USA > Texas > A comprehensive history of Texas, 1685-1897 > Part 6
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VOL. 11 .-- 30
466
A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
upon one or more of the rules, which were illustrated by interesting dissertations upon government generally. So interesting were these lectures that citizens of the town who had leisure would attend thein frequently, and some of them regularly. A feature and object of the lectures was that if any of the larger students had been guilty of any violation of the rules or other impropriety during the previous week, it would be discussed, without naming the guilty party, in a way to make such improper conduct look extremely objectionable, and sometimes ridiculous or odious, according to its magnitude. It had a wonderful corrective effect. If he became fully satisfied that any of his larger students would not voluntarily comply with his rules, he quietly gave him notice in person to leave the school. There were no trustees and no trials for misconduct, and it was not publicly known why the student left.
One of his rules was that there was to be no familiar communication between the girls and the boys. That rule was suspended occasionally, with permission for the boys, large and small, to call upon the girls Saturday evening (not longer than nine o'clock at night ), and accompany them to church on Sunday, which was gen- erally done in the most genteel manner. No one of the churches was particularly favored.
Composition was taught as a special study each Saturday forenoon, by Pro- fessor Looney himself, for an extra tuition fee of five dollars per session. Those students who sought to be taught composition were divided into three classes, --- first, second, and third,-according to their advance in education, each class being taught separately. The manner of teaching was as follows : Professor Looney would write upon the blackboard a subject, it usually being a sentence taken from some book, either very simple or otherwise, according to the grade of the class present. He would divide and subdivide the subject as might be necessary. The members of the class, with paper and pencil, would copy the subject as presented on the blackboard. The professor would then deliver a lecture upon the subject, making pointed explanations of cach part of the subject in the hearing of the class, which cach member of the class would reproduce and read before him at a given time, for his verbal correction as to the matter and style and pronunciation in the reading. In his advanced classes he would select subjects at different times that admitted of a wide range of discussion upon government, ethics, literature, history, and science, that furnished his students with an immense amount of varied informa- tion and excellent style of expression and speaking that soon enabled them to write original compositions that excited the surprise and admiration of their hearers. This was conspicuous at the examinations, lasting three days at the end of each session, which were usually attended by at least six or eight hundred visitors, who were seated in the large room of the second story of the building during the exami- nations. It should not be omitted to state, as a part of his system of clementary education, that for cach one of the five days of each week of the session there was a lesson in English grammar, in which all those studying it, or who had studied it, participated, though it might not last one-half an hour, and the school at its close each day had a general spelling lesson. Everything considered, it was a model school, under the direction and supreme control of one man, and many were the young women and men who received a good substantial education at it.
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467
LANE-THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF TEXAS.
During three years-1868, 1869, and 1870-Judge O .. M. Roberts, afterwards Governor Roberts, moved with his family to Gilmer, to send his children to that school and to teach a law school in connection with Professor Looney's school. He also taught book-keeping for the benefit of young men who were not able to go off to a school for that purpose. His habit was to give two or three hours to his law classes, and, having a successful law practice, to devote the balance of the day to his office and law business, much the same as if he had not been engaged in teaching. The courts of that county were attended by very able lawyers, among whom were Colonels Lafayette Camp and David B. Culberson, which made the practice there very interesting. Judge Roberts, in addition to his teaching, deliv- ered weekly lectures in the school upon law, the State, and scientific subjects, synopses of which were made and published in the local paper. His law school turned out a number of students who made successful lawyers, among whom may
BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WarO.
be mentioned Judge Sawnie Robertson, of the Supreme Court, Attorney-General John D. Templeton, Judge Aldredge, and Mr. Thomas Montrose. Honorable Charles A. Culberson, governor of Texas, attended the Looney School.
Unfortunately, when Professor Looney's school was at the zenith of great pros- perity, the professor was induced, on account of the failing health of his wife, to move, in the fall of 1870, to Northwest Arkansas. He abandoned his great work, shedding tears on his departure, and the Looney School was closed at Gilmer.
