BROWN COUNTY. 543 



crops of grain and cotton which have been raised there from year to year 

 show that the soils are productive. 



Pecan Bayou has many broad valleys that are of superior quality for agri- 

 cultural purposes. 



TIMBER. 



Brown County is partly within the belt of the " Upper Cross Timbers," yet 

 there are wide stretches where there is not much timber of the class found 

 farther north. There are fine groves of pecan timber along the creeks and 

 rivers. Evidently Pecan Bayou took its name from the prevalence of that 

 kind of timber along its entire course. Its groves of pecan timber can not 

 be excelled in the State. 



There is plenty of timber everywhere for domestic purposes. The pecan 

 nuts gathered in this county almost every year amount in value to many thou- 

 sands of dollars. A few years ago it was the custom of those wanting nuts 

 to go into the forest and gather what was wanted, either for home use or for 

 market, without regard to the ownership of the land ; but now all that has 

 been changed, and the owners of the groves either lease the groves for so 

 much per year or have the nuts gathered at so much per bushel. There are 

 trees along the valley of Pecan Bayou that will yield as much as ten bushels 

 of nuts per year. The price of the nuts ranges from two to three dollars 

 per bushel. 



WATER. 



Water for stock purposes is generally abundant in the creeks and rivers, 

 yet it has been necessary in places to construct artificial ponds or tanks for 

 this purpose. Wells can usually be found with little trouble. There are 

 places, however, where the clay beds are very thick, and it is almost impos- 

 sible to get water at a reasonable depth. 



Deep wells in the vicinity of Brownwood have proven that water can be 

 obtained at a depth of one thousand feet or more that will probably flow at 

 the surface on proper casing. 



BUILDING MATERIAL. 



The sandstones of the Carboniferous in this county make excellent build- 

 ing material. In almost every neighborhood in the county a good quarry of 

 this kind of stone may be found. Only a few such .quarries have been opened 

 in the county. Some of the buildings in the town of Brownwood are con- 

 structed of this material. 



The limestones in places are good building material. They are easily quar- 



