641, 284 value; 1896, 1,159,895 
 bales, 614,744,456 lbs., $49,179,556 value. 
 
 Cottonseed Meal and Cake. — 1898, 519,375,- 
 071 lbs., $4,350,526 value; 1897, 373,665,521 lbs., 
 $2,939,312 value; 1896, 306,691,523 lbs., $3,060,900 
 value. 
 
Cottonseed Oil. — 1898, 9,761,567 gals., $2,- 
 483,824 value; 1897, 4,431,001 gals., $1,181,000 
 value; 1896, 1,936,499 gals., $484,125 value. 
 
 Cottonseed. — 1898, 2,872,580 lbs., $17,317 
 value. 
 
 Breadstuffs. — 1898, $12,195,322 value; 1897, 
 $8,269,951 value; 1896, $4,291,668 value. 
 
 Value of Live Stock. — 1898, $77,141,816; 
 1897, $60,965,060; 1896, $55,999,228. 
 
 Valueof Foreign Imports. — 1898, $2,586,300; 
 1897, $644,237; 1896, $794,908; 1895, $337,178. 
 
 grand totals. 
 
 
 Vessels. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Exports. 
 
 Ijipokts. 
 
 1898 
 
 759 
 705 
 613 
 
 1,214.013 
 l,03fi,522 
 
 844.426 
 
 $77,148,836 
 60,965,060 
 55,999.228 
 
 $2,586,300 
 
 1897 
 
 ]89fi 
 
 644,237 
 794.908 
 
 Comparison of Cash Receipts January and 
 
 February, 1898-1899. 
 1899, Jan., $23,327.18; 1898, Jan., $19,699.31 
 1899, Feb., 18,990.51; 1898, Feb., 9,475.00 
 Net increase in Custom House receipts $13,143.38 
 in two months. 
 
 Another factor of Galveston's prosperity is its 
 selection as headquarters for general offices and 
 shops of the Santa Fe System in Texas. Handsome 
 and substantial business blocks compactly line sev- 
 eral wide streets, and merchants appear to be pros- 
 pering. The many beautiful homes, fine churches, 
 
 and numerous 
 schools of Gal- 
 veston attest its 
 superior advant- 
 ages as a r e s i- 
 dence city. Sev- 
 eral large hotels 
 invite and foster 
 transient custom. 
 Al any residents 
 of the interior 
 r e X a s to w n s 
 spend their sum- 
 mers in this de- 
 lightful spot, in- 
 vigorated by the 
 cool sea breeze; 
 
 TWO-YEAR OLD PEACH THEE AT WEBSTER. '^^^''^ '^ t:he WintCr 
 
 38 
 
invalids and pleasure seekers drop down from the 
 North to enjoy May weather in December. 
 
 To miss seeing Galveston is not to have seen a 
 representative Texas City. 
 
 T%if-ji,t^^g^^t^ Hitchcock, in Galveston County, on 
 l/UCI>COCR main line of Gulf, Colorado & Santa 
 Fe Railway, fourteen miles from Galveston, is the 
 original home of the pear industry in Texas. Here 
 formerly lived the eminent horticulturist H. M. 
 Stringfellow, who first discovered that this section 
 could produce with profit the finest pears in the 
 world. His attractive home, beautiful grounds and 
 well-kept orchards attest the admirable qualities of 
 this place. The original Stringfellow orchard now 
 includes probably the largest nursery in Texas; its 
 beauty attracts many visitors. 
 
 Numerous strawberry patches and truck farms lie 
 within a radius of three miles. The land is sub- 
 irrigated. Good well water is found at a depth of 
 twelve to eighteen feet, and there are thirteen 
 artesian wells, varying in depth from 400 to 700 
 feet, with a flow ranging from 45 to 145 gallons per 
 minute — the water rising twenty-five and thirty-five 
 feet above ground. 
 
 Several large rose nurseries are located here. 
 Judge Austin owns a fine nursery, containing 30,000 
 roses and 1,000 magnolias. W. L. Schumate and 
 Capt. J. Aiken have 250,000 rose bushes, and F. 
 Renaud 30,000. Tourists can obtain, in season, 
 beautiful bouquets of rosebuds to take north, if 
 orders are placed a day ahead. Cape jessamines are 
 a decided success at Hitchcock, and the Satsuma 
 variety of Japan orange is quite popular. 
 
 Over 1,000 acres of the country immediately tribu- 
 tary to Hitchcock are planted with pear trees, 100 
 acres with strawberries, 100 acres with grapes and 
 500 acres are devoted to cultivation of other fruits 
 and vegetables. H. N. Lowrey, three miles west 
 of Hitchcock, has planted 10,000 pear trees, 3,000 
 peach trees and 4,000 plum trees. The Wheeler 
 Fruit Company has 11,000 pear trees and 25 acres in 
 strawberries. 
 
 Persons desiring to invest in small fruit farms will 
 do well to visit Hitchcock. At this point and Alvin 
 enough has been accomplished to prove beyond cavil, 
 that the coast country of Texas cannot be surpassed 
 for productiveness. 
 
IVMiQ^rAM ^^ Steamships made Galveston, rail- 
 * WllovOn roads have made Houston — that pros- 
 perous and beautiful city of over 72,(K)o people 
 wliich has grown up at the head of tide-water navi- 
 j^ation, tifty-tive miles from the head of the jetties at 
 Bolivar Peninsula. The L\'th Congress appropri- 
 ated $377,000 for immediate use out of the $4,000,- 
 000 required to make a channel from the (jalveston 
 jetties to the harbor near the heart of this city. 
 This government work, when completed, will allow 
 the largest ocean going vessels to meet Ilcniston's 
 fourteen railroads. As a result the anomaly will be 
 presented of an important transportation and com- 
 mercial inland city with 14 miles of harbor. That 
 vessels can be sheltered by a " land-locked harbor" 
 in fresh water is a fact of importance to navigators. 
 
 BUFFALO BAYOU, HOUSTON. 
 
 The city was founded in 1S21 and has grown from 
 29,000 inhabitants in 1890 to its present size. Near- 
 by are immense forests of pine, oak, etc., and the 
 profusion of magnolia groves in the suburbs has 
 given it the name of the " Magnolia City." 
 
 These are some of the things that Houston offers 
 the newcomer: 
 
 A healthful and enjoyable semi-tropical climate; 
 mean summer temperature of 90° and average win- 
 ter temperature of 60°; sweet, pure and soft artesian 
 water, a low death rate — less tiian nine to the 
 
thousand — sixty-two miles of paved streets — vitrified 
 brick, stone, wood and asphalt; no stagnant water 
 and an admirable sewerage system; handsome public 
 and business buildings, and many beautiful private 
 residences; large modern hotels, a big convention 
 hall and many beautiful churches; the finest electric 
 street railway system in the south, 46 miles com- 
 pleted; a taxable valuation of $27,000,000, the rate 
 being $2 per $roo; a high school and 15 public 
 schools for benefit of 12,000 children. 
 
 The bank clearances for 1898 were $306,946,448, 
 an increase of $34,595,466 over 1897, and more than 
 many cities of twice Houston's population. Three 
 million dollars are invested in building associations, 
 $350,000 in transportation lines, and $4,600,000 in 
 manufacturing and industrial establishments, include 
 ing six cotton compresses and four cotton seed oil 
 mills. There is plenty of money here to do busi- 
 ness with. 
 
 BUSINESS Ul 
 
 Fourteen trunk lines of railroad enter Houston, 
 affording ample means for traffic with half of the 
 vast area between the lower Mississippi River and 
 the Pacific. The roads actually centering in this 
 city have a mileage of 5,817 and the connecting sys- 
 tems a mileage of 31,000. Seven of them have their 
 general ofiices and shops here, disbursing $400,000 
 
 43 
 
among their employes and officers, and the Santa Fe 
 has erected a commodious passenfjer depot on Con- 
 gress street to accommodate its rapidly increasing 
 traffic. Its trains also run into Grand Central 
 Depot. The Santa Fe is the popular line between 
 Houston and Galveston. 
 
 The jobbing houses of Houston do an immense 
 business ($32,000,000 annually) among the timber 
 regions of East Te.xas, the central cotton section 
 of the State, and the sugar districts of Texas and 
 southwestern Louisiana. Eighty miles of switches, 
 side-tracks, etc., afford complete facilities for hand- 
 ling freight. In addition to the facilities offered by 
 the Santa Fe Route for rail transportation to sea- 
 board, a system of barges deliver cargoes on board 
 ocean steamers at Galveston without trans-shipment. 
 
 Other items of interest are the gas works, with a 
 plant capacity for 100,000 population; public school 
 buildings valued at $365,000, and tine artesian water, 
 the average supply being 3,000,000 gallons, drawn 
 from 39 wells. 
 
 As a cotton market Houston takes a front rank. 
 The gross receipts from Sept. ist, i8g8 to March 
 qth, i8gQ, were 2,317,715 bales, being an excess of 
 receipts this year over last of 632,804 bales. The 
 increased amount paid for cotton at Houston in i8g8 
 over iSq7 was $34, 535,466, notwithstanding the low 
 price of that staple. One-third of the cotton crop 
 of America and one-fifth of the cotton crop of the 
 world is raised within 450 miles of Houston and 
 Galveston. 
 
 There are 40,000,000 acres of pine timber lands 
 in East Texas and Louisiana, with Houston as 
 headquarters for this immense traffic. The annual 
 lumber trade amounts to over $25,000,000. Twen- 
 ty-six million dollars worth of traffic was done last 
 year over Buffalo Bayou, Houston's " arm of the 
 sea. '' 
 
 A large trade of the city of Houston is in Texas 
 pioducts, such as cotton, sugar, molasses, melons, 
 rice, fruits, lumber, wool and hides, also fish and 
 cysrers. Houston has an enviable future before it, 
 if the growth of the last decade should be continued 
 Its location is such as to command a large share of 
 the industrial prosperity of Southern Texas, and it 
 will always be an important factor in that region. 
 
Acknowledgment is hereby made of the courtesy 
 of Dr. V. S. MacNider and Messrs. Blackburn & 
 Bailey, in furnishing photos of Houston for repro- 
 duction herein. 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, HOUSTON. 
 
 T^ 1r)ot*tC ^^^ confluence of Buffalo Bayou 
 ^ and San Jacinto River form what is 
 
 known as San Jacinto Bay, a body of fresh water 
 seven miles long by from one to two miles in width. 
 At the lower end it is almost separated from Gal- 
 veston Bay, the great inland sea of Texas, by a prom- 
 ontory which ranges in width from 1,500 feet at 
 its point to one and one-half miles at its base. 
 This promontory has. an elevation of forty feet above 
 San Jacinto Bay. and thirty-five feet above Galves- 
 ton Bay, the former bank being abrupt, while the 
 latter recedes in graceful, easy terraces almost to the 
 water's edge. Beautiful hardwood trees, green ten 
 nionths in the year, draped with Spanish moss and 
 mistletoe, fringe the borders of the promontory, and 
 picturesque little islands of the same timber give a 
 most pleasing effect to the general landscape. 
 
 By water this promontory is located forty miles 
 
from Houston and thirty miles from Galveston, but 
 by rail or wagon road it is but twenty-four miles 
 from Houston and thirty-two miles from Galveston, 
 being practically, either by land or water, midway 
 between the two great cities of Texas. 
 
 On this strip of land the town of La Porte is situ- 
 ated. It is already quite a place with ample rail- 
 road, navigation, telegraph and telephone facilities. 
 La Porte possesses churches, school-houses, hotels, 
 livery stables, stores of all varieties and well-equipped 
 bathing houses. The surrounding agricultural coun- 
 try (and there is none better in the state) is well de- 
 veloped. The proposed great ship channel will 
 make it an important commercial point. 
 
 La Porte is becoming widely known throughout 
 Texas as a delightful summer resort. It is a veri- 
 table Coney Island for Houston, and summer excur- 
 sions from that city are frequent. The hunting and 
 fishing in the fall and winter attract many sports- 
 men from the North, who often remain for months. 
 The bathing, boating, fishing and sailing facilities 
 are unexcelled. 
 
 Surrounding La Porte, together with the adjoin- 
 ing tract of land known as South La Porte, is about 
 4,000 acres of land, which has been laid off in small 
 tracts for fruit and vegetable farmers. The prices 
 of town lots in La Porte and its neighboring farms 
 are reasonable and the terms easy. 
 
 In addition to its properties at I^a Porte, the 
 American Land Company (with headquarters at 
 Chicago, St. Louis and Houston) also has charge of 
 the tracts at Meadowbrook and Webster; corre- 
 spondence invited. 
 
 IMatlVcl '^"^^ settlement of Manvel is situated 
 ' in Prazoria County, on the Gulf, 
 
 Colorado & Santa Fe Railway main line, midway 
 between Areola and Alvin, and is thirty-six miles 
 distant from Houston. Two hundred heads of 
 families have settled within a few miles of the depot. 
 Many of them are Dunkards. a religious sect whose 
 industry and thrift are proverbial. 
 
 It has been demonstrated that it is as fertile as 
 any other portion of the coast. Nearly 4,000 acres 
 of land has been cut up into ten, twenty and forty 
 acre tracts, lying near the town site, the selling 
 price being $15 to $30 per acre. The summer of 
 1897 the cultivated acreage was as follows: Pears 
 
DOWN THE PATHS OF PEACE 
 
and other fruits, 250 acres; strawberries. 100 acres; 
 vegetables, 50 acres. 
 
 Cotton is being extensively planted and the region 
 around Manvel bids fair to be as great a cotton and 
 corn country as Northern Texas. The soil is of 
 two kinds, black-sandy and black-waxy, the latter 
 being well adapted for corn and cotton. 
 
 Five miles from Manvel is a choice tract of 20,000 
 acres, in a solid body, located on the west side of 
 Chocolate Bayou. It has been surveyed, sub-divided 
 and platted into lots of forty acres each, with road- 
 ways for everyone, connecting with the main high- 
 way, and so arranged that they can be conveniently 
 cut into smaller lots of ten or twenty acres each. 
 
 MiC^ClO WPI*00k Meadow brook, Harris 
 County, Texas, consists of 
 about 20,000 acres of land, located in the celebrated 
 South Texas Coast Country, and controlled by the 
 American Land Co. It is within twenty miles of 
 Houston, the county seat, which is the largest city 
 of Texas. 
 
 The land is all a beautiful prairie, except that the 
 banks of Buffalo Bayou and its tributaries are 
 fringed with groves of hardwood timber, principally 
 of the several varieties of oak, the utility of which 
 for fuel, fence posts, etc., is apparent. Three 
 railroads and three county roads pass through 
 Meadowbrook, and it is perfectly drained by Buf- 
 falo Bayou, one of the important waterways of 
 Texas, passing through the tract from the west to 
 the east. Two railroad stations, with side-track and 
 other shipping facilities, are already situated on 
 Meadowbrook and arrangements are well under the 
 way for the third. 
 
 This large body of land has been divided into 
 farms of 160 acres each, and graded roads are being 
 constructed along the section lines, at right angles 
 to Buffalo liayou, thus affording each quarter section 
 the double purpose of an outlet to the railroads and 
 county roads as well as drainage to the Bayou. The 
 main road from Houston has been graded and grav- 
 eled to within nine miles of Meadowbrook and will 
 be completed in the near future. 
 
 Fruits of nearly every variety, both large and small, 
 all kinds of vegetables, and the great staples of col- 
 ton, corn, oats, sugar and hay give the most grati- 
 fying results at Sleadowbrook. Improved farms 
 
surrounding this tract show positive evidence as to 
 what can be produced and it has been placed on the 
 market at prices and terms, that, together with its 
 general conditions, invite comparison with any other 
 lands in that most favored portion of these United 
 States. 
 
 V^d^'%tA^t%A ^^^ town of Pearland, fifteen miles 
 ICr^ariana ^^^^^ ^f Houston, on the Gulf, Colo- 
 rado & Santa Fe Railway, is the center of a splendid 
 country. The town-site has been laid off on a mod- 
 ern plan, with boulevards and broad streets, reserv- 
 ing locations for churches and parks. It is expected 
 to build up here a model community. Pearland is 
 surrounded by thousands of acres of the finest prai- 
 rie land, nearly every acre of which is suited to fruit, 
 vegetable and general farming. Ten thousand acres 
 of the land immediately surrounding Pearland have 
 been sub-divided into ten, twenty and forty-acre 
 tracts, which are being sold at $15 to $25 per acre, 
 one-third cash, the balance in one and two years. 
 Each tract will front a broad, graded road. 
 
 Pearland is now a thriving village of 300 inhabi- 
 tants. It has schools and churches and is surrounded 
 by a desirable class of citizens who are engaged in 
 fruit-raising and general farming. Considering age, 
 Pearland can show one of the finest pear orchards 
 along the coast. 
 
 Xa^iyYr%t>Y%A r^ichmond is the countv seat of 
 IVlCniTl^TICl Port Bend County. It is a pros- 
 perous and enterprising town, containing about 1,500 
 people. Its location on the west bank of the Brazos 
 River, within a short distance of the Falls of the 
 Brazos, will give it, when the 3,000 horse power 
 there is fully developed, a commanding position as 
 a manufacturing center. 
 
 Richmond is not only a pleasant place in which to 
 live, but it is a good place to do business in. Al- 
 ready the town possesses water works, an electric 
 light plant, bank, three railroads, a telephone ex- 
 change, two cotton gins and a grist mill. One nota- 
 ble feature is an immigrant house, where any per- 
 son who has bought land in the county or who 
 deposits a certain amount of money in bank is 
 granted free house rent for a month or so in order 
 to make ready for the occupancy of his new home. 
 
