USA > Texas > A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas, Volume I > Part 30
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The Mexican war extended Texas to the Rio Grande. Mexico ha.l claimed the Nueces as the southern boundary. But though for sixty years an undisputed American possession, this region was among the slowest to develop and fill up with permanent population. Without a population sufficiently large and close knit to defend the country and make civil justice swift and sure, this tract between the Nueces and the Rio Grande was occupied only by the cattle interests and even more by American and Mexican cattle thieves, fugitives from justice, Indian renegades, and the entire complement of desperadoism. To describe the conditions that existed there for the space of thirty years in anything like detail would be impossible. The reign of crime is obvious; the loss of property and destruction of many human lives need only the totaling in figures to convince of the enormity of the sum. But in regard to the international questions raised, and even as to the direction of individual culpability, it is doubtless impossible to strike the true mean. Certain it is that as an international issue, neither government had a preponder- ance of right on its side. Criminal depravity is not a national character- istic. Localities that are specially favorable to the commission and con- tinuance of crime, as was the Rio Grande border, will attract the vicious element regardless of race. The remedy for such conditions lies in strengthening the forces of law. The administration of justice was weak and ineffective on both sides of the Rio Grande, and to this extent both nations were to blame. But the wholesale condemnation of Mexico by residents on this side of the river is the result of national prejudices that too often have been admitted where only the rarest discrimination and reasonableness should enter.
In the narrative of border conditions that follows, information is
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derived from various sources, but principally from the reports of the Mexican and the American commissions appointed about 1872 to in- quire into and report on the frontier conditions, which by that time had reached an acute stage, and threatened serious complications. The Texas newspapers of that period were also filled with news items and com- ments on the subject, and there is no dearth of material from which the essential facts in the controversy may be obtained.
"The cattle owners of Western Texas," wrote Edward King in 1873, "have been much before the public for the last few years, on ac- count of their numerous complaints of thievery on the frontier. While we were in San Antonio a government commission arrived from a long and tedious journey through the Rio Grande valley and the country between San Antonio and the Mexican boundary, where they had been taking testimony with regard to the Mexican outrages. Opinion seeins somewhat divided as to the nature and extent of the damage done the cattle interest by the Mexicans, some Texans even asserting that the Texan claims are grossly exaggerated, and that there has been much stealing on both sides of the Rio Grande."
This writer ascribes most of the troubles on the frontier to the Kickapoo Indians. These Indians while on an apparently peaceable journey from their reservation to Mexico in 1864 were attacked by a Confederate force, who mistook them for a hostile raiding party. From that time on the Kickapoos had been retaliating and, the Comanches and other renegade bands having joined with them, they had been a constant terror to the stock-raiser, running off great herds of cattle and commit- ting numberless murders. "They have been almost ubiquitous (wrote King in 1873), overrunning that vast section between the Rio Grande and San Antonio rivers, and the road between the towns of San Antonio and Eagle Pass-a region embracing thirty thousand square miles. They were wont to dash into the ranches and stampede all the stock they could frighten, driving it before them to the Rio Grande, and although well armed pursuers might be close behind them as they crossed the fords, they would usually escape with their prey, know- ing that reclamation, in Mexico, would be an impossibility. They came, and still come, within a few miles of San Antonio, to gather up horses. The pursuer can only travel in the daytime, when he can see the trail ; therefore an attempt at pursuit is folly. The United States commissioners to Texas are of the opinion that not only have the Indians been aided and abetted by Mexicans in their stealing from the rancheros of Western Texas, but that Mexicans are directly engaged in the stealing themselves, and that so great has been the loss from these causes since the war that the number of cattle now grazing west of San Antonio is be- tween two-thirds and three-fourths less than in 1866."
Depredations in Bandera County.
