USA > Texas > A history of central and western Texas > Part 38
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49
Dr. Fowler takes pride in and derives much pleasure and profit from his valuable farm of over twelve hundred acres six miles south of Bal- linger, on the Paint Rock road. It is one of the best farms in all Runnels county, and produces splendid crops of cotton and the various other products grown in this section. His wife was before marriage Ida Hartin, born at Magnolia, Arkansas, and who died in Ballinger in 1897, the mother of four children, Leslie C., Tom, Mabel and Clyde.
THOMAS J. STOCKS has passed through the trying experiences of pioneer life and stands among the few courageous ones who withstood its many hardships, its panics, its drouth and its general hard times and have lived to see a substantial and wealthy city and county grow from a former wilderness. The town of Ballinger, which had been selected for the county seat, was opened for settlement by a public sale of lots on June 29, 1886. Mr. Stocks had arrived on the 25th, four days previously, and he took part in the beginning as well as the subsequent history of Bal- linger. For several years he was in the lumber business, the most of the time being yardman for the Cameron Lumber Company, and he was also for a time engaged in the cattle business. In 1894 he was elected the treasurer of Runnels county, and he served two terms in that office, and in 1908 he was returned to that office and is its present incumbent. He has large property interests in Ballinger, conspicuous among which is the Stocks Hotel, of which he is the proprietor.
Mr. Stocks was born and reared in LaFayette county, Mississippi,
365
HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
born on the 7th of June, 1849, and his home was there until in 1870 he came to Bell county, Texas. After five years there he moved to Lampas- sas, and in June of 1886 he came to Runnels county. While living in Bell county he was married to Miss Sarah Elizabeth Wright, a childhood com- panion back in his native county in Mississippi, and they have become the parents of eight children: Mrs. Callie Lewin, Joe Stocks, Mrs. Ada Brooks, Thomas Stocks Jr., Mrs. Lela Sparks and Boyd, Mildred and Roscoe Stocks.
TOM GREEN COUNTY
Tom Green county, as originally created by act of the legislature March 13, 1874, was an immense territory extending from the western limits of Runnels and Concho counties to the Pecos river. A dozen coun- ties have since been carved from this area, some of which are still un- organized, the last being Reagan county, which was created and organized in 1903.
.The act creating Tom Green county in 1874 named commissioners. who were to meet in the town of Ben Ficklen and provide for an election of county officials and choice of a county seat. Ben Ficklen was to be the county seat until another site was regularly chosen. This old settlement was a little below the confluence of the south and middle forks of the Concho river.
About 1870 Fort Concho was established at the forks of the north and south branches of the Concho river. In 1858 the "Overland Pacific Mail" had been inaugurated, a stage line extending from St. Louis, through Fort Smith, Ark., Sherman, Tex., and through northern and western Texas, to the Rio Grande, passing through what is now Tom Green county. The stage line from San Antonio originally met this line beyond the Pecos, and after the Civil war another route was opened, leading northwest from San António through Boerne, Fredericksburg, Mason, Menardville, on to a junction with the northern trail at Fort Concho, and thence west and southwest to the Rio Grande.
A Texas map of 1874 indicates the site of Fort Concho, and south of it "Ben Ficklen's stage station," while a little to the east was "Bis- marck." The only other locality in the county shown on this map was "Stone's rancho," to the north of Fort Concho.
The military post and the overland stage route preceded permanent settlement by some years. Along these roads and around the military posts were settled a number of frontiersmen and stockmen. But the de- cade of the '70's was nearly over before the great range was despoiled of its buffalo and the Indians subjugated, and even then the only inhabitants were the owners and attendants of the domestic herds that grazed on the pastures.
In 1880, when Tom Green comprised an area of 12,500 square miles, or the size of fourteen counties like Tarrant, its population was 3,615 (645 negroes). In 1890, when it still contained several counties since detached, the population was 5,152. In 1900, when Reagan county was
366
HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
included, the population was 6,804. At the last census, 1910, the county with the present limits has a population of 17,882.
