USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume II > Part 43
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maize, 38,458 acres; in hay and forage crops, 12,907 acres; corn, 2,981 acres ; a minor acreage in oats and wheat, about 500 acres in potatoes and other vegetables, and with approximately 65,000 trees in orchard fruits and about 5,000 pecan trees. Along the Colorado River about 2,500 acres are under irrigation.
By 1920. 265,500 acres had been improved. Figures representing the livestock interests were as follows: Cattle, 25,000; horses and mules. about 8,500: hogs, 4,110; sheep. 35,000. The acreage planted in cotton in 1920 was 150,000; in kafir corn and milo maize. 50,000 acres; in hay and forage crops, 12,907 acres ; corn, 2,981 acres; a minor acreage in oats and wheat, 5,000, about 500 acres in potatoes and other vegetables. and with approximately 65,000 trees in orchard fruits and about 5,000
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SCURRY COUNTY COURT HOUSE
pecan trees. Along the Colorado River about 2,500 acres are under irrigation.
BALLINGER
The only important centers of population in 1890 was Ballinger, with a population of 1.128, and in 1910 of 3.536. Other towns are Winters. Miles and Rowens. The formal beginning of the history of Ballinger dates from June 29, 1886, when the first sale of town lots was held. In 1920. Ballinger's population was nearly 4,000, and it was one of the prin- cipal trading centers of Coke. Concho and Runnels counties. Among its principal industries were four gins, oil mill, compress and its Creasy Rotary Gin Saw Filer Company. Ballinger has eight churches, two Presbyterian, one Methodist, one Baptist, two Christian, one Catholic. one Episcopalian, all housed in substantial buildings. There are four schools, High School, Grammar and two Ward Schools. The Halley and Love Sanitarium and Nurses Training School is located here. Bal- linger has numerous wholesale lumber, grain, grocery and produce houses. Its three banks have resources of about $2.250.000.
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SCURRY COUNTY
This county, lying directly north of Mitchell County, was created in 1876, and was organized June 28, 1884. Until recent years it was without railroad facilities, and the nearest shipping points were Colorado City on the south and still later the railroad towns in Fisher County on the east. The first railroad was the Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific, built from Roscoe on the Texas & Pacific in Nolan County to Snyder, the county seat of Scurry County. In 1911 the Texico-Coleman division of the Santa Fe system was built through the county, giving it a trunk line of railway. Development has been particularly rapid during the last ten years.
Some of the important pioneer facts concerning Scurry County are found in a sketch of W. H. Snyder, after whom the county seat town
SNYDER NATIONAL BANK, SNYDER
was named. In 1877 he opened a trading camp in the county, hauling lumber on wagons from Dallas to build his store and also hauling a good portion of his goods from the same place. He used what was known as trail wagons, with seven yoke of oxen to a team, each wagon having a capacity of 50,000 pounds. Mr. Snyder erected a house in Scurry County and began dealing in general merchandise and supplies for buffalo hunters. Other parties moved into the same locality, and that was the beginning of the town of Snyder. In 1882 Mr. Snyder laid out the town, and two years later it became the county seat. Snyder has had an enterprising citizenship, and ten years ago had an independent school district, four churches, and was an important center for trade. Its importance has greatly increased since the coming of the railway, and in 1910 its population was 2,154. Other towns have sprung up along the railway, the most important of which is Fluvanna, at the terminus of the Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific, and Hermleigh.
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The population of Scurry County in 1880 was 102; in 1890, 1,415; in 1900, 4,158, and in 1910, 10,924. The taxable values in 1903, before the railroads were built, were $2,035,983; in 1913, $6,440,682. The number of farms in 1910 was 1,424, and in 1900, 586. The total area of the county is 567,680 acres, of which the greater part in 1910 was included in farms or ranches, and about 145,000 acres "improved land" as compared with about 38,000 acres in 1900. The last census reported 24,837 cattle; about 8,900 horses and mules; 5,541 hogs, and 51,670 poultry. In 1909 the acreage planted in cotton was 37,129; in kafir corn and forage crops, 7,603 acres, and in corn, 2,573. About thirty- one thousand orchard fruit trees were enumerated.
