coast, the central, and the plains regions. The lumber supply of the State comes entirely from the east Texas pine forests. The cedar, juniper, and mesquite are only utilized for fuel and fencing.
Fauna.
The black bear (Ursus americanus), panther (Felis concolor), and lynx (Felis rufa) are common to all parts of the State. The bison, wild horse, prongbuck (Antilocapra americana), coyote (Canis latrans), grey wolf (C. lupus), eastern prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus), and the lesser Mammalia of the great Rocky Mountain plains constitute the fauna of the north-western part of the State, reaching into the western part of the central region. Their southern limit is approximately the 31st parallel. 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). Among the birds are the scissor-tail (Milvulus forficatus), Mexican eagle (Polyborus cheriway), chaparral cock (Geococcyx viaticus), and numerous other unique forms. The fauna of the humid wooded coast plain is the south-western continuation and termination of that of the South Atlantic and Gulf States, with slight variations, and includes the Virginia deer (Cariacus leucurus), raccoon (Procyon lotor), opossum (Didelphys virginiana), alligator, &c. The black prairie region limits the last named fauna on the west, except in its wooded river bottoms. The central region possesses representatives of the great plains, Rocky Mountain, Mexican, and Louisiana faunas, but none of them cross it into other regions. It is a true transitional ground of most of the faunas of all temperate North America, east of the Pacific slope.
Population.
The total population in 1880 was 1,591,749 (837,840 males and 753,909 females), and in 1887 it was estimated to have risen to 2,415,000, giving 9.2 inhabitants to the square mile. Of the population in 1880 1,477,133 were natives of the United States and 114,616 foreign born. There were 393,384 Negroes, 136 Chinese, 992 Indians, and 43,000 civilized aborigines (Mexicans). Of the entire population 522,133 persons were engaged in occupations as follows:—in agriculture (including stock-raising), 359,317 (68.8 per cent.); in law, medicine, and other professions, 97,651 (18.7 per cent.); in trade and transportation, 34,909 (67 per cent.); in manufacturing and mining, 30,346 (5.8 per cent.). At the same date there were 3153 prisoners, 2276 idiots, 1564 insane, 533 paupers, 1375 blind, and 771 deaf. 13.9 per cent. of the native whites, 24.7 of the foreigners, and 75.4 of the Negroes—or 29.7 per cent of the entire population—were unable to read or write. The population of Texas has increased more rapidly than that of any State in the Union except Kansas. The following table shows the increase for the past few decades:—
| Year. | Anglo- American. |
Negro Descent. |
Mexican Aborig'al Descent. |
Indians. | Europeans. | Asiatic. | Total Population. |
Per cent. increase. |
| 1850 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 212,592 | .. |
| 1860 | 420,891 | 182,921 | .. | 403 | .. | .. | 604,215 | 184.2 |
| 1870 | 564,700 | 253,475 | .. | 379 | 62,411 | 25 | 818,579 | 35.4 |
| 1880 | 1,197,237 | 393,484 | 43,000 | 992 | 114,116 | 136 | 1,591,749 | 94.4 |
| 1887 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 200,000 | 300 | 2,415,000 | 94.4 |
The population of the principal cities, according to the U.S. census of 1880 and trustworthy estimates in 1886, was as follows:—
| 1880. | 1886. | |
| Galveston | 22,248 | 30,000 |
| San Antonio | 20,550 | 35,000 |
| Dallas | 10,358 | 32,000 |
| Houston | 16,513 | 23,000 |
| Austin | 11,013 | 23,000 |
| Fort Worth | 6,663 | 25,000 |
| Waco | 7,295 | 20,000 |
| Denison | 3,975 | 12,000 |
84 per cent. of the total population of the State is found east of the central region—the black prairie region (northern half) being the most densely populated, and the coast plain next. Between 1880 and 1887 there was a large flow of population into the trans-Pecos and plains regions, and during the last two years mentioned a decrease in the central region. The population consists principally of white natives of the southern United States, except in the counties of Brazos, Fort Bend, Harrison, Marion, Moore, and Washington, where it is of Negro race; in the counties of Fayette, Colorado, Guadalupe, Comal, and Gillespie, where it is German; and along the Rio Grande, where it is Mexican.
Agriculture.
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; Indian corn, 29,065,172 bushels;
wheat, 2,567,737; oats, 4,893,359; sweet potatoes, 1,460,079; Irish potatoes, 228,832; barley, 72,786; rye, 25,399; sugar, 4951 hogsheads; molasses, 810,605 gallons; hay, 59,699 tons; tobacco, 221,283 pounds; rice, 62,152 pounds; orchard products, to the value of $876,844. The total value of these products was $63,076,311. Since 1882 the quantity of cotton produced annually has exceeded 2,000,000 bales, of 500 pounds each. 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. In 1880 there were in the State—4,084,605 cattle, 2,411,633 sheep, 1,950,371 pigs, 805,606 horses, and 132,447 mules and asses. The sheep walks are more particularly confined to the southern half of the central region, including the lower Rio Grande valley.
Commerce.
The exports are cotton, wool, and hides, most of which are shipped from Galveston or sent overland by rail. The chief imports are manufactured articles used in the State, also coal and railway material. Apart from a small retail trade along the border, there are no exports to the adjoining States. The principal seaport and commercial city is Galveston. The mileage in railways has increased from 1048 in 1872 to 5974 in 1882, and to 7034 in 1886.
Education.
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. In 1886 there were 489,795 children within school age, and the cost of the maintenance of the whole system was $2,362,226. 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.
Administration.
The State government differs somewhat from those of the rest of the Union, owing to the fact that it has had to adapt itself to the administration of the great public domain, by which most of the public institutions are supported and works of internal improvement accomplished, and because much of the attention of the Government has been necessarily diverted to the protection of its extensive frontier. 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. The judiciary consists of two courts of final appeal, one for criminal, the other for civil business; forty itinerant higher courts for the trial of penal offences and civil suits; courts for misdemeanours and minor civil cases in each county; and innumerable justices' courts for first hearings. The legislature consists of 32 senators elected for four years, and 115 members of the house of representatives elected for two years. It is restricted by the constitution to biennial sessions of ninety days each. The State is divided into thirteen congressional and forty judicial election districts. It is also divided into 232 counties, 75 of which have no population, or insufficient population to be organized. Each county is divided into four commissioners precincts and a varying number of school, election, and justices precincts. The State has always maintained a corps of troops, formerly for protection against Indians, but now for preserving order in the unorganized counties. It has institutions for the blind, deaf and dumb, and insane. The prison system is far superior to that of the other southern States, but still very imperfect. The bonded debt of the State on 1st January 1887 was $4,237,730, and its taxable wealth $600,000,000. The aggregate debt of all the counties and cities was $7,000,000. The homestead and exemption laws are unusually liberal to the debtor.
History.
The upper Rio Grande valley was visited in 1580-83 by the Spaniards, who established missions among the settled Indians near El Paso and Santa Fé. The first white settlement was made by La Salle at Lavaca, on the coast, in 1685. The country was inhabited by Indians of various tribes, both savage and agricultural, most of whom are now extinct, except the so-called “Mexican” population of the Rio Grande. From 1583 to 1794 many missions were established by Roman Catholic missionaries among the Indians, who were completely alienated from their original language, religion, domestic habits, and tribal relations. After the purchase of Louisiana from the French in 1803 Anglo-American adventurers began to cross into Texas from the United States. In 1821, when Mexico threw off the Spanish yoke, Texas and Coahuila constituted
