USA > Texas > A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas, Volume I > Part 29
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SAN ANTONIO AND VICINITY AFTER THE WAR.
The years immediately following the Civil war were years of swifter recuperation for Texas than for any other southern state, and South- west Texas, which had owned comparatively few slaves before the war, and whose industries were less dependent on the peculiar institution than other portions of the. state, suffered correspondingly less from the pros- trating effects of the war and reconstruction. None the less, it is possi- ble to discern peculiarities of conditions in this part of the state, and certain features are present whose origin can be ascribed directly to the war. A picture of San Antonio and the vicinity, so far as it can be drawn from contemporary sources, during the late sixties has an es- pecial value at this point, since it reflects the results of the war scourge through which the country had just passed and introduces the new era upon which the country was just entering.
San Antonio During 1866.
In 1866 San Antonio had its cholera epidemic. The sacrifice of life by this scourge resulted in a revival of civic cleanliness and im- provement of the city in numerous ways. Indeed, looking back to that time, one finds the institution of many improvements which, continued to the present time, have brought about the "city beautiful and sani- tary" which San Antonio can now proudly claim to be. It is a striking contrast that can now be drawn between the modern city and that of forty years ago. Many things contribute to a city's greatness, and cer- tainly one of the most important is its sanitation. The recommendations made by the board of health at the time of the epidemic show better than description what the condition of the city was in respect to its public
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WHOLES
onotras
City Hall, San Antonio.
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improvements. These recommendations, as recorded in the San An- tonio Herald, Sept. 30, 1866, are :
First. That surface drainage be at once commenced and diligently carried out, by opening gutters and grading and filling up streets, and that sidewalks be laid down in all parts of the city. And they would remark that damp is one of the chief local causes of cholera, and the measures they recommended are the only effectual ones to carry off water and prevent the numerous quagmires that now exist all through our city.
Second. That strict measures be adopted to prevent the overflow of irriga- tion ditches. This is a standing nuisance, and should be abated.
Third. All weeds and filth, garbage of all kinds, suds from the laundry, etc., should be prevented being thrown into the streets; and city carts should daily pass through them, removing all filth of whatever kind, and deposit it beyond the city limits, and that none be allowed to be thrown inside the city limits.
Fourth. The extremely crowded state of the jail requires immediate atten- tion. The board visited it, and found fifty-two prisoners confined in a space' in which not over sixteen can be confined with a due allowance of breathing room. The minimum allowance of cubic feet of atmosphere to each individual in all well regulated institutions is 800. In this jail each one has but 147 cubic feet. It becomes necessary, therefore, to diminish this number, and the military authorities should find other quarters for the military prisoners. As it is, there is danger of disease breaking out at any moment.
Fifth. The crowded condition of many of the tenement houses, occupied by negroes and others, is such as to ensure a widespread and malignant prevalence to the cholera or any other epidemic, should it come into our midst. Ten or twelve persons sometimes occupy a single small room. This should be regulated by law, and only a given number allowed to a certain space.
Sixth. All military camps should be removed beyond the limits of the city. It is among troops that epidemics find their chosen food. Their presence in the city adds a danger to what is inevitable, and all removable dangers should be at once got rid of.
A few days before the Herald had commented editorially on the sanitary conditions of the city, with an illuminating, if not attractive, picture of the city.
"The board of health have recommended some very important re- forms that we should be glad to see complied with immediately. The
Streets and Plazas in 1866.
first is paving the sidewalks and guttering both sides of every street in town; until this is done, it is impossible to drain the streets, and mud- holes will continue to disfigure all our thoroughfares, and stagnant pools to emit offensive odors and contaminate the atmosphere. The streets and gutters should be so graded as to prove effective drains, or other- wise the work will be thrown away. We trust the City Fathers will carry out these measures with zeal and energy. Another measure rec- ommended by the board we hope our citizens will universally comply with, and that without delay. We refer to the sweeping of the streets bordering their premises every morning before nine o'clock, so that the scavenger carts may remove the filth that now lies in our streets pollut- ing the atmosphere with a variety of smells, which we should think every man in the community anxious to be rid of. If it is not attended to, the police will doubtless be calling on the delinquents. If these re- forms in our streets were made, San Antonio would begin to put on the appearance of a city, and no longer look like a mere one-horse town.