In 1877 the only postoffices in the limits of the present county were at Ben Ficklen, which was still the county seat, and at Fort Concho. Later San Angelo was founded, and became the county seat, which claimed a population of about 800 in 1882, while Ben Ficklen had half that number.
In 1903 the assessed values of property in Tom Green county were $4,260,695, and in 1909, $8,780,625.
In September, 1888, San Angelo became the western terminus of the G. C. & S. F. Railroad. During 1910 this road has been extended to Ster- ling City. The "Orient" Railroad has recently been completed to San Angelo, which is now the southern terminus of that proposed trans-con- tinental line.
Since 1888, therefore, San Angelo has been the shipping point for an immense territory as far west as the Pecos valley. As a result this city has for a number of years been the metropolis of this part of Texas, and has prospered both from its commercial advantages and as a health resort in the highlands. In 1890 its population was 2,615; at the census of 1910 the enumeration was 10,321.
HOWARD COUNTY
Howard county was created from the Bexar district during the '70's, but a county government was not organized until June 15, 1882. Its total population at the census of 1880 was only 50. Cattlemen and buffalo hunters had taken temporary possession, and Big Springs, on account of the abundance of water, had long been an oasis in these western plains. A map of Texas in 1874 indicates the springs as one of the conspicuous geographical points in the country.
During 1881 the large army of railroad builders passed through the county, laying the track of the T. & P. Railroad, and the Springs were as useful to the railroad as they had been to the buffalo and cattle. With the railroad came permanent settlement, stock ranches and farms were established for miles along the right of way, and from that time civili- zation began to develop its various institutions and activities.
By 1890 the population of the county was 1,210; it doubled during the next decade, being 2,528 in 1900; and at the last census, in 1910, was 8,881. In 1900 the population of Big Springs was 1,255. The assessed value of taxable property in 1903 was $2,422,420, and in 1909, $4,797,940.
Mr. James T. Brooks, secretary of the Big Springs Commercial Club, contributes the following sketch of the city and vicinity :
BIG SPRINGS
The Texas & Pacific Railway was completed and ran its first train into Howard county, Texas, in 1881, and the town of Big Springs was laid out and made a division point on the road.
367
HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
At that time, and even at this time, Big Springs possessed an ad- vantage over all other points along the western part of the T. & P., viz., plenty of good water. It is probably due to the excellent water that Big Springs was made a division point on the Texas & Pacific Railway.
About one and one-half miles south of the city we find the famous Big Springs. Their like are not to be found in West Texas and are seldom found in the East. The railroad company has always used these springs as a lease for the water supply, and for a number of years they furnished water for the city.
When the Big Springs Water Company was organized it began to sink deep wells near the Big Springs and found an abundance of good water, and these wells now furnish the water supply for Big Springs, a city of five thousand inhabitants. The wells are on an elevation above the city, which enables the water to be brought into town by gravitation.
In 1881 Big Springs was a village of tents and adobe huts. There was nothing to support the town at that time except the railroad interests and the scattering ranches, but as the railway company began to enlarge its machine shops and the ranches became more numerous, the little village began a steady growth that has continued until this time.
When in 1906 the railway company began to build its new shops, that cost $500,000, and the farmers began to crowd out the ranchmen and it was demonstrated that this was a farming country, Big Springs experi- enced the only boom that it has ever had. In two years it increased in population from 2,000 inhabitants to 5,000 inhabitants. The village of 1881 that had witnessed the town being "shot up" by the cowboys had grown into a business center.
Many of the old timers of Big Springs have moved to other parts of the state and could doubtless call to mind many interesting incidents of the early days. One of the early settlers of Big Springs was Mr. Sam H. Cowan, who now lives in Fort Worth and has come into national promi- nence as an attorney.
It was in Big Springs that he started as a young lawyer. He made his reputation while district attorney prosecuting cattle thieves. Big Springs has always watched his course with pride.
The city was not incorporated until in April, 1907, hence there was much public improvement that had been neglected, but in the years since it has become incorporated there has been much improvement and we have begun to take on a city appearance.
