Marshall,W.O.-August 24,1873

1873

Gray Rock August 20th

Mr Isaac Elliott

Dear Sir I received your favor of August 17th and was truely glad to hear from you all once more since it found George and myself tollerable well I have two or three chills through keep up and about not able to work much George is halling the hay the health of the country at present is not very good owing to the spring season and the latter part of the summer being wet vegetation grew very rank through the summer and now its decaying which causes chills The sickness is not of a fatal nature..Times at presesnt are dull money matters very tite in the part of the stait nothing selling for cash Crops are pretty good generally Our corn is not very good pretty well drownded out in the spring dident get to work it enough We have 13 acres of cotton that very fine Oats was tollerable good but fiew sown Corn will sell probabaly for 75 cts per bushel Oats about the same in this county There is no wheat for sale in this county Those that has wheat in the county maid fine wheat The crops were small.. You said you wanted to know something about the price of land here emproved land can be bought from 9 to 10 dollars per acres and rents from 2 1/2 to 5 dollars per acre or one third of the corn and oats and wheat and 4th of cotton that is in this co Now Sir as I have just returned from the West a afiew days ago Ill say something of that country I traveled through-----------Allen Dales County to the Town of Dales I passed through some fine country prairie mostly and very rich crops were generally good in those countys Corn was worth 40cts per bu Oats 40 cts wheat 75 to 80 cts per bush The average of the wheat crop in the stait is estimated at 25 bus per acre weighing 65 lbs per bush lands through that portion of the country is riseing owing to railroads Land inemproved can bee bought from 4 to 8 dollars per acre Emproved 15 to 20 near the railroads Society is good their churches and schools appears to bee in a good lively condition a great many Missourians going there I stopped in the Town of Dales 5 days and nights with a family from Cooper County Mo had a nice time Dales is quite a fast place a citty of 10 or 12 thousand in habitents on the Mo Kansas & Texas Railroad The road also runs from there to Galveston one of our best cotton markets on the coast other roads running from there to other portions of the stait...About Durham cattle Ike I hardely know what to say I saw some in Dales and there is some in this county though a man might sell them pretty well along the Railroad Towns I believe I had rather risk hogs or mules About Christmas Ill come back to Titus Co

have very good common schools here very good churches as good preachers as I have ever heard speak Mostely Methodist and Babtist The reformers are of rather a dwarfish growth if you want to come to Texas i think you can be suited in land and society this is a large stait room here for a heap of people and there is as rich land in this stait as i ever saw anywhere the west cant bee beat for wheat oats and corn and fare for cotton George and me thinks of selling out in this county and going west though if we go we will go 2 or 3 hundred miles where we can get pick and choice for ----------per acre i think we can make money by taking it up the railroads are making that way and thats a fine healthy country and good for stock we havent determined to go yet will be governed by circumstance our land here is good productive soil although we dont like to clear it all of the good land in this county is timbered and i think our present crop will bring us some money if nothing happens to it we don’t have any desire to go back to Missouri to live we would like to see you all very much though I don’t know when we will see you unless you come out to this country tell John Marshall i think he could do better here than he can there he could get himself a home and you know there is no place like home bee it ever so homely i dont wish to try to persuade anyone to come here for what suits me might not suit others...well must close if could see you could tell more we are still keeping bach though we think we will change the program this winter

from W.O. & G.H. Marshall write some

Separate page

Mary I’ll drop you afiew lines in answer to those you wrote in Mr Elliotts letter we was glad to sea them we are never two Tired or Busey to stop and read a letter from a dear Sister it makes us feel better and we like to recieve them the reason I did non write you sooner was because I was very busy be fore I left home and during my absen. I had no opportunity you said you wanted to know whether we was coming to Mo this fall or winter I dont recon wewill we have no Idea when we will bee their will come some time when we get our Buisness Straitned up so we can goo with out losing to much we dont think we will Ever goo back ther to live - as I have Sevrel other letters to write must close this I dont recon Ike will ever want me to write him an other letter if he make out to ree this hel do well you must all write when you can Give our love too all the girls and tell Aunt Salie we want Pat and Delie Almity bad cotton ill son do to pick from

Wm G H Marshall