Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Rachel Fuller for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== A History of Central and Western Texas, Vol. 1 Buckley B. Paddock, 1911 [444-445] MASON COUNTY ------------ Mason county was created by the act of January 22, 1858. The county seat was to be set on or within two miles of the site of Fort Mason, provided the proprietor of the land donated one hundred acres for county purposes, otherwise the site was to be selected by vote. The town was to be called Mason. The first county officers were: John McSween, chief justice; G. W. Todd, county clerk; Thomas Milli- gan, sheriff; L. Burgdorf, assessor and collector; W. C. Lewis, district clerk. Fort Mason was one of the early forts established by the United States government after the annexation of Texas. It was just above the border of the German settlements, which were founded in the late '40s and '50s. Westward, in what is now Menard county, was the site of the ill-fated San Saba mission among the Apaches. Thus Fort Mason was for some years the frontier defense against the hostile tribes of West Texas. In 1857 Major George H. Thomas was in command there with a detachment of the Second Cavalry, and in 1860, before the outbreak of the war, the commander was Major Earl Van Dorn - both of whom became distinguished generals in the war, on opposite sides. During the war most of the frontier posts were evacuated and Fort Mason was never reoccupied. The border defenses were ineffective and for over ten years this and other counties were exposed to the raids of the savages. In the Texas Almanac for 1867 the represent- ative fromt the district wrote the following description of Mason county: "Fort Mason is situated on the divide between the Llano and San Saba rivers, about the center of the county . . . . There are no troops in Fort Mason, but we have elected it the county seat of Mason county, and have a good stone court house, a blacksmith shop of stone, a trading house or store, and an excellent school, but no grocery. There are, I believe, twenty-six families within three-quarters of a mile of the post, and seventy-five bright, healthy, fresh-looking children, large enough to attend school. There is church service by a German preacher once a month in this neighborhood, but no regular meeting-house. The people in this settlement and in the county generally are well disposed, orderly, and ambitious of accumulating property and educating their children; but they are very much dis- heartened at present by the great insecurity of life and property, and the apparent impunity with which the most horrible crimes are com- mitted by Indians and outlaws. There are, I think, not less than two hundred families in the county, half of whom are German. There are four excellent schools, besides some smaller ones, and not less than four hundred children to be educated. There are five places of wor- ship in the county. The Germans are mostly Methodists. The Americans are of different persuasions. There is but little agriculture in Menard, Kimball or Mason, but more in Mason than in either of the other counties. The people are generally devoted to stock growing, because it is so much more profitable and so much less laborious in this county than farming. . . . There are no mills in Mason county, nor manufactures, but some splendid sites for such, especially on Devil's river, James river and Mill creek, all of which empty into the Llano from the southwest." As a result of these conditions, the population of the county in 1870 was only 678. Only 4,500 acres were in cultivation, and the corn and wheat raised, after supplying local demand, was marketed princi- pally at the military posts to the west. There were several mills in the county in 1870, and four churches and four schools were main- tained. In 1880 the population was 2,665 (41 negroes), and about one- fourth were of foreign birth or parentage, mostly Germans. The popu- lation in 1890 was 5,180; in 1900, 5,573. The taxable wealth of the county in 1870 was $216,025; in 1882, $1,214,598 (over half being live stock); in 1903, $2,444,635; and in 1909, $4,048,080. In 1882 there were two flour mills and four cotton gins in the county, all driven by water power, there being a number of available water-power sites. The county has valuable minerals, undeveloped be- cause of the lack of transportation. The local quarries have for years supplied most of the building material, so that houses and pub- lic buildings are mainly of stone construction. Mason, the principal town, in 1900 had a population of 1,137. Other towns, with population over 100, in 1900 were: Fredonia, 173; Katerncy, 143; Loyal Valley, 194; Pontotoc, 196. ===========================================================================