In 1877 Erath County was described by the Fort Worth Democrat: “It is mostly uncultivated; the farms are few and far between. We did see a very extensive orchard. Stephenville is a very promising town with an inhabitance of about 2000 . . . .The United Friends of Temperance is an organization of note: with a membership of about 200, much good work has been done, and more bad whiskey put down by its members than all the churches in town.” [of course this was before Thurber].