[Entered According to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by the Forest and Stroam Publishing Company, in tho Office of the Lib 



Congress, at Washington.] 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1880. 



FROM Gainesville I sped back to Denison. While 

 writing from the latter place I forgot to mention 

 the hide and peltry houses which I visited. They show 

 3. very various game. Besides the skius of cattle, they 

 show those of bnlTaloes, boars, deer, antelope, wolves, 

 panthers, wild cats, coons, peccaries, beavers, otters, 

 aivet cats, squirrels, skunks, jaguars, etc. I never saw 

 inch variety of skins anywhere, else iu Texas, except 

 3-aine3ville. This would leave the unsuspicious to think 

 that these animals are more numerous in this region 

 than other parts of Texas. But. this does not necessarily 

 follow. This great variety of skins is due to the nearness 

 of the Redman. He is by nature a hunter, and it is hard 

 to make anything else out of him. These various hides 

 ire the fruits of his bent of nature, as well of his necessi- 

 ties. The Texan never thinks of skinning a skunk, 

 peccary, wolf, or panther. Their hides are left to rot 

 with their bodies. The Indians are more provident in their 

 way, saving every tiling that has any value. They must 

 have a rare time of it in skinning a skunk or a peccary. 

 I judge that beavers are very numerous in the B. I. T. 

 (short for Beautiful Indian Territory),, for their skins are 

 in these stores by scores and hundreds. To the Indian 

 must not be credited the buffalo skins. These are brought 

 in by the Texas cow-boys, who play sad havoc with the 

 Buffaloes when they come down, saving nothing but 

 their skins. This year the crop of these hides is small. 

 Not astonishing, since a year or two ago more than 

 300,000 of these animals were destroyed in Texas. A few 

 years more and the buffalo will have taken his departure. 

 We can't save him. Congress may pass laws to that 

 end, but they will be in vain. Unless a company of 

 cavalry accompanies every herd of buffaloes as an es- 

 cort, how can you keep the cow-boys from slaughtering 

 them and reveling in the slaughter? Can't be done. 



Iu Denison I found a gentleman who had a young buf- 

 falo bull in his yard. I asked him if he thought the buf- 

 falo would make a cross with the domestic cow, or had 

 any knowledge on that subject, lie said he had never 

 himself witnessed any experiment in that line, but had 

 been, told by one who claimed to speak of his personal 

 knowledge that it would not succeed, as the cow impreg- 

 nated by a buffalo bull lost her life in parturition. He 

 said this was by reason of tho "hump " imparted by the 

 bull to his offspring. Buffalo cows are humped but little. 

 How would it succeed with the domestic bull and tho 

 buffalo cow? I think the experiment ought to be tried. 

 I believe it would improve our beef both in quantity to the 

 carcass and in quality, 



From i enisou I rode south to Sherman, nine miles. It 

 has 10,000 people, and is surrounded by one of the noblest 

 countries in the world. It is good for wheat, corn and 

 cotton , which are all grown on the same farms. Country 

 generally a rolling, black, waxy prairie, resting on a soft 

 limestone of the Tertiary age. "Sherman would be pretty 

 if its streets were paved. Built on a black, waxy prairie, 

 in rainy weather it can beat creation for mud. The people 

 area good class, Americans for the most part, who seem 

 to be about equally divided between North and South. 

 They live in perfect harmony, as completely blended to- 

 gether as it is possible for a people to be. It isanevery-day 

 thing to find a " boy in blue" married to an ex-rebel girl, 

 and a " boy in gray" married to the "boy in blue's" sis- 

 ter. I think the Northern element preponderates in num- 

 bers. It is a progressive and prosperous cornniunitv. 

 This may be said of all North Texas which I have seen on 

 this trip. W hen the railroads push on further west, Sher- 

 man must necessarily lose some of the great trade which 

 she draws from that direction ; but in spite of this she 

 must always be, prosperous. She can keep fat on the 

 great country around her, and grow fatter as this great 

 country increases in population and wealth, which it is 

 rapidly and steadily doing. 



. McKiuney is about thirty-five miles south of Sherman, 

 on the Houston and Texas Central, It is a place of 



I ladies 

 many senile 



ripaliy quails 

 ' iB day or so 



about a, 500 people. 



is said to be ihe rich 



not a foot of poor lai 



I have been able to e 



land is the same blac 



nesian limestone, wl 



This stone is a marl, and i; 



h it is situated 

 , It is said that there is 

 hole county, As far as 



is certainly correct. The 

 't, resting on a. soft niag- 

 ealled the ■' white rock':" 

 ly cut by the plow when 



it comes near the surface. The English would call it 

 "corn-brush," Where this rock conies near the surface 



wheat does not grow merely, but luxuriates. It spreads 

 itself. For cotton the deeper bottom lands are preferred. 