The Commercial Club of Big Springs has a membership of 150, and they are all alive and awake to everything that will help the city and surrounding country.
As was stated above, the Texas & Pacific Railway shops are located here. These shops are modern and up-to-date in every respect. They are said to be the finest on the T. & P. west of Marshall. The railroad in- terest gives a stability to the city that few western towns have. The monthly pay roll amounts to $45,000. At this time there is good prospect of our getting a road north, also one south to San Angelo.
368
HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
The mercantile interests of the city are strong and prosperous. It can be truthfully said that there cannot be found in the state another town the size of Big Springs that has stronger banks and business houses. Dur- ing the panic of 1907 the banks never were affected. Depositors' checks were always paid upon presentation.
The public buildings of the city will compare favorably with those of any western town. The new court house that has just been completed is the pride of the city. The jail that is in course of construction is to be modern and up-to-date in every particular. The public school building is large and conveniently arranged, and we are proud of our public school.
Nearly all of the fraternal orders are represented in Big Springs. The Masonic lodge is very strong. It owns its building and the building can safely be estimated to be worth $30,000. They have a very fine hall. The Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows and Woodmen of the World have strong organizations. The Woodmen of the World have a membership of 350.
In the last three years the population of Howard county, outside of the city, has increased from 1,000 to 7,000. Ranchmen have given way to farmers, and today wagon loads of cotton, corn and maize are familiar street scenes.
The soil of Howard county is very fertile and is well adapted to the growth of cotton, Milo maize, Kaffir corn, and all kinds of fruits. The soil is underlaid with a subsoil of clay that holds the moisture and stores it for the growing crops. It has been demonstrated that good crops can be grown with less rain in West Texas than in any part of the United States. It has been demonstrated that the Big Springs country is the home of the farmers and is destined to be a farming country.
REUBEN B. ZINN, of Big Springs, was born in Pontotoc county, Mis- sissippi, in 1845. For the last quarter of a century he has been a resident of Big Springs, having come to this town soon after it was founded. His arrival here was on March 1, 1883. His advent brought a member of the surveying profession to this vicinity, and he was best known for a number of years as a surveyor. He was county and district surveyor at a time when ten counties, including Howard, were in this district. Of late years Mr. Zinn has given most of his attention to the real estate business, and it is needless to say there is none more familiar with the Big Springs country and Western Texas generally than he.
His father was a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian church and an educator as well as a theologian. Rev. J. A. Zinn and his wife, Sarah Anne (Ragland), came to Texas in 1849, locating about fourteen miles from Jefferson. About 1852 he moved to Daingerfield, where he became president of Daingerfield College. After some years he left this position, at the solicitation of citizens of Grayson county, and established a private college at Kentuckytown in that county. Later he was president of Larisa College in Cherokee county. At the same time Dr. Yoakum was principal in that college, and became president after Rev. Zinn resigned. Dr.
Renken. B. Since
369
HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
Yoakum was the father of B. F. Yoakum, the railroad magnate, and the Yoakum boys and Reuben B. Zinn were schoolmates together in that school.
Some time before the war the Zinn family located at the White settle- ment in Tarrant county, at the mouth of Silver creek. Reuben B. Zinn was about fifteen years old then, and had attended his father's schools and laid the foundation of a good education. With the breaking out of the war he and his two brothers and his father all enlisted in the Confederate service. They were in Company K, Seventh Texas Cavalry, in General Tom Green's brigade. This regiment was in the expedition to New Mex- ico during the first year of the war, and after the return to Texas was engaged in the Trans-Mississippi department in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. Rev. Zinn was chaplain of the regiment during the war.
The family lived in LaFayette and Cass counties, Missouri, for two years after the war, then returned to Tarrant county, and before coming to Big Springs in 1883, Reuben B. lived at Waco and also at Mineral Wells.
Mr. Zinn married Miss Mary E. Moon and there were six children of this marriage, two of whom are living. The son is James Samuel, and the daughter, Mrs. Tula Ann Baggett, whose husband was formerly sheriff of Howard county. Mr. Zinn is a member of the Methodist church.