Not content with beinj^ in the center of a mag- 
 niticent agricultural country, Richmond is reaching 
 out for various enterprises and affords excellent op- 
 portunities for the location of manufactories based 
 on cotton, timber and sugar. 
 
 RrtQi^nh^ftf Rosenberg is very favorably sit- 
 IVOlJtnPttl a uated in Fort Bend County, at 
 the junction of the main lines of the Clulf, Colorado 
 & Santa Fe Railway and Southern Pacific Co. It 
 is also the northern terminus of the New York, 
 Texas & Mexican Railway, and the Rosenberg, 
 Damon Mound & Gulf Railroad. It lies 66 miles 
 north of Galveston and 36 miles west of Houston; 
 contains 750 inhabitants (mainly from northern 
 states) and is the natural trade center of a rich 
 country. This outlying territory consists of say 
 400 sections of high prairie lands and rich river 
 bottoms where, without fertilizing, the average crops 
 are forty bushels of corn, seventy bushels of oats, 
 three tons of millet hay and one bale of cotton per 
 acre. All kinds of fruits — except apples — are raised 
 here, as well as all varieties of vegetables. 
 
 The Brazos River bottoms contain great forests 
 of oak, ash and other hard woods, interspersed with 
 magnificent plantations where corn, cotton and 
 sugar cane grow luxuriantly. Desirable farming 
 lands lying within a radius of three to eight miles 
 from town command $8 to $25 per acre. Taxes 
 are low, about $1 per hundred on a 40% valuation. 
 
 Rosenberg has several church societies and fine 
 school buildings. Being 132 feet above sea level 
 and 40 feet above the Brazos, good drainage and 
 consequent good health is assured. Excellent 
 water is obtainable at convenient depths. 
 
 Its location in the midst of forests of red and 
 white cedar, cypress, ash, etc., makes Rosenberg a 
 desirable place for the manufacture of woolen goods. 
 A canning factory would also do well here. The 
 transportation facilities above mentioned give this 
 town manifest advantages as a distributing point. 
 Persons desiring further information should address 
 ( ieo. 1^>. Lang, Secretary Progressive Association, 
 Rosenberg, Texas. 
 
 ^1^ The thriving town of Sealy is situated fifty 
 OvAiy miles west of Houston and ninety-five 
 miles northwest of Galveston at the junction of the 
 
Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway and the Mis- 
 souri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, and has a popula- 
 tion of about 1,500. It is the first division on the 
 Santa Fe line out of Galveston, with a round-house 
 and other necessary improvements. 
 
 The town is situated on a slight elevation above 
 the surrounding- country, just at the beginning of the 
 rolling land adjacent to the coast country proper, 
 thereby having excellent natural drainage and splen- 
 did water, and is one of the healthiest places in 
 South Texas. The Brazos River is five miles dis- 
 tant. Sealy possesses a first-class public school 
 system and churches of the various denominations. 
 
 The citizens liberally support a weekly newspaper, 
 and the town boasts of a tannery, harness and saddle 
 manufactory, a mattress factory, also two of the 
 finest steam cotton gins in this part of the country, 
 one of them having just lately been purchased to be 
 put in operation this summer. A complete electric 
 plant of 700 light capacity is building. A commo- 
 dious opera house and public amusement hall, five 
 first-class hotels, besides numerous business edifices, 
 complete the list of principal buildings. 
 
 In addition to the magnificent resources of Austin 
 County elsewhere briefly alluded to, it may be said 
 that the excellent railroad facilities at Sealy make the 
 raising of canteloupes and watermelons one of the 
 leading industries of the region. About 500 acres 
 of melons will be marketed at Sealy this year to be 
 shipped north. The value of adjacent farming lands 
 varies from $5 to $40 per acre. 
 
 OUPC1*IOI* Lies thirty-three miles from Galves- 
 ton, twenty miles from Houston, and 
 begins just two miles north of Alvin, on the Houston 
 branch of the Santa Fe, with eight daily passenger 
 trains. This is a new town located upon a tract of 
 10,000 acres of land purchased by the Southern 
 Homestead Company of Houston, and characterized 
 as the finest large body of land along the Gulf Coast. 
 It is in the center of the newly developed fruit and 
 vegetable belt and is being highly improved with 
 finely graded roads and ample ditches. Many set- 
 tlers have located at this place. 
 
 Od^UtS The thrifty iown of Wallis (population 
 
 500) is located in Austin County, at the 
 
 junction of the San Antonio eK: Aransas Pass Railway 
 
with the C.ulf, C'oloratlo c\; Santa Fe Railway, 
 eighty-two miles north of Galveston and forty-five 
 miles west of Houston. Its twenty business houses 
 carry large stocks of goods and it has a wide-awake 
 newspaper. Educational and social advantages are 
 as advanced as those of any like settlement in South- 
 ern Texas. Railroad facilities are unusually good. 
 
 Austin County is briefly described under another 
 caption. A few additional facts pertaining especially 
 to the territory surrounding Wallis will be of interest. 
 The lands between the Hrazos and San Bernard Riv- 
 ers are of inexhaustible fertility, being as rich now 
 as when first cultivated forty years ago. The prairie 
 lands are worth $5 to $20 per acre; bottom lands, 
 $10 to $30. 
 
 Cotton is a crop that never fails. In 1S97 Wallis 
 marketed 5,000 bales. In a good season the output 
 is about 8,000 bales. Corn averages 40 to 60 bush- 
 els to the acre. Vegetables and small fruits are suc- 
 cessfully raised. The country around Wallis is in- 
 habited to a considerable extent by Germans, who 
 with their customary industry have made valuable 
 improvements. Homeseekers who prefer to get back 
 from the Coast and at the same time have the bene- 
 fit of the Gulf breezes, should investigate the claims 
 of Wallis and vicinity. 
 
 SI^bAfr^l* ^^^ colony of Webster, Harris 
 \V»WOt«-l (^Qjjj^ty^ Texas, is located on a tract 
 of about 5,000 acres of land midway between Hous- 
 ton and Galveston, on the line of the Galveston, 
 Houston & Henderson Railroad, over which also 
 operates two other lines, thus practically affording 
 it the advantages of three railroads. It has a depot, 
 side-track and other ample shipping facilities. Popu- 
 lation about 300. 
 
 This is a magnificent body of black prairie land, 
 perfectly drained, and is in the midst of the great 
 fruit and vegetable district of South Texas. Well 
 developed farms in and surrounding Webster evi- 
 dence its great productiveness. Clear Lake, a navi- 
 gable stream and tributary of (ialveston Bay, directly 
 adjoins this land and its settlers have all the advan- 
 tages of water competition. Real estate at \\'el)ster 
 will be sold in tracts to suit the purchaser and at 
 very reasonable prices and terms, considering the 
 location. 
 
 This year more than 400 acres around Webster 
 
are planted in nutmeg melons — the Rocky Ford va- 
 riety — and the entire crop contracted in advance. 
 
 ^JJ|^3^|*^^f| Rosenberg station, on the Gulf, Col- 
 orado & Santa Fe Railway, is the 
 most convenient point of departure for a large section 
 of country to the southwest. After passing through 
 Fort Bend County, the next one is Wharton, dubbed 
 by its enthusiastic inhabitants the banner county of 
 the coast country. It is in the second tier back from 
 the Gulf. The county is watered by Peach, Jones, 
 Sandies and Mustang creeks, also the Bernard and 
 Colorado Rivers. Wharton contains 1,172 square 
 miles, a princely domain of 718,000 acres, three- 
 eighths woodland and five-eighihs open country; sur- 
 face is level, divided equally between prairie and 
 woodland; soil is alluvial and adapted to almost 
 everything that grows in the south. Along the Colo- 
 rado River especially the soil is of great depth. 
 On the water courses there is a sufficiency of tim- 
 ber lor firewood. Railroad facilities are excellent, 
 the county being traversed by three lines. The 
 average annual yield in Wharton County is 20,000 
 bales of cotton, 200,000 bushels of corn, 20,000 
 bushels of Irish potatoes, over 10,000 bushels of 
 sweet potatoes, 20 cars of pecans, etc. Being in 
 the fruit belt, everything of that kind does well 
 here. Unimproved lands bring $5 to $15 per acre; 
 improved, $15 to $30. 
 
 The town of Wharton, county seat, stands on the 
 
 east bank of the 
 Colorado River, 
 50 miles from the 
 coast. It is the 
 principal distri- 
 buting point for 
 Wharton and 
 Matagorda coun- 
 ties. Present po- 
 pulation, 2,000. 
 Its business 
 establishments 
 have a heavy 
 trade,and the so- 
 cial and educa- 
 tional advanta- 
 ges of the town 
 have kept pace 
 with its indus- 
 trial growth. 
 
 BOOTHS ORCHARD. CLEAR CREEK. 
 
)VIcniionite Colonies 
 
 • • • 
 
 The present exodus of Mennonites from various 
 northern states to Southern Texas is in many respects 
 a remarkable movement. Nothing like it has been 
 witnessed for many years. 
 
 These Mennonites are a thrifty people, noted as 
 home-builders. By hard work, prudence and fore- 
 sight they have made a success of nearly all their 
 undertakings. It seems to be their mission to be 
 pioneers of farming industry. 
 
 They are an exceptional race. Piety and practical 
 affairs go hand in hand While fearing God they do 
 not fear Nature. No unfavorable combination of 
 soil or climate or circumstances has ever routed them. 
 They may leave one locality for another, but the 
 migration is based on other grounds than failure at 
 home. Each change is a step forward. 
 
 They are withal shrewd buyers, investigating care- 
 fully before pulling up stakes and starting anew. So 
 well known is their sagacity in this respect that keen 
 competition exists among holders of large bodies of 
 raw lands whenever it is known that a new Mennon- 
 ite enterprise is to be launched. It is a compliment 
 to the resources of any country to be selected by the 
 Mennonites for colonizing purposes, because by ex- 
 perience they have learned what good land is and 
 will have no other. 
 
 Mr. W. B. Slosson, of Houston, Texas, who is at 
 present the authorized general agent for the Men- 
 nonite colonies at Ft. Bend, Thompson or Menno 
 Citv, Westfield and Brookshire, v.as instrumental in 
 bringing down to the Texas Gulf Coast more than 
 a thousand Mennonites during the fall of 1897. 
 More than 400 have already located and many 
 others are coming in from far away Oregon, South 
 Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa, as well as from 
 Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Northern Texas. 
 Mr. Slosson has acted in conjunction with a Commit- 
 tee of I'^leven, many of them Mennonite preachers 
 and all men of inlluence. The Santa Fe Route was 
 unanimously chosen by them as the "official line" for 
 transportation of settlers and goods, thereby further 
 
 55 
 
cementing a friendship which began when the Santa 
 Fe brought the Mennonites over from Russia to 
 America many years ago. 
 
 The question may be asked: Why are these people 
 leaving their northern homes and coming so far 
 south? An important reason is that the good cheap 
 lands of the Middle West are almost gone and the 
 tide of immigration must seek other outlets. One 
 of these outlets is towards Southern Texas. For 
 years the coast region was owned and controlled by 
 cattle men; they did not want their great pastures 
 cut up into small holdings. That day has passed, 
 and they are inviting rather than repelling the advent 
 of the farmer and fruit-raiser. 
 
 Another factor is found in the movement for deep- 
 water harbors at Galveston, Houston and other 
 points on the Texas coast, permitting the immense 
 surplus crops of the northwest and southwest to be 
 more easily and profitably marketed than heretofore. 
 This has widely advertised Southern Texas. 
 
 Other reasons, as detailed by the committee in 
 their literature, may be brietiy summed up in the 
 items of " a healthy climate, good water, excellent 
 markets, no blizzards, sufficient rainfall, low taxes, 
 cheap freight rates, cool (iulf breezes in summer, 
 scarcely any winter, fruit culture successful, a diver- 
 sity of crops possible, more than one crop a year 
 obtainable in some instances, friendly neighbors, and 
 an opportunity to build up a prosperous community 
 of those holding the same faith and swayed by like 
 traditions. Probably the three most important ele- 
 ments are cheap lands, large crops and a pleasant 
 winter climate." 
 
 While a few of this industrious people have for 
 family reasons gone back lo their former homes, 
 nearly all are on their farms making substantial 
 improvements, setting out orchards and raising 
 vegetables in every month of the year. They also 
 have good schools and churches established and 
 both well supported. The Mennonites of Texas 
 are already an important factor of the church, and 
 during the past year they have received ministers 
 and delegates from northern churches who are 
 looking Texasward for other colony locations. 
 
 |2m>^^^|«q1%||*^ a promising settlement has been 
 *:7rWKOl7ii %r started at Brookshire, thirty-five 
 miles west of Houston, where good prairie lands may 
 
 56 
 
be obtained at prices varying; from $5 to $8 an acre. 
 About 6,500 acres have been secured. Hon. Fred. 
 Harpster is in charge locally. 
 
 ^ ^ ry J 1'he first colony located by the 
 / OI*t OvIlCl Mennonites was in P'ort Bend 
 r^rtlrtflt) >? County, seven miles south of Rich- 
 Vi'W^lV'liy r^ mond and Rosenberg, on the Gulf, 
 Colorado & Santa Fe Railway. Nearly 5,000 acres 
 of black " hog-wallow" lands were bought for $to 
 per acre on favorable terms. More than forty fami- 
 lies have already settled here and every week adds 
 to their number. New houses have been built, the 
 prairie broken, orchards planted, wells dug, and 
 other improvements made. Schools, churches and 
 store-buildings have been built and the success of 
 the colony is assured. 
 
 During the twelve months succeeding the location 
 of this colony many valuable improvements have 
 been made. Farms of from 50 to no acres have 
 been broken and planted to cotton, corn, vegetables, 
 fruit, etc. Commodious houses have been erected 
 and painted, and as every man's farm has both tim- 
 ber and water on the back end of it, and the resi- 
 dences are located centrally on Church and Concord 
 Avenues, the scene in this thriving colony is an in- 
 teresting one. 
 
 ^ " 4. 4^ ^A The second Mennonite Col- 
 f-airDanilS ana ony was located at Fairbanks 
 
 "^K/A^M^^Q^^tt J* ^"^ Thonipson Station, 
 
 \^nOTnpOOn ^r ^^^^^^^^^ ^-^^^ northwest of 
 
 Houston in Harris County, on the Houston & Texas 
 Central Railroad. A paved road is now completed 
 from Houston nearly to Fairbanks, and will go be- 
 yond Thompson during the next year. This gives 
 first-class facilities to drive with fruits and vegetables 
 to a good market. Henry Lutkerman, a Kansas Men- 
 nonite, who came to Texas one year ago, has just 
 completed a delivery of 450 bushels of sweet pota- 
 toes to the Houston market, raised on new ground. 
 He also has a fine orchard started and has supported 
 his family from other vegetables, eggs and chickens 
 during his first year. He is enthusiastic over his 
 prospects in his Southern home. 
 
 About 3,000 acres of good black-sandy loam lands 
 have been purchased, and over forty families already 
 located. It is expected tliat a hundred additional 
 
 57 
 
families will follow soon. Several thousand acres 
 more can be secured when needed. Prices range 
 from $4. 50 to $7. 50 per acre. This is prairie land, 
 with plenty of timber. 
 
 Water is found at a depth of 1 5 to 30 feet. There 
 is a fine road direct to the city of Houston. A saw 
 mill and planing mill have been erected, and lumber 
 can be obtained for $5 to $7 a thousand feet. 
 
 dCStf icld ^^^ Westfield Colony was started 
 by 115 persons who came in one 
 party from Colorado. Members have since been re- 
 ceived from several other states. The colony shows 
 the effect of working together to a common end, for 
 already extensive improvements have been made or 
 are under way. Westfield is sixteen miles north of 
 Houston, Harris County, on the International & 
 Great Northern Railroad. A macadamized road 
 connects the village with Houston. Several thou- 
 sand acres of good black-sandy prairie land have 
 been reserved, for sale at $5 to $6.50 per acre on 
 terms to suit. Many of the old settlers in this lo- 
 cality are of German descent, having accumulated 
 considerable of this world's goods. Schools and 
 churches are within easy access. Rev. Henry Berg- 
 thold is the local agent. 
 
 HOUSTON HIGH .SCHOOL. 
 
X^cstimony of farmers 
 • • • 
 
 It is one thing- to g-eneralize; quite a different affair 
 to state particular facts. One may fluently speak 
 in an impersonal way and general terms of the glo- 
 rious empire state of Texas. Such adjectives may 
 mean much or little. To prepare a statement of what 
 has been accomplished on your own tract of land, 
 with conclusions drawn from personal experience, 
 requires scientific accuracy. An imaginative dis- 
 course will not pass muster. 
 
 bearing this in mind, and in order that the situa- 
 tion in Texas might be fairly presented to outsiders, 
 we have asked several farmers and fruit-raisers to 
 tell herein their own story of success or failure, for 
 the guidance of others. What they say, follows: 
 
 Rev. Dcnry Bcrgtbold Rev. Henry Berg- 
 
 thold, of Westfield, 
 Texas, formerly of Colorado, is evidently well 
 pleased with his Texas venture, as may be seen from 
 the following letter written by him in 1898: 
 
 *' I came here from Colorado, and was a member 
 of the first committee sent out to locate Mennonite 
 colonies. My report being favorable a large party 
 of us left Colorado and settled here. I had been in 
 several Western States looking for a location and 
 felt the great responsibility in selecting a home for 
 my family and friends. We are now in Harris 
 County, Texas, 16 miles north of Houston, which 
 is our market. Although having settled here only a 
 few months ago. we are doing what we started out 
 to do — getting homes. Lumber being cheap, we 
 soon had our houses built. Now we are breaking 
 prairie and planting our gardens and orchards. 
 
