(Newspaper name and  date not identified)

LIKED MARLIN OVER WACO

CHILTON--SPL--The early settlers found both prairie and dense thickets here.  Tall grass and myraids of wild flowers made a garden of the prairie.  Along the creeks there were dense woods and thickets.  Postoak, hickory, ash elm, hackberry, cedar, pecans, liveoak, Spanish oak, mulberry, willow and, of course, mesquites were found in abundance.  Game was plentiful.  Deer, antelopes, bears, wolves, coyotes, wildcats, buffaloes and "lions" were here in the early days.

Until planters moved in with slaves, cattle was the chief source of income for the people.  The first gin was built by Col. W. D. Gaines.

It is interesting to note how the railroad changed the life in this section.  Before the S. A. and A.P. came through the larger settlements were at Durango, Carolina and Mooresville.  In fact, it looked like they would develop into fairly good-sized towns.  The railroad came this way and Chilton and Lott were built up instead.

Attracted by the cheap, fertile land, Col. W. D. Gaines chose the land he bought because, after visiting both places he thought Marlin had a much better chance to grow into a larger city than did Waco.

For amusements of these early citizens there were dances, quilting, corn husking, house raising and singing but the meetings held the most interest of all.

A wedding was a "notable" event, according to one early historian.

The men hunted wild mustangs, shot at marks for prizes and hunted and fished.

Being so far from markets, the men wore buckskin hunting shirts in Winter, moccasins and fur caps.  In Summer they wore cotton shirts going in their shirt sleeves.

Falls County was organized in 1850.

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