The Texas Almanac for 1867 with Statistics, Descriptive and Biographical Sketches, etc., Relating to Texas. Page: 86
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86 TEXAS ALMANAC
fine crops of corn. There are also some good lands on Antelope creek, and
about its junction with the Brazos. The north portion of the county is
broken and rocky. The hills between the Brazos pnd the Big Wichita (which
at this point are not more than about nine miles apart) are nearly mountains,
and would afford fine protection for stock. There is said to be iron ore in
these hills. The county is not settled.
CALDWEL CournTY.-(By W. .R. Cowan, County Judge.)
CoruTY-SEAT, LocxAnT.-Territorially considered, Caldwell is, next to
Orange and Marion, the smallest county in the State, having an area of only
522 square miles. But in fertility of soil, in salubrity of climate, in the aver-
age fall of rain and general seasons, and above all, in beauty and variety of
natural scenery, it is not, perhaps, surpassed by any other county. The north-
ern and western portions of the county, amounting say to one half its surface,
are prairie uplands, traversed, however, by numerous streams and valleys.
In the upland prairies, though the soil is generally good, and in some places
excellent, it must be admitted that there is not a sufficiency either of timber
or water for general agricultural purposes. They are, however, covered with
rich mesquite grasses, and admirably adapted to stock-raising. The valleys
interspersed through this part of the county are well watered, and also well
timbered with live-oak, elm, ash, hickory, and cotton-wood. The soil is rich
and productive, and the county is, in general, well settled and in a high state
of cultivation. The southern and eastern portions of the county are abun-
dantly timbered with post-oak, hickory, ash, and elm. They are freely wa-
tered by small streams, springs, and wells; have a light soil, mixed with
sand and loam, are easily cultivated and very productive. This portion of
our county is well, though not densely, settled with an intelligent, industri-
ous, and thrifty class of farmers, who raise all their own horses, cattle, and
hogs, and manufacture largely of domestic cloths, yarns, and other articles
for home consumption. Corn and cotton, horses, beeves, hides, and wool are
the staple productions of the county. The cereals do well when favored by
the season, but are regarded as a less certain crop than in higher latitudes.
Sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and melons grow finely. Almost all kinds of gar-
den vegetables, as cabbage, beets, peas, beans, tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, etc.,
are easily raised, and are produced in great abundance annually in the spring
and early summer; but, as a general thing, they give way under the heat and
drought of the late summer and fall. Our crops of every kind have succeeded
well the present season. Wheat is worth $1 per bushel; corn, 50 cents;
sweet potatoes, $1; an excellent article of peaches, 50 cents ; beeves five years
old, $10; butter, 15 cents per pound ; chickens, 12J cents each; eggs from 10
to 12 cents per dozen. In addition to the cotton, hides, and wool we shall
have for export, our county has sent away the present season not less than
5000 head of beeves and other cattle, and not less than 2000 head of horses.
This is, however, perhaps more than an annual average surplus. On the,
San Marcos river, which skirts our entire western border, and Which is one
of the most beautiful streams in the State, with almost unlimited water-power
for machinery, and which has a beautiful valley unsurpassed for fertility, as
well as a vast and superior stock-raising region, adjacent lands bear a mere
nominal price, and can not be sold for one half of their value previous to the
war. The same is true of other portions of the county. The town of Lock-
hart is situated thirty miles due south of Austin, the capital of the State. It
is a site of great natural beauty, being situated in a grove of live-oak, over-
hung with moss, with the open prairie stretching away immediately on the
west and south, and having the celebrated Lockhart Springs forming a
semicircle of rills and ravines, overlooked by a picturesque post-oak and live-
oak elevation from the north and east. These Lockhart Springs are about
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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/m1/88/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.