 " I never saw a country where people can live so 
 cheaply as soon as they get started. We have Ger- 
 man neighbors here who have got a better start in 
 one year than they could in five years in Colorado. 
 
 " Not for a single moment have I ever regretted 
 coming to this Coast Country, and it looks now as 
 though we. and those of our peopie who are now 
 coming to the Westfield colony, would all own lands 
 and homes of our own in a short time." 
 
Rev. Bergthold reports, after a year's trial, that 
 he is in good health and very hopeful for the future. 
 
 R» f). Busbway ^r. R. H. Bushway, 
 vin, 1 exas, contnbu 
 
 of Al- 
 contributes the 
 following statement, under date of January 13, 1898: 
 
 " My native state is Illinois. I came to the Coast 
 Country of Texas six years ago, since which time I 
 have been continuously identified with the fruit indus- 
 try. For the last four years my time has been de- 
 voted to the nursery business as founder and mana- 
 ger of the Alvin Nursery Co. Our grounds occupy 
 forty acres of land, situated two and one-half miles 
 from the city of Alvin. Ten acres of this land is in 
 bearing pear orchard, ten acres in an orchard two 
 years old, and twenty acres now being put into cul- 
 tivation. Besides the above, we have fourteen acres 
 under lease, mostly planted in strawberries and nurs- 
 ery stock. Aside from the nursery our only commer- 
 cial crop is strawberries, which have proven extremely 
 profitable when properly grown and marketed. 
 
 " The following statement taken from our books 
 for i8g6 shows results obtained: 
 
 Number of 24-quart crates shipped from 7 acres.. .512 
 
 Total receipts .....$1,217.00 
 
 Cost of 572 crates, at 18c $ 92.16 
 
 Cost of picking, at 60c. per crate ... 309.60 
 
 Nails, expenses, labor, etc 20.00 421.76 
 
 Net proceeds of 7 acres S 795.24 
 
 " Our berries are grown on black land without fer- 
 tilizer of any kind, and by the system employed one 
 man and team can plant and attend fifteen acres. 
 By good cultivation and liberal application of com- 
 mercial fertilizers, the above results can be increased 
 threefold. 
 
 '• In our six years' experience we have never had 
 a crop failure, and only once a partial failure — even 
 then good strawberry beds net their owners nearly 
 $100 per acre. Such land as our berries are grown 
 on can be bought in ten-acre blocks at from $15 to 
 $30 per acre. 
 
 "While a large quantity of our products find a 
 ready sale at good prices in the state, by far the 
 greater percentage is sliipped direct to the North, 
 where the demand for our early berries and vegeta- 
 bles is only limited by our ability to produce. Almost 
 our entire crop is shipped by express; however we 
 
 60 
 
that it will warrant a through freight service to such 
 important points as Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas 
 City, thereby reducing the cost of transportation to 
 a minimum. We have been very successful in ob- 
 taining fancy prices for our early berries from north- 
 ern markets and consider this outlet for our products 
 practically unlimited, as we are fully three weeks 
 earlier than our competitors. 
 
 "After six years of practical experience we have 
 no hesitancy in affirming that every dollar intelli- 
 gently invested in fruit growing in the Texas Coast 
 Country will return three times the interest of the 
 same amount invested in cotton or grain farming, 
 proportionately to the capital put in. 
 
 " In regard to health will say that I came here 
 badly affected with nasal catarrh and at the end of 
 three years every symptom was gone, and nowhere 
 does the general health appear so good. 
 
 " To the intelligent, industrious man or woman 
 seeking to better their condition and acquire a home, 
 the Texas Coast Country offers inducements not 
 equalled by any other section — and to such is ac- 
 corded a hearty welcome." 
 
 Under date of May i8, 1899, Mr. Bushway 
 contributes the following additional data : 
 
 "The season just past has been the most 
 prosperous financially that I have experienced 
 during my seven years' residence in Alvin. As 
 manager of the Alvin Nursery Company I am 
 brought into personal contact with every section of 
 what is properly known as the Gulf Coast Country, 
 and especially am I familiar with that section 
 adjacent to the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Rail- 
 way. Through increased production, not only have 
 our people been able to secure a lower rate and 
 better service, but the high quality of our goods 
 has attracted buyers from all of the principal cities 
 of the North. This has resulted in the sale of our 
 produce at the depot, and eliminated the element of 
 risk subsecjuent on consignment shipments. 
 
 "The sums realized this spring from some of 
 our fruit and truck farms has been so large as to 
 seem almost incredible. To cite a case in point, I 
 refer to the experience of Mr. Otto Hoefs, a farmer 
 living four miles south of Alvin. Up to April 25th 
 he had realized from five acres of strawberries 
 $i,6go, and the season not nearly over. For six 
 consecutive davs he sold for cash on the streets of 
 
A HILL OF STRAWBERRIES IN MARCH. 
 
 Alvin from this patch over $ioo worth of berries 
 per day. This is only one case; similar results 
 from the same crop and also from other crops are 
 common. 
 
 "Just at present every indication points to a 
 rapid growth in population and an early advance in 
 the price of land. While to-day the finest kind of 
 land may be obtained at from $io to $50 per acre, 
 depending on location, this cannot last long, as the 
 eyes of the homeseeker, the speculator and the 
 investor have been attracted to the Coast Country. 
 A case in point is that of the American Pear Com- 
 pany. Organized under the laws of Missouri and 
 incorporated with a capital of $32,000, they have 
 purchased a section of land close to Alvin of the 
 Santa Fe Land and Improvement Company, and 
 are planting the entire tract to Le Contc and Keiffer 
 pears. Ten thousand trees are already set and grow- 
 ing, qnd the balance, 43,000 will be set this coming 
 winter. 
 
 "Mr. W. E. Wagoman, president and general 
 manager, is a thorough orchardist, having had years 
 of practical experience in California. Mr. Wago- 
 man, upon his first trip to the Coast Country, easily 
 detected the superior advantages we possess of a low 
 rate and short haul to the great markets of the 
 United States. 
 
 "Another party now in Alvin is looking for a sec- 
 tion of land to plant pears." 
 
rf* R ' ' U ^^^- Ileinrichs visited the 
 
 rranS ncmricna (^-oast country several times 
 and assisted in locating the first three colonies. He 
 is a representative Mennonite; has bought and is im- 
 proving 310 acres of land in the Fort Bend Colony; 
 prefers South Texas to Kansas, because he finds 
 here copious rainfall, no blizzards, scarcely any win- 
 ter, a healthy climate and pure water. 
 
 "I think it is a good place for poor people," 
 writes Mr. Heinrichs, "as vegetables can be raised 
 every month in the year and the cattle and sheep 
 business pays well, with free range. 
 
 "A friend of mine who came here from South 
 Dakota with weak lungs is now well. He could not 
 walk a quarter of a mile up north, but took a stroll 
 of three miles here with me last month. 
 
 "With good markets and low-priced land, close 
 to deep water ports at Houston and Galveston, we 
 are bound to make money. Our Mennonite people 
 like this country and more are coming." 
 
 The author of the above letter has to show for his 
 first year's work three houses on a 300 acre farm in 
 Ft. Bend Colony, of which more than 100 acres are 
 under plow. He is closing out his Kansas farms to 
 invest in sunny Texas. 
 
 /ly jwj fs-ii " I came to Texas from middle 
 
 JC99C \U. niU Tennessee," writes Mr. Jesse 
 \V. Hill, of Areola, Tex. "My farm is situated two 
 and one-half miles northeast of Areola. It consists 
 of 160 acres of black-sandy and black-waxy soil. 
 The line of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Ry. is 
 two miles away. Eighty-five acres are in cotton, 
 corn, oats, potatoes and strawberries, with a little 
 corn and peanuts. Cotton is the staple crop, 
 although potatoes, oats and strawberries do well. 
 I have three or four hundred fruit trees, all growing. 
 Had a partial failure once with corn, account drouth. 
 " By economy some profit can be realized. Mar- 
 kets are fairly good. I can sell everything I raise 
 at living prices. Have not shipped any vegetables. 
 The general health of the country is good. My 
 family has had comparatively little sickness. Our 
 health has been better here than for fifteen years 
 past in other localities. Capacity for work is almost 
 unlimited. I would recommend our country to any 
 man who has enough means to improve his farm 
 and pay expenses f(jr a year." 
 
ibXAb COAST FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION, HOUSTON. 
 
'3tIO» F)^ KlaaaSCn 'I'lie following letter is from 
 Mr. Jno. P. Klaassen, once 
 a resident of Lehigh, Kansas, now living in Texas. 
 He was one of the committee appointed by the Men- 
 nonites to locate their Texas colonies and has care- 
 fully inspected the Coast Country. Mr. Klaassen 
 says : 
 
 " I was one of the Committee of Eleven that loca- 
 ted the first three colonies in Texas and am sure I 
 did the best work of my life in starting a movement 
 of our Mennonite people in this direction. Several 
 of our committee visited and inspected the Coast 
 Country, and in September, 1S97, we located the 
 first three colonies. 
 
 " December iS, 1897, I brought my family and 
 a car of goods over the Santa Fe Route to my 300- 
 acre place in the Fort Bend Colony; this was thirty 
 days ago, and already I have erected a house, two 
 sheds and chicken-houses, have 160 acres fenced-in, 
 two wells dug (30 feet deep each), 40 acres broken 
 and am ready to put out an orchard and garden; will 
 break this year 100 acres more. 
 
 " Horses, mules, young cattle and sheep all do 
 well here, but it is not best to bring old cows. We 
 have good health. My wife and children are pleased 
 — no more drouths and blizzards for us. 
 
 " I am glad that this movement of our people to 
 Texasls taking such a wide range, covering not only 
 the northwestern states, but Oregon and Manitoba, 
 and recent correspondence from Russia goes to show 
 that it is becoming a matter of interest in other 
 countries as well — but there is plenty of room in 
 Texas and cheap lands; let them come." 
 
 Mr. Klaassen has tried Texas one year since the 
 above was written. He has a large neatly painted 
 two-story house, barns, wells, orchard, and 150 acres 
 plowed up. Write to him at Richmond, Texas, for 
 his opinion of the Coast Country. 
 
 oU I^atKll*Cth Mr. Eli Landreth resides a quar- 
 ter of a mile from Pearland sta- 
 tion. He came to Texas from Iowa two years ago. 
 His farm is a large one, consisting of 269 acres. 
 Ninety acres are in cultivation, the main crops being 
 oats, cotton, corn and sweet potatoes. Mr, Land- 
 reth reports that his crop of oats is more valuable 
 than any other crop, while sweet potatoes exceed 
 
 65 
 
the others in quantity raised. He has not had much 
 experience with fruit. Mr. Landreth is fortunate in 
 being able to say that he has never had either a 
 partial or complete failure of any crop, which per- 
 haps accounts for the fact that averaging one year 
 with another, his farm has paid a good profit on the 
 investment. 
 
 In common with other residents of the Coast 
 Country, he finds that school and church privileges 
 and social advantages are all that could be desired, 
 while the cost ot living is cheaper than in the north- 
 ern states. 
 
 The home market consumes the entire product of 
 his land, and prices, as a rule, are good. 
 
 To quote Mr. Landreth: " I consider Southern 
 Texas a very healthy country. Myself and family 
 have enjoyed better health since coming here than 
 for a number of years in Iowa. Had throat trouble 
 in Iowa and am almost free from it now. Would 
 recommend this section for persons of small means 
 if they are willing to hustle. The chances of ac- 
 quiring a competence with limited capital are far 
 better than in any of the northern states." 
 
 ^ Lctnind ^^^' ^' Leming is one of the small 
 *^ landowners at Alta Loma, Tex., 
 coming here from Nebraska two years ago. His 
 fourteen acres of ground is one-quarter of a mile 
 from the station. Twelve acres are under cultiva- 
 tion; about one-half set to trees and grape vines, with 
 an acre of asparagus. His orchard has not begun 
 to bear yet. Mr. Leming reports that a slight freeze 
 damaged his cauliflowers last November, otherwise 
 crops have been successful. So far his little farm 
 has not become a dividend producer; but he makes 
 a living off of it. Taxes reasonable; schools fair. 
 Home market does not consume all that he raises. 
 Has shipped long distances by express and sold at 
 good prices, but profits were considerably reduced 
 by the transportation charges. Shipments by freight 
 were a losing venture. 
 
 The general health of Mr. Leming has improved 
 since coming to Alta Loma, and he can work with 
 more comfort than in the North, except for a few 
 days in midsummer, when the wind blows off the 
 land. Finally, Mr. Leming advises that new set- 
 tlers coming here should bring with them enough 
 means to keep them for a year or two until the land 
 can be brought into a proper state of cultivation. 
 
 66 
 
O* p. Martin TH^ SiS-acre ranch of Mr. O. 
 r. Martin, tour miles from 
 Pearland, has not yet been entirely opened up to 
 cultivation. He now has So acres planted to cotton, 
 corn, potatoes, peanuts and garden truck. Oats 
 and hay are his most valuable crops. Mr, Martin 
 has not yet engaged in fruitraising, has never had 
 a failure and his products always yield a fair profit. 
 He finds good local demand for everything he wishes 
 to market. 
 
 "A person of small means," writes Mr. Martin, 
 " can secure a home in this section easier than any 
 other place I know of. Have never had better health 
 than since comin^y to Pearland, With a family of 
 seven, have not had any need for a doctor in four 
 years. For a fine climate and pleasant home it can't 
 be beat. Have never regretted leaving the snow 
 banks of old Iowa for this ideal section of the sunny 
 South." 
 
 A CAPE JESSAMINE FIELD OF TWENTY ACRES. 
 
 Hai*011 Peters ^^- Aaron Peters, of Fort Bend, 
 Tex,, a member of the Mennon- 
 ite Church from South Dakota, bought 205 acres of 
 good land at $10 an acre in the Fort Bend Colony, 
 hach loo-acre tract has timber and water on the 
 back end of it. He has already built a house and sta- 
 ble, at less than half what they would cost in Dako- 
 ta, He has plowed his lands for trees and has a 
 nice orchard set out. 
 
 67 
 
Mr. Peters' family has had good health since com- 
 ing to Texas nineteen months ago, and a great many 
 of his old friends and neighbors are coming down 
 this year to share the pleasant climate with him. He 
 occasionally takes a trip over the Santa Fe to his 
 former home in South Dakota to tell his friends how 
 much better sunshiny Texas is with its mild winters. 
 He pertinently inquires why his Mennonite brethren 
 should stay north, where what is raised during one- 
 half of the year is used in feeding for the other half. 
 
 8. N* Richardson Mr. S. N. Richardson 
 came to Alvin, Texas, from 
 North Carolina eighteen years ago, being one of the 
 first settlers on an unbroken prairie, without a house 
 in sight from Galveston to the Brazos, except a 
 small settlement at Hitchcock. He owns twenty 
 acres of sandy loam land within two blocks of the 
 Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe depot at Alvin. He 
 raises pears, strawberries, peaches, plums and 
 other fruits, flowers, corn, oats, garden vegetables 
 and nursery stock. Pears, after they begin to bear 
 well, are his best crop, running 500 bushels to the 
 acre and increasing in quantity after the trees are 
 eight years old; average price to date more than a 
 dollar per bushel net. Cape jessamine flowers and 
 plants are also leaders with him and pay well. Can 
 grow 40 to 50 bushels of corn to the acre, and vege- 
 tables ad libitum. 
 
 He was one of the first to put cape jessamine 
 flowers on sale; from small beginnings a few years 
 ago this business has grown until the fragrant buds 
 now bring in thousands of dollars yearly to growers; 
 Maj. G. W. Durant is the largest jessamine grower 
 at Alvin and perhaps in the United States, having 
 twelve acres with daily output often exceeding 40,000 
 buds, which sell at 50 cents per hundred. 
 
 Mr. Richardson's pear orchard is twelve years old, 
 and he has had no trouble thus far in disposing of 
 product. Has also grown strawberries since 1882, 
 with fine returns, crops being sure and sale certain, 
 yielding $150 to $500 an acre. Peaches and plums 
 have not been so profitable. Grapes have yielded 
 fair returns. He thinks the Japan persimmon and 
 fig are the coming fruits of this section. There has 
 never been a complete failure, and never less than 
 half a crop has been Iiarvested. Blackberries and 
 dewberries do well. 
 
Prices of vegetables depend on the time of mar- 
 keting. By getting in early, satisfactorj' prices may 
 be realized. Crops must be planted to mature be- 
 fore competition of interior points is felt. If a man 
 is awake to opportunities and takes advantage of 
 them, he will make money — anywhere from $50 to 
 Si 50 per acre. Planting season lasts for the whole 
 year. Cabbages, beans, peas and tomatoes are the 
 leading crops, followed by Irish potatoes and sweet 
 potatoes. There is a succession of orchard, garden 
 and field crops from January to December. 
 
 State and county taxes are $1.10 per $100 valua- 
 tion. School and church privileges are good. Alvin 
 and the adjoining country neighborhoods have excel- 
 lent educational and religious facilities. 
 
 The home market takes some produce, but bulk of 
 it is sliipped north. Mr. Richardson says he has 
 shipped fruit and vegetables as far as Chicago and 
 Denver by express with good success. Shippers are 
 now mostly using fast freight in carload lots. He 
 thinks a foreign market for fresh pears will soon be 
 a necessity, unless facilities are afforded for evapora- 
 ting or otherwise disposing of the large product. 
 
