Robert Thomas Hill

“ The founders of the State made liberal provision, by grants of land and revenue, for public education, but their intentions have not been carried out by subsequent legislation. Texas occupies the anomalous position of having the best school fund and the poorest school system in the United States. The public free school system proper consists of two normal schools for the preparation of teachers and numerous district schools, open for four months in the year. In most of the cities the State fund is supplemented by local taxation, and excellent schools are maintained. ”

“ Of the United States Texas now ranks first in the production of cotton and cattle, second in sugar, sheep, mules, and horses, eighth in rice and pigs. The eastern third of the State, containing 80 per cent. of the entire population, is agricultural; the remainder is pastoral. The chief crops are cotton and Indian corn; wheat is grown in the northern part of the black prairie and eastern part of the central regions, sugar in the lower bottom lands of the Brazos and the Colorado, rice on the coast The chief vegetable products for 1880 were—cotton, 805,284 bales ”

“ The highest ranges of the trans-Pecos region possess the unique avian and mammalian fauna of the Rocky Mountains, including the black-tailed or mule deer (Cariacus macrotis) and Rocky Mountain sheep, with a few Mexican species. The lower valleys have a mingling of the Mexican, Rocky Mountain, and great plain faunas. Along the valley of the Rio Grande, and extending northward in places, the subtropical fauna is Mexican, including the peccary (Dicotyles torquatus) , armadillo (Dasypus peba) , jaguar (Felis onca) , and ocelot (Felis pardalis) . ”

“ In 1880 there were 174,184 farms in the State, with an aggregate of 12,650,314 acres of improved land. The farms are usually of large size, and garden, orchard, and dairy products are entirely secondary to plantation crops. The southern part of the coast plain and the rest of the State west of the black prairie region are peculiarly adapted to pastoral pursuits, which are entirely separated from agricultural, the cattle and sheep being allowed to roam at large, or enclosed in enormous pastures, where they subsist without other food or shelter than nature affonls. ”

“ The boundaries, as recognized by the United States Government, [1] are—the Gulf of Mexico from the Rio Grande to the Sabine river, the Sabine river to 32° N. lat., thence the meridian of 94° 10' to the Red river of Louisiana, thence following that river west to its intersection with the 100th meridian, thence north to lat. 36° 30', thence west to 103° W. long., thence south to lat. 32°, thence west to its intersection with the Rio Grande, which river constitutes the south-western border of the State to the Gulf of Mexico. ”

“ Very recent discoveries of better quality have been reported. Tertiary fibrous lignite, of light specific gravity, is found in great abundance all along the junction of the coast plain and black prairie regions. It is worked to a small extent, but has no commercial value. The most important coal area is the semi-bituminous lignite belt of the trans-Pecos and lower Rio Grande regions, which is the direct geographical continuation of
the late Cretaceous coals of New Mexico and Colorado. ”

“ The executive government consists of a governor, comptroller, treasurer, commissioner of the general land office, and superintendent of education, elected biennially, with an attorney-general and a secretary of state, appointed by the governor. ”

“ There are no schools for secondary education, except the high schools of a few cities. The State university is at Austin; it is abundantly endowed with lands, but does not receive the full benefit of its revenues. There is also a State agricultural and mechanical college, but technical training is made secondary. ”

“ The southern half of the central region is a broken country of white limestone formation, semi-tropical in climate, and covered with scraggy vegetation, its physical features graduating into those of northern Mexico. ”

“ They are composed of older rocks, in most places; the later formations have been washed away, except where protected by eruptive flows. The most eastern and northern of these mountains are usually the highest. ”