USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume II > Part 34
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A number of other tests failed to develop this sand into paying pro- duction, and it was not until a deep test of approximately 3,300 feet was made in the McCleskey well west of Ranger that the possibilities of the Eastland-Stephens county oil fields were seriously considered. At a depth of approximately 3,300 feet, when it seemed that hope of finding oil in paying quantities must be abandoned, and when preparation in fact had been made for abandoning the test, the McCleskey well was brought in with a flush production of something like one thousand barrels. Within a month nearly all of the important concerns in the Southwest were in the field and millions of dollars were spent in leases, and by the 1st of Janu- ary, 1918, something like a hundred wells were being drilled.
As now defined by actual drilling operations, practically every part of Eastland and Stephens counties seems to be within the proven oil ter- ritory and, geographically speaking, within the Pennsylvania formation. Further tests have extended the field into the western part of Palo Pinto County, the southern part of Young and several miles into Erath and Comanche counties, to make no mention of the shallow field near Brown- wood in Brown County. and the small production around Moran in Shackelford County.
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The immediate results of this discovery were the building of several important small cities upon the sites of what had once been but small towns. Ranger has a present population of about 16,000, when prior to the discovery of oil it was a village of four or five hundred. Eastland. the county seat, has a population of about 10,000, where it had a popu- lation of only 1,000 prior to 1917. Cisco has grown from a population of 2,500 to a population of between 7,000 and 8,000. Desdemona has a population of about 4,000, when it had a population of about 200 before the discovery of oil. Gorman and Rising Star are each active and grow- ing cities with populations of approximately 3,000, when prior to the discovery of oil they had considerably less than a thousand.
The county has grown within the last three years from a population' of approximately 25,000 to a population of approximately 60,000, with taxable values increased from eleven million to fifty-five million.
An insistent demand for better transportation facilities followed close on the heels of this oil development.
A bond issue of four and one-half million dollars for the construction of a good roads system has been voted and the bonds sold and contracted to be sold. This amount, together with state and federal aid, renders available now and in the immediate future nearly five million dollars, which amount is being expended in the construction of approximately two hundred miles of hard-surfaced highways in the county, and will result in connecting every part of the county with first-class improved highways of the latest type and will also make connection at the county borders with the trunk highways running through the county north, south, east and west, in which this county is a unit. This bond issue, by the way, is understood to be the second largest in the state for this pur- pose, being exceeded only by Dallas County.
Three railroads, connecting the important cities of Ranger, Eastland and Cisco with Breckenridge in the oil fields of Stephens County on the North, have already been completed, as follows: The Hamon Road, from Dublin to Breckenridge : the Ringling Road, from Mangum on the Texas Central through Eastland to Breckenridge on the North, with an immediate program of extension to Brownwood on the South and Gra- ham on the North; and the Cisco & Northeastern Railroad, from Cisco. to Breckenridge, with immediate plans of a north extension under way. A significant fact is that of the several million dollars involved in the building of these railroads the greater part was contributed by local capital.
The banking capital of the county has increased within the last four years from an aggregate of not over a half a million dollars' banking capital and a million and a half deposits to an aggregate banking capital of a million and a half, with more than twenty million dollars' deposits.
In addition to the amount of money brought into the county in the purchase of leases and expended in drilling operations several millions of dollars have been spent by the important oil companies in the way of permanent improvements. The Texas Pacific Coal & Oil Company has its operating headquarters at Ranger, as has the Sun Company and sev- eral others. Ranger is also the location of a number of oil supply houses and shops. Nearly all of these companies have built substantial and
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expensive buildings in which their headquarters are located. The Prairie Oil & Gas Company, perhaps the most important producing corporation in the West, has its land and lease headquarters for Texas in a new $150,000 office building located in Eastland, which is also the Texas headquarters for the Prairie Pipe Line Company. The Production Department of the Prairie Oil & Gas Company is located at Ranger. The States Oil Corporation and its affiliated Duquesne Corporation, which is one of the most important in the Eastland County field, and which has several times led all other companies in production, is located at Eastland. its headquarters, buildings, shops and improvements representing an in- vestment of about a half million dollars. The Associated Oil Company, of California, has its Texas headquarters at Eastland, where is also located the division headquarters of the Empire Gas & Fuel Company and the Gulf Production Company. The Gulf Production Company also maintains its pipe line headquarters at Ranger. The Ardizone-Braden Oil Company, the Southwestern Oil Development Company, the Mont- real Oil Company and several others have their Texas headquarters at Eastland, and nearly all have erected valuable and expensive improve- ments.
