Arnold found George "Press" Farmer living there and allowed him to open the first sutler's store. Other early settlers were Howard W. Peak, Ed Terrell, George W. Terrell, and Ephraim M. Daggett. When a new line of forts was built further west, the U.S. Army evacuated Fort Worth on 17 September 1853. The settlers decided to take possession of the fort site. John Peter Smith opened a school in 1854 to twelve students; Archibald Leonard and Henry Daggett started the first department stores. Julian Feild opened a flour mill and general store in 1856, and the Butterfield Overland Mail and the Southern Pacific Stage Line used the town as their western terminus on the westward journey to California. In 1855, a battle over the placement of the county seat erupted. Since 1849 the county seat had been Birdville, but in 1855 Fort Worth citizens decided that they wanted to claim the county seat. After a long fight, Fort Worth gained the title in 1860 and construction began on a stone county courthouse. After a delay due to the Civil War, the courthouse was completed in the 1870s. Fort Worth settlers held slaves in its antebellum period. In 1860, Tarrant County had 5,170 whites and 850 slaves. When the question came to secede from the Union, most citizens were for secession, and Tarrant County voted for it. The effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction nearly wiped Fort Worth off the map during the 1860s. The city's population dropped as low as 175 and food, supply, and money shortages burdened the citizens. As the War's effects began to fade, so did the city's hardships. It gradually began to revive in the 1870s. By 1872, William C. Boaz, William Henry Davis, and Jacob Samuels opened general stores. In 1873, Khleber M. Van Zandt established Tidball, Van Zandt, and Company, which became the Fort Worth National Bank in 1884. Barrooms such as Tom Prindle's Saloon and Steele's Tavern welcomed many travelers. In 1876, future Denver, Colorado crime boss, Soapy Smith arrived in Fort Worth and began his criminal career, operating his famous soap sell confidence tricks on the unwary. Weekly newspapers included the Fort Worth Chief and the Democrat. Schools reopened gradually after the war. In 1869 Randolph, Addison, and Ida Clark taught six students in a local church. The cattle industry was key to producing the economic boom years of Fort Worth