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Our plazas also should not be neglected. During military rule here, they were well policed. We should be glad to see this the case once more. System and energy can accomplish a great deal, and our worthy mayor will doubtless display both. The exhausted condition in which the provisional government left the city treasury, greatly cripples the present authorities in this exigency, when the threatened epidemic en- tails so many extraordinary expenses. The very inadequate accommo- dations of our jail have been also very forcibly presented by the board of health, and measures should be taken at as early a period as circum- stances will admit, to provide more commodious quarters for a class of population that seems to be largely on the increase. Taxes are already very heavy, but our citizens will bear taxation when they see that the finances are honestly administered in necessary and wisely devised im- provements, and not squandered and wasted, as there is too much reason to believe they were by the late Provisional City Government. There are many vacant lots that require filling up, as after every rain pools of water stand for days and weeks upon them. If the owners neglect to fill them up the city should have it done at their expense. We sin- cerely hope that the city fathers will grapple resolutely with the reforms necessary to bring San Antonio into a healthy condition, and also have the sidewalks paved, so that one may at least walk about in the business part of the city without danger of being bogged. We do not think that there is another town of the size of San Antonio in the United States, so illy provided with all necessary improvements and accommodations for passengers, whether on foot or in carriages. And while on this subject, we cannot refrain from a word on the subject of bridges. It has been more than a year since the footbridge near the Catholic Church was washed away, and it is not yet replaced. A contract was made by the provisional authorities and work commenced, but was suspended by the same authorities. Not only this, but other bridges are absolutely clemanded by the business of the city. And we hope that when they are built, they will not be so constructed as to be washed away by every freshet."-Daily Herald, September 12, 1866.
From this period date many of the utilities that are now so common that only their absence would excite surprise. The following item from the Herald is particularly instructive. Before the artificial manufacture of ice, the only source of ice supply at San Antonio was from the north. Ice was transported by wagons from the gulf coast inland, and was an expensive article and comparatively little used. The La Coste family are well remembered for their prominent connection with early ice manu- facture.
Ice .- Accompanying the compliments of Mr. Holden, of the manufactory, to the editors of the Herald, came a huge chunk of something looking like those monster ice glaciers which so terrified Dr. Kane in his explorations in the frozen regions. This fact, together with another, that one of the successful candidates has sent us a few bottles of "liquid" to help melt the ice, has made us feel in an uncommonly good humor. But we are very glad that this ice machine of Mr. Holden's has finally gotten into successful operation; it is very large, and the machinery works like a charn :- he will be fully able to supply our city in this luxury, the absence of which has caused so high an appreciation .- S. A. Daily Herald, June 29, 1866.
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The following excerpts from the Herald in 1866 refer to the begin- ning of gas lighting, to the status of education after the war, to public buildings, and to the return of the Mexican carts, the last being an echo of the old cart war.
Gas.
The prospect is now good that San Antonio will soon be lit up with gas. On several of the prominent corners we notice that gas pipes have been laid down and lamp posts put up. Verily, our city is fast emerging from darkness .- San Antonio Daily Herald, September 6, 1866.
Schools.
Schools are springing up all over the state; and in our own city, there is every prospect of the growth of schools of the highest order. Two have been recently established under the supervision of Bishop Gregg ; a training school for boys, and a seminary for young ladies, that are full of promise for the future. With the return of peace and the re-establishment of civil government in our midst, we should de- vote every energy to securing to every child in the state the blessings of education ; and, especially should every orphan, made by the war, he cared for by the state, and by the people.
