Hopkins CO. TX in 1850 From: June E. Tuck ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** From the research files of June E. Tuck Since I will not be doing a book on Hopkins County, I have decided to share some of the things I have found with those who are interested in early Hopkins County history. Looking for early Hopkins County information, outside the courthouse, is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Hope I^Òm sharing with you, the reader, what has not been seen before. In the early years of new formed counties there was great competition between the counties to get families to settle in their county. This article was written by an unknown correspondent from Tarrant. I^Òm sure it was sent to several papers throughout the State. HOPKINS COUNTY - DECEMBER 26, 1850 (Texas Republican, Feb. 1, 1851) Hopkins County is situated in the interior of Texas, about thirty miles from Red River. It is bounded north by Lamar county, west by Hunt, south by Wood, and east by Titus. Until 1845, it did not commence settling - and very little all 1847, on account of its interior situation, and there being no leading road running through it. The population, according to the last census, is about 3000 - 5000 voters. The county was surveyed at an early day by those large land claims, which have been always such a drawback to the rise and progress of Texas; but there is some eighteen leagues, out of one block of the choice, which has fallen back to the state, and gives an inducement to emigration. This land is about the center of the county. The face of the county might be called level - just rolling enough for farming. It contains about an equal quantity of timber and prairie. The South Sulphur runs through the northern part of the county, from west to east; White Oak Creek runs through the middle, from west to east; the northern portion is watered by the tributaries of the Sabine. This part in generally heavy timbered principally with black jack and hickory; and the soil is of the mulatto, sandy quality, such as would be selected by a cotton planter. It is rich and productive and is well supplied with bold running springs. By going north some ten or twelve miles over this kind of land, you strike what is called the Wire Grass prairie, which is from three to eight miles wide, as pretty as nature ever made, thickly set with as pretty grass as the eye ever beheld. Crossing this, you strike White Oak Creek, which is richly supplied with the best timber for this country, from three to eight miles wide. Still going north, after crossing through this timber, you strike a high, dry prairie, from four to ten miles wide. Then comes Sulphur, which is supplied with an abundance of timber. The soil of the Sulphur is black - some sandy and some sticky. These lands are thought to be as productive as any in the South, for corn, cotton, wheat, oats, or any southern production. It is thought that the prairie lands of this county are better adapted to the cultivate of wheat than any land in all the Southern States. There is surely an opening here for the growers of small grain. I think a company might do a good business for the culture of wheat. Let them procure a large quantity of this land, which would not cost exceeding twenty cents per acre, by purchasing a certificate and locating, build a steam flouring mill, then go rightly into the business, and it would surpass the cotton growing. Flour will always bear a good price in a cotton growing country. I am sure, from five years close observation, that the world cannot produce a better and more lasting stock county than this. Is now the last of December, and the grass is green on the prairies. Cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs are rolling fat. They need no feed, winter nor summer. All the stock grower has to do is to gently mark and brand. Nature has undoubtedly done her part for this county, and all that is wanting is an increased of industrious, go-a-head kind of population. We have the land, the timber, and the range - which is almost free. There can be any kind of homes or situation procured, cheap. Persons wishing to emigrate to this county, will find the citizens accommodating and always willing to show the best lands; but speculators are not wanted, as a large portion of the land is yet held by them. Tarrant is situated one and a half miles north of White Oak creek, on a high ridge of prairie, half a mile from east to west, running back to Caney creek two miles. This place has made but little progress yet on account of a dispute about the center of the county, but that being now hushed, it will take a start, as the county is filling up very fast. There has been some complaint about water at Tarrant; but the country (sic) is based on a close clay that will hold water equal to a jug. There is a cistern in Tarrant some fifty-five feet deep, which has been dug three years, is neither walled or stayed, and is as good as it was when dug. Every body who has studied water in the South, is bound to say that cistern water is better than any other kind for health. And I can safely say, that there is not a healthier county in the South. So it does seem to me that nature made all just as it should be.