Denominational Schools .-- Among the earliest church schools chartered in Texas were Rutersville College and Baylor University. the former at Rutersville, in Fayette County, and the latter at Independence, in Washington County. Both were granted charter privileges by the republic of Texas, the college in 1840 and the University in 1845. Baylor University was long prosperous at Independence under the presidency of Dr. William Carey Crane, who was an intimate friend and the literary executor and biographer of General Sam Houston. After his death it
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A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
was consolidated with Waco University, which was chartered in 1861, and the in- stitutions thus consolidated are known as "Baylor University at Waco," with Rev. Rufus C. Burleson as its president, who was also a contemporary and warm personal friend of General Sam Houston and one of the most noted educators in the country. This in- stitution has always been a Baptist favorite. An attendance of nearly eight hundred students, the session of 1893-94, attests the great popularity of the institution. The Baylor Female College, also chartered in 1845 and removed from Independence to Belton in 1885, is also operated under the tacit indorsement of the Baptist Church.
Rutersville College was the first Methodist school chartered in Texas, and was but one of many of the early educational enterprises put on foot by that RUFUS C. BURLESON. church, which did well for some years, but continued to exist only as the nucleus for other schools. Among the earlier establishments may be mentioned the Mckenzie College at Clarksville, Wesleyan College at San Augustine, and the Soule University at Chapel Hill, some or all of which were operated at considerable expense to the church for the school property. It was the failure of such scattered enterprises that led to the concentration of further efforts of the church and the adoption by its several con-
11
2.
LADIES' ANNEX OF SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, Georgetown, Texas.
ferences of a resolution offered in 1869 by Rev. F. A. Mood, providing for "per- manent and systematic adjustment of the educational interests of the church within this State." Accordingly, by consent of the conferences and special act of the
469
LANE-THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF TEXAS.
legislature, the chartered rights of Rutersville, Mckenzie, Wesleyan, and Soulé Colleges accrued to the "Southwestern University" at Georgetown.
The establishment of Rutersville College was inspired by Rev. Martin L. Ruter during his missionary service in Texas. The first president was Rev. Chauncey Richardson, who was succeeded by Rev. William Halsey, and he by Rev. Homer S. Thrall. Mckenzie College had its beginning in 1841, but was not chartered until several years later. It had but one president, Rev. J. W. P. Mckenzie, who died after some forty years' continuous service. Wesleyan College was chartered in 1844. Rev. Lester James was the first president. Soulé University was char- tered in 1856. Its first president was William Halsey.
Other denominations, if not so early in the field, have been proportionately active and enterprising in school work. The following is a list of the more or less prominent denominational schools in operation in Texas. [Abbreviations .- Bp. for Baptist Church ; C. C. for Christian Church ; Cath. for Catholic Church ; Ep. for Episcopal Church ; Meth. for Methodist Church ; Pr. for Presbyterian Church ; C. Pr. for Cumberland Presbyterian Church ; C. S. for Colored Schools] :-
Name and Location of Schools.
Value of Property.
Amount
ment.
Students.
Principals.
Austin College (Pr. ), Sherman
$48,000
$60,000
147
S. M. Luckett.
Add-Kun University (C. C.). Thorp Springs (now at Waco)
43.500
375
Addison Clark.
Fort Worth University ( Meth. ). Fort Worth
113,000
732
O. L. Fisher.
St. Mary's Academy ( Cath, 1, Austin
110,000
230
Sister Mary Mildred.
Southwestern University ( Meth. ), Georgetown
130,000
490
Rev. J. H. McLean.
Ursuline Convent (Cath.), Galveston .
501,500
125
Mother Mary Joseph Dall- nieT.
St. Mary's College ( Cath.), San Antonio
61,000
400
Brother John Wolf.
Baylor Female College (Bp.). Belton
167.500
221
E. H. Wells.
Ursuline Academy (Cath.), San Antonio
200,000
200
Superioress Madam St. Magdalen.
Carr-Burdette Christian College (C. C.), Sherman
$5,000
100,000
202
Rev. W. F. Lloyd.
Central College ( Meth. ), Sulphur Springs
20,500
169
F. J. Squire .
North Texas Female College ( Meth. ), Sherman
52,000
26.4
Mrs. Lucy Kidd Key.
Granbury College ( Meth. I. Granbury
16,000
130
E. P. Williams.
Trinity University (C. Pr. ), Tebmacana
75.000
75,000
300
B. D. Cockrill.
Coronal Institute (Meth. ), San Marcos
30.500
3-4 1
A. A. Thomas.
Ursuline Academy ( Cath.), Dallas
100,000
75
Mother St. Paul.