First Presbyterian Church.
The new Presbyterian Church, situated on the corner of Paseo (which was the name of Houston street at that time) and Flores streets, is one of the best public buildings of the city. Its walls were erected before the war, and the roof was put on during the war, since which nothing further has been able to be accomplished till within the past four weeks the work has been resumed. The floor has lately been laid and the doors put in at a cost of about $875, which has about exhausted the funds of the society. The progress of the work is again stayed for want of money. It now only requires windows to make it a comfortable place of worship. The refreshing breeze that blows through the open walls of the church is not generally disagreeable at this season, and weekly service is held in the church, but the chilling northers of coming days will render this impossible .- S. A. Daily Herald, November 2, 1866.
Mexican Carts.
We notice that Mexican carts are beginning to resume their im- portance as a means of transportation or "navigation" between San An- tonio and different points on the coast. The cause of this can be readily told-they are tolerably slow, but are regular and sure, and are always cheap, in comparison with other means of transportation. Whoever works the cheapest, other things being equal, will do the most business. Remember this, ye who run large trains .- S. A. Daily Herald, January 23, 1866.
It is a more sinister and, it is to be hoped, a less conspicuous feature of life in San Antonio at that time, that the following paragraphs re- veal. Secret organization and terrorism played only minor parts here, because Southwest Texas was outside the scope of threatened "negro
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domination," and what agitation there was resulted mainly as a reflection from other parts of the south. The two extracts that follow indicate both the terrible and the humorous sides of the Ku Klux, and that both these clements belonged to the organization and its movements is evident from the most intimate testimony concerning its operations.
Ku Klux Klan.
We made the statement the other day that we believed the Ku Klux organization to be entirely innocent and intended only for convivial purposes. As far as our information goes, we are of the same opinion still; but should it turn out in the sequel to be a secret combination for the purpose of mutual defence and protection against the dangers of negro supremacy, we are pre- pared to defend the organization in spite of all the charges of treason and dis- loyalty that may be brought against us from this time until the day of judgment.
When any number of individuals in a community or any number of dif- ferent communities. combine together for defence and protection against a grow- ing and dangerous evil, a right which belongs to every people, whether with law, or without it, it is neither just nor reasonable to conclude that they enter- tain disloyal purposes against the Government, or are guilty of treason. We do not defend assassination .- We favor obedience to all the properly constituted authorities. We believe in peaceful remedies for the evils that afflict the south. We do not hate the negro. We are willing to protect him in all the just rights which reasonable laws can confer upon him. More, we favor the use of all proper means for his advancement in civilization. We are willing to go as far as the farthest, in efforts for his redemption from barbarity and ignorance. But. we speak in the name of the southern white people. we do not intend, and never intend that the black man shall rule over us. We do not intend to admit him to social equality, and no laws on God's earth can force us to that.
If, by unjust laws, all political power, in one section of the country, is forcibly taken from the white race, and thrown into the hands of the black race ; if the inferior is to be placed above the superior; if the civilized are to be made subservient to the barbarous; if ignorance, depravity, and indecency, are to be made superior to intelligence, morality, and refinement ; if theft, rape, and murder by one race against the other are to be instigated and encouraged; if the white man can find no legal protection for his life, for the honor of his daughter, for the safety of his family and his property; if all of these things are imminently threatened, then, we say, and all men with a particle of manhood or a spark of courage will bear us out in the assertion, that a resort to secret organizations, or almost any other means for mutual protection and defence against these multi- tudinous and threatened evils is justifiable, right. and proper.
The evils which afflict southern society, brought about by unwise and malig- nant legislation, have not yet reached their worst phase, but they are fast approaching it, with unerring certainty.