 " I came here for health," says this gentleman, 
 " and have had it. There is no climatic disease and 
 a man can work the year round. Strangers do not 
 have to become acclimated, being as free from sick- 
 ness as the old settlers. Persons suffering with lung 
 and throat troubles are either greatly benefited or 
 cured. This is a fine country for a rustler, but a 
 lazy man is not at home here, for to succeed at the 
 truck and fruit business requires energy and brains. 
 Many men of small means have settled here and 
 succeeded and there is room for more. I am satis- 
 fied that this is the best portion of the South. Here 
 men with small capital can soon acquire a compe- 
 tence by industry combined with good judgment." 
 
 77T f\ fk^vM^ka ^'^''- ^^ • ^^- 1'homas, of Alta 
 ^*** 17» C/HOmaO I oj^^^ ^y^^ owns one of the 
 
 largest farms in the vicinity, consisting of over 50 
 
 acres sandy loam. He came from Colorado three 
 
 years ago and located one mile southeast of Alta 
 
 Loma. Forty-five acres are under cultivation and 
 
 set to an orchard of pears and plums, with some 
 
 grapes. The best crop in quantity is sweet potatoes; 
 
 in value, corn and peanuts. 
 
 Mr. Thomas has not raised much fruit as yet. 
 
While there has been a partial failure in some of the 
 crops, it was not complete. Prices are fair, and he 
 is satisfied with his investment so far. Home mar- 
 ket does not consume all that can be raised. Ship- 
 ments of vegetables to Colorado have brought mod- 
 erate returns, with better prospects for the future^ 
 
 "I think the climate here in the Coast Country 
 is No. I," says Mr. Thomas. "Have found noth- 
 ing to prevent one from continuous work. Further, 
 I believe that settlers with funds enough to get a 
 start, can with industry do very well here, providing 
 their home experience has been along the line of 
 raising small fruits and vegetables." 
 
 T f\ T'vAXi^V The following interesting letter 
 U.. !/♦ K^rvyKt ^^^^ ^j^^ ^ ^ Troyer, of Fair- 
 
 banks, Tex., a member of the Mennonite church, 
 formerly of Missouri, but for over two years a resi- 
 of Harris County, gives briefly his experience in 
 the Coast Country, and his reasons for leaving the 
 North. The communication is dated January ii, 
 1898: 
 
 " I removed from Cedar County, Mo, to the Coast 
 Country of Texas, for the reason that my wife was 
 told by her physicians that she must seek a better 
 climate, or die. I also had been afflicted with 
 catarrh for several years. We came to this Coast 
 Country two years and a half ago. Today my wife 
 is a well woman and I am entirely cured of 
 catarrh. No money could induce us to go back 
 to the North to live, as the climate, good health and 
 a new prosperous country, growing rapidly, holds 
 out great inducements to me. 
 
 " I want to say that this healthy climate, with its 
 ocean breezes, and the 
 good water found 
 everywhere, has given 
 us both a new lease of 
 life, and several of my 
 neighbors have come 
 here and are equally 
 well pleased. 
 
 "The Mennonites, 
 who have already loca- 
 ted five colonies in the 
 vicinity of Houston, 
 have made no mistake 
 in this removal, nor in 
 
 STEM OF KEIFER PEARS. 
 
 70 
 
COTTON EXCHANGE, HOUSTON. 
 
 selecting the Santa Fe as the official route. With 
 the deep water ports just opened, and immigration 
 from the North steadily increasing, the good lands 
 and rich soil of South Texas will make our indus- 
 trious, Mennonite church people, not only a good 
 living, but a competence, and at the prices land 
 has been bought for them there it hardly a question 
 but that it will double in value within the next two 
 years Their investments here in lands are so much 
 less, while their profits are so much greater (on ac- 
 count of being near marke'ts and deep water ports) 
 than in the North, .that they will continue to be as 
 they now are, entirely satisfied with the change. 
 
 " Another point which I deem important: Vege- 
 tables, melons, fruits, as well as grains, (all of which 
 do well here) should be shipped in carload lots, and 
 our people grouped together as they are, can arrange 
 to plant so as to ship in that way and receive the lar- 
 gest amount of profits from their labors. They can 
 raise in the late fall onions, cabbage, celery, potatoes, 
 cauliflower and other vegetables, so as to ship them 
 North in carloads early in the spring, where they will 
 find a bare market. Then, in the late summer, another 
 crop for the late winter shipment to the North. In 
 this way they will make it extremely profitable. Our 
 Mennonite people will raise a large acreage of 
 melons this year on the sod. 
 
 *' These dark sandy loam lands around the city of 
 Houston, are rapidly being settled up, and I can 
 assure my Mennonite friends of a warm welcome.** 
 71 
 
pear Orchards 
 
 • • • 
 
 UCH is the importance cf the 
 pear industry of the Gulf Coast 
 of Texas, that a special article 
 is devoted to that topic. 
 
 L€ Conte 
 pear 
 
 The Le Conte 
 Pear is sup- 
 posed to be an 
 American 
 seedling from the 
 ancestral Asiatic 
 pear, which, in its own 
 home, is an immense 
 forest tree, often attain- 
 ing the age of 300 years. 
 The original Le Conte tree 
 is still standing in Georgia, 
 a magnificent speci- 
 men, hardy, beauti- 
 ful and prolific. 
 These wonderful new 
 pears are as hardy as 
 forest trees, of luxuriant foliage, grow to a great 
 size, are here free from blight, and yield every year 
 an enormous crop of fruit which sells in Eastern 
 and Northern markets at prices that compete with 
 the older and better known varieties. As a fruit for 
 canning, drying or preserving, they are acknow- 
 ledged as unequaled. When picked somewhat green 
 and ripened in cellars, many connoisseurs pronounce 
 them equal to the famous Bartlett. 
 
 The I.e Conte of the Coast Country is the earliest 
 pear grown anywhere in the United States. It can 
 be placed upon the market during the latter part of 
 June, which is fully three weeks earlier than fruit 
 can be plucked in California. The Le Conte is a 
 very fair eating pear; while it does not rank as high 
 as some varieties or command the highest prices, it 
 is a pear that supplies tlie market, patronized by 
 the middle class. The Le Conte is a very rapid 
 grower, and yields abundantly; in fact it is subject 
 
to over production, which must be guarded against. 
 More than 9,000 bushels of Le Conte pears were 
 shipped from thirteen acres of nine and ten year old 
 trees in H. M. Stringfellow's orchard at Hitchcock, 
 during 1893, and the subsequent product has been 
 marketed in equally large quantities. 
 
 A Coast Country orchard of Le Conte and Keifer 
 pear trees, upward of ten years of age, properly 
 attended to, should yield a certain annual revenue 
 of $300 to $500 per acre above all expense of taking 
 care of the trees and cost of marketing the fruit. 
 
 J. J. SHIRLEY'S PEAR ORCHARD, ALVIN. 
 
 Other Tarieties 2" the ouif coast of 
 
 Texas there has rarely 
 been a failure of the Le Conte, Keifer and Garber 
 pear crop, while in quality the fruit grown in more 
 northern climes suffers in comparison. The Keifer 
 is grown for home consumption. The Garber is 
 better adapted for shipment. 
 
 Mr, J. J. Shirley, of Alvin, reports that about 70 
 to 100 trees are set to the acre, and at ten years 
 old they produce 5 to 10 bushels of pears to the 
 tree. He has one Keifer tree ten years of age, 
 which last season yielded 17 bushels, worth $20; 
 also one Le Conte tree at ten years yielded 16 bush- 
 els, for which he got $15. These were his best 
 trees, and should not be taken as a standard by 
 which to estimate average proceeds. In 1897 
 
Texas buyers paid$i per bushel for the pears, boxed 
 and put into the cars at the point of shipment. 
 
 Mr. Sampson, near Alvin, has 23,000 pear trees, 
 and many orchards run from 2,000 to 10,000. The 
 Garbers ripen shortly after the Le Contes are through 
 bearing, say early in August, After the Garbers 
 the Keifers begin to ripen, between September ist 
 and loth and continue to bear until about the mid- 
 dle of October. The Garber ranks as one of the 
 choicest of eating pears. The Keifer is best suited 
 for canning and preserving. Other varieties grown 
 are the Bartlett and Smith's Hybrid. A few years 
 will find whole train loads of pears being shipped 
 north. At present quite heavy sales are made in 
 Northern Texas, Indian Territory, Kansas and 
 Nebraska. From $1 to $1.25 per bushel is realized. 
 
 Texas pears may be canned, preserved, evapor- 
 ated or made into cider and vinegar. The profits are 
 certain and adequate. 
 
 CbC Profits That fruit culture pays is 
 evidenced by the following 
 statement of profits realized by owners of pear 
 orchards in the vicinity of Alvin. The figures are 
 gleaned from an article published in a local paper at 
 that point during 1898. 
 
 The Boher orchard of twelve acres (poor improve- 
 ments but first-class trees) was bought by Mr. Law- 
 ler over two years ago for $5,000, and last fall Mr. 
 Lawler sold it to Mr. Haley for $7,000. Mr. 
 Boher paid $12.50 per acre for the land and only 
 cultivated it four years. In that period he made 
 expenses from vegetables grown between the tree 
 rows. The $5,000, less $150, was clear money. 
 
 '* Fairy Land," owned by Mr. McDonald, 40 
 acres, only about half in orchard, sold two years 
 ago for $12,000. 
 
 Dr. Fehrenkamp paid $3, 000 for 51 acres adjoin- 
 ing Major Durant's. 
 
 The John F. Durant place of 35 acres sold a year 
 ago for $7,500. 
 
 The Nesbit orchard of 20 acres sold three years 
 ago for $3,250. 
 
 The Zychlinski orchard of 36 acres was purchased 
 for $5,000. 
 
 Mr. E. D. Carter paid $2,250 for his orchard of 
 four and one-half acres. 
 
 Prof. J. J. Shirley bought 50 acres twelve years 
 
 75 
 
ago for $6 per acre and refused $16,000 for his 
 orchard over two years ago. He has a large family 
 and they have made a living from the vegetables, 
 strawberries, etc., grown on the place. 
 
 Mr. Henry Sampson has 163 acres which he pur- 
 chased some six years ago for about $10 per acre. 
 On this he has 19,000 pear trees besides other fruits. 
 He says he would not take a cent less than $40,000 
 for his orchard. 
 
 Mr. G. H. Cook has 26 acres, on which he has 
 
 ards in this section he 
 has made money and a 
 i^ name as one of the most 
 successful strawberry 
 "^^^^ growers. He refused 
 
 :-*,* 0:W^ $6,000 three years ago 
 for his place. 
 The editor concludes by saying: " If you would 
 establish an orchard and do not wish to do the work 
 yourself, all that is necessary is to buy the land (say 
 20 acres) at $25 per acre — which would be $500. 
 Expense of plowing same will be $50; fencing, $75; 
 buying and planting 2,000 pear trees, $200. Here 
 we have an outlay of $825, or half as much for ten 
 acres. After this is done, there are plenty of good 
 men who will contract to take the land and care for 
 the orchard for what they can make on it." 
 
"Cbere's JVIoney In Strawberriee 
 • • e 
 
 Year by year the acreage of strawberries in 
 the Coast Country has been increased until now 
 that luscious berry contributes a large share toward 
 the fruit grower's income. The growing of this 
 berry for market rivals in profit the culture of 
 the pear, and the acreage is steadily increas- 
 ing. It brings in a fair return the first year 
 after planting. You don't get gray-haired waiting 
 
 IN A FIELD OF STRAWBERRIES, MARCH 5th. 
 
 for results. Ik-ginning with raw prairie, an acre of 
 strawberries will have cost, to break, harrow, plant, 
 fertilize and cultivate, about $70. The net return 
 next year should not be less than $200, and the same 
 each of the following years. The best results are 
 secured by resetting plants annually. 
 
 A prominent grower of strawberries at Alvin states 
 that during March, 1898, he and his three boys 
 picked from one-eighth of an acre seven and a half 
 twenty-four quart crates of strawberries and shipped 
 
them to Denver, where they sold for $8 per case, 
 which was $60 for the lot. This was new land and 
 the first crop off of it. 
 
 So important a position has this product assumed 
 that more extended mention than heretofore can 
 properly be given it. 
 
 The country around Alvin has some of the biggest 
 strawberry patches in the country. Inquiries re- 
 cently addressed to prominent growers in that locality 
 have elicited the following interesting replies "■ 
 
 Bv Otto Rocfs "-^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ 
 ^ cultivation in strawberries this 
 
 year of the improved Mitchell variety. These 
 berries were grown on black sandy soil well culti- 
 vated and mulched with light coating of prairie hay 
 in January. I sold a part of them on the Alvin 
 market and a part I shipped to Kansas City and 
 other markets. I realized from these three acres 
 $1,700. I also had a three acre patch of new plants 
 put in late in the fall and from these three acres I 
 realized $365." 
 
 cam. H. OenmS "^ ^ave six acres in 
 strawberries, but about 
 
 By 
 
 one acre was set to berries late last fall and did not 
 produce any to speak of, so that my crop was 
 gathered from five acres. Am cultivating the Hoff- 
 man variety principally, although I had one-third 
 acre of the Lady Thompson berry, from which I 
 have netted almost $200, or at the rate of $600 per 
 acre and consider it one of the most profitable var- 
 ieties. Have shipped up to date 312 crates, net 
 $960, or an average of $3.10 per crate. Consider 
 the strawberry crop one of the most valuable that 
 can be raised in the Coast Country and will give it 
 almost our entire attention hereafter." 
 
 ^ * * berries — half Hoffman, half 
 
 Mitchel; use no fertilizer. Sold 400 crates of 24 
 quarts each at $2. 52 per crate. Deducting expense 
 of packing and picking and the net result was $1.80 
 per crate or $720 for the three acres. Receipts 
 would have averaged fifty cents a crate more but 
 for a few mismanaged shipments to outside points. 
 Demand by home buyers active and their prices 
 remunerative. Strawberries are a sure crop with 
 proper care; they come in earlier here than farther 
 
north and last longer. I can make more money with 
 less labor on three acres of strawberries than on one 
 hundred of cotton in any country. This is a great 
 country for the poor man." 
 
 Urt in "H tl^^i^^tx''^^^^ have sold up to date 
 
 of Hoffman strawberries and one and a half acres 
 of Rogers dewberry, 330 crates at an average of 
 $2.70 per crate net. The Hoffman and Michel are 
 the two leaders in strawberries, but the Rogers 
 dewberry and the Dallas blackberry are both money 
 makers and should have a place on every farm in 
 the Coast Country. We are still picking from six 
 to ten crates daily, which net us $1.75 per crate. 
 This beats four cent cotton. The berry crop is the 
 money crop here, still we can raise fine vegetables 
 and get fair prices for them. The fact that the 
 growers could sell their berries and vegetables for 
 cash in hand at Alvin has been worth at least 
 twenty-five per cent to the farmers of this vicinity." 
 
 f^V m Ul UlAVei " ^""^"^ "^>' seven-eighths of 
 Kj^ 'v*** 'v*** %>%.♦«♦■ V ^^ g^j.g jj^ Strawberries of the 
 
 Hoffman variety I gathered 182^ crates, which 
 brought in $564.80. I think this berry is a good 
 paying crop, and it can be depended upon, too." 
 
 By C. m. B«n90«i:f;/ "frSw^roH^- 
 
 Newman variety and the freeze in February hurt 
 the plants. Cannot exactly tell what the total 
 returns were from the best field, as we picked from 
 two acres of old beds which were run out, but the 
 gross receipts were much more than we expected 
 and prices ruled very firm, averaging fully $3 per 
 crate net for the season. The Hoffman berry has 
 proved to be very remunerative here — perhaps the 
 best, but it may be closely followed by Lady Thomp- 
 son in future seasons — I shall extend my berry acreage 
 this year wholly in the two varieties named. About 
 seventy-five per cent of the sales at Alvin prior to 
 May 1st were for cash, and many days the entire 
 pick was sold on the streets. The future of the 
 strawberry as a money crop for this section appears 
 to be merely a matter of quality. Good fruit will 
 always be in demand in March and April and we 
 have practically no competition for a period of sixty 
 days." 
 
By H* R. DlCtricb " Can strawberries and 
 vegetables be grown here 
 with profit ? I believe Alvin and the Coast Coun- 
 try to be the best region in Texas or the United 
 States for berry culture. Eight years ago I came 
 with my family from Galveston, never having had 
 any experience whatever in farming, having been 
 seven years in the commission business. This year 
 I had four acres in berries, two and one-half acres 
 in early Mitchell, one-half acre in Hoffman and one 
 acre in Norman. The first two varieties did well. 
 In all I sold $1,014 worth. As soon as the price 
 got down too low I stopped selling and made pre- 
 serves and wine out of my berries, for which latter 
 there is always a cash market. The last six years I 
 made from $75 to $350 per acre from my berries. 
 One of my neighbors sold this season over $600 of 
 berries from one and one-quarter acres. I have 
 made from my berries from $500 to $1,300 a year. 
 If I had the experience eight years ago that I have 
 now I would probably be $3,000 better off financially. 
 I see no reason why I cannot make $1,500 to $3,000 
 per year in the culture of strawberries in the Alvin 
 country." 
 
 STRAWBERRIES PICKED ON CHRISTMAS DAY. 
 
)VIisccUancou9 products 
 
 • • • 
 
 (3l*<ipC9 Grapes are planted, cultivated and mar- 
 keted on the Texas Coast just as they 
 are in California, except that the vineyards of Texas 
 bear no comparison in area with the great grape- 
 growing regions of the Pacific Coast. 
 
