USA > Texas > A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas, Volume I > Part 67
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Thus the logic of the situation seems to make the construction of the road inevitable. But San Antonio cannot afford to sleep on its opportunity. There is many a slip between the cup and the lip, and possibilities of other combinations to grab this rich territory and the trade that it has, exist and will be seized if this city is neglectful and indifferent.
It's up to the leaders of business here to get busy and clinch this proposi- tion by striking while the iron is hot.
Business Men's Club.
What was by far the greatest meeting the Business Men's Club has ever held took place at Electric Park last night. It was in the nature of a jubilee cele- bration because of the fact that the club had reached a membership of 1,000, that the cattle Raisers' Association of Texas would meet here in the spring of 1908, and that it was an opportunity of all members to break bread, so to speak, and better know each other. To help the San Antonians celebrate this auspicious event were one hundred of the representative business men of Dallas. There were between 500 and 600 present.
The jubilee was all that the directors and the members of the club had hoped for. It was notable for the enthusiasm that bubbled to the surface at the slightest provocation.
As guests of honor at the jubilee were Congressman James L. Slayden and Col. George LeRoy Brown of the Twenty-sixth Infantry. Both of these were among the speakers.
Congressman James L. Slayden was introduced as the first speaker. Mr. Slayden, the first president of the club, and one of the guests of honor, was prop- erly introduced by the toastmaster. Mr. Slayden's appearance brought out a tumult of applause from the large assemblage. His remarks dealt at first with the Business Men's Club and later with Fort Sam Houston, its past, present and future. He said in part :
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HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS
"This morning I saw a news item in the Express which said that I was to imake a speech of five minutes here this evening. Later in the day I learned un- officially, but reliably, for it came through a reporter of The Express, that I was to speak about Fort Sam Houston, her past, her present and her future. I think you will all agree with me that it is a rather large subject to be handled in a five-minute speech. The Business Men's Club evidently believes in business meth- ods and business brevity. The commission is large and the conditions hard, but I will do my best-and angels can do no more.
"Before assailing the Post, however, I do want to say just a few words about the Business Men's Club. I am proud of the fact that I was its first president. I wish I could be quite certain that the club itself views that period of its history with equal pride. It has been and it is today a useful organization. What its future is to be rests with you and your associates. By co-operation and generous support it can be made a great factor in the development of the commerce of this city and of southwest Texas. If not supported properly it will wither and die and we will all regret that it was ever born because it will be notice to the world that the largest city in the state hasn't enough enterprise to keep alive its one purely business organization.
"But your enormous growth shows that you are getting that support. I hope to see the time when a great Board of Trade, or Business Men's Club or whatever name you may call yourselves, will be housed in a splendid way, under its own roof.
"Now for Fort Sam Houston. If you are familiar with the history of your own state you know that since white men first came here to convert Indians and locate ranches, in both of which laudable enterprises they were moderately suc- cessful, San Antonio has been a center of military activity and importance. Its strategic value was at once seen by the missionaries. The Indians who needed conversion were handy. Converted Indians must be baptized and the value of a nearby river was manifest. Then the Alamo was built to serve as a place of worship and defense. Just which Alamo it was I have forgotten, but my point is that all things went to establish San Antonio.
"Later it was the scene of many and bloody fights between the early set- tlers and the Mexicans. These culminated in the great fight which is unique in the history of the world.
"Again in the war of 1845 it was an important rendezvous for troops on the way to Mexico. Too far from the center of the great conflict to have much military importance during the Civil War its position of strategic value was again recognized in 1865 and 1866 by assembling a large army in San Antonio.
"This in brief is why Fort Sam Houston is at San Antonio. As to what it is I can best show you by reading a memorandum prepared for me by the Quartermaster General a few weeks ago.
"In 1897 the Post of Sam Houston and department headquarters at San Antonio consisted of 100 buildings of cheap construction, which had cost $546,722.33. They now consist of 183 buildings completed, which, with roads, walks, sewer systems, etc., cost $1,845,825.31, including repairs. There have been authorized, but not yet under contract, sixty-four buildings. the estimated cost of which is $796,140, and there are contemplated twenty-four additional buildings, the estimated cost of which is $290,850, making a total of 271 buildings, with repairs and sub- sidiary work, $2,932,815.31. In addition $346.578 has been appropriated for land, making a grand total of expenditures of the Quartermaster's Department for con- struction work, etc., of $3,279,393.31. Allotments by fiscal years are as follows :
Land.
1898
$ 13.415.58
1899
8.944.26
I 900
43,155.97
89.582.86
1902
49,809.09
ICO3
72,409.07
1004
440.522.46
$ 46,578.00
I905
275,227.66
1906
280,218.04
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HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS
Land.