The disfranchised white men in the ten excluded states have really no political or legal rights, except those they are permitted to enjoy by sufferance. They are excluded from the polls. They have no rights in the courts. A man may be arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, without ever having dreamed of the commission of crime. Anything and everything may be done on negro testimony, and with negre jurors. The brutal black wretches hesitate not, and on any and every occasion, to lie and to swear falsely, either for the sake of gain or the gratification of revenge. If a negro for any cause whatever, desires the arrest of a white man, he has nothing more to do than to concoct some infamous lie, swear to it stoutly before some Freedman's Bureau Agent, and the thing is accomplished in a twinkling. If a negro owes a white man money, he has only to swear bravely that he don't owe him a cent, in fact, he needn't do this swearing himself-it might hurt his conscience. He can easily enough, with a small consideration, procure some of his colored brethren to do it for him, and there is no legal process left by which the white man can recover his debt. When a negro is tried for theft, rape, or murder, and if convicted and sentenced to death or imprisonment, a Radical Governor, or a Military Satrap
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stands ready to pardon him on the instant, in order to save a "vote" for the peculiar advocates of "God and morality."
We cannot begin to enumerate the evils with which the southern people are afflicted. It would require far more time and space than we can spare.
If the Ku Klux's have for their object the protection of the men, women, and children of the white race against the brutality, rapacity, and ferocity of the black barbarians, we are with them, of them, and for them, first, last, and all the time.
A body of three mysterious beings, "so wonderfully and fearfully made." are said to be hovering in the neighborhood of this city. The latest intelligence from their headquarters on the "outskirts" of the city is to the effect that they contemplate an early attack on the place. So soon as some heavy pieces of ordnance can be placed in position, the attack will be made with force. It is expected that they will assail two different points at the same time, and they hope to carry everything by storm. As San Antonio has been the scene of many bat- tles, and has several times been captured, the same thing may happen again. There is nothing more true than the adage that what has been done once can be done again; and as in war "to the victors belong the spoils," we urgently advise all of our citizens who do not sympathize with the Klux to be in a hurry about getting ready to leave. "Stand not upon the order of your going, but go at once." The Klux will come with fire and sword and are determined to spare not.
In the following five paragraphs, containing abstracts from the Texas Almanac for 1867, are brief descriptions of five localities of South- west Texas, each one of which indicates some facts that help toward a true estimate of this section at the time.
San Antonio.
In San Antonio, there are a large number of schools. At the free school, about 200 pupils are regularly educated. A German and English school is admirably conducted, with about 150 scholars, and the Catholic College has from 200 to 300 pupils. This college is for the education of young ladies exclusively. There are also many smaller schools. Two schools are devoted to the instruction of negroes,-one taught by a North- ern man and one by a negro. There are also many schools in different parts of the county. The city of San Antonio contains two Catholic churches, one Episcopalian, one Presbyterian, one Methodist, and one Baptist. This city is improving with great rapidity, not less than 200 new buildings having been put up this year, or are now in process of erection. Five stone bridges span the streams above mentioned, in dif- ferent parts of the city and suburbs. The population of San Antonio is about 15,000, and rapidly increasing consisting of about equal num- bers of Americans, Germans, and Mexicans, with a few French, Irish, and Italians. The timber consists of mesquite, pecan, elm, and other va- rieties common to rich alluvial lands. The county possesses a pasturage well calculated for the successful breeding of stock of all kinds. Stone, -sand and lime-are the chief building materials. In San Antonio, is
Confederate Tannery.
located the extensive tannery constructed by the defunct Confederate government during the war, at an immense cost, which, it is said, will be transformed into a state penitentiary. Five extensive flouring and corn-
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mills are now in operation, and another in course of erection. The mar- kets are Port Lavaca and Indianola, distant about 150 miles, thirty of which are by railroad. Trrigable lands are worth from $10 to $50 per acre, other lands from $5 to $10, according to quality, timber, etc. "Freed- men" are unreliable since their emancipation, being idle, dissolute, and thieving, hardly performing work enough to keep body and soul together from day to day. Those not confined in jail for felonies, or at work upon the streets of San Antonio to liquidate fines and costs, are to be seen roaming about the country, ragged and vagrant. The city of San Antonio is lighted by gas. An ice manufactory is in successful opera- tion. There are five newspapers published in the city. German and Eng- lish laborers are the main dependence. Colonel Jose Antonio Navarro, one of the old patriots of the Texas revolution, and the only surviving signer of the Texas declaration of independence, now seventy-one years of age, resides in San Antonio.
