Freestone County, Texas History Dallas Morning News July 24, 1893 Page: 4 Down In Freestone Fine Lands, Water and Health - Wortham a Shipping Point WORTHAM, Freestone Co., Tex., July 22 -- [Special correspondence] -- Traveling south over the Houston and Texas Central railway from Dallas, one train reaches Wortham at 12:32 p.m., and the other a 10:06 p.m. Wortham is seventy-six miles below Dallas, in the northwest corner of Freestone county, Col. L.R. Wortham, deceased, who was the first merchant here, some twenty-one years ago, was the man in whose honor the town was named. The present population numbers about 650. There are ten general merchandise stores, besides a dozen or more other lines of business represented here, including two good hotels. The scholastic population numbers 185, and as the town is incorporated for school purposes, an eight months public school is taught. A private school is taught two months. There is a large, well-arranged public school building and good teachers are in charge. There are two churches here. In point of morality and good order, Wortham is unexcelled by any town in Texas. It is also unexcelled for good health. This is largely attributable to pure water and the open character of the surrounding country. True to its name, Freestone county abounds in good freestone water, obtainable at a moderate depth. Here, around Wortham, the country is diversified, there being both black sandy prairie and black waxy land. The agricultural production in cotton, corn, oats and beef cattle is quite large. Wortham has shipped since last September 3500 bales of cotton, over 100 cars of cotton seed and 150 cars of beef cattle. A great many farmers in this vicinity feed cattle during the winter and ship them to St. Louis and Chicago in the spring and find the business remunerative. Consequently, general trade at Wortham is good-much better than in most towns of its size where this diversity of agricultural interests is not found. While Wortham has never had a boom since it was a town it seems always to have enjoyed a gradual, steady and healthy growth. An elegant new hotel has recently been opened and a half dozen or more handsome residences are now in process of building. There are two weekly papers, namely, the Christian Advance and the Freestone Vindicator. The former is a Methodist Protestant paper in its seventh volume and is edited by Rev. J.E. Bounds. The Vindicator is a people's party paper not quite a year old, with J. E. Sanders as editor and manager. Among other incisive things the Vindicator observes: Grandfather Reagan (the power behind the throne at Austin) is again waving his flag in the public prints. Big salary as a railroad commissioner and nothing else to do but work up party thunder, while little girls work in the field to make 6 cent cotton to pay taxes. Wortham has a newly organized brass band, which is making rapid progress in the divine art of music. The people here are not only a cool set of human beings mentally, but they believe in keeping cool physically. They do so on Dallas ice, many carloads of which are sold here during the heated term. As Wortham is the only railroad town in Freestone, it may properly be regarded as the commercial center of the county. Freestone's Capital FAIRFIELD, Freestone Co., Tex., July 22 -- [Special correspondence] -- Leaving Wortham at 12:30 p.m., THE NEWS correspondent landed in Mexia about fifteen minutes later, the distance being only seven miles. At 1 p.m., he mounted the Fairfield limited express, drawn by two Texas broncos with the characteristic names of Black that [should be "and"] Sorrel. Black is of the masculine gender and Sorrel is the opposite kind of an equine. Black was somewhat indisposed on account of a rather severe attack of Spanish itch and a heavy external application of lard and sulphur, which imparted the surrounding atmosphere a somewhat heavy and stifling odor after Black had got under a good heat and heavy sweat. Miss Sorrel, however, is evidently from a lineage of great endurance and staying qualities. When we reached the half-way relay station, ten miles distant, Miss Sorrel did not show the least evidence of fatigue, but Black was panting like a lizzard. Fairfield is twenty miles east of Mexia, and the line of Freestone county is crossed about four miles from the latter town. The greater part of the road is over hard, smooth prairie with but little dust at any time, and none just now since the recent good rains. Cotton Gin is the only village between Mexia and Fairfield, and it is surrounded by a fine cotton growing section. Indeed, Freestone is one of the best all-round agricultural counties of central Texas. It is an excellent fruit county, too. We passed numerous peach orchards, and I noticed a number of pear trees which were absolutely loaded down with fruit to such an extent as to require many props under the limbs. Melons? Just loads of'em, and fine ones too. In the spring wild blackberries and dewberries are abundant, and at this season the woods and rail fences are black with mustang and post oak grapes. What a grape and wine country this could be made with a little industry! A few miles from Cotton Gin we entered the timber-forests of oak, black jack and hickory mostly. In some of the bottom lands ribbon cane was seen. Many farmers raise a few acres to supply their families with syrup, and this home- made ribbon cane syrup is, next to pure maple syrup, the best batter cake lubricator known to civilization. Crops as a rule are good. Much of the corn is large and heavy, and the cotton, where it has been properly worked, is large and thrifty. We pass some poor fields where it will take stalk and all to make 15 bushels of corn per acre; but these poor crops are the exception. In some of the fields of corn the pencil pusher noticed vigorous crops of stock peas between the rows of corn. This indicates a good sense on the part of the farmers, and the good growth of the vines insures fine fall pastures for farm stock of all kinds. Coming to where the roads fork, THE NEWS man observed a sign board bearing the capitals "H. S. R." "What does that mean, conductor?" I ask the driver. "That means Hardshell road," he replies. THE NEWS man has heard of "shell roads", but he never before heard of a "hardshell road," and seeing no shells of any kind he seeks further information and is told that the "H. S. R." road leads to Hardshell Baptist church a few miles distant. Fairfield is an old, old town for Texas. The present writer was here twenty- three years ago and it was an old town then, apparently. It has grown a good deal since then, although it is twenty miles to the nearest railroad point, Mexia, to and from which place a daily mail hack is run. It is about the same distance to Buffalo, on the International and Great Northern railroad, in Leon county, but little travel is done between that point and Fairfield. I do not think there was a brick building in Fairfield when I was here twenty- three years ago. Now there was a number, including a brick hotel. There is a good brick courthouse and also a jail. The population numbers some 500 souls. There is a telephone connection with Mexia. The Recorder, published by L.D. Lillard, is one of the oldest, best and most influential papers in this entire section. Brother Lillard has long been in the journalistic harness and has ever been an honor to the profession. As may be supposed in an old, steady-going community like Fairfield, educational matters have not been overlooked. There is a good public school here. The Baptists, Methodists and Cumberland Presbyterian have each good temples of worship. Society is unusually good in this quiet old town where "far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife" families have been raised in paths of domestic industry and virtue and children have grown up to maturity in an atmosphre of refinement, truth and honesty which makes itself felt even to a casual visitor. The early settlers of Freestone county were, as a rule, slaveholders of considerable wealth and the improvements they made were good and permanent. There are many fine old farm houses in the vicinity of Fairfield which present to the eye of the visitor most charming pictures of rural comfort and enjoyment. Truly, this is a great old country and Fairfield is, in many respects, a charming old rural town.