PREFACE. 



In narrative form, fortified by record data and statistical detail. Col. 

 I, T. Milner supplies this Department as material for this bulletin a 

 >mprehensive and intensely interesting history of "East Texas: Its 

 'opography, Soils, Timber, Agricultural Products, People, Eainfall, 

 Streams, Climate," etc. 



A no more eminent authority could have undertaken this fascinat- 

 ig task, and at a no more opportune time than the present, when agri- 

 iltural or should we say agricultural and industrial? evolution is 

 ipidly restoring this always romantic region to it? prominence among 

 le producing sections of the State. 



Colonel Milner's personal recollections go back to the period of the 

 /ivil War, prior to which time the primacy of the region described, in 

 icultural and industrial lines, was rarely, if ever, seriously chal- 

 iged. From that time, through its transitions of fortune following 

 reversal of our labor system, leaving it far behind in the struggle 

 >r development, he traces the record until he brings it back to photo- 

 iph a new-old section, marvelously rich in the variety and range of 

 diversified productivities and the economic opportunities and voca- 

 :ions opened up. 



I commend it as of more than historical value, and as especially 

 lapted to distribution along lines of "homeseeker" travel. 



ED. R. KOXE, 

 Commissioner of Agriculture. 



