USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume II > Part 11
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In the State of Texas there were in September, 1919, fifty-nine fed- eral aid projects and seventy-three state aid projects under construction : and the work is still going on in accordance with a five-year plan of activity. The amount voted in bond issues by 105 counties since Janu- ary 1, 1919, in accordance with the same plan is $47,125,000.
In twenty-two other counties a total of $27,565,000 in bond issues has been proposed but not yet (February 1, 1921) voted on, several of these, however, being identical with counties included in the first category as having already voted a certain amount, while in sixty-four counties no action has yet been taken.
To trace the history of all the old trails and historic roads in the state would be a task requiring much time and painstaking research, though it might well repay the trouble. The present generation, however, is rather building for the future than delving into the history of the past. and it is chiefly the intimate connection, in special cases, of past, present and future that gives interest to this retrospective view. The citizen of today is alive to present needs and future demands, and is endeavoring to supply the one and provide for the other. In most of the Texan counties much voluntary road work has been done and large subscriptions made by private citizens.
Many miles of smooth reliable highway have been constructed in East Texas and in other sections where sand and clay are available by properly mixing the two materials for surfacing after the road has been graded and drained. This method is comparatively inexpensive.
In the coast country of Texas mud shell is largely used as a road sur- facing. In many other sections limerock, granite or other grades of stone for surfacing are convenient to the right of way, but there are counties where much road work has to be done that have had to trans- port their material many miles by rail, thus increasing the expense of construction. In some sections drainage is also an expensive item. The cost has increased with the improvement in methods and the general rise in the price of labor and material. Plain gravel roads cost from $10,000 to $15,000 a mile; those of gravel with a bituminous top, $15,000 to $20,000; and concrete roads $40,000 to $50,000 a mile. Concrete is now used for all bridge work.
Fort Worth is on two National Highways, the Bankhead Highway from Washington to San Diego, California, and the Meridian Highway. to be hereafter described.
The Bankhead Highway, known by Government description as High- way No. 1, was named after the Hon. William B. Bankhead, member of the United States Senate from Alabama, who sponsored the act of Con- gress that provided federal aid in the construction of state roads. It is the longest of the state designations. Its course through this state is as follows: Commencing at Texarkana, it runs in a western and south- erly direction to Dallas, thence to Fort Worth, west of which there will be a northern and southern route. The southern route passes through Weatherford, Mineral Wells, Palo Pinto, Strawn, thence closely parallels
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the right of way of the Texas & Pacific Railroad, keeping north of the railroad until it reaches Toyah in Loving County, where it crosses to the south of the railroad and follows it on that side to El Paso. The north- ern route goes to Weatherford, Mineral Wells, Palo Pinto, Caddo, Breck- enridge, Albany and Abilene, where it unites with the southern route.
There is also Highway No. 1 A, from Texarkana to and through Atlanta, Linden, Daingerfield, Pittsburgh, Winsboro, thence to the Hop- kins County line northwest of Winsboro. thence to Sulphur Springs, joining No. 1.
Highway No. 1 B runs from Naples to Douglasville and over High- way No. 8 to Maude, joining No. 1.
The Meridian Highway (Highway No. 2) begins at Burkburnett, thence to Wichita Falls, thence to Henrietta over what is known as High- way No. 5, thence to Bowie, Decatur and Fort Worth. From Fort Worth through Cleburne, thence through the Bosque Hill, there is a scenic route through Meridian, Clifton and Valley Mills, then almost due east to Waco, following the meanderings of the Bosque and the Brazos and going into Waco from the northwest.
At Waco the highway divides. One fork going to the Rio Grande, passes Baylor University, thence south through several towns to Temple, thence to Austin, from Austin to San Antonio, after that through Mediva. Frio, La Salle and Webb counties to Loredo on the Rio Grande.
The Gulf division of the Meridian Highway from Waco follows the Brazos River to Hempstead, whence it goes to Houston and thence to Galveston.
There are a number of branch routes connected with Highway No. 2. one beginning at Henrietta, thence to Jacksboro, Perrin and Whitt, and connecting with Road No. 1 at Mineral Wells; thence over Road No. 1 to Weatherford, thence through Granbury and Glen Rose to Meridian. where it connects with Road No. 2.
Road No. 2 A takes out from Highway No. 2 at Cleburne and passes through Burleson, Alvarado, Grandview, Itasca to Hillsboro, where it connects with Highway No. 6, known as "King of Trails."