JOHN I. McDOWELL, the president of the First National Bank at Big Springs, came to this part of Texas in 1883, two years after the Texas & Pacific Railroad was built through. At that time and for some years later the only shipments from the railroad stations for hundreds of miles through Western Texas were cattle and their products, and the freight put off at these stations consisted largely of the supplies and machinery for use on the ranches.
During the period when Howard and the adjacent counties were under the dominion of the range cattle industry, the McDowell brothers, John I. and L. S., were among the most successful and energetic of the ranchmen, their interests being principally confined to the sheep business. With the settlement of the country and the change of conditions, Mr. McDowell became one of the active citizens of Big Springs. The bank of which he is president is the oldest institution of the kind in the county, having been established in 1890. Those who experienced life in Western Texas during the last two decades know that the early nineties were times of stress and hardship, marked by financial panic and drouth and condi- tions that made the existence of new settlers almost beyond endurance. Under such circumstances it is a remarkable record that the First National Bank of Big Springs has stood all the tests and now ranks as one of the most solid and influential banking institutions of Western Texas. Its capital stock is $50,000, its surplus and profits are largely in excess of $150,000, and it is also a United States depository. The success of the bank is largely due to the vigorous banking methods which have been fol- lowed. For many years no officer, director nor even a shareholder has ever been allowed to borrow a dollar of the bank's money, all of its loan- able funds being available only for those who may be properly considered customers. The extent of its deposits, averaging nearly half a million dol- lars in 1909, indicates the confidence of the community in the stability of the bank.
Vol. I-24
370
HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
As the active managing officer of the bank, Mr. McDowell has won a large success in the business world, though his activities have extended beyond the immediate sphere of the bank into many matters of practical citizenship which have promoted the welfare of his home town. With the breaking up of the big ranches and the development of a farming com- munity, he has been one who has shown a progressive attitude toward the new era, and is as closely identified with the twentieth century period of Western Texas as formerly when all this region was in the open range.
Mr. McDowell is an Ohioan, having been born, reared and educated at Ashland, and from there moved to Dallas, Texas, in 1877. Dallas was then practically on the frontier, but two years later he moved into the un- settled regions of what would now be Central Texas, to San Saba county, and was engaged in the stock business there until he moved to Howard county in 1883. Mrs. McDowell before her marriage was Miss Libbie Estill, a native of Virginia, where the family name is a familiar one.
G. L. BROWN .- The president of the West Texas National Bank at Big Springs is G. L. Brown. Like many other prominent business men of this region he laid the foundation for his success in the live-stock busi- ness, and is still known as a leading cattleman. He was born in that part of Texas which is described by the title of this work, and both he and his father before him deserve to be classed among the pioneers of Western Texas.
His father, W. F. Brown, came to Texas in 1845, and has been a resi- dent throughout the period of Texas statehood. At the age of eighty-nine. he is, at this writing, still living, at his home in Brownwood, one of the honored and aged pioneers. One of his sons, William Brown, was killed by the Indians near the present town of Robert Lee in Coke county in 1875. He was with a party engaged in the pursuit of a band of Indians who had made a raid in Brown county. Cabe Brown, another son, also deceased, was also a member at different times of these frontier scouting expeditions, and G. L. Brown also had similar experiences which entitled him to a place among the frontier fighters of the pioneer times of West Texas.
G. L. Brown was born in Brown county near Brownwood in 1861. His earliest associations were with ranch life, and he was a cowboy almost as soon as he could ride a horse. In 1879 he and his brother Cabe estab- lished headquarters, with a bunch of cattle, near the sources of the Concho river, in what are now Mitchell and Sterling counties (then unorganized). This vicinity has been his home ever since. There was no settlement at Big Springs at that time, although the springs attracted several cattle out- fits, who often camped there. With the building of the railroad in 1881 a station was established, and among the first permanent residents of the town was Mr. Brown. He has very extensive interests in the cattle busi- ness, being owner of two ranches in Howard county, and another, the largest, being in Ector county, near Odessa. The West Texas National, Bank, of which he is president, was established in 1903. Mr. Brown is a Royal Arch Mason and an Odd Fellow. Mrs. Brown before her marriage was Miss Eddie Lee. She was born in Lampasas county. Their threc children are Burton, Ethel and Eula.