1907
$821,957.00
$300,000.00
1908
290,850.00
Total
$2,386,092.98
$346,578.00
346,578.00
$2,732,670.98
Add expenditures prior to 1897 546.722.33
Grand total
$3,279,393.31
"The future of Fort Sam Houston to be properly treated would require you to take off the limit. I mean the five minute limit. It is a subject of which I am more than full. For years, I have been working for the development of this Post and as you have seen by the statement made for me by my friend, Eugene Humphrey, I have been gratified with a moderate degree of success.
"A brigade post we will have. That much may be regarded as a certainty. "Whether we will go on expanding until the citizens of San Antonio will have the pleasure of seeing a division assembled at the post and on the maneuver ground near Leon Springs remains to be seen. I do not look upon it as alto- gether improbable.
"The advantages of the development of Fort Sam Houston from a regi- mental to a brigade post are too well known to require a statement from me. It will give us a permanent military population of between 3,000 and 5,000 people. It means a steady and heavy contribution to the retail trade of San Antonio, the introduction upon a larger scale of an agreeable social element in the officers, their wives and daughters, and the making of San Antonio a magnet which will draw people of wealth and fashion from all over the country, to the great ben- efit of our hotels and cab companies. But you all know these things. Everybody knows and admits them, except when we need a contribution to supplement the Government appropriation for land purchases or to remove a small but vexatious cloud upon a land title.
"Even at the risk of trespassing upon the time limit. I cannot take my seat without mentioning the names of certain gentlemen who have done great service in the upbuilding of Fort Sam Houston. There was General Stanley, whom we all knew a dozen years ago and held in such high esteem; then dear old General Bliss, of blessed memory; and Wheaton, Graham, McKibbon and Grant, and Lee -Jesse Lee, whose stars of major general were so well deserved; and finally General McCaskey, so lately promoted and transferred. We owe them all a debt of gratitude.
"Our little friend here whose small body constantly surprises me by holding so large a heart-I don't see how it is done-Colonel Brown, has been a noble ally. He has so grown into the affection of the people that I am constantly expecting them to call him George. I don't know that I am entirely sorry that he is going to the Philippines, whence he will return with a star on his shoulder, for he would make a dangerous candidate for Congress should he get it into his head to run.
"In all this year of trouble we have had to straighten out about ninety titles to the Fort Sam Houston land, one man has worked without ceasing. He has been a shrewd and capable representative of the government, and driven a hard bargain in the way of getting more land than was really required by the Act of Congress. But he has his heart in the work of making Sam Houston the greatest and finest post in America. He is not only a good soldier ; he is a good citizen of San Antonio and his name is Robert R. Stevens."
Railroads.
The railroads of the southwest are getting ready for the greatest immigra- tion effort in their history.
Plans are being perfected which will result in the establishment of a new and effective steamship service between European and gulf ports. This service
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HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS
will be in addition to that already maintained by the North German Lloyd Steamship Company.
Among the railroads interested in the immigration movement are the Rock Island and Frisco systems, Missouri Pacific. Harriman lines, Gulf Coast Road and all Texas lines having terminals at the gulf ports.
J. M. Johnson of the traffic department of the Gould lines is now in Europe arranging for comprehensive agencies in the various European countries from which it is expected to draw the bulk of the immigrants.
The Rock Island and Frisco systems through John Sebastian, passenger traffic manager, have established European agencies.
It is said that the recent ruling of the government that a state administra- tion can engage in the work of colonizing its territory has given energy to immigration projects. It is the plan of several roads to get the southwestern states interested in immigration so there will be no question as to the legality of the move contemplated.
It is said that an entirely different method is to be pursued in getting im- migration into the southwest. It is the plan to take the immigrant from his home in Europe and to "personally conduct" him until he is settled in his new home in the southwest. This work will be done by accredited agents of the railroads who will start the immigrant right by meeting him at the docks of Galveston, the main port of entry, and taking him to his new farm in the south- west.
In many cases the new homes will be purchased conditionally before the immigrant leaves Europe .. In this way the settling of immigrants will be on more intelligent lines. Immigrants will be directed to sections which offer the same kind of farming to which they were accustomed in the old country.
It is said that under the new plan immigrants will not be dumped in the large cities, where the majority of them now remain, but will be taken where their labor is needed or placed directly in their new homes.
The government is interested in the new undertaking of the southwestern roads, and is going to spend money to provide immigration facilities at the port of Galveston .- Chicago Record Herald.
Development Along the S. A. & A. P. Railway.