Road No. 2 D begins at a point one and a half miles north of Bowie on No. 2, thence to Ringgold, thence north to Ringgold bridge, crossing Red River.
Highway No. 5- North Texas Highway-begins at Texarkana and runs west and slightly north to Wichita Falls, thence through Vernon, Quanah, Childress, Estelline intersecting No. 13 near Memphis thence northwest through Amarillo to Texline.
No. 5 A takes out of No. 5 at Estelline and runs in a somewhat irreg- ular westerly direction to Farwell.
Highway No. 7-Central Texas Highway-begins at a point on the Sabine River east of Newton, thence to Jasper, Lufkin, Crockett, and over Highway No. 19 to Palestine, thence through Fairfield to Waco; thence west and northwest to Goldthwaite, Brownwood, Coleman, Sweet- water, Snyder and Lubbock to Farwell.
No. 7 A runs from Coleman through San Angelo to Fort Stockton.
Highway No. 9-Puget Sound to Gulf Highway .- There are two routes out of Corpus Christi for No. 9. One follows the San Antonio,
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Uvalde & Gulf Railroad to San Antonio. The other follows the San Antonio & Arkansas Pass Railroad into San Antonio. From these it runs to Brady, then west to the McCullock and Coucha County line, north with that line to the Coucha River, west through Paint Rock to San Angelo, thence northwest through Sterling City, Big Springs, Lamesa and Tahoka to Lubbock ; then through Plainview, Tulia and Canyon to Amarillo.
Highway No. 10 starts southwest from Fort Worth, then to Gran- bury, Stephenville, Comanche, Brownwood, Brady, Menard, Sonora, Ozona, Ft. Stockton, thence to Alpine, Maria and to Sierra Blanca.
No. 10 A goes southwest from Dallas to Cleburne, intersecting the main Highway at Stephenville.
Highway No. 13-Ozark Trail .- This road begins at Texaco, thence to Wellington, thence to a point in Donley County, east of Clarendon, where it intersects Highway No. 5, and follows the route to Amarillo, thence to Vega, and west to the state line.
Highway No. 18-Albany-Bronco Highway-Commencing at Bronco in Yoakum County, thence through Plains to Brownfield, thence north- east to Lubbock, thence by Crosbyton, thence southeast via Spur, thence to Aspermont and to Albany, then to Sedwick, Marion, Pueblo, to Cisco. then via DeLeon, Hico, Iredell, to Meridian, where it connects with No. 2 at Waco.
No. 18 A takes out from No. 18 at a point two and one-half miles west of Spur, thence to a point north ten miles, thence northwesterly for a distance of about five miles, thence following the well-marked road- way to Crosbyton, being what will be known as the northern loop, and passing very close to Dickens.
No. 18 B is a direct east and west line between Albany and Lamesa. It takes out at a point ten miles west of Albany at the forks of No. 18 and No. 30, and goes through Jones, Fisher, Scurry and Borden into Dawson, passing Anson, Roby, Snyder and Gail, to Lamesa. At Lamesa it runs northwest to Brownfield, joining No. 18 main road.
Highway No. 22-Roger Q. Mills Highway .- This road begins at Wichita Falls, to Archer City, to Olney, thence from Olney to Graham, thence to Breckenridge, thence south to Eastland, thence south to Carbon, thence to Gorman, Rucker, DeLeon, Downing and Van Dyke, to Comanche, thence via Fleming, Energy, Hamilton, Granfills Gap to Merid- ian, thence via Ferguson ranch buildings via Chase and crossing the Brazos River at Whitney bridge, thence to Hillsboro and to Corsicana, thence via Wildcat crossing to Palestine, thence to Rusk, Cushing and Nacogdoches, and thence through Center to Logansport.
Highway No. 23-Southwest Trail .- The Southwest Trail begins at Burkburnett, following No. 2 to Wichita Falls, thence over No. 22 to Archer City and Olney. From Olney it leaves No. 22, going southwest to Throckmorton, thence to Woodson, Albany and Baird, thence through Cross Plains to Coleman, thence along Highway No. 7 to Santa Anna, thence to Shield, to Brady. From Brady it follows No. 9 into San Antonio through Mason, Fredericksburg and Boerne, and from San Antonio to Laredo over Highway No. 2.
