there were 1,909,000 sheep in the state. The wool product of the state in 1900 was 9,638,002 ℔, and in 1910 was 8,943,750 ℔ washed and unwashed and 3,040,875 ℔ scoured. In the number of chickens (13,562,302 in 1900) the state ranked fifth, and in the number of ducks, geese and turkeys (1,299,044 in 1900), ranked first.
The cereals grow generally throughout the state, excepting in the arid western lands. The crop of Indian corn is especially large in a belt of counties beginning near the north-eastern corner of the state and extending in a south-westerly direction. Most of the rice is raised along the seaboard, in the south-eastern corner of the state. The largest crops of cotton are grown in the cereal growing counties.
Forests and Timber.—About 64,000 sq. m., or 24 per cent. of the area of Texas, is estimated to be wooded. The area of yellow pine forests (the stand is estimated at 67,568.5 million ft.), and the lesser one of hardwood, together with considerable softwood, represent lumber-producing possibilities of much economic importance. The pine and hardwood areas occur chiefly in the north-eastern part of the state, and are bordered on the west by scattering growths of hardwood, extending as far westward as Austin. Sparse scrub timber, of little value except for posts, poles and rough, beams and for fuel, occupies the region westward to approximately the longitude of the Pease river. Outside of these general areas, forest products are of relatively little value, the exceptions being the dense growths, in certain restricted areas, of live-oak, which is in demand for ship timbers; and scattering patches of hickory, which is requisite for certain manufactures. The pine and hardwood forests are of great economic value because of the density of their growth, and there are at hand the means of profitable development of this industry in the numerous watercourses which make logging cheap and expeditious. The maple, walnut, oak, ash, beech, elm, gum, sycamore, hickory and poplar, found on the southern slope of the Osage highlands, on the uplands about the source of the highlands and in the central portions of the Red river valley, are valuable for cabinet woods. The cut, consisting almost entirely of yellow pine, was valued in 1900 at $16,296,473.
Fisheries.—The value of the fisheries product of Texas increased from $286,610 (7,174,550 ℔) in 1897 to $353,814 (8,044,404 ℔) in 1902; and the amount of capital invested in the industry from $237,496 in 1897 to $373,724 in 1902, but the number of wage earners employed decreased slightly—from 1199 in 1897 to 1144 in 1902. The values of the principal catches in 1902 were: red snapper, $103,398; oysters, $100,359; squeteague, $49,577, and channel bass, 839,525.[1]
Minerals.—The total value of the mineral products of Texas in 1890 was $1,986,679; in 1902, $6,981,532; in 1907, $19,806,458, and in 1908, $15,212,929—the valuations for the two years last named being those of the United States Geological Survey. By far the largest item in these totals after 1902 represented the value of petroleum. Little attention was paid to this resource until 1883; in 1890 the product was valued at only $227; and five years later it had increased to only $250. A good quality of oil—better in fact than the Ohio product, but not as good as that of Pennsylvania—was accidentally found at Corsicana, Navarro county, about 1894, and in 1898 it was discovered at a depth of 1040 ft. In 1901 an extraordinary “gusher” well was drilled near Beaumont, Jefferson county; in the nine days before this well was capped, it threw a stream of oil 160 ft. high, and poured out about 500,000 barrels. The development of the Hardin county field also began in 1902. As the result of these developments, the value of the oil product increased from $277,135 (546,070 bbls.) in 1898, to $871,996 (836,039 bbls.) in 1900; to $4,174,731 (18,083,658 bbls.) in 1902; and to $10,410,865 (12,322,696 bbls.) in 1907; it decreased to $6,700,708 (11,206,464 bbls.) in 1908. The value of the bituminous coal output was $465,900 (184,440 short tons) in 1890; $1,581,914 (968,373 short tons) in 1900; $2,778,811 (1,648,069 short tons) in 1907; and $3,419,481 (1,805,377 short tons) in 1908. The value of the product of limestones and dolomites in 1900 was $124,728; in 1902, $228,662; of sandstones and quartzites in 1900, $37,038; in 1902, $165,565; while the value of all stone produced in 1907 was $497,962, and in 1908, $659,574. Natural gas was discovered in Washington county in 1879, but was not commercially used in that vicinity until 1888. In 1902 gas was discovered in Jefferson county. Other minerals found in small quantities are copper, lead, zinc, iron ores, manganese ores and tin.
Manufactures.—The value of the manufactured products of Texas in 1905 was $150,528,389, the capital invested in manufacturing being $115,664,871, an the number of factories, 3158.