One example at this point will suffice to prove the unsettled state of the border during the period referred to. At a meeting of the citizens of the county of Bandera, held at Bandera on Wednesday, March 25. 1868, Judge James Davenport presiding. the following resolutions were presented and unanimously adopted :
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Resolved that the general commanding the Fifth Military District be hereby memorialized; that our citizens are being frequently murdered by a remorseless foe, that our property is forcibly wrested from us, and our minds are constantly harrowed by painful apprehensions of impending; danger. That since the removal of the cavalry from Camp Verde, we are without any protection. Wherefore knowing as we do the superior effectiveness of frontiersmen in protecting the frontier, we earnestly appeal to the commanding general, to encourage and assist tis so far as may be consistent with his duty, in organizing Home Guards for our own protection: respectfully representing that without such assistance, we are unable to organize as effectually as the occasion requires. Without the approval of the military authorities, we dare not do the little towards organizing which might be within our power.
About the first of September, 1867, one David Oriar was killed by Indians on the Hondo.
About the first of October afterwards a party of Indians, from ten to fifteen in number, attacked Mr. Griffin within three hundred yards of his house and wounded him severely. These Indians, after taking all of Mr. Griffin's horses, proceeded to the sheep ranch of Mr. Herman Kruger. and there robbed him of his only horse and killed his shepherd. Charley Asmus. Mr. Kruger having, only about six months previous, lost another shepherd killed by Indians, now became discouraged and abandoning his ranch drove off his sheep.
At this time the valley of the Hondo was partially settled by industrious farmers and stock raisers. From this time until about the middle of January, 1868, the people of Bandera county enjoyed a season of comparative quiet. Under encouraging appearances about twenty persons preempted little farms with a view of immediately improving, and establishing their families in homes upon them.
About the middle of Jannary the Indians again commenced their work of murder. At this time they attacked the house of Mr. Barnes, on the Hondo, wounding him and burning his house, corn and other property.
On the ensuing day the same party killed a youth, the son of Mr. Hardin at the head of Verde Creek, and also stole from the town of Bandera four horses. In consequence of these new and daring outrages, the settlements on the Hondo are broken 11p; the settlers have abandoned the property they could not carry with them and have removed their families to places of greater security. Those who had preemption claims, with a view of settling, abandoned the idea, until they can feel more confident of efficient protection.
About the first of February a party of six or eight Indians entered the town of Bandera and stole therefrom eight horses; in some instances breaking open the stables.
About the same time, on the road leading from the Rio Frio to the Sabinal, they murdered Mr. Ramsey, thus making four persons killed and two wounded in the county of Bandera, within six months past.
On Friday last three horses were stolen by Indians on the Hondo, in the neighborhood of the ranches abandoned a few weeks ago, from our townsmen, who were there hunting cattle.
We learn that the nipper settlements of the Sabinal are being broken up. A number of excellent families in the neighborhood of Bandera are, in con- sequence of continued outrages, preparing to leave the country.
Satisfactory evidence having been furnished me of all the facts set forth in the foregoing, I hereby certify the same to be true and correct.
S. L. CHILSON. Chief Justice, Bandera Co.
Description of the Border Region in 1870.1
· The tract of land lying between the Nueces and Rio Grande rivers comprises (on the lower Rio Grande) the counties of Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, Webb, La Salle, Encinal, Duval, Zapata, Live Oak, McMullen,
1 From Report of U. S. Commission appointed under Resolution of Congress, May 7, 1872, to investigate Texas Border difficulties.
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and Nueces, a tract of land three hundred miles long and from one to two hundred miles in width.
The assessment roll of 1870 showed in these counties an ownership of nearly five million acres of land. This region is one vast prairie, and is given up to the raising of beef cattle for the general markets of the country, and also the breeding of horses.
Between the Nueces and Rio Grande rivers, the Arroyo Colorado, a salt-water inlet, divides the grassy prairie between it and the Nueces from the sandy desert stretching on its other side along the Rio Grande. This sandy tract bears only the mesquit shrub-the vegetation due to the wind- ing Rio Grande, forming a thin fringe along its low banks. This dry waste was formerly considered to be a sufficient safe-guard to the interior of Texas, and would so prove in any case save that of organized and expert bands of marauders who, by strength and audacity, would dare to penetrate one hundred or more miles into an adjoining territory.