 Enough has been done from which to form an 
 opinion as to the prohtableness of the industry. 
 Leading horticulturists declare that a Texas vine- 
 yard, intelligently located and planted with the right 
 varieties, is a certain source of wealth. 
 
 The following grapes grow here in a perfection 
 that no country on earth can excel: Chasselas Mus- 
 cat or Muscatelli, Chasselas Rose de Peru, Em- 
 peror, Black Morocco or Tokay (both flame and 
 white), Malaga or Chasselas Napoleon, Black Span- 
 ish, Lenoir or Black Burgundy, Goethe, Rogers 
 No. I, Salem, Rogers No. 53, Niagara, Black July, 
 Roulander, Delaware, Missouri, Rissling and Her- 
 bemont. 
 
 If well fertilized, most varieties come into bearing 
 the second year, and when three years old may be 
 counted on for a yield of ten to fifteen pounds of 
 luscious grapes to the vine, and much more as they 
 increase in age. 
 
 The Ilerbemont, Black Spanish and Niagara have 
 proven themselves to be the most successful, as 
 much as $200 net having frequently been obtained 
 from two acres of Niagaras from one crop. The 
 common American varieties all succeed here. 
 
 \^CCCt^blC6' ^^^ cauliflower will, in the near 
 ^ future, be raised in large quanti- 
 
 ties for shipment in carload lots. A salt atmosphere 
 seems to be essential to the perfect development of 
 this vegetable, and as the soil here is well adapted 
 to it, every condition is favorable to its growth. It 
 is strictly a fall vegetable, and when sown early in 
 July, and set out in August in rich soil, the bulk of 
 the crop can be marketed before January. 
 
 Cabbages, when planted at the right time, yield 
 large returns. There is scarcely a limit to the 
 quantities that can be disposed of in the Northwest. 
 
when grown in sufficient numbers to warrant carload 
 shipments. IJig crops are raised at Bolivar Point, 
 
 The Creole and White Queen onions are as success- 
 fully grown here as near New Orleans, They mature 
 in April when northern onions are sprouting, and 
 the demand is unlimited at Si per bushel. 
 
 It is demonstrated that the tomato will produce 
 abundantly in the Coast Country. It begins to ripen 
 May 20th, and at once hnds ready sale at high prices 
 all over Texas. 
 
 Irish potatoes do well everywhere; the early plant- 
 ing rarely brings under seventy-five cents a bushel in 
 season. Beans, cucumbers, squashes and water- 
 melons are grown in limited quantities. 
 
 O 1^^ Southeast Texas is fully equal to southwest 
 Louisiana for rice growing. Upwards of 
 30,000 acres were sown last season, the output being 
 worth $1,250,000, 
 
 To insure a good rice crop, two factors are essen- 
 tial: a level body of land, and an abundance of water. 
 In Louisiana water is largely supplied by pumping 
 from water courses with steam pumps. On the 
 Texas coast it can be had from artesian wells at no 
 cost other than the boring of the well. 
 
 To plant an acre of rice the first time will cost 
 $15 This includes fences, ditches, levees, plowing 
 and, planting. After the ground is once prepared, 
 subsequent planting may be done for $8 per acre. 
 Planting season is from latter part of April to last of 
 June, and crop is ready for harvest in five months 
 from time of planting, thus furnishing ready money 
 while waiting for other crops to mature. It is 
 planted, harvested and threshed very much the same 
 as wheat and at the same expense, and yields from 
 twelve to eighteen barrels of rough rice per acre, 
 worth an average of $3.50 per barrel. 
 
 A prominent rice planter of Liberty, Texas, re- 
 ports receipts of $3,700 from eighty acres in 1893, 
 and the entire expense only $500, a net profit of 
 $27.50 per acre. If the rice straw is compressed 
 into bales, and sold for feed, it will pay the cost of 
 the rice crop. Other products resultant from mill- 
 ing are rice bran and rice polish, the former making 
 a nutritious feed for stock, while the latter resembles 
 buckwheat flour. 
 
 Rice lands with water privileges may be rented at 
 
one-fifth for water toll and one-fifth for land rent, 
 leaving about $25 per acre net, or for the usual one 
 hundred acre tract, $2,500 to the tenant. 
 
 This industry is now in its infancy in Texas, but 
 the farmers, realizing that some valuable crop must 
 take the place of cotton, which hitherto has been 
 raised in too great abundance, are turning their at- 
 tention to rice culture with much favor. 
 
 Some of the advantages of rice culture over wheat 
 are: (i) The long period during which the ground 
 can be prepared and the grain sown. Preparations 
 can be carried on from October until June, sowing 
 from March until July, and harvesting extends over 
 a period of nearly four months, from August to 
 November, inclusive; (2) the greater value of the 
 product; (3) the yield per acre, which is from eight 
 to twentv barrels of 162 pounds each. 
 
 A great deal of money can be made in a few years 
 in rice cultivation. As the total amount of rice 
 raised in the United States is about one-half the 
 annual consumption, the output can be largely in- 
 creased without danger of over-production. An- 
 other factor is the limited area remaining that can 
 be planted to rice. 
 
 A FIELD OF SUGAR CANE. 
 
 OUCfill* OdtlC There is money in sugar cane. 
 One million acres of south 
 Texas land is suitable for its production. As a mat- 
 ter of fact, only 15,000 acres are devoted to this in- 
 dustry (a paltry percentage) and yet in 1S95 the 
 Texas sugar crop sold for $1,500,000, an average of 
 nearly $100 per acre. Seventy dollars an acre may 
 84 
 
be reasonably counted on, one year with another, 
 one acre of ground turning off 2(j to 50 tons of cane, 
 marlcetable at $3.00 a ton. 
 
 Ilitherto it has taken a big capital to run a sugar 
 plantation, because in addition to raising the cane 
 it was necessary to change it into sugar in one's own 
 mill. The man with a plow and a mule, however 
 industrious and foresighted, was barred out for lack 
 of dollars. Conditions are changing rapidly^ and 
 capitalists are now erecting large central sugar mills, 
 similar to the central factory in Cuba and Louisiana. 
 The small farmer takes his cane there and brings 
 its value back immediately in cash. By this plan 
 the farmer can grow ten acres or five hundred, and 
 the owners of sugar lands can rent them to tenant 
 farmers. The separation of cane growing and sugar- 
 making processes is in line with the system of large 
 packing houses that consume the steer and porker. 
 
 The annual expense for planting an acre of sugar- 
 cane will not exceed $6 to $8, because planting is 
 only necessary every third or fourth year. To culti- 
 vate cane is not half as expensive as to care for a 
 field of cotton. The hardest part is the work of 
 harvesting. Each individual stalk must be cut by 
 hand, a process requiring time and labor. 
 
 Sugar is a remarkable crop in the amount of money 
 it diffuses through labor. It requires much care, 
 much handling and much machinery. It represents 
 a large outlay and brings in a large profit. 
 
 Mr. J. H. House, owner of the Areola Plantation, 
 near Houston, says that his profit per acre per 
 annum in cultivating sugar cane is $80, and that the 
 crop is never failing, though some years it is larger 
 than others. 
 
 At Sugarland Ed. H. Cunningham & Co. have 
 one of the largest sugar refineries in the world. The 
 plant represents an investment of nearly $1,000,000. 
 This establishment not only refines sugar, but re- 
 cently introduced a paper mill, the paper being made 
 from the pulp of the sugar cane. 
 
 A>^|^^-^ Everybody knows cotton is king, even 
 V«AiJil^n jn these times of tottering thrones ; 
 but everybody does not know that Texas produces 
 from one-quarter to one-third of the crop grown in 
 this country. The annual yield varies from two 
 to three and a half million bales. I louston alone 
 handles over half of the cotton crop of Texas. 
 
pr^ 
 
 '\rw^^^ 
 
 A COTTON GIN AT ALVIN. 
 
 The Texas cotton belt is divided by Nature into 
 six districts. The territory along the coast, while 
 not producing as many bales as the central district, 
 excels it in the number of pounds raised to the acre. 
 It used to be thought that cotton could not be pro- 
 duced on the open prairie lands. The prairies are 
 equal to, if not superior to the river bottom sections, 
 and the first cost of land is much less. The aver- 
 age yield is from three-quarters to a bale and a half 
 of cotton to the acre. Prairie lands yield from a 
 half to one bale per acre and bottom lands 50^ more. 
 Cotton varies in price from $25 to $45 per bale. 
 Mr. W. T. Taylor, of Wharton, affirms that in spite 
 of the dry weather of 1897 he raised 600 bales on 
 750 acres. 
 
 Cotton is the Coast Country farmer's monopoly. 
 It is just as convertible into money as a nugget of 
 gold. Owing to fertile soil, good climate and intel- 
 ligent culture, this part of Texas combines maximum 
 yield with minimum cost. The best results are 
 reached on small farms, with home labor. Under 
 such circumstances success is as nearly sure as sun- 
 rise. The Texas cotton raiser who puts brains into 
 his business, does not have to wait until old age for 
 a competency even with the low prices recently pre- 
 vailing. The cotton planter finds here new land, 
 splendidly adapted to his purpose. Another advan- 
 tage is cheap labor. Mexican cotton pickers can be 
 brought in, who will work reasonably and well. 
 
It is thought that witiiin tlie next few years the 
 credit of being the first sea island cotton market of 
 the world will be transierred from Charleston, S. C. 
 to Galveston or Houston. 
 
 Another great source of profit is the use which 
 cotton seed may be put to. Aside from the oil, 
 nothing fattens cattle quicker than cotton seed meal 
 and luills. 
 
 ^Y^XlCfCQ ^''^"§■68 do fairly well on the Texas 
 ^ Coast. It is expected that with the 
 introduction of certain hardy varieties from Japan 
 the orange will come to have an established commer- 
 cial value as an article of export. 
 
 ftCtQ Figs grow in the greatest profusion. Fruit- 
 / y growers who are beginning to cultivate it 
 claim it is the most profitable fruit that can be raised 
 in this locality. Two hundred fig trees can be 
 planted to the acre, which will begin to bear in two 
 years and be in full bearing in five years, and will 
 then yield annually 200 pounds of fruit each, a net 
 profit, when dried and preserved, of $3 per tree. 
 
 STRAWBERRY FIELD IN THE DICKINSON COUNTRV. 
 
pi 
 
 Texas is the home of the plum. It 
 ^'Tl*^ grows wild in the woods in luxuriant 
 profusion. No less than three kinds of wild plums 
 grow in southern Texas, all of fine quality and mar- 
 ketable. The Japan plum is a comparative failure. 
 The American or Chickasaw variety is a success. 
 
 ■r\^,,||.^„ Any practical man can take ten acres 
 fyOUirry Qf laj^^j^ and 600 of the best laying 
 hens, and by raising his own feed clear $1,000 to 
 $1,500 each year, and have his fruit trees growing 
 on the same ground. " Broilers" find a ready mar- 
 ket in Houston at twenty-five to thirty-five cents a 
 head. 
 
 ■TV - - The fact that milk retails in Houston 
 
 AJaXVyinQ at ten cents a quart and butter at 
 twenty-five cents a pound, is enough to show that a 
 practical dairyman, who raises his own feed, can 
 realize fifty to seventy-five per cent, profit on his 
 investment and not work very hard either. 
 
 .jmm . , - The key to the whole prob- 
 
 CratlSpOrtatlOn lem here, as elsewhere, 
 where a surplus can be produced, is a good, near-at- 
 hand market, with quick transportation to foreign 
 markets. The Gulf counties of Texas are every- 
 where accessible to Houston and Galveston by rail 
 or water. Numerous streams and bayous are navi- 
 gable inland for long distances by schooners and 
 steamboats. Several hundred small schooners and 
 steamers daily ply between Galveston and neighbor- 
 ing inland places, engaged in carrying freight. The 
 Santa Fe Route opens up a vast market in north 
 Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas City, St. Louis 
 and Chicago. But the best guarantee of good prices 
 is the fact that everything here matures several weeks 
 earlier than a hundred miles inland or anywhere else 
 in the United States, except the south end of Florida 
 and Louisiana. The first half of the crop can al- 
 ways be marketed without competition. 
 
H Review and Outloofe 
 
 Sy jVIr. Stringfcllow 
 
 • • 
 
 R.<>\>li>%*» ^^ is just fifteen years since I moved to 
 AVCvlglV Hitchcock to embark in the fruit and 
 veo^etable business, and plant the first successful 
 pear orchard in the Coast Country. 
 
 At that time the total number of residents along 
 the Santa P'e line between Virginia Point and Alvin 
 could have been counted on the two hands. The 
 Houston branch had not been started; the Santa Fe 
 had just crossed the Brazos River on its march to the 
 North, and a single train up in the morning and 
 down at night, constituted the entire service. Hitch- 
 cock was the only settlement between the bay and 
 Houston, 
 
 It seems almost incredible that the short space of 
 fifteen years could have sufficed for the wonderful 
 development that has since taken place. Instead of 
 creeping slowly over an open, wild prairie, and 
 through herds of wandering long-horns at the rate 
 of fifteen or twenty miles an hour, once a day, the 
 traveler now speeds at three times that pace, and six 
 times a day, each way, through an almost continu- 
 ous succession of orchards and gardens on each side 
 of the track, and hundreds of packages of fruit and 
 vegetables daily leave the various bustling little 
 towns along the road. This rapid change from the 
 prairie-waste, with its sea of waving grass, to fertile 
 fields and cozy homes, has been due almost entirely 
 to the wise liberality and fostering care of the vari- 
 ous managements, both freight and passenger, of 
 the Santa Fe Railroad. 
 
 Of course, in its progress to the present high state 
 of development, Coast Country settlers have had 
 obstacles toov'^ercome in places, and disappointments 
 to bear here as well as elsewhere. Drouth, frost 
 and excessive rains have occasionally worked seri- 
 ous harm; but the length of our seasons, and the 
 great variety of products that can be grown, nearly 
 always allow the growers to recoup themselves on a 
 
different and successful crop in case one should from 
 any cause be a failure. 
 
 Let us see how the Coast Country now stands 
 (Spring- of '97). From a few packages of vegetables 
 and berries fifteen years ago, we are now growing 
 and shipping thousands of crates annually, and best 
 of all, have induced buyers from distant markets lo 
 send their agents down to purchase the various pro- 
 ducts on the ground. This is by far the most satis- 
 factory plan. 
 
 As to the future of this section, there can be little 
 doubt that it has advanced be3^ond the experimental 
 stage. While lands have shrunk in value from the 
 boom prices of ten years ago, they are now on a sub- 
 stantial and reasonable basis, below which they are 
 never likely to fall. The bottom has been touched, 
 and the present time affords opportunities that are 
 not likely to remain long. But, while lands will 
 hardly go lower in Galveston County, it will be folly 
 to buy largely on credit, expecting to make a living 
 and pay for it out of the ground at the same time. 
 This has been a fatal mistake of many of the early 
 settlers of this section. They came with insulhcient 
 means, inflated ideas of profits, and often lacked 
 that real love for the business which is the greatest 
 secret in succes::ful fruit and vegetable growing; 
 without it, losses and failure will quickly disgust the 
 planter for money only, which the genuine lover of 
 the business would have borne with patience and 
 conquered by persevering efforts. 
 
 Prices of all fruits and vegetables have now come 
 to bedrock all over the country, but if they can be 
 grown with profit anywhere, it can be done here. 
 
 In addition to this, we have a most delightful and 
 healthy climate, and the most progressive and liberal 
 railroad in the country, and if a man has made up 
 his mind to change his home (while, of course, it is 
 a serious move) he should give the merits of the 
 Coast Country of Texas a careful examination before 
 taking the step. 
 
 Cbc Outlook "Two years ago I wrote the 
 above review and am glad to 
 say that there has since been a steady improvement 
 until there is now (early summer of 1S99) a general 
 oonfidence tliat the future is full of promise. There 
 have been some failures on the part of individuals 
 who were unsuited to rural life and without suffi- 
 
cient means to make a success, but such conditions 
 always prevail in the development of all new coun- 
 tries. While the past winter has been exceptionally 
 severe and the late freeze in February unparalleled 
 in the history of this section, still the Coast Country 
 of Texas has shown its remarkable resources and 
 wonderful recuperative powers by turning- out, in 
 spite of these obstacles, one of the most profitable 
 crops we have ever had. The strawberry has been 
 particularly remunerative and with the increased 
 acreage, both of berries and vegetables, have come 
 buyers to take the output directly from the growers. 
 With years of experience the people have now 
 found out what crops are most profitable, as well 
 as improved methods of growing them, and also 
 learned to appreciate the importance of raising, as 
 largely as possible, their feed stuffs at home. 
 Corn, oats, sorghum, peanuts and cow peas are 
 being generally planted and prairie hay saved in 
 increasing quantities. Up to the severe freeze of 
 February 15th the promise for an immense pear 
 crop was never so good, but unfortunately the low 
 temperature caught the sap in motion and caused a 
 large part of the Le Conte to shed. The Keiffer, 
 however, which blooms later, has all the fruit the 
 trees can carry. The grapes were entirely unhurt 
 and the prospects for a fine yield could not be 
 better. The Niagara is most generally planted 
 and has never yet made a failure. The interest in 
 fig culture received a check from the killing to the 
 ground of many of the tender varieties, though the 
 Celeste, in most instances, came through all right. 
 But the fig renews itself so quickly and bears so 
 early, that even the loss of a tree means only the 
 missing of one or two crops. Ev^nthe China and 
 mulberry trees were killed in many places, a thing 
 which never happened before nor is likely to occur 
 again in many years. Taken altogether the out- 
 look is very bright. While most of the states are 
 locked up in ice and snow for months, our farmers 
 and gardeners need lose scarcely a day except from 
 rain, and enjoy a climate almost entirely exempt 
 from pneumonia, diphtheria and typhoid fever, three 
 of the worst diseases of the North. Lands are still 
 very cheap but will advance in the near future. 
 