 This country is very beautiful; rolling prairies covered 

 with wheat fields and clustering houses. There is plenty 

 of timber for useful purposes, but it is con lined to the 

 bottoms. Land is high priced here— from $10 to $50 an 

 acre, and very little to be had. The people seem to be 

 mostly Kentuckians. The}' are powerful and muscular 

 for the most part, with something of an appearance of 

 roughness, but their ladies are very pretty and winsome. 

 I can't help but think that these tremendous fellows 

 ought not to have such dainty and sweet littl 

 They should base giantesses, There 

 men sportsmen here. Their game is 



Forest and Stream, and a' booUsell, 

 crease,! Ids order for the paper in tho last 

 While speaking of the somewhat roughish appearan 

 some of the men, I had no reference to manners ; simply 

 to the dresses and an honest sun-burnt complexion. But 

 the men who run farms cannot be expected to look all 

 the time like a Dandy D inm ont, nor is it desirable that 

 they should so look, 



If I could find something to criticise and abuse I would 

 do so with some pleasure, I rather like satire, and need 

 only a small showing to indulge in it right severely, But 

 as yet I seem to have no showing. 



From McKinney to this place is about thirty-five miles 

 south on the Houston and Texas Central. They claim a pop- 

 ulation here of 80,000, and this claim seems not to be ex- 

 aggerated. It has postal delivery and is the metropolis 

 of north Texas. It has the aspect of all new and unfin- 

 ished cities : that is, it has a great many handsome build- 

 ings scattered over its wide space, and a great many poor 

 buildings flanking the fine ones on nearly all sides. If 

 the fine buildings of Dallas could all be gathered together 

 and placed alongside and in front of each other, it would 

 make a very respectable city in size, and of much beauty. 

 In the meantime, if all the "rattle-traps and shanties were 

 clustered together, Timbuotoo, I fancy, would bo rivaled 

 if not excelled. The shanties are disappearing and good 

 buildings taking their places, but they are so numerous 

 that it will take this process a long time to wipe them out, 

 Yet Dallas is liable to take a tremendous start upward at 

 any moment ; in which case the shanties now existing 

 will vanish like magic. There are two great trunk 

 lines of railway already here, one running north 

 and south — the Houston ami Texas Central, and the other 

 east and west: — the Texas and Pacific. Besides these there 

 are the Dallas and Wichita, now built some twenty -five 

 miles to the northwest ; the Dallas and Clel; 

 southwest, projected ; and the Dallas & St 

 projected. Should these projected railroadt 

 fairly started, there is no telling what Dalla 

 be. This is a railroad building age ; there i 

 money lying loose, eager for profitable iuve; 

 as money put in these contemplated railroad 

 be otherwise than profitable, it would not su 

 any moment to see them become lively i 

 Each and all of them would run through a region 

 scarcely equaled in natural resources. JThe Texas aud Pa- 

 cific has recently waked up from a long rest, and will be 

 built 750 miles westward as quickly as money and 

 muscle can do it. As it builds westward, hundreds 

 of thousands of people will pour into this now almost 

 unoccupied country, adding a new Empire to Texas, and 

 wealth and power to Dallas. I candidly believe it to be 

 the best place I know of to invest a little money. The 

 country around it in every direction is a paradise of 

 beauty, fertility and healthfulness. I do not exaggerate. 

 I speak facts. 



The only important manufacturing industry now here, 

 is the flour-mill business ; but the place is finely situated 

 for almost every sort of manufacturing industry, whether 

 of cotton, wool, leather, wooden, or other fabrics. The 

 Trinity River skirts the town, furnishing plenty of water 

 to be converted into power by fire. For the present, fuel 

 is rather high. Wood is three dollars a cord, and coal is 

 delivered in large lots at $5 a ton. When the Dallas and 

 Wichita Railroad is extended about forty miles further, 

 itwill reach a wood territory ; and fuel will then be much 

 cheaper, With cheap fuel it does not seem to me possi- 

 ble to prevent Dallas from becoming perhaps the most 

 distinguished place in the Southwest. San Antonio 

 may rival, and even exceed her after a whila, since her 

 natural capabilities are great; but this cannot be until 

 she becomes the center of a number of railroads, and 

 when this may be no one can tell. The soil around here 

 is about the same as I have described in other portions of 

 North Texas, and the people the same ; that is, about 

 bale-Stalwart Yankees and half -stalwart Southerners, 

 with a smart scattering of Germans, etc. 



A point that strikes 'mo with great force here is this: 

 That it is the finest point now in the United States for 

 the building up of a splendid, money -making daily jour- 

 nal. The Galveston News, which has lull sweep iu every 

 other portion of Texas, and deserves it, too, is here left 

 out in the cold, for a paper published in Dallas can reach 

 all North Texas from twelve to twenty-four hours ahead 

 of the Newu. This gives the Dallas paper an over- 



urn 



e to the 



uth 



eastern, 



be 



built or 





ght not 





enty of 



tin 



'lit, and 



S CC 



old not 



nst 



tutions. 