In the value ($14,005,324 in 1900[2] and $18,698,815 in 1905) of its cotton-seed oil and cake product Texas surpassed all other states. Flour and grist mill products advanced in value from $11,948,556 in 1900 to $22,083,136 in 1905. The values of other products in 1905 were as follows: slaughtering and meat packing (wholesale), $15,620,931 lumber and timber products (which employed the largest average number of wage-earners—13,332, or 27.2 per cent.), $16,278,240; cars and general shop construction and repairs by steam railway companies, $10,472,742; printing and publishing, $7,782,247; foundry and machine shop products, 1905, $4,952,827; malt liquors, $4,153,938; saddlery and harness, 1905, $3,251,525. The highest average quantity of rough milled rice per establishment in the United States in 1905 was for Texas, where seventeen establishments produced an average of 18,598,259 ℔, valued, together with that of other rice products, at $4,638,867.
Transportation.—Until the middle of the 19th century transportation facilities remained practically undeveloped in Texas. In 1860 the, steam railway mileage was 307 m.; in 1870, 711 m.; in 1880, 3244 m.; in 1890, 8709 m.; in 1905, 11,949 m.; in 1907, 12,877 m.; and in 1908, 13,066 m. Most of this mileage is in the eastern part of the state, the western and southern portions having slight railway facilities. The principal railway systems are the Southern Pacific, the Santa Fé, the Texas & Pacific and the Colorado & Southern. The inland waterways include the 25 ft. ship canal from the Gulf to Port Arthur (the Port Arthur Canal), opened in 1899, and transferred to the United States government in 1906; the Galveston and Brazos River canal, 29.5 m. long and of a ruling depth of 3 ft., also acquired by the government in 1902, and a privately owned canal, 9 m. long and from 6.5 ft. to 10 ft. deep, extending from Corpus Christi to Aransas Bay. Other important waterways which have been authorized by the United States government and on which work was proceeding in 1910 are canals from the Rio Grande river to the Mississippi river at Donaldsonville, Louisiana; and “a navigable channel depth of 5 ft. in a canal along the coast of Texas, underlying the lagoons lying between the islands and the mainland” to develop light navigation to points not reached by the railways. Another important undertaking is the deepening of the Trinity river to Dallas, a distance of 511 m., thereby affording a navigable waterway almost to the northern boundary of the state. Congressional appropriations for the survey, improvement and maintenance of waterways began in 1852; amounted to $15,055,688 between 1891 and 1896 inclusive, and $1,613,829 between 1897 and 1907; the total appropriated being $23,249,419. The ports of entry of Texas are Galveston, Corpus Christi, Eagle Pass, El Paso and Brownsville.
Population.—The population in 1880 was 1,591,749; in 1890, 2,235,523; in 1900, 3,048,710; and in 1910, 3,896,542.[3] Of the population in 1900, 94.1 per cent. was native born, 79.6 per cent. was white and 20.4 per cent. (or 620,722) was negro, or of negro descent. There were in 1900, 2,249,088 native whites, 179,357 persons of foreign birth, 836 Chinese, 470 Indians and 13 Japanese. Of the inhabitants born in the United States 130,389 were natives of Tennessee, 129,945 of Alabama, 90,584 of Mississippi, 77,950 of Georgia and 75,633 of Arkansas; and of the foreign-born 71,062 were Mexicans, 48,295 Germans, 9204 Bohemians, 8213 English, 6870 Austrians and 6173 natives of Ireland. Of the total population 471,573 were of foreign parentage—i.e. either one or both parents were foreign-born, and of those both of whose parents were foreign-born 70,736 were of German, 10,967 of Bohemian, 7759 of Irish and 6526 of Austrian parentage. In 1906 1,226,906 inhabitants of the state were members of religious societies. Of these 401,720 were Baptists; 317,495 Methodists; 308,356 Roman Catholics; 62,090 Presbyterians; 39,550 Disciples of Christ; 34,006 members of the Churches of Christ; 27,437 Lutherans; 14,246 Protestant Episcopalians; 7745 members of the German Evangelical Synod of North America, and 1856 Congregationalists. The principal cities are San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Galveston, Fort Worth, Austin, the capital, Waco, El Paso, Laredo, Denison and Sherman.
Administration.—Texas as a part of Mexico was governed under the constitution (1827) of the “Free State of Coahuila and Texas”; a separate constitution adopted in 1835 was never recognized by the Mexican government and never went into effect. The Texan Declaration of Independence, adopted in November 1835, was accompanied by a provisional constitution; and with the Declaration of Independence of March 1836 there were adopted an executive ordinance and a constitution. As a state of the United States Texas adopted a constitution in 1845, another in 1866, and a third in 1868, and is now
- ↑ Publications of the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Part xxix., Report of the Commissioner for the Year ending June 30, 1903 (Washington, 1905).
- ↑ The statistics given in the text for 1900 from this point are for factory products and are thus comparable with those given for 1905; the special census of the latter year was limited to the manufactures under the factory system.
- ↑ In other census years the populations were: 1850 (the first under the United States), 212,592; 1860 604,215; 1870 818,579.