The Live Stock Industry Described in 1872.
In the tract thus described, although thinly settled (large ranches, many miles apart, dotting it here and there only), the assessment roll of 1870 showed an ownership in the counties named of 299,193 cattle, and 73.593 horses, although there was no return made of the stock in Live Oak and McMullen counties. The very peculiar custom of the owners as to the herding of their stock (which roams on the unfenced ranges), as well as their interest in giving in their property for assessment, for- bids them making an overstatement of their cattle, while horses, more carefully guarded, are given in at a fairer enumeration.
Unfenced, save in a few isolated instances, the stock ranges of this region give subsistence to hundreds of thousands of cattle in excess of the assessed number; and under the influence of the "northers," these cattle in grazing, move towards the south and west; large numbers thus move down into this region from the valley of the Upper Rio Grande and from ranches beyond the Nueces. Once crossing the Nueces river, they mingle with the local herds, largely increasing their numbers, re- maining thus strayed until the agent of the owner enters them in his annual report, and, according to his instructions, sells them or returns them to their distant owners. The neighboring counties of Goliad, Refugio, San Patricio, Karnes, Atascosa, and Uvalde, contribute thou- sands to the once countless herds in occupancy of this region, or to be reached through it. . The Texas cattle range over great reaches of prairie, often in dry seasons going a day's march for water, returning to their accustomed pastures.
Once yearly, they are driven up by the rancheros, examined, branded separated, the estrayed stock moved on towards their owners or disposed of, and an account as near as may be, taken. The distances traversed in search of the cattle of one herd are surprising, from fifty to one hundred and fifty miles being not unusual. Ownership is determined by the brands applied and the peculiar ear-mark, a record of brands and ear- marks being required by law to be kept in the county clerk's office. These brands are also published in the various newspapers of the region, as a standing advertisement. When a herd is sold, the sale of the brand is
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recorded. In gathering the stock, the increase following the old cattle, is assumed by natural law to be theirs, and is so branded. The custom is to separate for sale four-year old steers, the females being always re- tained in the herd for breeding. The Stock Raisers' Association of West- ern Texas, a body composed of the parties controlling the great cattle- raising interests of this region, regulates the methods of handling the herds, decides on rules for common protection, and in attempting to main- tain an efficient private police, has shown a commendable zeal in pro- tecting the interests represented by its members. In giving personal and official notice to the various state and Mexican authorities, in suggesting and attempting to make effective a fair system of hide inspection, and in' other respects, the associated stock raisers of Western Texas have ex- hausted every means at their disposal calculated to make the business protect itself.
The character of the occupation in which they are engaged, the present value in Texas, the scarcity of lumber, together with the peculiar features of land tenure, prevent as a rule, the fencing of their ranges, many of them being owned in common by various rancheros holding complicated titles. Ranches of from 10,000 to 200,000 acres are here employed solely for stock-raising. This region, by reason of irregularity of seasons, is ill-adapted to agricultural pursuits, and is devoted entirely to grazing. Freights are high, the country has no railroad communication, and the Texan ox, a source of moderate profit to the breeder. passes through many hands, and pays toll to different local companies before reaching the northern consumer. Sometimes wintering in Kansas, at other times taken north and fattened, this great cattle interest is taxed for transportation to an extent which well-nigh precludes the possi- bility of the realization of any profit.
The stock-raisers in the region referred to, are a liberal and indus- trious class of citizens, placed in a trying position, and the hard labor of years is represented in their flocks and herds. The land they own has no value unless peaceable possession is assured them. The good feel- ing existing among them as a class is put in evidence by their general willingness to exchange powers of attorney, to protect, as far as possible, their mutual interests in the recovery of strayed or stolen stock. The advantages to be derived from co-operation on the part of owners will be seen from the fact that cattle bearing the brands of King & Kennedy, Hale & Parker, T. Hines Clark, and other owners of large herds, have been traced for hundreds of miles along the Rio Grande, and on the Mexican side from Monterey to Bagdad, either by the movements of the strayed or stolen cattle or handling of hides stripped from them.