whelming advantage. On the other hand, tho St. Louis 

 papers are more behind than the News. Therefore a first- 

 class paper here would be without competition, unless an- 

 other should start under its shadow. The Galveston 

 News hns built up a large fortune, and a paper here as 

 good as the News would build a larger fortune in a much 

 shorter time, because it has a much larger constituency al- 

 ready provided and growing with great strides. This 

 idea has struck me with such force, and haunts me so 

 persisfentlv, that in spite of rnv penchant to pass the rest 

 of my davs iu quiet life in the country, I find mysolf 



Strongly tempted to pitch again in1 eroi In and tumble 



of daily journalism. How printing-ink does stick to a. 

 fellow's hands when lie has once got it well on them ! It- 

 some smart Yankee, with some money, who may read 

 this, feels stricken with a similar weakness, let him write 

 tome. AVe may club together and put a great ball in 

 motion, which nitty well roll on, there's [no telling how 

 long. 



Of course, I had to go and commune with the rocks 

 here, as I do everywhere. They are tertiary limestones, 

 but drifted cretaceous shells, belonging to the topmost 

 strata of that formation, are numerous in the creek beds. 

 During tertiary time all this country was filled with 

 big turtles. Their shells are greatly abundant in the 

 rocks. Here about Dallas some pre-Adamic fellow un- 

 doubtedly kept a great turtle ranch, and provided he 

 had sale for his cattle, he was certainly very rich. When 

 he wanted to catch one for market I suppose he went out 

 and roped him, just as the Texas cow-boys of to-day do a 

 beef. I am struck with the great quantity of drift which 

 mav be found in nearly all this country, where the creta- 

 ceous and tertiary deposits come together. It seems to 

 have followed the course of the sea as it receded, form- 

 ing a shingle sometimes many feet hi thickness. I no- 

 ticed this at Gainesville, covering the cretaceous deposits, 

 also at Denison, and again here. Often it presents the 

 appearance of a true drift, crowded with broken creta- 

 ceous rocks ; at other times of an ordinary sea beach com- 

 posed of rounded pebbles rolled up by the waves. The 

 close of the cretaceous period of Jonah was undoubtedly 

 marked by some extraordinary turmoil of the waters, it 

 looks to me like a thundering and furious flood had swept 

 over the land aud poured into the Eocene Sea. I can see 

 no other way of accounting for these extensive and num- 

 erous piles of broken cretaceous rocks and clay. 

 Since I come to think about it, I have seen in many other 

 parts of Texas the unmistakable signs of great diluvial 

 action at the close of the cretaceous. Next, Westward. 



Dallas, Texas, Jan. 1880. N. A. T. 



A DEER HUNT On"tHE PACIFIC. 



ONE fine sunny morning in September, with Torn 

 W and an Indian named Jimmy, I started to 



take a hunt; and in order to guard all the ruuawys we 

 took two canoes, Tom and myself iu one, and Jimmy in 

 the other. The dogs wo had were : old Jack, as good and 

 true a dog hi his day as overran a trail, but now through 

 old age rather slow and not to be depended on for a 

 second run, although keen and staunch when fresh ; 

 Frttz a half-breed cross between a fox-hound and a 

 spaniel a good, steady, fast little fellow, but lacking the 

 full melodious voice that is so pleasant to the ear of the - 

 hunter; Vulcan and Venus, two line hound pups of tbe 

 same litter, who at that time were just commencing their 

 sporting education, and who afterward turned out as lino 

 a pair as could lie wished for by an}' one. 



On arriving at the place where we intended to hunt, 

 I he dogs were turned loose and at once took to the woods, 

 Thev needed no starter, each one seeming anxious to be 

 the first to Start the deer. The ground at this place on 

 Buzzard Inlet is rough and broken, heavily timbered, 

 with' here aud there a small stream wending its wav 

 down the hills. Almost invariably the deer, when taking 

 water, comes down one of these creeks, and a knowledge 

 of their situation enables a person to anticipate, gener- 

 allv where the deer is coming out, But a short time 

 elapsed before, we heard Venus giving tongue, then Jack, 

 then Vulcan aud Fritz— the latrers shori, sharp bark 

 bein^ strong in contrast to the bell-like voices of the 

 others. In a few moments the whole of their voices 

 blended into one continuous din, the echoes of which 

 thrown back from the mountains opposite on that calm, 

 bright morning, was to us the most delightful of all 

 music Up and down the coast, around Che small hills 

 Which abound there, back almost out of hearing, thence 

 toward us again, so close that our eyes were glancing in 

 every direction, every moment expecting to see the deer, 

 came the sound of the clogs, when after about an hour's 

 run they took a straight BOttree up the coast towards 



the stand the Indian v..-,-. ing, which was a narrow 



attheentmna -. c dy and a favorite deer 



ng. Thinking that Jimmy was sure of the deer, we 

 nulled up leisurely, but did not hear his gun J a point 

 uttim- out near the runway prevented our seeing him ; 

 the wind had now sprung up and was blowing a little 

 fresh and to this we attributed our not hearing him 

 shoot. On turning the point judge of oar astonishment 

 at seeing all the dogs on the beach eagerly searching tor 



pfcu 