SNYDER
County Seat of Scurry County, Snyder is in the seventh county on a direct line west of Fort Worth. Population 2,500. Assessed city valuation of $2,000,000. Served by the Santa Fe and R. S. & P. Rail- ways. Municipal water and sewer systems, electric power, ice and cold storage facilities. Macadamized business center. Large business sec- tion with three banks of combined resources totaling $2,000,000. Five churches ; three two-story brick schools with perfected plans for a mod- ern $75,000 High School Building. Cotton compress and cotton-seed oil mill; four cotton gins.
SHACKELFORD COUNTY
Situated on the upper courses of the Brazos River, Shackelford has long been regarded as one of the best watered counties in Western Texas, and was therefore an attractive range for stockmen. The stock interests have always predominated, and while agriculture has made much progress during the last twenty years, only a limited area, com- pared with the total surface of the county, is in cultivation. The live- stock reported at the last enumeration was: Cattle, 21,851; horses and mules, 3,583 ; sheep, 2,913. Farms enumerated in 1910 were 589, as compared with 251 at the preceding census. The total area of the county is 606,080 acres, with 487,375 acres included in farms or ranches at the last census, but only about 47,000 acres are "improved land," as com- pared with about 35,000 acres ten years previously. Cotton is the chief crop, 15,519 acres being planted in 1909; 2,699 acres in kafir corn and milo maize, and 4,862 acres in hay and forage crops. The county had a limited number of orchard fruit trees, and about 32,000 pecan trees were enumerated. The mineral resources consist of coal, gas and oil. and have been little developed. Natural gas wells near Moran supply that town with fuel and light.
Shackelford County was created in 1858, but remained without a county organization until 1874. Its population in 1860 was given as forty-four ; in 1870, 455 ; in 1880, 2,037; in 1890, 2,012; in 1900, 2,461 ; in 1910, 4,201 and in 1920, 4,960.
The first important factor in the county's settlement and develop- ment was the establishment, about 1867. of Fort Griffin, on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River at the north edge of the county. During the decade or more of its existence, Fort Griffin was the most notorious town
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in West Texas, and among the old timers was as familiar a geographical locality as Fort Worth is to the present generation.
It was a military post, a cattle town, and a buffalo hunters' supply and trading place. During the decade of the '70s, while the railroads were being built into North and West Texas and civilization was press- ing the frontier westward, the Indians and the buffalo made their final stand, and while the former were driven out so as to no longer interfere with the advance of the white settlers, the latter were practically exter- minated by a ruthless slaughter conducted by a large number of organized bands of "buffalo hunters," chiefly for the sake of the profit derived from the hides. The center of the buffalo hunting business in West Texas was old Fort Griffin, it was there that the army of hunters had their rendezvous, they got their supplies of food and ammunition, thither they returned when the hunt was over and the wagons were piled high with the bales of hides, to revel and carouse in what was probably the "wildest and the wooliest" town of Texas. Cattlemen, soldiers and skin-hunters formed a rough and characteristic population, mingled with which were the professional gamblers and whiskey sellers. Fort Griffin was for some years a junction point for two industries. During the '70s it became a main station of the Fort Griffin cattle trail from South Texas, and until the railroad concentrated cattle shipment at Fort Worth, great herds passed to the northern pastures and markets through this old town. At the same time its prestige was increased as the headquarters for the buffalo industry. These two factors, combined with its military post, gave the town unrivaled importance in the territory west of Fort Worth. Its fame and existence were transitory, and now it is hardly recognized as a point in Texas geography. A few sentences quoted from a Fort Worth paper during 1877 will illustrate some phases in the life of the town.
As to its superficial aspect one writer says: "Nothing save a few adobe and picket houses, corrals, and immense stacks of buffalo hides. The post, on the hill a quarter of a mile south, is almost depopulated, one company of negro soldiers keeping garrison. F. E. Conrad's store- rooms, near the post, are the most extensive establishment in the place. There hunters procure supplies and deliver most of their hides. To give an idea of the immensity of his business, imagine a huge, rambling house, of several different rooms, crowded with merchandise ; with forty or fifty wagons to be loaded, and perhaps one hundred hunters purchas- ing supplies. Since the evacuation of the post the business of Griffin depends almost exclusively on the buffalo trade." Another correspond- ent, in the same year, said: "The military post was located here about ten years ago. This is a frontier town, with all the usual characteristics, but is orderly.