Atascosa County.
Atascosa county was settled in an early day by Colonel J. A. Na- varro. Salinas, and others, but in a few years the Indians became so troublesome that it was abandoned ; and there were no settlements of importance until 1853. when it commenced settling up very fast. Its population is now about 2.500. This is strictly a stock-raising county, and no more attention is paid to the growing of the cereals than to in- sure a plentiful support of its inhabitants. It is, however, peculiarly suitable for breeding of swine, owing to the luxuriant growth of mast. and the facility with which these animals fatten themselves from the heavy product of the dwarf oak. Atascosa river, running through this county, is remarkable for the purity of its freestone water. from its source to its discharge into the Rio Frio. The Borego and San Miguel are streams running through the county. There are but few schools in the county. Lands in this county are generally sandy, and the growth is principally post oak and live oak ; a large portion is prairie. But few "freedmen" throughout the county.
Bandera County.
This county lies west from Kerr, is a stock-growing county of no remarkable pretensions, but contains about fifty families, most whom live at the county-seat, Bandera City. The city, so called, is composed chiefly of a court-house, a church, a school-house, a blacksmith shop, two stores. a tavern or hotel, and quite a number of framed houses. Bandera City is situated immediately on the Medina river. the valley of which beau- tiful stream is rich, and productive of wheat, rye, oats, and corn. There is good cypress and cedar timber upon some of the tributaries of the Medina. There is a society in Bandera, the members of which seem to live together in much peace and harmony. They are called Mormons. and are. I think, most of them, of Polish descent. There are some good farms in Bandera county. and quite a number of fine sheep. Hogs and cattle are doing well. There is a regular mail from San Antonio to Bandera, a distance of 35 miles.
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Dimmit and Duval Counties. (Unorganized.) :
These two counties are exactly similar in character, the former be- ing watered by the Nueces river, which runs through its midst, and the latter by its tributaries. They are only adapted to stock-raising, the timber being about as scarce as the water. There are but four places adapted to settlements, and the products of the soil are not to be de- pended upon, in consequence of the frequent droughts. At present, there are but four stock-raisers in these counties, and a scant population is all they will ever probably have, unless they should be found to possess mineral wealth, not now known to exist.
Zapata County.
County-Seat, Carriza, which is on the Rio Grande, where consider- able trading was done before the war. This county is very sparsely set- tled, and is chiefly adapted to grazing. Like most of the counties bor- dering on the Rio Grande, but little can be said beyond its being a fron- tier county. subject to occasional raids from Indians and Mexicans and only suited to those who are willing to live where they are subject to such occurrences.
Vol. I. 15
CHAPTER XXII.
THE SOUTHWEST TEXAS BORDER.
ITS WILD AND TUMULTUOUS EXISTENCE FROM THE MEXICAN WAR UNTIL THE COMING OF RAILROADS AND PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.
Up to about a quarter of a century ago one had to go only a few miles south or west of San Antonio to reach the "border" country. Be- yond that to the Rio Grande was one vast area of cattle range, with no towns, with few county organizations, with no means of communication except by horseback or wagon, with little social development, no schools. The cattlemen and sheepmen possessed the country entirely. And this condition remained practically unchanged until the railroads built through the cattle ranges, causing towns to spring up and the fabric of human society to be knit closer together. Then, too, came the wire-fence age, the restriction of the free range, the development of the modern live- stock industry-all which inaugurated a new era in Southwestern Texas. But it is with the intervening period that this chapter has to deal.
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