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Highway No. 24 is a short cross-country connection. It starts at Denton and runs in a northerly direction through Aubrey, Pilot Point and Tioga, connecting with No. 5 at Whitesboro.
Highway No. 25 takes out from a connection with No. 5 and No. 2 at Henrietta, thence to Jacksboro, Perrin and Whitt and connects with Road No. 1 at Mineral Wells ; thence over No. 1 to Weatherford, then via Granbury and Glen Rose to Meridian, connecting there with No. 2. This is to be known as the Mineral Wells branch of the Meridian road.
Highway No. 30-Wichita Valley Highway-This road starts at Wichita Falls, thence to Seymour, Goree, Mundy, Weinert, Haskell, Stamford and Anson to Abilene, thence south to Tuscola, through Cedar Gap, thence to Ovalo, thence to Guion, to Bradshaw, to Winters, to Ballinger, to Paint Rock, thence to Eden, to Menard, to Junction, to Leaky, and to Sabinal.
Highway No. 34 starts at Fort Worth, through Kennedale, Mansfield, Midlothian, Brittain, Cardis and Waxahachie, to Ennis.
Highway No. 39-Throckmorton Highway .- This highway begins at Arthur City on Red River in Lamar County, thence south to Paris, thence to Cooper over No. 19, thence to Klondike, to a point on the Hunt County line approximately two and one-half miles north of the Texas Midland Railroad, thence to Commerce, thence to Greenville, thence to the east line of Collin County, thence near the town of Princetown to Mc- Kinney, thence through Foote, Rock Hill, Denton, to Decatur, thence to Jacksboro, to Graham, to Throckmorton, to Haskell, to Aspermont. thence along Highway No. 18 to Jayton, thence to Clairmont, to Post, to Tahoka, to Brownfield, thence along No. 18 to Plains, thence to Bronco, and then to the New Mexico line.
Highway No. 40-The Hobby Highway .- The Hobby Highway be- gins at the bridge on Red River in Cooke County, thence through Gaines- ville, Valley View, Sanger, Denton, Dallas, Kaufman, Athens, Frankston, Jacksonville, Nacogdoches, Woodville, Kountze, Beaumont, and thence to Sabine.
The Fort Worth branch of this highway extends from Fort Worth to Denton via Roanoke.
CHAPTER XXXVIII THE LIVE STOCK INDUSTRY
Forty years ago about all that took place west of the Mississippi of a money making character was born of cattle. The cattle were worked in huge herds and, like the buffalo supplanted by them, roamed in unnumbered thousands. Cattle find a natural theatre of existence on the plains. There, likewise, flourishes the pastoral man. But cattle herding, confined to the plains, gives way before the west- ward creep of agriculture. Each year beholds more western acres broken by the plough; each year witnesses a diminution of the cattle ranges and cattle herding. This need ring no bell of alarm concern- ing a future barren of a beef supply. More cattle are the product of the farm region than of the ranges. That ground, once range and now farm, raises more cattle now than then. Texas is a great cattle state. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri are first states of agriculture. The area of Texas is about even with the col- lected area of the other five. Yet one finds double the number of cattle in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri than in Texas, to say nothing of ten-fold the sheep and hogs. But while the farms in their westward pushing do not diminish the cattle, they reduce the cattlemen and pinch off much that is romantic and picturesque. Between the farm and the wire fence the cowboy, as once he flourished, has been modified, subdued, and made partially to disappear.
The range stock industry naturally rested upon the surface and was not anchored in the soil, and, like the picturesque "tumbleweed" of the plains, it was moved hither and thither by the natural influ- ences of the seasons and topography. While the vast ranges were free, when nature without effort provided her native grasses, the stockman could herd his cattle on the free pastures, and, on similar terms with the gold miner, could reap the profits produced by nature's own bounty. For forty years West Texas has been undergoing the changes incident to the forward march of agriculture and the break- ing up of the free range, and the range cattle industry is now prac- tically a thing of the past. Modern stock farming, which is still the main source of wealth in West Texas, is a very different business from the range industry, which forms the principal subject of this chapter. The range industry preceded the railroad epoch and in a sense was hostile to the approach of civilization; the modern live- stock ranching is co-efficient with the tilling of the soil, and both are phases of the present era of industrialism. The settlers who came in from the border states during the '40s and '50s, bringing with them at least a small capital of live stock, carried on their farming and stock raising in co-operation. There is no definite time to be set when the stock industry became independent of farming and was engaged in as a great enterprise requiring altogether different methods of management.