"The picket houses are giving away to rock and shingle-roofed frame buildings, the lumber being hauled from Fort Worth. The buffalo hide industry has reached large proportions, two hundred thousand having been received here last season. Near the town coal deposits have been discovered, and are being worked to supply the local demand." Con- cerning the life at Griffin at night, he said : "It is a gay and festive place : night is turned into day : the dance and flowing bowl are indulged in
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freely, while hilarity and glee range supreme from eve until morning hours. Lager beer is twenty-five cents a glass." That was Fort Griffin in its most prosperous day, but only two years later, in 1879, a visitor said: "Griffin is not the live, bustling place we first knew it, in the palmy days of the buffalo." After the post was evacuated and the killing of buffalo for their hides had ceased as a large and profitable industry, there remained little to attract the various elements of popula- tion and business which had made the town so famous on the West Texas range.
Only a few years later, in 1882, the Texas Central Railway was com- pleted to Albany, the county seat, and that remained the terminus of the road until 1899, when it was extended further west. Albany at once became the market town and the point of concentration for most of the stock gathered from the surrounding ranges, and he has since remained the chief center of business and population. There are several other railway stations, and Moran is the only other important town in the county.
In 1882 the assessed value of taxable property in the county was $1,037,300, of which more than a third was represented by livestock. The valuation of property in 1903 was $2,391,628; in 1913, $3,663,204, and in 1920, 4,811.248.
ALBANY
Albany, the county seat, was established in the year 1874, after a hot contest with Fort Griffin for the seat of government, the latter being at that time soldiers' headquarters.
Albany is surrounded by home owners, whose principle income is derived from extensive stock farming, with ranches ranging from one to twenty sections. The town proper consists of home owners, hence the citizenship is of a permanent class.
It has a school of the first class, affiliated with colleges and universi- ties, of some four hundred students and efficient corps of teachers. The building is a modern stone structure, two stories and basement, located on the highest point in town. It has five good church buildings, with active Sunday schools and well attended church services.
The water supply comes from a reservoir located some three miles north, in the hills, covering a space of some thirty acres, and has stood the test of the state chemist, and tested 100 per cent pure. For light and heat it has an ample supply of gas coming from the Moran field in this county, also an up-to-date electric lighting system.
The merchants have neat and attractive stores and have enjoyed a splendid business for years. It has been said of merchandising in Albany that no merchant has ever gone into bankruptcy, for the reason that the citizenship is of the best. Other assets are one up-to-date gin. one elevator and rock quarry. There are two banks, strong financially, having on deposit some one and one-half millions of dollars, both banks being of old standing.
STEPHENS COUNTY
Situated west of Palo Pinto County, Stephens was created in 1858, but remained unorganized until the year 1876. A greater portion of the land was located and surveyed by the Texan Emigration & Land
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Company for State University and Asylum lands, and most of the settlers in this county were stock raisers who had squatted on the company and state lands. For many years the county contributed wealth only in proportion as it was used as a range by the cattlemen, but the permanent settlement of the county occurred between 1870 and 1880. In 1880 the Texas & Pacific Railroad was built across the southeastern corner of the county. Lack of transportation has been the chief bar to the development of agricultural and mineral resources. The growing of a cotton crop began during the '70s, and about the same time the coal deposits in the northern part of the county were opened, but the latter have never been developed except for local use. More recently a gas field has been developed near the county seat of Breckenridge. In recent years the underground water supply about Wayland and other points in the county has been tapped, and it is estimated that about 1,000 acres are irrigated. The progress of popu- lation during the first half century of the county's existence was as follows: In 1860, 230; in 1870, 330; in 1880, 4,725; in 1890, 4,926; in 1900, 6,466 ; in 1910, 7,980; in 1920, 15,302. In 1870 the taxable prop- erty of the county was assessed at $182,347 in 1882, $1,166,676; in 1903, $2,644,260; and in 1913, $4,707,071; in 1920, $18,202,010. The total area of the county is 592,000 acres, the most of which were reported in farms at the last census, and 86,699 acres in "improved land," against about 58,000 acres classified as improved in 1900. There were 1,375 farms in 1910, and 1,049 in 1900. The live stock and agricultural statistics from the last enumeration were as follows : Cattle, 20,013; horses and mules, 4,863; hogs, 4,510. In 1909 the cotton acreage was 28,956; hay and forage crops, 5,343; corn, 3,700; kafir corn and milo maize, 3,541; and a limited acreage in wheat. There were 38,000 orchard fruit trees enumerated, and about 9,000 pecan trees.