Charles J. Alderman
371
HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
CHARLES L. ALDERMAN .- When consideration is given to the pro- gressiveness and constructive ability of the "captains of industry" in the great state of Texas and when cognizance is given to the manifold chan- nels along which their splendid energies have been directed, it can not be a matter of astonishment that the fine Lone Star commonwealth has so rapidly forged to the front along industrial, commercial and civic lines. An idea of the diversity of interests represented in central and western Texas is to be gained from a perusal of the various descriptive and bio- graphical sketches appearing within the pages of this work, and among those who have done much to accelerate the march of development and progress is Charles L. Alderman, one of the most public-spirited and in- fluential business men and most honored citizens of Big Springs, the at- tractive and thriving county seat of Howard county. The family of which he is a member has been most prominently and potently identified with the upbuilding of Big Springs and with the development of the admirable re- sources of the county, and thus there is all of propriety in offering to those who have thus conserved advancement special recognition in this publication.
Charles L. Alderman, secretary and general manager of the Big Springs Water Company, and also of the Western Telephone Company, whose headquarters likewise are maintained in Big Springs, claims the old Buckeye state as the place of his nativity, and is a scion of one of its ster- ling pioneer families. He was born at Joy, Morgan county, Ohio, on the 23d of August, 1862, and is a son of Arza and Lois (Wheeler) Alderman, both of whom were born in the state of Ohio. They now reside in Mc- Connell, Ohio, but pass a portion of each year in Big Springs, Texas, where the family have extensive interests. The Alderman family was founded in Ohio in 1808, when its first representatives there moved from New York state and settled in Morgan county, where they numbered themselves among the pioneers. With the civic and material development and up- building of that section the name has been most prominently linked. Arza Alderman was for many years one of the prominent and influential citizens of Morgan county, and was a well known banker at McConnels- ville, that county, for a long period. He was president and a director of the First National Bank of McConnelsville, which was one of the first one hundred national banks established in the United States.
In 1884, while on a tour of prospecting and investigation in the west and southwest, Arza Alderman noted the favorable location of Big Springs, Texas, and he was particularly impressed with the quality of the pure, soft water in the springs two miles south of the town. Soon after- ward he showed his confidence and his mature judgment by purchasing a large tract of land in Howard county, including that on which the springs are located. A few years after this important investment had been made by their honored father the two sons, Charles L. and Arza Dale, took up permanent residence at Big Springs, with whose every interest they have since been identified. Concerning the association of Charles L. Alder- man with business and civic affairs in this section more definite mention will be made in succeeding paragraphs of this article.
Charles L. Alderman was reared to maturity in Morgan county, Ohio, to whose excellent public schools he is indebted for his early edu- cational discipline, which included a course in the high school at McCon- nelsville. At the age of twenty-four years he was chosen cashier of the
372
HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
Citizens' National Bank in that place, and of this position he continued incumbent until his removal to Big Springs, Texas, in 1895. He came to this city to assist in the construction of the Big Springs water works, and he and other members of the family are now the principal stockholders in the Big Springs Water Company, of which he is secretary and general manager. No city in the state has a purer or more abundant supply of water. It was the presence of the springs in this vicinity that first at- tracted settlers to this point, and it is due to the enterprise and initiative of the Alderman family that the admirable water system was given to Big Springs. The sources of the water supply are not the springs them- selves, but recourse is had to wells that tap the veins from which the water reaches the springs. By reason of this fact the water supplied to the city is purer and clearer than that to be secured directly from the springs at the surface, as there is no possible means of contamination. The reservoir is one hundred and eighty-five feet above the ground level of the city, and by this means is given a pressure varying from fifty to eighty pounds to the square inch.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.