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In view of the fact that the movement of cattle to market has so generally taken an easterly direction, the West supplying the East with meat, it is an interesting piece of information that during the years immediately following the great gold discovery in Cali- fornia thousands of beef cattle were driven from Texas and Missis- sippi valley points across the plains to feed the hordes of gold seekers and the population that followed in their wake. During the brief period of the existence of this demand many herds passed through El Paso, encountering the frightful difficulties of the trail and the worse dangers from the Indians, and seldom did a party on this drive escape the attack of Indians, and, too often, the loss of most of their stock.
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ORIGINAL TEXAS STEER
Although the range cattle business had attained sufficient im- portance by the middle of the century to give Texas a reputation as a great cattle state, the operations were still confined to the eastern and southern parts of the state. The driving of cattle to the northern markets, which until less than forty years ago was the most picturesque feature of the Texas cattle business, was inaugurated about 1856, when several large herds were trailed into Missouri, some being taken to the St. Louis market. During the remaining years before the war St. Louis and Memphis received large quantities of Texas cattle, most of them from the northeastern part of the state.
The commencement of hostilities broke all commercial relations between the North and the South. The drives across the country stopped. while the blockade of the gulf ports ended exportation to foreign markets. Before the capture of Vicksburg in 1863 and the
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interposing of that river as a barrier between the East and the West Confederacy, there had been only a moderate demand for Texas cattle in the states east of the Mississippi, and, as in the latter half of the war, food supplies of all kinds became scarcer, so also to transport them from the West through the federal lines became an increasingly difficult task.
The paralysis of the cattle business during the war was coincident with that which befell all other activities. Not only were the avenues of trade blocked, but also the former active participants in the busi- ness were now for the most part in the service of their country as soldiers. Destructive drouths were also a feature of this period, and all conditions seemed to conjoin in throttling the life out of the young industry of stock raising. These conditions caused at least one very noteworthy consequence. By stress of circumstances many stock owners had been compelled to abandon their herds, and from lack of sufficient guarding many cattle had wandered away from their regular range. At the close of the war, therefore, many thousands of half-wild range cattle were shifting for themselves in the remote districts. Incursions of Indian and wild beasts had made them almost intractable and had increased the qualities of ranginess and nimbleness of hoof to a point where they were more than ever able to take care of themselves. When settled conditions once more came upon the country it is said that more than one poor but enterprising cowman got his start by rounding up and branding these "mavericks,"* and from the herd thus acquired built up a business equal to that of many who in the beginning had been more fortunately circumstanced.
The revival of the cattle business after the close of the war was swifter than that which followed in other industries; and perhaps for the reason based upon facts already presented: Given a good range on the one hand and an attractive market on the other, the principal conditions of a prosperous range stock business are satis- fied and the industry will spring into large proportions in a short time. The reopening of the markets of the North for southern cattle and the fact that war-time prices for beef prevailed in those markets for some time after the war, gave a decided impetus to Texas stock-raising. To supply this northern demand a large number
*Edward King gives this version of the Maverick story: "Colonel Maverick. an old and wealthy citizen of San Antonio, onee placed a small herd of cattle on an island in Matagorda Bay, and having too many other things to think of soon forgot all about them. After a lapse of several years some fishermen sent the colonel word that his cattle had increased alarmingly, and that there was not enough grass in the island to maintain them. So he sent men to bring them off. There is prob- ably nothing more sublimely awful in the whole history of cattle raising than the story of those beasts, from the time they were driven from the island until they were seattered to the four corners of Western Texas. Among these Matagordian eattle which had run wild for years were eight hundred noble and ferocious bulls ; and wherever they went they found the country vacant before them. It was as if a menagerie of lions had broken loose in a village. Mr. Maverick never succeeded in keeping any of the herd together; they all ran madly whenever a man came in sight ; and for many a day after whenever any unbranded and unusually wild cattle were seen about the ranges they were called 'Mavericks'."
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of cattle were collected in the spring of 1866 and driven across the Red River to principal shipping points.