The county has developed no important towns. Breckenridge, the county seat, lies in the center of the county and many miles from railroads. Other towns are Caddo, Wayland and Gunsight. As a matter of history it should be noted that when Stephens County was created in 1858 the Legislature gave it the name of Buchanan County. The settlers who ventured into the region before the period of hos- tilities beginning with the war attempted a county organization in 1860, but the county government was soon abandoned, and, as already stated, the official existence of the county begins in 1876. In 1861 the State Legislature changed the name of the county to Stephens, in honor of Alexander H. Stephens, then vice president of the Confed- erate states.
BRECKENRIDGE
The growth of Breckenridge within one year from a village of 800 or 900 population to a bustling city of 20,000 is a typical instance of the wonderful changes due to oil discovery and exploitation, changes so rapid and momentous and occurring in so many different places, almost at the same time, that it taxes the historian's ability to keep pace with them. The little village was enjoying a slow and gradual growth, depending upon the surrounding live stock and agricultural
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industries, but handicapped by the lack of a railroad, when the dis- covery of oil in West Texas, with Stephens County in the center of the oil belt, gave Breckenridge an impetus that has since carried it along by leaps and bounds. Pioneers of oil development early saw that Breckenridge would become a center of new and important inter- ests, and, armed with abundant capital, they made the town their headquarters. Having located, they saw opportunities for town development, and thus the ranks of the progressive citizenship of Breckenridge received valuable additions. The railroad has since come, but the early arrivals did not wait for it, they were whirled from the nearest railroad stations by motor cars, they traveled in wagons, they brought supplies and materials in great trucks and they took pos- session of Breckenridge before the railroad was more than a remote possibility.
By June, 1920, there could be seen from the court house at Breck- enridge 500 derricks. Today (January 6, 1921) there are oil wells everywhere. They are in the back yards of residences-many of them ; they are on the playgrounds of the schools, and the revenue is helping pay the teachers' salaries. There is an oil well on the Y. M. C. A. block. Even the Baptist Church has one drilling only a few feet away from the tabernacle.
The Breckenridge field, thirty-four miles in extent, has as high as 100,000 barrels a day. Two hundred wells are being drilled in the town and about 1,000 in the entire field.
The coming of the oil produced an abnormal situation in Brecken- ridge. It tested the resources of the citizens to take care of the crowds. What they did they had to do quickly. At present the town presents the appearance of having been built very rapidly. But the building now going on is of a more permanent character. The schools have been badly crowded and many classes are being held in the different church buildings. The congestion, however. is being gradually relieved.
Breckenridge has a live Chamber of Commerce, adequate banking facilities, two newspapers, the American and the Democrat, and churches of several denominations. It is likely to be a town of good population and large business activities for many years to come.
STERLING COUNTY
Sterling County occupies a district situated about midway between San Angelo, on the Santa Fe, and Big Springs, on the Texas & Pacific, and was originally a part of Tom Green County. It was created March 4, 1891, and organized in June of the same year. The chief stream is the North Concho River, and a tributary is Sterling Creek, named after a frontiersman and Indian fighter. A few stock- men began running their herds in what is now Sterling County during the '70s, and their number increased with the opening up of the western country by the construction of the Texas & Pacific Railway in 1881. In 1910 a branch of the Santa Fe Railroad was constructed a distance of forty-two miles northwest from San Angelo to Sterling City. following the general course of the valley of the North Concho,
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and during the past four years there has been a notable migration into Sterling County, with consequent development for which there are few statistics available. In 1903 the valuation of property as returned by the assessors was $1,276,225; in 1909, $1,640,300; in 1913, $2,070,764 ; and in 1920, $2,335,302. The only important town is the county seat, Sterling City. In 1900, at the first census after county organization, the population was 1,127; in 1910, 1,493; and in 1920, 1,059.