Reference to the report of the third annual fair of Texas, held at San Antonio, shows that a herd of seventy-five thousand cattle will ordi- narily range over an area of country one hundred miles long and fifty miles wide. With expert thieves depredating on this property, it is easy to see that the damage must amount to millions of dollars. Herds num- bering 50,000 and 75,000 are not unusual in Western Texas. The stock- raiser, living on his isolated ranch, shows his prosperity in continually augmenting his herds of breeding cattle by purchase, and acquiring lands
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for their subsistence. The yearly income is derived from the sale of steers fit for market.
The employment of from twenty-five to three hundred men in the management of these herds is not unusual, and a thorough examination of the system, as it exists (and it cannot be changed but by the growth of population, improvement of cattle, establishment of railroad lines, and fencing the vast prairies) convinces the commissioners that the stock- raisers of Western Texas are legitimately engaged in a business of the greatest local importance, indirectly affecting the whole interests of the country, and making subservient to the uses of man a vast area of terri- tory which would otherwise be an unproductive waste.
With large capital, immense herds of cattle, and men and material in proportion, it is the conviction of the commission that this interest is one of sufficient magnitude to have extended over it the protecting arm of this government, otherwise, although now of national importance, it must soon perish at the hands of bands of freebooters, who find a safe refuge on the convenient shores of our sister republic of Mexico, and the residents of this frontier left stripped of the fruits of years of thrift and industry. Where possible, stockraisers inclose land as rapidly as their means will allow, and in one case forty miles
of fence, between two arms of Corpus Christi bay, have been recently built, inclosing the vast herds of Mifflin Kenedy. The pros- perity of this region rests on the basis of quiet occupation of the stock ranges and efficient protection. Where local irregularities do not at all affect this business it can only be some fatal external influence which will bring ruin on men thus legitimately engaged. The general features of horse-raising do not differ from the plan pursued with regard to cat- tle, save that more care is necessarily taken with the herds. Needed in large numbers for continual use, the herds of horses are generally kept around the headquarters of the owners, and are thus more effectually protected. As large numbers of horses are used and worn out in the herding of cattle, this species of property (although a valuable adjunct to the cattle interest) is seldom a source of income.
The commissioners, having endeavored to sketch out the vast extent of the interest involved, proceed with direct reference to the facts, to an examination of the past and present condition of the stock-raising interests of the Rio Grande frontier.
Past and Present Conditions.
At the close of the war of the rebellion these plains were covered with vast herds of cattle, largely increased by the years of the war, as the northern market was closed, and cattle for the confederacy were ob- tained from Northern and Eastern Texas. The evidence of all the ex- perts examined before the commission establishes the alarming fact that in this region the number of cattle today is between one-third and one- fourth of the number in 1866.
The rate of increase of cattle in Texas is 33 1-3 per cent per annum, as shown by the concurrent testimony of nearly one hundred witnesses examined before the commission, embracing experts of every kind, citi- zens disinterested, and parties in interest. This opinion is fully confirmed
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by W. G. Kingsbury's "Essay on Cattle-Raising," report third annual fair of Texas (page 41) ; also by Major Sweet's Pamphlet (page 6) ; also by Texan Almanac (page 206).
The annual sales of beef cattle 'but seldom, if ever, exceed one-half of the yearly increase, as the evidence goes to show that the cows are always kept for breeding purposes, that no local disease, drought, or un- usual sales have occurred, calculated to reduce these herds below their average numbers ; and the records of these counties show but little, if any, complaint of local cattle stealing.
Reply of Mexican Commission.