What the immigration movement has accomplished during the past few months in the district traversed by the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad, is told in the following article from the San Antonio Express:
The quarter-year ending March 31 marked the period of greatest development, agriculturally, financially and populously in the history of Southwest Texas, accord- ing to accurate statistics which have been compiled by George F. Lupton, general passenger agent of the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway, from some official reports that have been rendered by his various subalterns throughout the territory traversed by that railroad. Since January I the Southwest has not only made more rapid and far reaching strides toward thorough development than has been witnessed during any other period of its progress, but has exceeded in substantial development and progress any other section of the United States now being opened to settlers, insofar as authentic statistical reports define.
Many months of advertising and persistent effort to interest the people of the North in the varied resources and advantages of this section of Texas, bore greater and more substantial visible fruit during the first three months of the cur- rent year than the brightest hones of the most sanguine predicted a year ago. When the immigration undertaking was inaugurated it was regarded bv many as a more or less fantastic plan which recognized as among its chief recommendla- tions the romantic associations connected with the vast and uncultivated areas of the Southwest. Texas was heralded abroad as the synonym of interesting tradi- tion, picturesque scenery and an unlimited exonse of arable soil whose fertility was a gold mine that would vield a princely windfall to him who persistently an- plied himself to its cultivation.
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HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS
Much of the tradition remains. Texas is still advertised as the Eden of mod- ern times and draws much of its immigration because of the ethical side of its inducements. But there is more now to the resources of the State than was at first supposed even by the voluble promoters of immigration. Results obtained by the army of newcomers have demonstrated beyond dispute the supremacy of South- west Texas as a field for the conduct of diversified agricultural projects, and es- tablished it as the leading wealth-producing section of similar physical proportions on the globe.
Since January I it is conservatively estimated that between 15 and 20 per cent increase in cultivated acreage has taken place throughout the Southwest, particu- larly in the territory immediately tributary to San Antonio. In many localities, of course, the acreage in cultivation exhibits vaster increase, while in others it is noticeaby smaller. The general average, however, if accurately calculated, it is said would resolve itself somewhere between 15 and 20 per cent.
A trip through the territory now being made the objective point of the semi- monthly homeseeker excursions is sufficient to impress the traveler with the rapid development that is under way. In localities in which one year ago farm houses and ranch buildings were noticed only at intervals separated by many miles, a systematic chain of small farms enclosing neat and inviting homesteads is now a prominent feature. The land is rapidly becoming the home of thrifty settlers who emigrate in a continuous tide from the States of the Middle West and even from remote portions of Texas. East and North Texas are contributing substantial as- sistance to the development of the Southwest, as their families are moving gradu- ally from the lands of higher price and valuation to the cheaper lands in the open- ing field.
In the country bounded by Waco on the north, Corpus Christi and Falfurrias on the south, Houston on the east and Kerrville on the west, 500,000 acres trib- utary to one railroad were sold during the year ending Dec. 31, 1906. General industrial improvement that attended the development of the territory during that period is represented in the expenditure of over $3,000,000 and corporate cip- italization of over $7,000,000. Three hundred and eighty-five families were perma- nently settled on the line of the road and 15,000 homeseekers handled at one stage of their trip. With this development there are still about 2,500,000 acres of land available in the territory traversed by this road which will be settled extensively probably before the end of the current year. Evidences of this vast development throughout the Southwest, in sections penetrated by other railroads, are just as convincing of the rapid influx of homeseekers and their immediate cultivation of the new and hitherto unremunerative land.
The prosperity of the entire country is reflected in the renewed activity of the towns located therein. There is hardly a village in the entire Southwest that is not responding to the stimulating effect of the agricultural development, and towns that were recently devoted solely to the postoffice, the general store and probably a saloon or two, are building stone houses for merchandise of a higher class, erecting banks for the safe deposit of the farmers' surplus funds, and reach- ing out for additional business with the intuitive genius of originators of thriving commerce.
A glance at the development taking place in a few of the towns of South- west Texas suffices to establish their rapid trend toward substantial advancement. At Floresville, but a short distance from San Antonio, four brick buildings were erected and a two-story hotel constructed during the last quarter. A large livery stable will soon be completed which will be equipped with the best horses and vehi- cles procurable. Since January 1, 20,000 acres of land in the vicinity of Floresville have been sold and 20 per cent more land placed in cultivation than was shown by the records for last year's acreage. New settlers are coming in continuously and are increasing land values by their insistent demand for farming tracts.
At Elmendorf the large crockery plant now in operation there is increasing its capacity double its present gauge. At Calaveras an oil well is being sunk with prospects of finding a flowing stream of petroleum of sufficient magnitude to make the operators rich. At Poth a public hall was erected by the enterprising citizens and 10 per cent more land was accredited to the cultivated accounts during the last quarter. Falls City built a two-story brick schoolhouse to accommodate the growing attendance of pupils, while a two-story frame business house will soon
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HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS
be completed. A national bank was recently organized there and its deposits show by their size the general prosperity of the surrounding territory. Fifteen hundred acres of land were sold during the first quarter of the current year and 20 per cent more land put in cultivation.