Permanent development of the county's resources began with the present century, and most of the lands are still open pastures with stock raising the primary industry. In 1910 there were enumerated 135 farms, while the number in 1900 was 86. The area of the county is 606,720 acres, of which a little more than half was occupied in farms at the last census, and about 8,000 acres were "improved land," as compared with about 3,400 acres so classified in 1900. The last enum- eration reported 14,752 cattle, 2,142 horses and mules, and 33,786 sheep. The acreage planted to hay and forage crops in 1909 was 2,315; to cotton, 1,626; and to kafir corn and milo maize, 927 acres. There are a number of pecan trees bordering the Concho River, and the last census enumerated about 9,000 of those nut-producing trees.
SUTTON COUNTY
Sutton County was created April 1, 1887, from the county of Crockett, and was organized November 4, 1890. One of the branches of the Llano River crosses its eastern half, and the Devil's River flows across the western end of the county. From an agricultural stand- point the county has made but little progress. The population is sparse, about one person to the square mile, and without railroads and convenient markets for soil products there has been but small encouragement to till the soil. The stockmen in recent years have undertaken the raising of feed stuffs for their cattle, sheep and goats, and irrigation has been confined to the watering of gardens. Condi- tions in the county are exceptionally favorable for the raising and feeding of sheep and goats, and many thousands graze on the hills and in the valleys.
The population of Sutton County in 1890 was 658; in 1900, 1,727; in 1910, 1,569; and in 1920, 1,599. The property valuation in 1903 was $1,701,830; in 1913, $2,966,423; in 1920, $4,052,175. The total area of the county is 973,440 acres, and the last census reported 786,- 327 acres included in farms or ranches. A large portion of the county is occupied as leased land, being owned as school land. The num- ber of farms in 1910 was 131 as compared with 93 in 1900. The total of "improved land" in 1910 was 4,750 acres, as compared with about 1,370 acres in 1900. The live stock enumerated included 52,748 cat- tle, about 5,200 horses and mules, 3,834 hogs, 58,973 sheep and 59,631 goats. In 1920 the enumeration showed 61,360 cattle, 2,415 horses and mules, 99,518 sheep and 81,046 goats. The crops in 1909 were the forage crops, the acreage in hay and similar crops being 1,135; and in kafir corn and milo maize, 622 acres. About 2,000 orchard fruit trees were enumerated.
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SHERMAN COUNTY
Though organized with a county government on June 13, 1899, Sher- man County was an almost exclusive stock range until the construction of the Rock Island Railroad across its northwest corner in 1901. That brought a large influx of settlers, and from a population in 1890 of thirty-four and in 1900 of 104, the increase during the succeeding ten years gave the county by 1910, 1,376 inhabitants. When the county was organized the courthouse was placed at the old town of Coldwater. which now no longer appears on the map. After the railroad was built the new town of Stratford was established, and was voted the county seat. The population of that town in 1910 was 520, nearly half the total for the entire county. On the state line between the Panhandle and Oklahoma is Texhoma, another town that draws considerable trade from this county.
The valuation of property in 1902 was $1,266,959, in 1913, $3,399,211 : and in 1920, $3,419,952. The total area of the county is 598,400 acres, and the last census estimated 255,364 acres to about 89,000 acres in 1910, and in the same time the number of farms increased from eighteen to 165. The livestock enumerated in 1910 was 14,523 cattle; about 2,500 horses and mules ; 1,368 hogs, and 4,149 sheep. In 1920 the num- ber of cattle was 24,063; horses and mules, 3,114, and 1,980 sheep. In hay and forage crops, 12,255 acres were planted in 1909; in kafir corn and milo maize, 3,262 acres; in wheat, 2,757 acres, and in oats, 1,218 acres.
SOMERVELL COUNTY
This is one of the smallest counties in the state, with a total area of 117,760 acres. This territory was originally comprised in Hood County, and the new county was created March 13, 1875, in response to a petition from residents in North Bosque and South Hood counties. The Brazos River flows through the eastern half of the county, and the topography is one of rocky hills with many small valleys of fertile lands. Though railroads have circled the county on all sides, it is as yet without rail transportation, and its development has consequently been backward. The soil and climate favor the production of fruit and small crops, but farming and stock raising are still the substantial industries. Almost the entire county is underlaid by a basin of artesian water, and there are several hundred artesian wells in the vicinity of Glen Rose. A recent report of the geological survey states that about thirty thousand acres of the valley lands in the artesian belt are capable of economical irriga- tion.
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