Nevada County In 1888

Nevada County in 1888

This article appeared in the Nov. 21, 1888 issue of The Nevada
County Picayune.

In the first place, I will describe the climate, which is in winter,
when compared to more northerly latitudes, mild though some
what wet. Spring is warm, or rather mild, with an abundance of
rain for farming purposes. Summer is cool, dry, and remarkably
healthy for a  southern latitude and fall is of all climates in which I
have lived (and I have lived in a good many) the most delightful,
cool, dry, invigorating, and perfectly healthy. As to the land here,
although it looks poor, it yields one half to one bale of cotton per
acre, 25 to 50 bushels of corn per acre, and 15 to 30 bushels of
oats.
Prescott is situated on the border of a beautiful prairie containing
several thousand acres of land which produces the finest grass,
making stock of all kinds very fat, in spring, summer, and fall and
rendering it unnecessary to feed except in the winter months. It
yields from one to ten tons of hay per acre and of excellent quality.
As to game, we have a variety of small game here such as squirrel,
coons, 'possums, ducks, quail, prairie plovers, rabbit, and snipe.
Some seven or eight miles from here on Little Missouri River is
a vast quantity of squirrel, considerable numbers of turkeys and
deer, and as I am told, an occasional black bear. In the Carouse,
a little creek two miles west of me, I catch some of the finest fish
 ever taken in southern waters, such as very large perch, trout
(or what is called in the north, black bass), eel, and blue and
creek cat. In the Little Missouri River, the waters are very clear,
swift running and cool, we have of the inferior kind of fish, buffalo,
suckers, red horse and of the superior kind, we have trout or
 black bass, several varieties of fine perch which I have heard
called drum or gasper goul, and blue, yellow, and black or mud
cat. All of these are in great abundance and bite readily at the
hook and line and afford the finest sport and excellent food.
Vegetables and fruits are far superior in the way of variety to
any country I have been enduring the whole course of my life. I
planted a garden last spring with seventeen different varieties
of vegetables, all of which grew to the utmost perfection, both
in size and quality.
As to fruits, we have great variety of peaches, pears, plums,
apples, quinces, cherries, figs, and Japanese persimmons, and
berries such as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and
dewberries. Wild fruits, berries, and nuts indigenous to the
country are nuts, chincapin, walnut, hickory nut, and pecan.
We also have wild fruit and berries such as red haws, black
haws, winterand summer huckleberries, mulberries, pawpaw's,
persimmons, muscadines, and winter and
summer grapes.