Northwest Texas College ( Pp. ), Decatur
40,000
150
A. J. Emerson.
Simons College ( Bp. ), Abilenc
26,500
93
George O. Thatcher.
St. Mary's Institute ( Ep. ). Dallas
07.500
75
Miss Maria K. Totbert.
St. Edward's College ( Cath.), Austin
85,000
155
P. J. Hurth
Glen Rose Institute ( Pr. ), Glen Rose
9.000
150
O. E. Arhuckle.
Texas Female Seminary (C. Fr.), Weatherford
31,000
60
Rev. J. S. Howard.
Chapel Hill Female College ( Meth. ), Chapel Hill .
10,500
Rev. S. M. Godbey.
St. Mary's Hal! for Girls ( E.p. ), San Antonio
36,000
3.000 5.100
43
Rev. A. L. Burleson.
Academy of the Incarnate Word (Cath ). Houston
25,000
200
Mother M Gabriel.
Centenary College Meth I, Limpesas
10.750
Daniel Biker College Pr.), He wnwood
47.500
IIS
Rev. B T. Mc Clelland.
Protestant Episcopal Semmiany Pp.l. Austin
60,000
50.000
Opens in 1-4.5.
San Antoni Female College ( Meth +, San Antonio
30.000
60.000
3.0
. Rev. John R. Smith.
Faut Cum College (C. S.), Waco
61,000
150
H. T. Kealing.
Guadalupe College (C. S. ). Seguin
47.500
2-6
Rev. David Abner, Jr.
Herne \ adomy iC. S ) Heirne
5.000
115
M H. Provles.
Tillotom Collegiate Institute (C. S.), Austin
60,500
156
Kev. William M. Brown.
Sam Houston College (C. S. ), Austin .
5.000
100
Rev. T. M. Dart.
Baylor University : Bp. 1, Waco
275.000
774
Rev. Rufus C. Burlesou.
Sacred Heart Academy (Cath. ), Galveston .
35,200
Mother M Pauline.
Rev. Wallace Carnahan.
West Texas Military Academy ( Ep . San Antonio
25,500
Henry A. Hives.
Male and Female Academy IC SI, Marshall
Mary Milen Seminary for Carl (C. S.), Crockett
20,000
220
Rev. J. H. Harrison.
Other Institutions .- Other institutions of a more or less educational char- acter are :--
Institute for the Blind, located at Austin ; Dr. Frank Rainey, superintendent.
Rev. and Mrs. O. A. Carr.
Polytechnic College (Meth. ), Fort Worth .
47,500
of Endow-
470
A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, at Austin ; W. A. Kendall, superintendent. State Orphan Asylum, at Corsicana ; W. S. Worsham, superintendent.
Institute for Blind, Deaf, and Dumb Colored Children, at Austin ; W. H. Hol- land, superintendent.
The Bayland Orphans' Home at Houston and Buckner's Orphan Asylum at Dallas are recognized as excellent private establishments for the care and education of orphan children. There are also orphan asylums or children's homes, under church supervision or maintained by public charity, in Fort Worth, Galveston, Houston, and San Antonio, and some other points in the State.
Conclusion .- As seen from the history presented, the wisdom of the founders of the Texas republic and the liberality of the people of Texas, in providing for public education, have conduced to the establishment of perhaps the grandest cdu- cational fund in the world,-over one hundred million dollars !
As for the University of Texas, two specially important measures have been suggested in the minds of its friends for making its resources more largely and im- niediately available : one by additional provision by the State of a special University tax and the other to authorize bonding the University lands-say, for three or four mil- lion dollars, or even five million dollars-and holding the lands in trust for the interest and sinking fund and eventual payment of the bonds, and in the mean time leasing the lands to produce an annual rental to meet the interest and ultimately extinguish the principal of the obligation. In this way the lands could be withheld from sale till the demand for them, increasing with the wealth of the State, rendered them four- fold more valuable or worth, say, ten million dollars, or twelve million dollars, which would put the amount, in point of income from its endowment, on a footing with most of the great universities in other States. The propriety of a separate univer- sity instead of a branch university for the colored youth of the State is a matter which is calculated to excite attention for some time, or at least till the provisions of the Constitution on the subject are changed or more practically considered. It has been argued that the proposed colored branch of the Texas University was to have been established in deference to public sentiment in behalf of the freedmen of the State. But while, as a matter of policy incident to the war, this was then naturally to be expected, it is now believed that the branch establishment is no longer as desirable, in the estimation of the colored people and in acknowledgment of their claims under the Constitution, as would be the organization of an independent university for them, whether at Austin or Bryan or some other place, for the highest possible education of their children.
