CITIES, AMERICAN. (AUSTIN.) 



119 



1855. The city was incorporated in 1858. The 

 first railroad constructed to Atchison (from St. 

 Joseph, Mo.) was completed June 13, 1860, and 

 on the same day ground was broken for the 

 Atchison and Pike's Peak. Atchison has since 

 become a very important railroad center, being 

 the eastern terminus of the Atchison, Topeka 

 and Santa Fe, the Atchison and Nebraska, and 

 the central branch 'of the Union Pacific Rail- 

 roads, the western terminus of the Missouri Pa- 

 cific, and the northwestern of a branch of the 

 Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific. Ninety trains 

 arrive and depart daily on the 8 roads that 

 enter the city. Five other roads, terminating on 

 the right bank of the Missouri, are connected 

 with Atchison by a fine railroad bridge. The 

 total of railroad mileage in Atchison County in 

 the year 1889 was 90-54 miles of main track, 

 valued at $762,861.97. In population and in 

 taxable wealth, by report of the Bureau of Sta- 

 tistics for 1889, Atchison is the fifth city in 

 Kansas, substantial growth having taken place 

 since 1870. In the period from that date to 

 1888 the population increased about two and 

 one half times, and the taxable wealth nearly 

 twice. The population in 1870 was 7,054, in 

 1880 it was 15,105, and in 1890 it was 14,222, a 

 decrease of 883 (5-85 per cent.). The taxable 

 wealth of Atchison in 1888 was $3,275,378. The 

 city is the third distributing point in the State 

 for incoming products, having heavy grocery 

 and drug houses and extensive lumber and coal 

 yards, and is also third in the distribution of 

 milling products. The city has 4 flouring mills, 

 with aggregate capital of $365,000, employing 

 68 persons and turning out a product valued at 

 $832,317; a foundry, with capital of $100,000, 

 employing 150 persons, and with product of 

 $300,000; a harness factory, also with capital 

 of $100,000; 3 planing mills; a wagon, a fur- 

 niture, a clothing, and a cracker factory, the 

 last with capital of $60,000. The capital of 

 the gas and electric light plant of the city in 

 1888 was $200,000. During the fiscal year end- 

 ing March 31, 1890, the city removed all gas 

 lights from the streets and substituted electric 

 lights, on the basis of $6 a? month for half-night, 

 and $12 for all-night lights. Electricity is also 

 to be substituted as a motor on the nine miles of 

 main line of street railway in operation in 1890. 

 The total receipts of the city for the fiscal year 

 ending March 31, 1890, were $227,983.40 ; expen- 

 ditures, $182,514.08. In addition to the bonded 

 debt of the city, $655,550, bearing interest at 4, 

 6 and 7 per cent., there are also internal-im- 

 provement bonds. By report of the city engi- 

 neer, April 24, 1890, $70,043.50 were expended 

 during the year for streets, sewers, and bridges. 

 The total amount of paved streets in the city at 

 that date was 7'79 miles, and there were 3-78 

 miles of sewers. The expenditures for the fire 

 department during the year were $7,279.91. 

 Atchison has 6 public-school buildings, and the 

 total value of public-school property is $125,- 

 000 ; 39 teachers are employed, and the average 

 daily attendance in 1887-'88 was 1,702. There is 

 also a high school. St. Benedict's College, Ro- 

 man Catholic, was chartered in 1859, and there 

 s a convent of the Benedictine sisterhood. 

 Thirty churches in Atchison County in 1888 

 owned property to the amount of $217,200. 



The county has 10 banks, 4 of which are nation- 

 al. Three daily and 4 weekly newspapers are 

 published in the city. Atchison has a new 

 union depot, occupied since Jan. 1, 1890, the 

 cost of which was $222,530. It has also a Sol- 

 diers' Orphans' Home, costing $49,000. On July 

 1, 1887 the General Synod of the English Evan- 

 gelical Lutheran Church located its Western col- 

 lege at Atchison, the city giving $50,000 and 

 campus grounds of 25 acres. There is a Library 

 and Hospital Association. 



Austin, the capital of Texas, and county seat 

 of Travis County, on Colorado river, near the 

 center of the State (latitude 30 north), 200 miles 

 from Galveston, and 166 from Houston. It has 

 an altitude of 600 feet. The population in 1880 

 was 11,013 ; in 1890 it was 15,324, an increase of 

 4,311 (39-14 per cent). More than four fifths are 

 white. The city was originally located and 

 named by a commission under authority of the 

 Congress of the Republic of Texas, and was 

 incorporated in 1839. The total bonded debt of 

 Austin, Aug. 1, 1890, was $125,000, and the as- 

 sessed valuation of property (at 50 per cent, of 

 real value) $9,000,000. In 1880 the assessed val- 

 uation was $5,004,224. The tax rate for 1890, 

 for all purposes, was I'GogV per cent. Travis 

 County contains 1,019 square miles, the assessed 

 valuation of property being, for 1890, $15,000,000, 

 and the real value, $30,000,000. Production in 

 the county in the year 1888, from 118,167 acres, 

 was $1,924,902, of which $1,238,194 represented 

 29,251 bales of cotton ; 1,105,084 bushels of corn 

 were also raised. The county tax outside the 

 city limits is less than 1 per cent., and the bond- 

 ed indebtedness of the county $170,000. In addi- 

 tion to its agricultural interests, the county con- 

 tains large deposits of gypsum, lime, superior 

 clays, and material for the manufacture of hy- 

 draulic cement. The banking capital of Austin 

 in 1880 was $250,000, and in 1890 $1,225.000, in 

 6 banks. It is the trade center of 30 or 40 coun- 

 ties, and cotton to the amount of $2,800,000 was 

 handled in 1889. The business of the city dur- 

 ing the year reached the sum of $1,200,000 in 

 grain, hay, hides, wool, pecans, etc. ; in groceries 

 and provisions, $2,600,000 ; and in miscellaneous 

 commerce, $2,750,000; while $750,000 are dis- 

 tributed annually in Austin by the State. The 

 Farmers' Alliance has established an extensive 

 cotton depot, from which planters purchase sup- 

 plies. The railroads are the International and 

 Great Northern, the Austin and Northwestern, 

 and the Western Branch of the Houston and 

 Texas Central. The drainage is natural, the city 

 being built upon hills, and there are sewers for 

 the populous districts. Water works, of the 

 Holly system, owned by a company, supply wa- 

 ter from the river, and the same company also 

 furnishes power for the electric-light system. 

 Horse-car lines of street railway are in use, and 

 electric lines are under construction. Bonds 

 to the amount of $1,400,000 were issued by the 

 city, May 5, 1890, for the purpose of erecting a 

 dam across the river. 60 feet high and 1,100 feet 

 long, to create a fall of 14,636 horse-power to 

 furnish the city with water and light and power 

 for propelling street cars, and also with a motor 

 for manufacturing industries. The backwater, 

 it is estimated, will form a lake 35 miles long, 

 and from a quarter to a half a mile wide. The 