At Hobson a $7,500 gin has been built and 25 per cent increase is noted in the cultivated acreage.
Karnes City can also boast a new national bank. Fifteen hundred acres of land were sold during the quarter and 15 per cent more land placed in cultivation.
Kenedy has a two-story brick building, constructed during the last quarter, which cost in the neighborhood of $10,000, an oil mill upon which improvements aggregating $20,000 were recently made. Ten thousand acres of land were sold and 15 per cent additional put in cultivation.
At Runge three new business houses were erected during the quarter and 5 per cent increase in the cultivation of land noted. Two new business houses and five dwellings were built at Nordheim, 600 acres of land sold and 5 per cent more land put in cultivation. At Yoakum the "Sap" has improved its shops extensively. Ten per cent increase in land cultivation is noted, while 2,000 acres of land are recorded as sold during the last quarter.
At Rock Island the colonization project is meeting with remarkable success. Settlers are coming into the immediate vicinity rapidly and are fast transforming the level plains into flowing fields of rice and other growing grains.
A State bank with a capital of $40,000 was recently incorporated at Eagle Lake and is doing a profitable business at this stage of the investment. Prospects were never better in that community. Fifteen hundred acres of land were sold during the last quarter and 5 per cent increase in cultivation was made.
At Kerrville ten new houses are in course of erection by the enterprising cit- izens. Ten per cent more land is cultivated now than was utilized last year. A large number of prospectors are continuously invading the district. At Comfort several new houses were erected, while the surrounding country is being entered by homeseekers and prospectors from the North and East.
Land values increased during the last quarter in and about Flatonia 20 per cent, due to the unprecedented prosperity of the community and the insistent de- mand for farm sites by Northern settlers. Five per cent increase is noted in the land in cultivation.
A new bank organized, the erection of two new business houses, the sale of 4,000 acres of land and an increase of 25 per cent in the cultivated acreage con- stitute the record made during the last quarter by Gonzales.
Beeville is enjoying a general building boom and is seemingly but launching out into a sea of prosperity. New residences are being erected all over the city, while six new, large and expensive business houses were constructed during the last quarter. Adding to the city-like aspect of the growing town is the new opera house that has been erected at quite an appreciable cost. During the quarter just passed 5,500 acres of land in the vicinity of Beeville were sold and 10 per cent increased cultivation noted. The farmers of Beeville are inaugurating a new industry and have planted over 1,000 orange trees, intending to deal extensively in the cultivation of that fruit. The largest asparagus field in the West, compris- ing over 1,000 acres is now being cultivated in the vicinity of Beeville.
Twenty-five per cent increased cultivation is noted in the history of Sinton and surrounding country for the first quarter of the year. Ten thousand acres of land were sold and flattering prospects are entertained for further development. The general manager of a land company will soon open 25,000 acres of the best land in that community, which extends from Sinton to Portland, bv cutting it into small farming tracts and disposing of it to Northern purchasers chiefly.
The town of Taft has added a fire department to its municipal accomplish- ments and has been given a new railway station. A slaughter house, market house, ice plant and five other buildings were erected during the first quarter. while the land in cultivation shows a 30 per cent increase over that of the preced- ing quarter.
A State bank. capitalized at $60,000, was recently incorporated at Corpus Christi. Five new business houses, two rooming houses, fifteen dwellings and other improvements were realized during the last three months. The State Epworth League contemplates the erection of a 100-room hotel for the ensuing summer sea-
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HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS
son, the contract for which has already been let to Architect W. N. Hagy of this city. A bath house will also be constructed, the two buildings to cost approxi- mately $20,000. Thirty-five hundred acres of land were sold during the last three months, while the increase in cultivation amounts to about 15 per cent. An average of 1,500 homeseekers monthly find their way into Corpus Christi and vicinity. A large addition to the passenger station of the "Sap" and new sheds for the handling of vegetable shipments were made.
Rockport reports about 80 land sales during the quarter and extensive im- provements in the way of buildings. Ten per cent more land was cultivated.
Twenty thousand acres of land were sold at Alice during the quarter, while the increase in cultivation reaches the unusual amount of 50 per cent.
Ten new business houses at Falfurrias, aggregating an expenditure of about $12,000; 100 new residences, which will cost collectively about $20,000; one hotel annex, $2,000; an ice plant, to cost about $10,000; cement block plant, $1,000, and other improvements were noted during the recent quarter. Ninety-five town lots were sold to new residents of the town, and 7,000 acres of land disposed of to homeseekers.
The era of the Southwest is just beginning and its possible achievements are too vast to contemplate.
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