The Texas Almanac for 1858 Page: 88
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88 TEXAS ALMANAC.
and creeks, and cedar rails once laid, last a life-time. Even the scrubby moun-
tain cedar has been cut up by the saw, furnishing boards for cheap and durable
fencing. Wire fencing will not do. Bois d'Arc is good in red sandy soil, such
as is found in Northern Texas. Walls of concrete have been proposed, but none
put in successful operation.
HEALTH.-Upon the coast good water is rather scarce. Cisterns, however,
are being generally introduced. The yellow fever has occasionly appeared in
some few places, but in all seasons, save midsummer, and as a general rule, even
then, health is very good upon the coast. Along the river bottoms, and in low,
wet places, chills and fevers prevail occasionally. A littleprudence in placing the
residence high, dry and exposed to the wind, as well as care in the use of water,
prevents the prevalence of sickness to any great degree. Upon the high prairies
to the North, there is a tendency to pneumonia, and will be until the houses are
built more with regard to comfort, than has been the case. Diseases are as mild,
and as easily managed, and health is as good, to say the least, as is to be found in
any State in the Union.
TRANSPORTATION.-A vast proportion of transportation is done by ox-
teams. The price varies according to the season of the year, and the condition of
the grass, ranging from one cent to a cent and a quarter per pound per 100 miles.
STOCK.-All the common kinds of stock are found in Texas, and in all parts
of the State. Mast is found almost everywhere, and fails only about once in five
years, consisting of pecan and oak. The annual increase of hogs and sheep may
be set down at from one hundred to one hundred and seventy per cent.; of
cattle, from thirty to thirty-three per cent. In Connecticut, it costs twenty-five
dollars to raise a cow; fifteen dollars in Indiana; twelve dollars and fifty cents
in Illinois. In Texas, it costs to raise a cow about what it does to raise a chicken.
Murrain is almost the only disease to which stock are liable ; the loss from it and
all other diseases being only about four per cent. at the utmost. It is rarely
necessary even to salt the cattle, as salt licks abound. The laws in regard to
cattle stealing are very stringent. Where labor in tending cattle is hired, it costs
two dollars a day during actual labor. Sometimes a third, sometimes a fourth of
the increase is given for tending. Stock raising is considered fully as profitable
as any other business-often very much more so.
WATER.-By digging, water is obtained generally from twenty-five to thirty
feet- below the surface. Springs are very common, and in Middle and Northern
Texas very numerous, and often remarkably copious. The declivity of Texas,
from North to South, insures a plentiful water power in the interior, and locations
suitable for manufacturing purposes, are without number. For stock purposes,
there is generally an abundance of water. Even when many streams cease running
in dry seasons, water is found in holes in creek beds, and over the prairies. The
rains are most abundant in winter and early spring. In regard to Artesian wells,
there was one bored at Corpus Christi some years ago. The boring was through
sand and clay, to the depth of three hundred and eighty feet, when a mineral
water was obtained, which rose readily and plentifully to the surface. Sometime
ago, a Joint Stock Company was formed, and an Artesian well is now being bored
in Austin City by this Company-Mr. Cooper doing the work. The well is upon
the eminence on Congress Avenue, near the site of the Old Capitol. Mr. Cooper
furnishes the following formations, as having been passed through so far :
Alluvial Soil, 1. foot.
Common Limestone, - - 18 feet.
Blue Limestone, - - - - - - - S "
Bituminous bed, saturated with Petroleum oil, - 24 "
Carboniferous Slate, -9 ."
Marble, 35 "
Blu .clay, with shells and pyrites, - 62 "
Conglomerate with flint and shells, - - - - 61 "
Silecious Slate with pyrites,'lime and shells, - - - 1 foot.
Total, - - - - - - - 269-feet-
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The Texas Almanac for 1858, book, 1857; Galveston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123764/m1/89/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.