AGRICULTURE. 469 



GRINDSTONES. 



It would seem that the people of Texas ought to be able to make the grind- 

 stones they use, instead of importing them from a foreign country, as is very 

 largely done. The same kind of sandstones are to be found in our Coal Meas- 

 ures as are found at other places where large quantities are produced. 



There was imported into the United States in 1886, the latest date at which 

 I have a statement, $45,713 worth of stones. Most of these came from Eng- 

 land and Nova Scotia. The stones are manufactured there by hand with 

 chisel and hammer, and then shipped to this country and sold at a less price 

 than the stones can be made here. 



The value of grindstones manufactured in the United States in 1886* was 

 $250,000. A large part of the product is manufactured by machinery. 



The sandstones of the Carboniferous in Texas would make a very good 

 article if properly selected. There are only two places where any attempt has 

 been made to develop this kind of an industry, and that was on Grindstone 

 Creek, in the western part of Parker County, and at the stone quarry on the 

 line of the Texas and Pacific Railway, near the Brazos River, in Palo Pinto 

 County. 



The locality on Grind stone Creek has been known almost ever since the 

 settlement of the country. The old settlers utilized the stones for the pur- 

 pose of grindstones before any could be brought from a distance. Only a 

 few at a time have been made at this place on any occasion. 



At the other place a few years ago a great number were made and met 

 with a ready sale, but the enterprise has been entirely abandoned. 



AGRICULTURE. 



Thirty years ago the broad prairies of the " black waxy" lands in the middle 

 part of the State were thought to be too much subject to drouth to be suita- 

 ble for cultivation, except for wheat. Now they are the finest in the State. 

 Ten years ago, when the Texas and Pacific crossed the Brazos on its west- 

 ward march to the Rio Grande, it entered a country almost entirely devoted 

 to stockraising, with only here and there a small farm, and the general expres- 

 sion and belief was that it would always be so. Before the Colorado was 

 reached even the stockman was not found, and the Staked Plains were 

 thought to be a barren sandy desert over which even the wild game did not 

 roam. Ten years ago all the Panhandle was unoccupied except by stock- 

 men. Now prosperous towns have sprung up along the lines of the railroads, 

 and farms are being opened up at a rapid rate. On the Staked Plains, where 

 there was thought to be no water, and where whole parties of emigrants on 

 their way to California and thousands of cattle being driven across the Plains 



perished for lack of water, it has been demonstrated that everywhere at a 

 38-geol, 



