Chapter 14
Establishing a New RanchI hardly knew Fort Worth on my return. The town was in the midst
of a boom. The foundations of many store buildings were laid on
Monday morning, and by Saturday night they were occupied and doing
a land-office business. Lots that could have been bought in the
spring for one hundred dollars were now commanding a thousand,
while land scrip was quoted as scarce at twenty-five cents an acre.
I hurried home, spoke to my wife, and engaged two surveyors to
report one week later at my ranch on the Clear Fork. Big as was the
State and boundless as was her public domain, I could not afford to
allow this advancing prosperity to catch me asleep again, and I
firmly concluded to empty that little tin trunk of its musty land
scrip. True enough, the present b
