The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 50, July 1946 - April, 1947 Page: 339
582 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Burning Bush
aid, the crops improved and farming went on smoothly. The
equipment was ultra-modern: tractors, one of them fired with
wood, cultivators, mowing machines, threshers, and binders.
Most of these machines were new to East Texas, and they
created great wonder in the neighborhood."
The methods of farming also were progressive: commercial
fertilizer was used, and some terracing was done. The primary
aim of this farming was to take care of the needs of the commu-
nity. There was an enormous vegetable garden cultivated an-
nually, a beautiful asparagus field, fields of strawberries, peas,
and peanuts, as well as the orchards previously planted by
Palmer. A great deal of attention was given to raising feedstuff
for livestock. Corn, hay, and oats proved far more successful
than wheat and alfalfa. Enough livestock was raised in the com-
munity to supply all the meat and milk needed. The workers
cannot be said to have been lazy, but there was little of the
dawn-to-dark toil required to make a success of East Texas
farming.
Excluding agriculture, the two principal industries of the
community were the sawmill and the cannery. The sawmill was
set up immediately after the founding of the community. It
produced all the lumber needed on the place and a small quan-
tity for sale.
The cannery was the most profitable industry in the com-
munity. The building stood south of the Douglas house, between
it and the tabernacle. The orchards that Palmer had planted
were in their prime, and the farm produced an enormous quan-
tity of food that had to be preserved. All sorts of vegetables
and fruits were canned for home consumption, and a great
surplus of tomatoes and Elberta peaches was canned and sold.
On one occasion, the colony bought an entire box-car load of
tin cans, uncrated. A fruit drier for peaches and apples was
operated in connection with the cannery.
The most interesting of all the settlers' ventures was an
attempt to drill an oil well. They are said to have reached a
depth of two thousand feet before the drill stem bent, forcing
them to abandon the project."
Cooking was no mean industry, for there were about four
hundred mouths to feed from the common tables. These tables
6It might be said in defense of East Texas that such heavy farm ma-
chinery is impractical in that hilly, timbered region.
'Statement by Temple Tarrant, Bullard, Texas, personal interview.339
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 50, July 1946 - April, 1947, periodical, 1947; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101117/m1/414/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.