In reply to the assertions made by the Americans relative to the marked decrease in the number of cattle since the war, the Mexican com- mission, re-enforcing its statements by a very convincing group of sta- tistics, admitted that the cattle in Texas had suffered some reduction, which, they contended, could be accounted for independent of any con- nection with the cattle thieves in Mexico. Their argument follows :
The commercial statistics of Texas, copied from the Texas Almanac for 1873, gives the following results :
Horned cattle exported to Galveston and Indianola during the period from September 1, 1871, to September 1, 1872. 58,078 From Saluria, during the same period. 24,461 Y From Corpus 3,180
Transported to Kansas from Caldwell, from May Ist to November 1I, 1872. 349,275
Total 434.994
This table does not include the cattle exported from other ports of Texas, nor that taken to the northern portion of the State, not passing through Caldwell,
The statistics show for the same period, i. e., from September 1, 1871, to August 31, 1872, the commerce in raw hides to be as follows :
Exported from Galveston. 407,93I
66 66 Corpus Christi 85,297
66
Rockport 10,240
Arkansas 31,720
66 Saluria 330,875
Total
866,063
In this is not included the hides exported from other ports, nor those taken from Shreveport and other points of the Colorado River, nor those employed in manufactures in the State, nor yet the excess lying at the ports, which have not been exported.
These exportations have not been habitual, nor is there any notice of them previous to 1866, as shown by the statistics.
Taking for example the commerce of the port of Galveston, we arrive at positive conclusions. In the mention made of the traffic of the above named port, published in the Texas Almanac for 1869 (pages 179-180), are contained the two following paragraphs :
"Cattle .- In no year previous (1868) has there been so much activity in the ·exportation of cattle from this port, as at present, owing to large herds collected, the great facility for embarkation, and the urgent necessity of the population, compelling them to use every means possible to avail themselves of the resources within their reach. There have been also exportations from all the other ports, and those transported by land have reached an unprecedented number."
"Cattle Hides .- The exportation from this port for the year amounts to
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205,000 hides, and almost as many have been transported from the other ports of the State, showing an increase of at least fifty per cent over any previous year."
It is not too much to say that since 1868 the exportation of cattle and hides from Texas has assumed unusual activity, and has continued increasing, as will be seen from the following notice relative to the port of Galveston (Texas Almanac, 1873, page 39) :
Hides exported from September 1, 1867, to August 31, 1868 205,000
From 1868 to 1869 294,802
From 1869 to 1870. 332,769
From 1870 to 1871. 371,925
From 1871 to 1872. 407,931
This unparalleled development of the commerce has not been peculiar to Galveston, but general to all the ports of Texas, and is established by the fact that the general exportation of hides which took place from 1867 to 1868 were calculated at four hundred thousand, and considered as an extraordinary num- ber, exceeding that of any previous year. This is less than half the number of hides exported in the period from 1871 to 1872. In other words, the exportation of cattle hides in any year prior to 1867 never exceeded 200,000, so that when in 1868 and each of the succeeding years, the number increased until it showed the large figure of eight hundred and seventy-six thousand and seventy-three, it produced the plain conviction that since 1868 the sales had been unusual and the number constantly increasing.
In proportion to the number of cattle consumed, the production has been alarmingly decreasing, owing to the prolonged droughts suffered for the past three years. A great many witnesses, proprietors of farms in Texas, especially in the region between Rio Bravo and the Nueces, where it is insisted that no droughts have occurred. laborers working and travelers passing through that portion all testify with singular uniformity upon this point, and give the drought as the cause for the mortality amongst the cattle.
The lack of rain contributes in two different ways to produce this result. The immediate consequence is the drying up of the springs and other watering places. As soon as the water is exhausted the cattle begin to perish, especially if the herds are large. Although there are places where these springs never dry, and where water is plentiful, the pastures become exhausted, and the cattle fall off in flesh, even though they may not die. The result of this is that dur- ing the winter, although it may have rained previously, the cattle are unable to resist the great cold. and quickly perish. so that the lack of pasture is felt by causing other troubles, to which the cattle become a prey.
From year to year, the evil has increased, the drought having continued for three years, the effects caused by the scarcity of water in one year is again repeated, falling upon cattle not yet recovered from the last year's suffering.
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