 H. M. Stringfellow." 
 
 91 
 
Crops 
 'Chat ^ield jVIoncy Quickly 
 
 e • • 
 
 Mr. C, \V. Benson is local agent of Wells, Fargo 
 & Co.'s Express at Alvin, Texas. His experience, 
 both as a fruit grower and a handler of all kinds of 
 products grown around Alvin, is sufficiently varied 
 and practical to give his remarks more than ordinary 
 force. Mr. Benson says: 
 
 "More should be written about what- has been 
 done in money crops in the Coast Country. The 
 virriter came to Alvin five years ago without experi- 
 ence, bought 20 acres of land, has expended in 
 improvements, including good residence and farm 
 buildings, $3,000. 
 
 "Our receipts from the place in 1898 were $2,800; 
 expenses S950. We have produced $500 from two 
 acres of tomatoes, $200 per acre from four acres of 
 strawberries ($550 from fruit plats and $250 from 
 plant plats). One dollar and ten cents per hill was 
 netted last spring on 83 hills of cucumbers in hotbed 
 on our place. 
 
 "Only a small portion of the land has been pro- 
 ducing. Three acres devoted to flowers gave us 
 over $r, 000. We will fruit for the first time this 
 year, one acre of grapes, one acre of blackberries, 
 and half an acre of peaches, and have maturing two 
 acres of pears, one-half acre of dewberries, two 
 acres of figs, one acre of nursery stock and Ave and 
 one-half acres of vegetables (worked in unused 
 spaces); also one-fourth acre of asparagus. 
 
 "To my positive knowledge grapes have paid 
 over $100 per acre here; blackberries $125 per acre, 
 and dewberries (estimated from small plats) $125; 
 peaches were produced for the first time last season 
 — much of the fruit was large enough to completely 
 fill a coffee cup, and sold from 6oc to goc per one- 
 third bushel net. Figs paid one of my neighbers 
 $450 for three acres. Nursery stock pays from $150 
 to $300 per acre, but should, perhaps, have irriga- 
 tion to make it safe. Vegetables pay from $35 to 
 $75 per acre, including sweet potatoes, which netted 
 
the grower $8 per ton last fall. Winter vegetables 
 were, of course, lost this spring in the February 
 freeze, but when there are crops coming on ten 
 months in the year it is less discouraging than where 
 nothing but short seasons prevail. 
 
 "Touching on pears — it is quite probable that 
 they will prove less remunerative than was at first 
 supposed, and I consider it vitally important that 
 true estimates should be given. Pear orchards al- 
 ready planted should pay fairly good returns, but 
 diversification is now the order of the day. 
 
 " I share Mr. Stringfellow's opinion that certain 
 varieties of oranges and also asparagus will prove to 
 be two of our best paying crops, and many small 
 experiments are now under way in both lines. 
 
 •' Several cash buyers of fruit and vegetables are 
 permanently located here, and the markets which 
 look to us for their supply not only pay better prices 
 than eastern markets, but at present are somewhat 
 less discriminating or exacting as to certain stand- 
 ards in quality. This is an advantage to inexperi- 
 enced growers until they can learn to produce and 
 pack the various commodities in better grades and 
 more attractive form." 
 
 CULTIVATING HORSE RADISH. 
 
 94 
 
T^h 
 
 c 
 
 Diversified Xntcrests of Ccxas 
 
 • • • 
 
 Extracts from an interview with Mr. Jas. A. Davis, 
 Industrial Commissioner of the Santa Fe Route, 
 which appeared in the Chicago Daily Record of 
 March 14, 1898 : 
 
 "Texas, with its area of 270,000 square miles, 
 is an empire richer in itself than Chicago and the 
 West generally begin to appreciate. Within that 
 area are greater diversities of products and more 
 pursuits are possible than in a similar area in any 
 part of the world. Cotton is, and will, of course, 
 continue to be, the chief staple product. It is evi- 
 dent from last season's experience that cotton can 
 be grown there more profitably than anywhere else. 
 The wheat area is rapidly being enlarged, and many 
 flouring mills are now operating in the state and 
 using only Texas wheat. Tobacco is being success- 
 fully cultivated and additional lands are being used 
 for this purpose. Sugar manufacturers, too, are 
 finding practical and profitable possibilities in sugar 
 lands in the southern portion of the state. ^ The 
 pine-timber interests are some of the largest in the 
 country, the output for 1896 having aggregated 
 400,000,000 feet. For farmers Texas offers an ex- 
 ceedingly good field for the cultivation of small 
 fruits. 
 
 " For high-grade wools Texas is considered by ex- 
 perts to be second only to Australia. Texas cattle 
 are known all over the United States. Oil has been 
 found in paying quantities, and there are indications 
 of new coal fields. 
 
 " The manufacturing interests of the state are in- 
 creasing and the field is now open to many new 
 industries. The local conditions for such are excep- 
 tionally favorable, there being an abundance of raw 
 materials close at hand. The average prosperity of 
 the state is high. The farmers are all greatly en- 
 couraged and are engaged in studying the diversifi- 
 cation of crops and the possibility of reducing the 
 cost of raising cotton and wheat by giving attention 
 
 95 
 
to other farm products. There is a section of the 
 country on the San Angelo branch of the Santa Fe 
 where wheat and cotton are raised side by side on 
 the same farm. 
 
 " The towns in Texas are growing rapidly. Gal- 
 veston, Houston, Belton, Temple, Weatherford, 
 Cleburne, Fort Worth, Dallas and Gainesville all 
 show signs of increasing prosperity. The advan- 
 tages of Galveston as a port are becoming better 
 known every year, and it promises to be one of the 
 leading ports in the country. Chicago and the west 
 are considerably interested in the development of 
 Galveston's port facilities, as in some measure off- 
 setting any monopolistic tendencies on the part of 
 the Atlantic ports." 
 
 "■^^^^^^^'T'^w'^^^ 
 
 PiCKJNG BEANS ON CHADWICK'S PLACE- 
 
Successful Cobacco Culture 
 
 • • • 
 
 The article below was contributed by Mr. W. B. 
 Slosson, of the Houston Newcomers' Association, 
 Houston, Texas, March i8, 1898: 
 
 " Please advise the world that the purest and best 
 of Havana tobacco has been, and is now being grown, 
 in at least six counties of the Coast Country. This 
 innovation of transferring the raising of that high- 
 priced staple to southeast Texas is of great interest 
 to newcomers from the North. 
 
 " Last year 600 acres of this tobacco was raised. 
 1898 will see from g.ooo to 12,000 acres grown. 
 The market price of ordinary tobacco is from seven 
 to eleven cents per pound. The price paid to our 
 Texas farmers for Havana tobacco was from fifty 
 cents to one dollar per pound. The duty on Hav- 
 ana tobacco is $1.35 to $2.00 on wrappers, both of 
 which can be raised and handled here as cheaply as 
 common tobacco heretofore raised. 
 
 "On February 26, 1898, a meeting of the Texas 
 Tobacco Growers' Association (A. R. P. Moore, of 
 Houston, president) was held at the Houston Busi- 
 ness League. At this meeting, Mr. S. J. Washburn, 
 Vice-President of the DeWitt County Tobacco 
 Growers' Association, said: 'We could dispose of 
 20,000 cars of this tobacco in a single season. There 
 is no limit to the demand for fine cigar tobacco We 
 have the climate and the soil to grow to advantage 
 light tobacco from Havana seed, and in only a small 
 portion of the United States can these grades be 
 raised. New England and New York are nearly 
 driven out of the market already, for the reason 
 that we can grow better grades for less money.' 
 
 " Messrs. Mitchellson & Hubbard, of Kansas 
 City, leaf tobacco dealers, offered me one dollar a 
 pound for some specially high grades that I raised 
 last year. Although I am familiar with tobacco- 
 raising in Missouri, Wisconsin and Ohio, I am sure 
 better profits can be had from raising it in southeast 
 Texas than any other part of the Union. 
 
 "Owen Smith & Co., of southeast Texas, sold 
 their crop of to, 000 pounds at sixty cents a pound. 
 
T. J. Rountree produced, last year, 13.000 pounds 
 from eighteen acres, selling 10,000 pounds at fifty 
 cents and the remainder at twenty-five cents. 
 
 "The absence of severe winds here is a large 
 factor in tobacco culture. The cheap lands, the 
 high duties on imported tobacco, the long seasons, 
 a large rainfall and an equable climate, makes this 
 Coast Country of Texas especially attractive to set- 
 tlers who desire to diversify their crops. 
 
 " In a state like Texas, where nearly all the staple 
 grains are raised successfully (a state which also 
 raises one-third of the whole cotton crop of Amer- 
 ica), where all the vegetables and fruits do well and 
 find a ready market, where the lowest freight rates by 
 both rail and water prevail, coupled with the fact 
 that good, rich prairie lands with plenty of timber 
 can be had on favorable terms at from $5 to $8 
 per acre — and the reason is apparent why immi- 
 grants are now seeking the Coast Country of Texas 
 in preference to any other spot in the Union. And 
 they are coming on every excursion train of the Santa 
 Fe Route; thousands are coming in annually. Those 
 who come (I say it as a formerly northern man) are 
 sure of a cordial southern welcome at all times to 
 this bright land of sunshine and of flowers." 
 
 Under date of August i, 1899, Mr. Slosson adds 
 the following: 
 
 " During the Houston ' Fruit, Flower and Vege- 
 table Festival,' held from December 5 to 11, 189S, 
 Hon. Walter Whitney, Assistant Secretary of Agri- 
 culture, at Washington, D. C, attended the festival 
 especially to note the progress made in the growing 
 of Cuban tobacco, and to see the exhibits there dis- 
 played. To him it was a revelation of the capacity 
 of the Coast Country soils, as the tobacco there 
 shown equaled any raised in the United States, and 
 brought on the market such prices as was supposed 
 to be only paid for the best Havana tobacco. This 
 only proves what has been said before — that our own 
 people are not yet aware of the many possibilities 
 awaiting developmerlt in this Coast Country of 
 Texas." 
 
 Ve.J 
 
Cexas 
 
 Hs a 'Cobacco Growing State 
 • • • 
 
 Information for this article was prepared by Mr. 
 A. R. Moore, President of the Texas Tobacco 
 Growers' Association, of Houston, Texas. Mr. 
 Moore says: 
 
 " Texas is now growing the highest grade of cigar 
 tobacco in the United States, and many experts 
 pronounce it equal to Cuban tobacco. 
 
 The kind of tobacco that is being most success- 
 fully raised is the Vuelta Abajo, from Cuban seed. 
 The growers are now experimenting in raising 
 Sumatra wrapper, and from the samples submitted, 
 there is no doubt but what we can grow as good 
 ^rade of wrappers here as can the Island of Sumatra. 
 The acreage in this state this year will be double 
 that of last year, which will be about 10,000 acres. 
 
 " Hon. Milton Whitney, Chief Division of Soil of 
 the Agriculture Department, who is also an expert 
 on tobacco, said in an address at our last annual 
 meeting, which was held in this city December 8th, 
 1S98: 'Of the kinds of tobacco you growers are 
 producing, that intended' for the manufacture of 
 cigars is -the finest grown. From the samples ot 
 Texas tobacco I have seen, I am convinced that 
 much of the Texas tobacco is quite similar to the 
 best grade raised in Cuba. ' 
 
 " 'Fhe duty on Havana wrappers is $1.85 to $2. 50 
 per pound and on fillers thirty-five to fifty cents, 
 all of which can be saved the cigar manufacturer by 
 using native stock, which is equally as good in 
 every respect. . Cigar wrappers and fillers grown in 
 Southwestern Texas are equal in quality and flavor 
 to the Cuban plant, a fact that manufacturers are 
 beginning to realize. It needs no profound mathe- 
 matician to figure out the value of home grown 
 stock. With suitable soil, a salubrious climate, 
 good markets and quick returns the tobacco planter 
 is forging to the front and building up a fortune 
 for himself. 
 
 " Read carefully the following testimonials, pro- 
 cured by Mr. Harrison of Harrison c\: Jones, Kansas 
 City, a brother of ex-president Harrison: 
 
 L#fC. 99 
 
By r>. S» Sdlcr " -^ ^^ ^ tobacco raiser as 
 
 •^ * * well as cigar manufacturer; 
 
 came from Illinois to Willis, in Montgomery 
 County; have grown eight crops of cigar tobaccos 
 in South Texas; was among the first to plant cigar 
 tobacco in Montgomery County, Texas; have raised 
 a crop of tobacco in Angelina County, Texas, this 
 year, and for some of my cigar wrappers am offered 
 $2 per pound. I have examined two samples of 
 soil from a tract of 27,000 acres at Olive, Texas, in 
 Hardin County, and I pronounce the samples shown 
 me to be first-class cigar tobacco lands, both for 
 wrappers and fillers, but more especially adapted to 
 growing high grade cigar wrappers. I can cheer- 
 fully recommend these soils to anyone wishing to 
 buy lands for the growing of high grade cigar stuff. 
 
 By lobti r>, -Cwyman ^^ ^^^11^°" ^ l"^/' 
 
 ■^ -^ ^ man, Kansas City, 
 
 Mo., wholesale dealers in domestic and Key West 
 cigars: 
 
 " I have had seven years' experience in the cigar 
 business and feel that I am competent to judge 
 of the quality of tobacco necessary to make a first- 
 class cigar. I had the privilege some days ago of 
 examining in your office some samples of cigar leaf 
 tobacco raised in Southeastern Texas, and 1 unhesi- 
 tatingly state that a great many of the samples 
 examined I consider very fine and equal in every 
 way to the finest Havana tobacco, the duty on 
 which is $1.85 per pound." 
 
 By -3. C. Mitchdson ZT^:^t^., 
 
 Mo., dealers in leaf tobacco: 
 
 "It has been my privilege to examine Texas 
 tobacco of different years' crops. I have also visited 
 Southeastern Texas in the interests of our firm, to 
 examine the soil in that section and the tobacco 
 grown there. The cultivation of cigar tobacco has 
 been my life-work, and it is a pleasure for me to be 
 able to give my favorable opinion in regard to the 
 soil and tobacco raised in Southeastern Texas. I 
 visit all the different states where cigar tobacco is 
 raised and visit Cuba annually in the interests of 
 our firm. Some of the samples from Southeastern 
 Texas are the nearest like the famous Vuelta Abajo 
 from the Pinar del Kio district of western Cuba I 
 
 100 
 
have ever seen. Some of the Texas tobacco I con- 
 sider equal in appearance to tobacco, the market 
 price of \vhich, in I'inar del Rio, has been $S per 
 pound for wrapper purposes. The soil in South- 
 eastern Texas is the nearest like the soil in Cuba of 
 any we have in our tobacco-producing states. 
 
 "The cost of fertilizing lands and preparino;- 
 them to grow such high grades of tobacco in the 
 northern states is from five to ten times the cost of 
 our Texas lands, which have the necessary natural 
 fertilizers and soils that can produce a much higlier 
 grade than can be raised there. Lands suitable for 
 tobacco raising can be purchased here from $5 to 
 $10, in tracts from fifty acres to 20,000 acres, either 
 for individuals or colonization purposes. 
 
 "A stock company has been formed in Kansas 
 City, Mo., for the purpose of owning and planting, 
 this year, a tobacco farm of 1,000 acres near Olive, 
 in this State. 
 
 "The demand for high grade tobacco is far in 
 excess of the supply, and it will be years before the 
 supply will be equal to the demand. Nine-tenths 
 of the Texas tobacco is now being sold in Eastern 
 markets as Cuban tobacco, at prices from $i to 
 $1.50 per pound, 
 
 "The half has not been told about the bright 
 future and prospects for the tobacco culture of 
 Texas. There is not a large section in the world 
 which can produce as fine tobacco as we are raising 
 here, and with our intelligent methods of handling 
 staples of this kind, we will soon surpass any 
 country in the world in producing high grade 
 tobaccos. 
 
 "Judging by the antiquated manner in which the 
 Cubans are handling their product Texas will soon 
 take the lead in this industry. When we speak of 
 Cuba as a tobacco growing country the natural 
 inference is that all Cuba raises this high grade 
 goods, but such is not the case. It i« a little strip 
 of country in the western part of Cuba, about 160 
 miles long by thirty miles wide, known as the Pinar 
 del Rio province, wherein is located the celebrated 
 Vuelta Abajo district. All nations of the earth are 
 now using cigar tobacco from this district, and Cuba, 
 in her most palmy days, was never able to supply 
 the world with this famous tobacco. From the above 
 information it is evident that, with our climatic con- 
 ditions and soil, we will soon surpass Cuba." 
 
Secretary ^Qdilson's Views 
 
 • • • 
 
 Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, 
 Washington, D. C, recently visited the Coast 
 Country. In an interview he says : 
 
 " The Coast Country is immense. That express- 
 es it in a word. But a most singular development 
 appears here. You are preparing to handle the pro- 
 ducts of several states back of you, and yet, within 
 an hour's ride you have thousands of acres of the 
 finest land in the world — land that will raise anything 
 — unsettled, unused, for sale at $15 per acre. I have 
 never encountered such a condition anywhere else, 
 for, as a rule, lands in the suburbs of the great cities 
 are worth $150 to $400 an acre. Why it is so I do 
 not know; but it is so. Within the past few years a 
 few people have taken advantage of this opportu- 
 nity. They have bought lands in this Coast Coun- 
 try, and they are making money — lots of it. 
 
