Though first settled before the war, and created by the act of January 22. 1858, Mason County has remained isolated from railroads and its resources have been comparatively undeveloped. The nearest railroad shipping points are Llano on the east, Brady on the north, and Menard on the west The county lies in the mineral region of West Central Texas, and besides varied resources of building stone, it possesses de- posits of iron, lead and silver. Its principal streams are the Llano River and the San Saba. along whose valleys are the chief agricultural areas, while some irrigation has been accomplished by artesian wells. The county has a population of about 6,000, its county scat is Mason, and other small towns are Fredonia, Pontotoc and Kentucky. Its chief resources are indicated by the figures taken from the last census report. There were 856 farms, as compared with 773 at the preceding census. Of a total area of (120.160 acres, about 44,000 acres are in improved land. Live stock interests were: 80,460 cattle; about 5,100 horses and mules; 15.579 hogs; 17.557 sheep; 5,437 goats; and 26.787 poultry. This has long been one of the centers of the sheep industry in West Texas. and in 1882 the live stock interests furnished half the valuation reported by the entire county. In 1909 the acreage devoted to the principal crops was: Cotton. 15.785; corn. 13,650; hay and forage crops, 2,965; while about 5.000 trees were in orchard fruits, 17,000 in pecans, and another important fruit is grapes. In the act creating the county it was provided that the county seat, the name of which should be Mason, was to be within two miles of or on the site of Fort Mason, provided the proprietor of the land donated 100 acres for county purposes. Fort Mason was one of the early forts established by the United States Government after the annexation of Texas. It was just above the border of the German settlements, which were founded in the late '40s and '50s. Westward, in what is now Menard County, was the site of the ill-fated San Saba mission among the Apaches. Thus Fort Mason was for some years the frontier defense against the hostile tribes of West Texas. In 1857 Major George H. Thomas was in command there with a detachment of the Second Cavalry, and in 1860, before the outbreak of the war, the commander was Major Earl Van Dorn — both of whom became distinguished generals in the war, on opposite sides. During the war most of the frontier posts were evacuated and Fort Mason was never reoccupied. The border defenses were ineffective, and for over ten years this and other counties were exposed to the raids of the savages. In the Texas Almanac for 1867 the representative from the district wrote the following description of Mason County: "Fort Mason is situated on the divide between the Llano and San Saba rivers, about the center of the county There are no troops at Fort Mason, but we have elected it the county seat of Mason County, and have a good stone courthouse, a blacksmith shop of stone, a trading house or store, and an excellent school, but no grocery. There are, I believe, twenty families within three-quarters of a mile of the post, and seventy-five bright, healthy, fresh-looking children, large enough to attend school. There is church service by a German preacher once a month in this neighborhood, but no regular meeting-house. The people in the settlement and in the county generally are well disposed, orderly, and ambitious of accumulating property and educating their children; but they are very much disheartened at present by the great insecurity of life and property, and by the apparent impunity with which the most horrible crimes are committed by Indians and outlaws. There are, I think, not less than two hundred families in the county, half of whom are German. There are four excellent schools, besides some smaller ones, and not less than four hundred children to be educated. There are five places of worship in the county. The Germans are mostly Methodists. The Americans of different persuasions. There is but little agriculture in Menard, Kimble or Mason, but more in Mason than in either of the other counties. The people are generally devoted to stock growing, because it is so much more profitable and so much less laborious in this county than farming There are no mills in Mason county, nor manufactures, but some splendid sites for such, especially on Devil's River, James River and Mill Creek, all of which empty into the Llano from the southwest." As a result of such conditions the population was almost stationary for about twenty years. In 1870 it was reported that 4,500 acres of land were in cultivation, and the corn and wheat raised, after supplying local demands, was marketed principally at the military posts to the west. There were several mills in the county in 1870 and four churches and four schools were maintained. In 1882 there were two flour mills and four cotton gins  in the county, all driven by water power, there being a number of available water-power sites. The local quarries have for years supplied most of the building material, so that houses and public buildings arc mainly of stone construction. The population of the county at successive decades has bean: In 3860, 630; in 1870, 678; in 1880, 2,655 (41 negroes); and about one- fourth were of foreign birth or parentage, mostly German; in 1890, 5,180; in 1900, 5,573; and in 1910, 5,683. While the early settlers were largely German, coming in from the German counties to the south, that nationality is no longer a predominant element, since at the last census the German born were 122 and of German parentage 362. The taxable wealth of the county in 1870 was $216,025; in 1882. $1,214,598; in 1903, $2,444,635; and in 1913, $4,522,020. The county awaits the coming of a railroad to give it the needed impetus for further development, and a subsidy has already been voted to attract the construction of a road.