A settler arriving along Barton’s Creek in 1871 was “told it was useless to plant a garden, as nothing but seven top turnips would grow and they were only fit for greens . . . Almost everyone was interested in stock, and no one thought this was a farming country. Cattle were everywhere, and the man who tried to till the soil was censured for destroying the grass and laughed at for being a fool.”

Stephenville Empire, 1883