 " The States back of Texas have been developed. 
 The people have made money, and there are millions 
 of dollars lying idle in the banks. This money will 
 seek investment, and the people will take advantage 
 of the opportunity to buy your splendid lands cheap 
 and they will develop them. Texas is a splendid 
 State — a great empire. It has started upon an era 
 of development and progress. You know it has 
 been said that during the late war the people of the 
 United States have discovered themselves; they be- 
 gin to appreciate what they have. 
 
 " I think that it is one of the finest countries in 
 the world, and the more I see of it, the more I think 
 so. I talked to the people awhile at Alvin. I saw 
 some Iowa friends there. I can't understand how 
 it is that such growing cities as Houston and Cial- 
 veston can have such fine prairie between them and 
 so much of it untilled. We want the people to get 
 in on that and bring it into cultivation. 
 
 "My friends, this is a wonderful country. It 
 seems to m2 you can raise anything here. Your soil 
 is as good as our soil in Iowa. If I was a young 
 man I'd pack my grip and come to Texas. The 
 conditions and the prospects for development are 
 such that I could not afford to remain away." 
 
 102 
 
Real Estate Hgents' OpinioriB 
 
 • • • 
 
 If it is your business to buy and sell coffee, you 
 master every detail in order to know all there is worth 
 knowing on the subject; to be an expert in grading 
 and pricing. So it is with land. A reliable real 
 estate agent can furnish more common sense facts 
 about a farm than the owner himself — because the 
 owner only knows about his own land, while it is 
 the agent's business to be informed regarding all 
 sorts of farms. One talks from the retail, the other 
 from the wholesale point of view. Below are given 
 extracts from interviews with three prominent Hous- 
 ton real estate agents, which recently appeared in a 
 leading journal of that city: 
 
 By MvQ* Bcttie Bryan " ^/^^ "^"^^ at least 
 
 'a dozen counties m 
 Southern and Southeastern Texas in which the waste 
 lands would not amount to as much as 5 per cent of 
 the total area, provided the country was supplied 
 with a proper system of ditches and drainage. The 
 great bulk of these lands are as fine for the produc- 
 tion of all the cereals, cotton, fruit, berries, vegeta- 
 bles, in fact everything that grows in this climate, 
 as can be found anywhere. 
 
 " The great variety of crops that can be grown 
 makes the country very attractive to the agricultur- 
 ist; but I am especially impressed with its possibili- 
 ties as a rice producing section." 
 
 By C. ^. F>abl " ^^^^t do I think about the 
 * development of the agricultural 
 
 resources of the Texas Coast Country? Why, this 
 country is being improved so fast that our home peo- 
 ple cannot keep up with the procession. Up to the 
 past five or six years many crops which are now suc- 
 cessfully and very profitably raised here were sup- 
 posed to be a failure in this country. Northerners 
 say that we have the finest country on earth (the 
 Coast Country) and it will be the garden spot of the 
 United States before many years; that our advan- 
 tages are many and great over the Northern States 
 
 103 
 
in climate, markets, shipping facilities, cheap build- 
 ing material, saving in clothing, and by raising 
 nearly everything one eats; that our stock runs out 
 and feeds the year round, while they have to feed 
 from six to seven months; and last, but not least, 
 our cheap, good lands that are offered here from $5 
 to $10 per acre, are just as good and will raise as 
 much as lands up north worth $40 to $80 per acre." 
 
 By 'J* R* BHOfbt * ' Many years ago you could 
 trade a two dollar and a half 
 saddle pony for a section of Texas land, but you 
 can't do it now. Why? Because there was one per- 
 son (man, woman or child) to each 1,000 acres of 
 land in this great State, and today there are almost 
 300 acres to each man, woman or child. 
 
 " Now everything is changed. The cattle interest 
 has moved westward and the land owner has found 
 new uses for his lands instead of grazing vast herds 
 of long horns. He is making his lands bring him a 
 bigger profit by cultivation, or by selling them to 
 those who will cultivate them. In this way a new 
 era has been inaugurated. 
 
 " We have practical demonstration that our coast 
 lands will produce sugar, rice, corn, cotton, all sorts 
 of grass, melons, vegetables, fruits and berries. 
 You ask, how much do you make per acre? As an 
 example we'll take corn, because everyone can com- 
 pare corn. There are a great many reports on held 
 averages of corn in the Coast Country that show 46 
 bushels is the average on lands that are properly 
 tilled. There is a report on a farm in Brazoria 
 county that shows an average of 57I bushels on a 
 field of twenty acres of sod land. Now this sod land 
 is worth $10 to $15 per acre, but if you will stop to 
 compare the value of products gathered from $10 or 
 $15 lands against Kansas, Illinois, Tennessee or 
 Kentucky $100 per acre lands, you will find that you 
 can pay for your purchases of Coast Country lands 
 with the products gathered the first year and have 
 enough left over to keep your family and stock. 
 Are such lands high ? 
 
 " The Coast Country is a paradise for a poor man. 
 He can pay for his farm and accumulate a larger 
 domain while he is taking care of and raising a fam- 
 ily to occupy it." 
 
Cdbat One jNlan f)a8 Done 
 
 • • • 
 
 In the Saturday Reuiew, Galveston, April 16, 
 1S9S, appears an interesting article by Mr. Richard 
 Spillane, entitled, " The Story of a Coast Country 
 Experiment." It takes the form of an interview 
 with Rev. J. J. Shirley, one of the pioneer fruit and 
 vegetable growers at Alvin. Extracts from the 
 most valuable portions appear below : 
 
 "How much land have you in cultivation?" I 
 asked. 
 
 "I have," said Mr. Shirley, "something over 
 2,000 pear trees. Those trees you see there are the 
 first I planted. Of the 2,000 in the orchard between 
 800 and 1,000 are now bearing. Year by year I 
 have extended my orchard. The trees over there to 
 the west are young. A few years more and they 
 will bear. I have, all told, 44 or 45 acres in culti- 
 vation. Over there to the southwest I have peaches 
 and plums. The big cabbage field you passed as 
 you came up toward the gate is mine." 
 
 "What has been the result in a financial way 
 from your farm and orchard ? " I asked. 
 
 " I have not," said the reverend gentleman, "kept 
 what you would call a set of books, so I can only 
 answer in a general way. While my orchard has 
 been growing, I have grown strawberries, corn, cot- 
 ton, sweet and Irish potatoes, cabbage, okra, Eng- 
 lish peas, beets, turnips, radishes, celery, onions, 
 vegetable musk, sugar cane, sorghum, squash, 
 watermelons, canteloupes, red pepper, and dozens 
 and dozens of other things in the rows between the 
 fruit trees. Every month in the year I have been 
 kept busy sowing and gathering some crop. \'ou 
 know we raise two or three crops a year here on the 
 same land. 
 
 " When I came here, as I tell you, I had S4S5. 
 Well, I have paid for my land and I have bought 
 more land. I have spent $2,000 in improvements 
 in the way of houses. I have raised my family. I 
 have sent my sons to Georgetown I'niversity and 
 had them educated. I sent my daughter to Gran- 
 bury College. I've had money in bank." 
 
 " Have you had any offers for your farm ?" 
 
" Ves, many. I should think I've had one hun- 
 dred or more. The largest amount offered was 
 $16,000 cash." 
 
 "And you wouldn't sell?" 
 
 " No," was the clergyman's reply. 
 
 " Mr. Shirley," said I, "there has been a great 
 deal of discussion about this fruit country between 
 Houston and Galveston. Some men have failed ; 
 some have been successful. Will you tell me — you 
 should be in a position to know — what is necessary 
 for success?" 
 
 "Any man," said Mr. Shirley, " who is willing to 
 work and who has a little money to back him up 
 until he gets started can succeed. Brains — good 
 common sense, I mean — muscle and money mean 
 success in this Coast Country. There is more in the 
 man than in the land. Some men are adapted by 
 nature for fruit growing and for gardening. vSome 
 men have the power of adapting themselves to it. 
 Some men would make a failure on any land. Any 
 man who is at all practical can come into this Coast 
 Country and, if he had enough money to carry him 
 over the first two years, he ought to run along like 
 a top after that." 
 
 " How much land should a man take?" 
 
 " I do not think a man should go over 30 acres. 
 He shouldn't work more than 20 acres. He should 
 have a little pasturage." 
 
 I asked the Rev. Mr. Shirley to tell me what had 
 been the monetary return to him from the various 
 crops he had raised. 
 
 " It's difficult for me to tell you exactly," he re- 
 plied. " Take strawberries, for instance. Some 
 years I grow a good many of them, two or three 
 acres, maybe. Other years I grow only an acre. 
 The crop and the price vary. I think it would be 
 conservative to put the monetary return of straw- 
 berries at $250 an acre. They need a good deal of 
 attention, you know. 
 
 " Snap beans ; that is a good crop. They pay 
 from $50 to $60 an acre. I raise them in the spring 
 and after gathering the crop I put the land into 
 cotton. 
 
 "Of cotton I raise a bale to the acre on open 
 ground and half a bale to the acre when I plant it 
 between the rows of fruit trees. 
 
 " Corn goes 20 bushels to the acre. 
 
 " Sweet and Irish potatoes I grow between the 
 
rows in the orchards. Of Irish potatoes I raise 
 from 50 to 75 bushels to the acre. Of sweet pota- 
 toes I raise 100 bushels. 
 
 " Cabbage is a winter crop. I plant in October 
 and harvest in January, February and March. Last 
 year my return from cabbage was $100 per acre. 
 
 " Okra grows magnificently in this country. 
 
 " English peas are particularly adapted to this 
 soil and pay well. I make $100 an acre from the 
 crop I sow. 
 
 " Beets do well, but I haven't grown many. 
 
 " Turnips are profitable. Rutabagas and spring 
 turnips grow as well here as any place in the coun- 
 
 " Radishes — they are simply prolific. 
 
 " Celery is destined to be one of our great crops, 
 I believe. This is essentially a celery region and 
 where proper attention is given the crop is as fine as 
 anyone could desire. 
 
 " Onions require a great deal of care and when it 
 is given we have excellent crops. 
 
 " I have experimented with rice, with vegetable 
 musk, with sugar cane and with sorghum, and the 
 result has been good. The yield from sugar cane 
 has been 300 gallons to the acre. The sorghum is 
 fine. * 
 
 "It is needless, I presume, to tell you what a 
 great region this is for squash, watermelons, and 
 cantaloupes. To grow watermelons or cantaloupes 
 no preparation is necessary further than to turn over 
 the sod." 
 
 " Now," said I, "tell me about the pears, the 
 peaches and the plums." 
 
 " I am growing two varieties of pears — the Keif- 
 fer and the Le Conte. l>oth are successful, but 
 my orchard will not show as good returns as will 
 those of other orchards in the Coast Country. My 
 orchard, from the fact that it is the oldest in the 
 Alvin district, has been the place to which visitors 
 have made pilgrimages. Not only that, but, from 
 the fact that it was the first to bear, my neighbors 
 have come to me to examine the fruit. I have 
 always allowed visitors or my neighbors to help 
 themselves to fruit, so, you see, the yield will appear 
 smaller than it really was. I think one-half of the 
 crop each yedr has gone in the way I explained. 
 
 "The Le Conte trees begin to bear when six 
 years old. The Keiffer bears when four. The first 
 
 107 
 
year my trees bore fruit they averaged — that is, I 
 sold — one-half bushel of pears to the tree. I got 
 $2.00 per bushel. The second year the trees bore, 
 or, rather, I sold, at the rate of one bushel to the tree. 
 This year I will sell about five bushels to the tree." 
 
 " How much do you get per bushel for pears ? " 
 
 " I expect at the least $1.00 per bushel. Those 
 I sell in small lots I believe will bring $1.50 per 
 bushel. Those I ship will bring $1.00 per bushel." 
 
 " How about plums and peaches ? " 
 
 " Peaches grow finely here, but the trees are short 
 lived. After bearing three or four years the trees 
 die out. The same applies to plums. Figs are 
 profitable and easy to cultivate." 
 
 " Do you make use of such pears as you do not 
 ship away? " 
 
 "Assuredly. I have made pear cider here that 
 my neighbors buy and when I let the cider go to 
 vinegar, I have no trouble selling it at 25 cents pei 
 gallon. I am about to build a cider press that will 
 turn out three barrels a day. I am going into the 
 vinegar making business, and have no doubt the 
 worth of the article and the purity of the making 
 will create a demand that will support the industry," 
 
 I asked Mr. Shirley if he thought there was any 
 danger when all the pear trees in the Coast Country 
 got to yielding that the market would be glutted. 
 
 "Gracious, no ! '' he replied. "Why, some gen- 
 tlemen from London, who were here, and who were 
 asked what they thought about it said the city of Lon- 
 don could consume the entire fruit crop of this region. 
 
 " You see, we fruit growers have made a good 
 many mistakes heretofore. We are only now learn- 
 ing our business after having been in the crucible of 
 experience. Formerly we didn't know exactly the 
 proper time to pick the fruit or exactly the way to 
 ship it. Now we have our eyes open. We know 
 something about cold storage, too. And we know 
 where and when to ship." 
 
 " What have been the elements that have militated 
 against the Coast Country?" Rev. Mr. Shirley was 
 asked. 
 
 " Drainage has been one of the great drawbacks," 
 he replied. " That we are overcoming slowly, but 
 surely. Irrigation is another. It will not be many 
 years before we have these problems solved. Every- 
 thing we do is for improvement ; every season we 
 are nearer to success. 
 
Other I^cxas Counties 
 
 • • • 
 
 Below is given a very brief resume of the various 
 Texas counties traversed by the Gulf, Colorado & 
 Santa Fe Railway, excepting those near the Gulf 
 coast which are fully described elsewhere. 
 
 In view of the general plan of the pamphlet, 
 which is to call special attention to the Gulf coast 
 section, a complete " write-up " cannot be furnished 
 here. But even this condensation may convey some 
 idea of the immense resources of inland Texas, an 
 empire in wealth and power and possibilities. 
 
 Husttn County !:^^t^^^:^^S. 
 
 1,500. Well watered by Brazos River, also Mill 
 Creek, East Bernal and other creeks. Along Brazos 
 River and Mill Creek are forests of oak, ash, elm 
 and black walnut; tire-wood abundant everywhere. 
 Area of Austin County, 700 square miles; one-third 
 under cultivation and two-thirds fenced. Soil is a 
 black, sandy loam in the river bottoms; a black, 
 sticky quality on the prairies and one-third sandy 
 black in hills. Principal crop, cotton; corn and oats 
 also raised and every variety of vegetables. Popu- 
 lation mainly a prosperous class of Germans. Best 
 of educational advantages. Summers are never op- 
 pressive, while winters are short and mild. Cyclones 
 have never visited this section, and a total failure of 
 crops is unknown. 
 
 0^11 CdUHtrV r'opulation about 50,000; county 
 '^'^''^ V^SiJUIll.y ^^^^^ Belton, population 5,000. 
 Well watered with four rivers, numerous creeks and 
 springs; also many hne artesian wells in and around 
 Belton. Timbered with oak, pecan, cedar, etc. 
 Gold and silver found in small quantities in the hills. 
 Area of the county, 1,045 square miles, two-thirds 
 under cultivation. Soil is of a black-waxy nature; 
 about one-third timber land mixed with sandy gravel. 
 Principal crops are cotton, corn, oats, wheat, hay 
 and sugar cane. X'arious industries: flouring mills, 
 cotton and oil mills, cotton gins, compresses, can- 
 ning factories, stone quarries and brick yards. One 
 
 109 
 
of the most fertile and wealthiest counties in Texas. 
 Plenty of cheap lands from $3 to $20 per acre. The 
 abundance of cotton and wool at Belton affords a 
 fine opening there for cotton and woolen manufac- 
 turing. Pleasant winter and summer climate. Never 
 colder than 20° above zero in winter. 
 
 BOSQUC County Population about 18,000; 
 county seat, Meridian, 
 population 1,500. Well watered by Bosque and 
 Brazos Rivers, Steel's, Spring and Meridian Creeks. 
 Artesian water easily obtained anywhere from 500 
 to 900 feet. Fuel and fence posts can be had from 
 the timbered land. Soil is a black-waxy quality, 
 except on the rivers where it is sandy. Principal 
 crops are cotton, corn, wheat, oats, rye, barley, mil- 
 let and sorghum; also all kinds "of fruits are raised. 
 The residents are a prosperous class of people. 
 Hot summers, but always a cool breeze; mild win- 
 ters, very little snow and ice. Land is cheap. 
 
 Bl*OWn County population 17,000; county 
 seat, Brownwood, popula- 
 tion 5,200. Watered by Colorado River, Pecan, 
 Bayou, Jim and Ned Creeks. Land well timbered. 
 Area of county, i,ioo square miles. Two hundred 
 thousand acres under cultivation. Soil, a chocolate 
 loam. Crops consist of cotton, corn, wheat, oats, 
 sorghum, millet, fruits and vegetables. Farmers 
 and merchants are prosperous. Very temperate 
 climate all the year round. Rich, productive lands 
 at $4 to $6 per acre on easy terms. 
 
 Burleson County Population 15,000: 
 
 county seat, Caldwell, 
 population 1,500. Land is watered by Brazos and 
 Yegua Rivers and Second Creek. Plenty of timber. 
 Area of the county, 1,000 square miles, about one- 
 third under cultivation. Soil, sandy black. Prin- 
 cipal crop is coAon. Summers hot, winters cool and 
 damp. 
 