CHAPTER IV.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, AND RESOURCES.
BY E. T. DUMBLE .:
B OUNDARIES AND AREA .- Texas, the most southerly of the United States, is bounded on the cast by Louisiana and Arkansas, on the north by Arkansas, Indian Territory, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, on the west by New Mexico and the republic of Mexico, and on the south by the Gulf of Mexico. Its situation, as related to the continental arca, is midway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and about equidistant from the equator and the arctic circle. In latitude it extends from the mouth of the Rio Grande, in twenty-five degrees fifty- seven minutes, to thirty-six degrees thirty minutes, -the northern line of the Pan- handle. El Paso, or Frontera, which is the most western point in the State, is in longitude one hundred and six degrees forty minutes, while the extreme eastern point, on the Sabine River, is ninety-three degrees thirty minutes west of Green- wich. The entire area, as estimated by Mr. Henry Gannet, chief gcographer of the United States Geological Survey, is two hundred and sixty-five thousand seven hun- dred and eighty square miles. Of this total area, however, the same authority esti- mates that three thousand four hundred and ninety square miles are covered with the waters of coast-bays, rivers, and lakes, which, if deducted, will leave a total land area of two hundred and sixty-four thousand seven hundred and fifty-two square miles,-about one-eleventh of the entire area of the United States. By reason of its position and of its great extent, stretching as it does over thirteen degrees of longitude and more than ten of latitude, it comprises in its varied features, in addition to those which may be claimed as peculiarly Texan, many of the characteristics of the States contiguous to it, and thus forms the connecting link between the Gulf Slope, the Mississippi Valley, the Great Plains, and the Rocky Mountains, as these great divisions converge towards the south.
Physical Aspect .- Were it possible to view this great area from such a point as would bring it all within the range of vision, a plain over seven hundred miles in breadth from east to west and over nine hundred from north to south
* In the preparation of this article, the writer has consulted such publications as were accessible to him, including the reports of the survey of the Pacific Railway and the Mexican boundary, reports of the tenth census, the various reports of the geological survey of Texas, general works on the State, maps, and many special articles bearing directly upon the subject. But to this much has been added from knowledge gained through personal observation, and it is to that extent an original contribution to the subject. Valuable assistance was rendered by Professor E. D. Cope, of Philadelphia, and Mr. J. A. Singley, of Giddings, in the prepara- tion of that portion of the article relating to the fauna of the State, and the statements made are largely taken from their publications or private communications.
471
472
A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
would be seen ; its northern and northwestern border raised to a height of one mile above the level of the sea, its surface as a whole gently sloping to the east, southeast, and south, until, at its farther extremity, it dips one hundred fathoms be- neatlı the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Two notable depressions would be observed in this plain, -the valley of the Nueces and the great central basin carved by the waters of the Red, Brazos, and Colorado Rivers and their predecessors. Minor clepressions would also be observed along the various water-courses ; but, while in these valleys many hills appear, no high mountains would be seen except west of the Pecos, where the plain is broken by single peaks and detached mountain ranges. By virtue of their origin, the hills of a small area in Central Texas and another in Greer County may lay some claim to be called mountains, although now of only moderate elevation. Outside of these three arcas the physiographic unit is a plain, in which erosion by the natural agencies of air, rain, wind, and frost has, by the carving out of the valleys, sculptured the hills, thus producing the present varied aspect and topography of the State.
The topographic features of an area are largely controlled by the character of its geological substructure and the manner of their development ; therefore, before defining these, it may be well to glance first at the geology of the State.
