It seemed to be a blanket contract,--a reward to the faithful,--and
permitted of any number of extras which might be charged for at any
figures the contractors saw fit to make. At the end of the first month
I naturally looked for my wages. Various excuses were made, but I was
cordially invited to draw anything needed from the commissary.
A second month passed, during which time the only currency current was
in the form of land certificates. The Commonwealth of Texas, on her
admission into the Union, retained the control of her lands, over half
the entire area of the State being unclaimed at the close of the civil
war. The carpet-bag government, then in the saddle, was prodigal
to its favorites in bonuses of land to any and all kinds of public
improvement. Certificates were issued in the form of scrip calling for
sections of the public domain of six hundred and forty acres each, and
were current at from three to five cents an acre. The owner of one or
more could locate on any of the unoccupied lands of the present State
by merely surveying and recording his selection at the county seat.
The scrip was bandied about, no one caring for it, and on the
termination of my second month I was offered four sections for my
services up to date, provided I would remain longer in the company's
employ. I knew the value of land in the older States, in fact, already
had my eye on some splendid valleys on the Clear Fork, and accepted
the offered certificates.
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