 Coleman County Population 7,000; 
 
 county seat, Coleman, 
 population 2,800. Well watered by Colorado River, 
 Center, Hords, Jim, Ned, North, Pecan and Bayou 
 Creeks. Plenty of timber for fuel, also large coal 
 deposits in southern part of county. Area of Cole- 
 man County, 1,290 square miles; one-sixteenth of it 
 
 110 
 
undtr cultivation. Black prairie land; sandy soil in 
 parts of the county. Principal crops: cotton, wheat, 
 oats and all small grains. Cattle, horses and mules 
 are raised in large numbers. Gulf breeze makes the 
 summers cool, while winters are delightful. Climate 
 cannot be excelled for healthfulness. Lands are 
 cheap; county is being rapidly settled. Schools and 
 churches located in every part. 
 
 CoUin County I'op^i^tion about 35,000; 
 
 ^ county seat, McKinney, 
 population 6,000. Land watered by numerous creeks. 
 Large quantities of Osage orange, oak and hemlock 
 timber. Area of county, 30 square miles, four-tifths 
 under cultivation. Black-wa.xy soil. Crops consist 
 of corn, cotton, wheat and oats; stock-raising is 
 also followed. Principal industries are cotton and 
 oil mills. County thickly settled by thrifty, law- 
 abiding, prosperous farmers. Churches and school- 
 houses in every community. Land in cultivation 
 sells from $20 to $30 per acre. Summers are warm, 
 average temperature 96°; winters mild and pleasant, 
 seldom any snow or ice. 
 
 Cook County Population 40,000 ; county 
 
 ^ seat, Gainesville, population 
 11,500. Watered by Red River, Trinity and Clear 
 Creeks, and other streams. One-half the county is 
 timbered land. Area, 933 square miles. Soil is 
 black-waxy, sandy and red sandy. Principal crops: 
 corn, wheat and cotton. The citizens are prosper- 
 ous. Gainesville, the county seat, situated on the 
 Trinity River, is a busy city; has eleven churches, 
 six brick school houses, two flouring mills, an ice 
 factory, an iron foundry, a cotton compress, a broom 
 factory, soap factory, cotton seed oil mills, pressed 
 brick works, four newspapers, three banks. The 
 Santa Fe Railway shops are located here. 
 
 DilUilS County I'^op^lation 90,000 ; county 
 seat, Dallas, population 
 64,224. Well watered by Trinity River and three 
 tributaries, also small creeks. Plenty of timber, 
 building stone and fire and pottery clay. Area of 
 county, 900 square miles. About 165,000 acres under 
 cultivation, or seventy per cent, of tillable land. Soil 
 of all varieties from sandy to heavy black-waxy. Prin- 
 cipal crops: cotton, corn, wheat and oats. Market- 
 ill 
 
gardening and fruit-raising have developed to great 
 extent; also profitable dairy and stock industries. 
 Dallas is largest manufacturing city instate of Texas. 
 The settlers are industrious and prosperous. Cli- 
 mate mild both summer and winter. Farming lands 
 for sale at moderate prices. Unusual opportunities 
 for manufacturing industries. 
 
 Delta County p^p^i^;.^^'^ ^^'5°°; ^^^.^^y 
 
 ^wv**!...^ seat, Cooper, population 
 2,000. Plenty of hardwood timber. Area of county, 
 290 square miles. Eight hundred small farms in 
 Delta County. Soil, black and very rich, from four 
 to fifteen feet deep. Crops: corn, cotton and alfalfa. 
 Farmers and merchants prosperous. Winters mild, 
 summers warm and dry. Land can be rented for 
 from $4 to $5 per acre, and bought for from $20 to 
 $30 per acre. 
 
 Denton County !:i;::Te:X:TpnZZ 
 
 5,000. Well watered; artesian water can be obtained 
 at from 300 to 400 feet. Timber in the eastern part 
 of the county. Area of Denton County, goo square 
 miles; about 100 square miles under cultivation. 
 Soil sandy and mixed with black land. Principal 
 crops are wheat, oats, corn and cotton. Finest 
 wheat belt in Texas extends from Denton west; is 
 about twenty miles wide, and this year averaged be- 
 tween twenty and twenty-five bushels per acre ; stock 
 raising and shipping is carried on to considerable 
 extent. The settlers are a thrifty, prosperous people. 
 Mild summers and pleasant winters. 
 
 I^llia r^fMittf'W Population 65,000 ; county 
 Omi3 \^(^Uniy seat, Waxahachie, population 
 7,000. Land watered by Trinity River and artesian 
 wells. Along the streams there is timber sufficient 
 for fuel. Area of county, 950 square miles, three- 
 fourths under cultivation. Soil is a black-waxy 
 quality. General crops: hay, corn, oats, wheat and 
 cotton. Farmers are prosperous. Climate, mild. 
 
 f'^««««««« l^/^ifM^-M Population 60,000; county 
 anmn County ^^^,^ j^^^i,^,,,; population 
 
 5,000. Watered by Red River, its tributaries and 
 springs. Plenty of timber along water courses. 
 Area of county, 1,089 square miles, half in cultiva- 
 tion. Soil, black and waxy; along the river it is 
 112 
 
sandy. Crops are cotton, corn, oats, hay, wheat and 
 garden products of all kinds. Settlers are unusually 
 prosperous. Climate is mild, averaging from 68° 
 to 75°. Fannin County is noted for the quality of 
 her cotton, which frequently sells for higher price 
 than that of adjacent counties. 
 
 Grimes Coimty Population 25,000; county 
 seat, Anderson, popula- 
 tion 500. Is watered by Brazos and Navasota Riv- 
 ers and their tributaries. Timber and minerals are 
 found in parts of the county. Area is 781 square 
 miles, one-half being timbered and the remainder 
 prairie land; 100,000 acres under cultivation. Sandy 
 and black waxy soil. Principal crops: cotton, cane 
 and corn. Mild climate, average summer tempera- 
 ture 95°; winter 60°. Lands are cheap; a good 
 county for investors and home-seekers. 
 
 IlUtit County Population 40,000 ; county 
 seat, Greenville, population 
 7,500. Well watered by tanks and cisterns; abun- 
 dant timber. Soil, black-v/axy and sandy. Prin- 
 cipal crops: corn, cotton, grains, hay, fruits and 
 vegetables. Cattle and hogs are raised. Farmers 
 and merchants are prosperous. Climate mild in 
 winter, and south breeze makes the summers pleas- 
 ant. Plenty of good, cheap land from $10 to $30 
 per acre. 
 
 'jfobHSOtl County Population 19,000; coun- 
 ty seat, Cleburne, popu- 
 lation 7,500. Watered by various streams and arte- 
 sian wells; abundance of timber. Area of county, 
 1,600 square miles; twenty-five per cent, under cul- 
 tivation. Soil, black-waxy and sandy loam. Prin- 
 cipal products consist of cotton, wheat, oats, corn, 
 and cattle. The settlers are prosperous. Pleasant 
 climate the year round, especially in the winter. 
 Land can be bought on easy terms; light taxation, 
 good schools and ready market for farm products. 
 
 I^<ITIiPil8il9 Population 7,565; county seat, 
 
 ^^ Lampasas, population 2,500. 
 
 V^OUnty Watered by Lampasas and Colo- 
 
 rado Rivers, numerous creeks and 
 springs. Plenty of cedar and other fuel timber, also 
 valuable pecan timber. Area of county, S58 square 
 miles; about 50,000 acres in cultivation. A portion 
 
of the soil first class for farming, some is sandy and 
 clay. Principal crops are cotton and grains. Indus- 
 tries, wool growing and sheep and cattle raising. 
 Residents a very prosperous people. Excellent 
 climate the year round. Fine school facilities; good 
 homes are cheap. Largest sulphur springs in the 
 world are here, 
 
 Lamar County Population 37,302; county- 
 seat, Paris, population 
 15,000. Watered by Red and North Sulphur Rivers, 
 Pine and Saunders Creeks, and other small streams. 
 Water for stock and domestic purposes easily ob- 
 tained at average depth of 50 feet. Timber abun- 
 dant along water courses, such as hackberry, elm, 
 ash, oak and hickory, of splendid quality; also pecan 
 and other varieties, including the famous bois d'arc. 
 Soil mostly a rich alluvial and black-waxy land, all 
 exceedingly fertile. Principal crops: cotton, wheat, 
 oats, barley, rye, millet, sugar-cane, garden vegeta- 
 bles, also all kinds of fruits. Stock raising is profit- 
 able. Exceedingly Hne climate; the nights, visited by 
 soft breezes tempered by Gulf winds, are always 
 cool. Area of Lamar County is goo square miles; 
 most of the land under cultivation. Excellent school 
 houses and comfortable churches. 
 
 jVlcLClinail Population 50,000; county seat, 
 
 g-^ ^^ Waco, population 25,000. Watered 
 
 V^OUtliy by Brazos, Bosque, Aquilla and 
 
 other rivers, also numerous creeks 
 and wells. Timber is abundant; oil is also being 
 developed. Area of the county, 1,083 square miles; 
 half under cultivation. Soil of river lands, sandy 
 loam; prairie lands, mostly black-waxy. Principal 
 crops: cotton, corn, wheat, oats and all vegetables; 
 also berries and fruits of every variety. Farmers and 
 merchants are generally very prosperous. Climate 
 is pleasant, being tempered both winter and summer 
 by Gulf breezes; average temperature for past ten 
 years, 6g°. Good homes at reasonable prices. 
 
 IVIllaiTI OOUHty population 32,000 ; county 
 seat, Cameron, population 
 5,000. Land watered by Little River, Brazos River, 
 San Gabriel, Elm and Pond Creeks. Plenty of post 
 oak timber, also fine lignite beds. Area of Milam 
 County, 11,000 square miles; 75,000 acres under 
 115 
 
cultivation. vSoil, black-waxy and gray post oak 
 with clay sub-soil. Crops consist of cotton, corn 
 and oats. Principal industries are oil mill, compress, 
 water works, electric light ana ice plants. Both 
 summer and winter pleasant and healthful. Good 
 land, excellent social advantages and fine schools. 
 
 Mills COUntV l^opulatlon 7, 500; county seat, 
 
 •^ ^ Goldthwaite, population 
 
 1,875. Watered by Colorado River, Pecan, Bayou, 
 Bennett, Brown, Lampasas, Miller and Bull's 
 Creeks. Well water can be obtained at from 25 
 to 100 feet. Half the county well timbered. There 
 is iron ore and traces of silver and coal. Area of 
 the county, 720 square miles; about one-fifth under 
 cultivation. Soil, mixed, sandy and black-waxy. 
 Crops are cotton, corn, wheat, oats, sorghum, millet, 
 potatoes, melons and vegetables; also small fruits. 
 Farmers are doing well and no financial failures 
 among merchants. Climate delightful the year 
 round. A great health resort. An excellent place 
 for those afflicted with pulmonary troubles; no chills 
 or fevers. Lands may be bought at low prices. 
 Good schools and churches in every section of the 
 county. 
 
 MontCfOUlCVV Population 13,000; county 
 ^ seat, Conroe, population 600, 
 
 County Watered by numerous running 
 
 streams. Plenty of timber of 
 all kinds. Deposits of iron not yet developed. Area 
 of county 1,150 square miles; about one-fourth un- 
 der cultivation. Soil, principally black-waxy and 
 sandy. Best crops are sugar-cane, corn, cotton, 
 potatoes and tobacco; also fruits. Farmers and mer- 
 chants prosperous. Summer climate with average 
 temperature of 75° and winter 40°. Good lands, 
 exceedingly cheap, on easy terms. 
 
 Parhcr County Population 30,000; county 
 ■■ * seat, Weatherlord, popu- 
 
 lation 7,000. Well watered by running streams, 
 springs and wells. Plenty of timber and coal. Area 
 of Parker County is goo square miles; about 125,000 
 acres under cultivation. Soil, partly sandy loam, 
 black-waxy and black-waxy loam. Crops are cot- 
 ton, corn, wheat, oats, hay, vegetables and fruits of 
 all kinds. Climate mild in summer (Gulf breeze), 
 varial)le in winter. 
 
■^DjUkt ' >" . ' S', 
 
 ■1 
 
 Hh^ 
 
 ^^^B^r 
 
 ■tt^ 
 
 f 
 
 
 # f 
 
 M 
 
 iff' ' ^V' fl^^^^^^^Kk 
 
 w^^' H^isHBHiUiiiK 
 
 * ' ■ ' ■ ^'' 
 
 m\ A^llft w MB It* m^- » ^Sm 
 
 yi. . 
 
Runmtd County population 4,000; county 
 
 ' seat, Ballinger, popula- 
 tion 1,800. Watered by Colorado River and several 
 creeks. Some timber and building stone. Area of 
 county is 900 square miles; about one-fifth under cul- 
 tivation. Soil, a sandy loam. Principal crops are 
 melons, corn, wheat, oats and cotton, Stock-raising 
 is the leading industry. Climate warm in summer 
 with pleasant breeze; winters agreeable. 
 
 Carrant County Population 60,000; coun- 
 
 ^ tyseat, Ft. Worth, popu- 
 lation 25,000. Watered by Trinity River and 
 branches; also creeks. About one-fourth of the 
 county well timbered; half under cultivation; one- 
 fourth grazing land. Soil, sandy and black-waxy 
 land. Principal crops: corn, wheat, oats, cotton and 
 all kinds of vegetables and fruits; also pecans. 
 Delightful breezes in summer; winters warm and 
 considerable rain. Good schools and churches. 
 Population is progressive and liberal. Good op- 
 portunities to make money by stock-raising. 
 
 Com (3l*CCn Population 7,500; county seat, 
 San Angelo, population 4,000. 
 
 County Watered by Concho River and 
 
 Spring and Dove Creeks; some 
 timber. Area, 1,800 square miles. Soil, a sandy 
 loam. Principal crops: cotton, milo, maize and sor- 
 ghum; also hay. Warm, dry summers; winters dry 
 and very little freezing weather. Farmers are pros- 
 perous. A good country for stock farmers and farm- 
 ing by irrigation. 
 
 OlashtnOftOn Population 30,000; county seat, 
 ^^^^"*"<5''^"Brenham, population 8,000. 
 COUntV Watered by Brazos River and 
 
 Yegua, Jackson, New Years 
 and IsVxW Creeks. One-third timber land, some min- 
 erals. Area of county, 600 square miles; 75 per 
 cent, under cultivation. Soil very rich, black-wa.xy, 
 black, sandy and loam. Crops, cotton and corn. 
 Manufacturing is the principal industry. Climate, 
 mild; average temperature in summer 80°, in winter 
 38°. A total failure of crops is unknown. 
 
Index 
 
 •• 
 
 La Porte 
 
 Manvel 
 
 Meadowbrook 
 
 Pearland . 
 
 Richmond 
 
 Rosenberg' 
 
 Sealy . 
 
 Superior 
 
 Wallis 
 
 Webster 
 
 Wharton 
 
 Somewhat Personal , 
 Facts About Texas , 
 The Coast Country , 
 Gulf Coast Climate . 
 Towns and Colonies: 
 
 Algoa . 
 
 Alta Loma 
 
 Alvin . 
 
 Amsterdam 
 
 Arcadia 
 
 Areola . 
 
 Edna . 
 
 El Campo 
 
 Fairbanks 
 
 Galveston 
 
 Hitchcock 
 
 Houston 
 
 Mennonite Colonies .... 
 Testimony of Farmers . 
 
 Pear Orchards 
 
 There's Money in Strawberries 
 Miscellaneous Products . 
 A Review and Outlook , 
 Crops That Yield Money Quickly 
 The Diversified Interests of Texas 
 Successful Tobacco Culture 
 Texas as a Tobacco-Growing State 
 Secretary Wilson's Views 
 Real Estate Agents' Opinions 
 What One Man Has Done . 
 Other Texas Counties . 
 Map of Texas Coast Country 
 Map of Santa Fe Route 
 Map of G. C. & S. F. Ry. . 
 
 119 
 
•-" %5 
 
 r-m^r:^ 
 
 
 ^"77i iirji 
 
 .i^ 
 
 en O 
 
 
glewooa ^'o'^' 
 
 Sagle Chiet 
 
 Wmfield \^/,l TTT^WSl 1 
 '='-'— — "-^'i-' — <> V Chetopa | 
 
 
 Tona Creel Vj^ ^ 
 
 
 x^ o 
 
 Taloga^^ \ Kingfiaher 
 
 GVTIIRIE] "Stillwater 
 
 awncc Agcncy\ *j, 
 
 ier ^ 
 
 Sapuljia^ 
 
 "^''o 
 
 I «paboe » 
 I Mtherfoia 
 
 L Clo°ud Cliff PORCErr^^^^l- 
 PaoUlc ^ 
 
 W 
 
 LJformanl "• 
 
 
 Dunbar 
 
 T^X '\'?'°^H° /SanaglplSk M^^a. 
 
 ^«"nes ;^us\ 
 
 
 ^ublln^lCi''"''^""' ^* ||a.''4' f ^ _ J.CoVsicana 
 
 i^ 
 
 VI\V!V«^ 
 
 Coinauchtf 
 COLEMAN' . 
 
 
 nils Jal(,\SYiucW J>focoga<HrhesV aj 
 
 lEGon ■^ \ NbLufkia 
 
 la-; X ^ 
 
 Johiuon Cit; 
 
 etfigo _AUSTIi\V 
 
 
 ^/<W 
 
 
 '<fti 
 
 ^*'3V' 
 
 
 
 <k/^^^^^P^«M 5?ft« 
 
 .\\sv 
 
 riores^^' 
 
 
BETWEEN 
 
 CHICAGO. ST. LOUIS 
 AND TEXAS. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 ■ 
 
 014 645 579 7 ,>^ 
 
 I Santa Fe 
 Route