The general quality of these herds was greatly inferior even to the general run of the old-time "Texas longhorn." In fact, many of the cattle driven North in 1866 were recruited from the herds of wild cattle then wandering in great numbers over the state. The presence of these wild animals in the drove gave the cowboy no end of trouble, for the least untoward event set the suspicious brutes on the stampede, every such occasion meaning the loss of hundreds of dollars to the owner of the herd. Then, there were other gauntlets of danger and difficulty to be run by these drovers. The "Texas fever" was the bete noir of cattlemen, not so much because of the actual destruction wrought among the cattle by the disease, as by the general apprehension excited in the public mind that all Texas beef was fever tainted and that Texas cattle were carriers of the disease among northern stock, all this operating for some time as an almost effectual bar against the sale of cattle from the south of the Red River. To resist this invasion of disease some of the inhabitants of Kansas and Missouri whose farms were along the general route of the Texas drives took exceed- ingly rigorous methods of stopping the passage of Texas drovers through their neighborhoods. Instances are known in which Texans were severaly punished and their cattle scattered through the woods and ravines beyond all hope of recovery. Originating in an honest desire to protect their live stock against imported disease, this hos- tility to Texas cattlemen became a cloak for the operations of gangs of blackmailers and outlaws such as would put to shame the banditti of the middle ages. Says one who wrote of that period from knowl- edge at first hand: "The bright visions of great profits and sudden wealth that had shimmered before the imagination of the drover were shocked, if not blasted, by the unexpected reception given him in Southern Kansas and Missouri by a determined, organized, armed mob, more lawless, insolent and imperious than a band of wild savages. Could the prairies of Southeast Kansas and Southwest Missouri talk they could tell many a thrilling, blood-curdling story of carnage, wrong, outrage, robbery and revenge, not excelled in the history of any banditti or the annals of the most bloody savages." It became necessary for the drovers to avoid these danger-infested regions, and instead of going directly to the nearest shipping point, which was then Sedalia, Missouri, they detoured to the east or the west, reaching the railroad either at St. Joseph or at St. Louis.
The prejudices against Texas cattle and the dangers of the trail gradually subsided, though not till many a cattleman had gone bank- rupt or suffered worse injury. In 1867, however, a new status was given the cattle traffic. Up to that time the Missouri River had furnished the nearest and most convenient shipping points for the Texas cattleman, and the trails thither were long and, as we have seen, often dangerous. It was to relieve these conditions that, in the year 1867, Joseph G. McCoy selected, along the route of the newly built Kansas Pacific Railroad, the embryo town and station of Abilene as the point to which all the cattle trails from the South and South-
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west should converge and disgorge the long-traveled herds into wait- ing cars, thence to be hurried away over the steel rails to the abat- toirs and packing houses of the East. Abilene was no more than a name at that time, and McCoy and his assistants set about the build- ing of immense cattle pens and the equipments essential to a ship- ping point. These were completed in time for the fall drive, and Abilene was thus launched upon its famous and infamous career as "the wickedest and most God-forsaken place on the continent," a detailed description of which is, happily, no part of this history.
By proper advertising of its advantages as the nearest and most convenient railroad station for Texas shippers, by the year following its establishment all the trail-herds were pointed toward Abilene as their destination. There the buyers would meet the drovers, who,
HERD OF RANGE CATTLE
having disposed of their cattle to best advantage, would usually turn their steps to the flaunting dens that offered iniquity in every con- ceivable earthly form. It is estimated that 75,000 Texan cattle were marketed at Abilene in 1868, and in the following year twice that number.
As is well known, the Texas "longhorn" of those days had char- acteristics of figure, proportion and disposition which were of equal fame with his value as beef. Texas fever or almost any evil imputa- tion could more easily lodge against this animal than against the more sleek and docile appearing "farmer cattle," so that it is not strange that on the cattle exchanges "Texans" were usually quoted distinct and at marked disparity of price compared with those brought by other grades. The process of grading which worked out from Texas herds this longhorn breed was a long time in accomplishment, and in time practically covers the epoch of the range cattle industry as
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distinct from modern cattle ranching. Though the Texan cattle thus labored against adverse influences both at the hands of the buyer and of the consumer, none the less the range business, both through the profits to be derived and through the nature of the enterprise attracted thousands of energetic men to its pursuit as long as the conditions necessary to its continuance existed. The decade of the '70s was marked with many developments in the cattle industry. Prices were up, the demand for cattle from Texas was not so critical, and it is estimated that 300,000 head were driven out of the state to Kansas points in the year 1870. Another factor that made the cattle traffic for that year profitable was a "freight-war" between the trunk lines reaching to the Atlantic, the reduction in freight rates simply adding so much extra profit to the cattle shipper.
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