The Texas Almanac for 1867 with Statistics, Descriptive and Biographical Sketches, etc., Relating to Texas. Page: 1
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PREFACE.
Tms Is the tenth year since the first number of THE TEXAS ALIANAC was issued, which was in
1857; but it never has before been issued under circumstances of so mirch embarrassment. The
fire which reduced our office and books to ashes in 1862, destroyed a large amount of material
that we had accumulated for future numbers of the ALMANAC, such as memoirs connected with
the history of Texas, biographical sketches of many of those who bore a prominent part in the
settlement, and the many revolutionary events, of the country. We therefore had to commence
this volume at a very late period of the year without any material on hand; and thevar, through
which we have passed, had so completely revolutionized our Slate Government, and so changed
every department, that we hardly knew where or how to begin to give the usual State and county
statistics. The constitution, the laws, and our judiciary had been changed, and it was then quite
impossible to.determine what those changes were, or what was really the character of our State
Government. or whether, in fact, we had any such government at all. A State Convention had
assembled and made certain changes in our constitution, to conform with the acknowledged results
of the war; bit they had proposed certain other changes, which were referred to the people, and
were to be ratified or rejected by their vote, which was not then known. The Legislature was
required to assemble to make changes in our laws, as required by the new constitution, and to
enact new laws in conformity with the changed condition of the country. Our entire judiciary
system had to be reorganized; and it was not till near the last month of the year that the Legis-
lature brought its labors to a close; and so hurriedly were many of the laws passed, that it was
difficult to tell what they were, without a careful revision. Our usual compendium of all the laws
of the last Legislature is therefore not as full and satisfactory as we could wish. The very limited
time allowed us for this labor has been the more embarrassing from the fact that we have been
compelled to have our work stereotyped to enable us the better to meet the demand for it, what-
ever it may be. These difficulties have made it necessary for us to incur extraordinary expenses,
that we might not disappoint the public.
It will be seen that we have devoted a large portion of the present ALMANAc to a description of
all the counties of the State. This labor we undertook with a view to supply what seemed to be a
most important desideratum. The spirit of immigration to 'exas had caused the inquiry to become
almost Universal for some reliable information in regard to t'e advantages offered by the various
parts of our very large State. There was no book extant that could give such information; and,
indeed, we could devise but one way by which it was possible to give authentic information of the
climate, soil, productions, state of society, and actual condition of things at the present time, in
every part of so vast an area of country; and that was to obtain it, if possible, from the immediate
representatives from every county of the State just assembled at Austin. We therefore applied
directly to them, and we are glad to avail ourselves of this opportunity to tender them our thanks
for the cheerfulness with which they generally responded to our request. -They seemed to appre-
ciate the importance of placing such information before the public; and during the intervals be-
tween the daily sessions, the descriptions of the various counties in another part of this work were
mostly written for us. Taken all together, they constitute a very full, and, we believe, satisfactory
description of the State. Nearly every inquiry a stranger can make is answered. They show the
present condition of the country as it is. Some of the descriptions have been abbreviated to bring'
them within our limits. This we sometimes found to be absolutely necessary, and we trust the .,
necessity of the case will be deemed a sufficient excuse for the liberty we have occasionally taken.
We would also here remark, that in response to applications to different parties, we have some-
times received duplicate descriptions of the same counties, and as the shortness of the time has
not allowed us to wait, we have therefore generally used the first received, and of course the other
is omitted; and we trust that those whose articles do not appear will appreciate the reason for the
omission. We are, nevertheless, equally thankful to them for their favors.
We regard the article on the Wheat Region of Texas as one of the most valuable in the ALMANAC.
It was written bya gentleman who has lived for many years in the very centre of the region he so
graphically describes, and will be read with much interest, not only by our own citizens, many of
whom have but little knowledge of the immense productive resources of that portion of our State,
but also by strangers seeking locations in our midst, especially those from the Northern States,
We take this occasion to thank the writer for his valuable contribution. It was our intention to
give some additional United States statistics, but our space will not admit. In our next year's
ALMANAC we shall continue our chronology of the war, which will embrace all the important events
that occurred during the year 1862, and so on, each year, till the whole is completed, which will
be found valuable for reference.W. RICIHARDSON & CO., Pub?.her,
GAvsro, December 20, 1866.
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The Glaveston News. The Texas Almanac for 1867 with Statistics, Descriptive and Biographical Sketches, etc., Relating to Texas., book, December 1866; Galveston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123772/m1/3/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.