Geology .- The oldest rock materials in this Texan region of which definite knowledge has been obtained are found in Llano, Burnet, and adjacent counties. While granites occur beyond the Pecos, and have been supposed to belong to a similar age, the fact is not definitely determined. These ancient or archean materials consist of granites, gneisses, schists, and marbles, which are cut by numerous intrusions of eruptive rocks, and are highly altered by metamorphism. While our knowledge of the conditions surrounding the development and extent of this most ancient land is necessarily limited, the present surface exposures are doubtless only remnants of a much greater area, and they may have been part of a mountain chain or elevated plateau which stretched northward towards the Lake Superior region and westward towards the Pacific ; yet there is found, in the present plateau formed by these rocks, the pivotal point around which all later formations have been developed, and a monumental area of the earliest dry land of the region known as Texas. These rocks were strongly folded by the convulsions to which they were subjected, and it was in the great furrows of this archean island, or, more probably, archean headland, that the lowest sedimentary rocks were deposited. Their composition proves that they were derived in part from the materials of the land, and the deposits give unmistakable evidence of having been formed along the shores of the ancient sea. They also show that the area was subject to fluctuations of level, but, in spite of these fluctuations and the struggle of the powers of the sea and air to destroy and submerge this land, it grew and extended its borders by add- ing an irregular fringe of one formation after another, until, at the beginning of the coal period, it was at least as large as our Central Mineral Region. The crumpled, faulted and disturbed condition of many of the rock sheets, their metamorphism, and the presence of intrusive or eruptive rock materials ,among them, show the continuance of those volcanic forces which so characterized the archean era. East of the Pecos these great activities, however, seem to have lost much of their power previous to the beginning of the carboniferous period, and after that time had their
473
DUMBLE-PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, ETC.
strongest manifestation within this central region, and with, perhaps, a single excep- tion did not greatly affect the surrounding deposits of later age.
The northern shore line of this land area of carboniferous times, with its numerous bays and headlands, is plainly traceable through Lampasas and San Saba Counties to-day, and in the sea, which stretched northward to the Ouachita Mountains and westward to or beyond the Rocky Mountains, were deposited the sands, clays, coals, and limestones of that period. The deposits east of the Llano Estacado show several changes of level, and consequently indicate seas of varying depth, caused by alternate elevation and subsidence, while to the west deep-sea conditions prevailed and the deposits are chiefly limestones.
Gradually the shore lines widened, the bottoms of the seas were elevated or silted up, and land-locked waters were created, which favored the formation of the vast deposits of gypsum and salt which are found in the upper permian. Finally, the palcozoic era, or that characterized by the older types of life, was closed by the emergence of the old sea-floor, and the region north and west of Llano, in- cluding the country west of the Pecos, became dry land.
This land area, the total extent of which cannot now be surmised, was then subjected to erosive agencies similar to those which are operating to-day, from the effects of which, in the eastern portion of the region, resulted the base-levelling of the permian and carboniferous beds, while in the west great valleys were carved out and mountain masses left standing high in air. During the early mesozoic era a body of brackish water existed in the region now known as the Llano Estacado and eastward for an unknown distance, and in this were laid down the beds of the triassic. Since no traces of any deposits of the jurassic age have been recognized, the conclusion is that dry land prevailed all through that period.
At the beginning of the cretaceous the mesozoic sea began its encroachment from the west and south, and, while it was unable to surmount all of the residual mountain blocks of trans-Pecos Texas, and therefore deposited its sandstones, clays, and limestones along their flanks and in the valleys, it gradually crept northward over the base-levelled area of Central Texas, submerging the greater part of it and cov- ering it with deposits of gravel, clay, and limestone, the thickness of which de- creased rapidly towards the north.
The rocks of this division are typically exposed on the Texas and Pacific Rail- road between Milsap and a point four miles east of Fort Worth, and on the Colorado River between Smithwiek Mills and Austin.
The Caprina limestone of this period is of considerable thickness and hardness, and has had great influence in determining the topography of the State. It is only by reason of its erosion that we possess our present knowledge of the deposits of the carboniferous and permian, which would otherwise be buried several hundred feet below the surface. The granite highlands in Llano County seem to be the only area which escaped the covering of this almost universal limestone mantle.
In mid-cretaceous times this Caprina limestone, with whatever material may have overlaid it, again became a land arca in North Central Texas, and remnants of it may now be seen in the line of hills south of the Texas and Pacific Railway as far west as Big Springs, and in detached blocks and buttes, such as Double Moun- tain, Mckenzie's Peak, etc., north of that road.
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