Cisco is the West Texas headquarters of the Humble Oil & Refining Company, and this concern has built a plant near Cisco which is one of the most elaborate and expensive in the oil fields. The Texas Company also maintains its division headquarters at Cisco. Important operators and corporations are also located at Desdemona, Gorman and Rising Star.
As an index of the importance of the oil industry in Eastland County the following figures, obtained from the headquarters of various com- panies, of date the 1st of December, 1920, are significant : Wells now drilling, 407; wells located, to be immediately drilled, 138. These sta- tistics refer only to new operations as of the month of November, 1920, and do not include wells already drilled, either producing or abandoned. For the month of November, 1920, the average production of the East- land County fields, as reported by the ten major oil companies, was approximately 25,000 barrels per day, with an approximate value in daily production of $100,000.
The city of Eastland is the county seat of Eastland County and has been practically since its organization. Early in the oil development a city ordinance was adopted prohibiting any drilling within the city limits, and the city, which is under a commission form of government, has been projected and built upon lines of permanency and future development which are somewhat unique in an oil field city. The taxable values of the city are nearly ten million dollars. It has four banks, with an aggre- gate banking capital of $600,000 and deposits of nearly $5,000,000. It has a complete sewerage system covering the entire city limits, with one incinerator and disposal plant erected and another under contract. It has a bond issue upon which some fifteen miles of vitrified brick pave- ment are projected and under contract, and work has already been com- pleted on all the main business streets. It has natural gas distributed throughout the city and suburbs by a local concern, and reservoirs con- taining over three million gallons of stored water, either built or under
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construction, for municipal uses. It has a one-hundred-thousand-dollar city hall, with an auditorium seating 1,200 people, and a fire department with fifteen firemen and fire equipment representing nearly $100,000. It has a high school and two ward schools, and plans are now under way for the erection of a $250,000 new high school building. It has scholastic attendance of about 1,500 in the city schools. The fire limits of Eastland are very rigid, and practically the entire business part of the city is within fire limits, in which the buildings are of brick or fire- proof construction. It has two five-story bank and office buildings, rep- resenting an investment of more than $600,000, and twelve hotels, with an aggregate capacity of 500 guests, and two new hotels, the Con- nellee and the Harwood, under contract, which, when completed, will afford accommodations for between 400 and 500 additional guests. The two new hotels mentioned will represent an additional investment of more than half a million dollars.
Eastland is making a special effort to locate factories and industries of this character. The Oil Belt Power Company, a $5,000,000 con- cern, has its headquarters at Eastland and its plant three miles south- east of Eastland, on the Leon River. This concern, which proposes to manufacture and distribute electric power and light throughout West Texas, has a reservoir created by damming the South Leon River, which impounds nearly half a million gallons of water. It has already installed and in operation engines with a capacity of ten thousand horsepower and is now engaged in installing the necessary machinery to double this capacity. From this plant is furnished electric light and power for nearly all of the important cities of West Texas and also power for pumping oil wells and for drilling operations, it having been success- fully demonstrated that electricity is the cheapest power for pumping and drilling operations in this oil field.
Within a radius of two or three miles of the city of Eastland is a present and potential gas production of hundreds of millions of cubic feet a day, and it is planned to utilize the practically unlimited water supply available, with the cheap electric power and cheap gas, for the purpose of encouraging the location of industries, and to this end the Commercial Club is offering free factory sites and practically free water, with a remarkably low rate for both gas and electric power.
RANGER
Ranger has a population of 16,205; 35 miles of light and power lines, 52 miles of gas mains, 32 miles of sewer mains, a $50,000 postoffice building ; twenty-six hotels, four banks, with a combined capital of $500,000, and deposits of over $7,000,000; a chamber of commerce, with 2,250 members, a live daily paper ; ten religious denominations ; a modern theater building, with a seating capacity of 1,250. The assessed valuation of the city is $12,425,618, with a tax rate of $1.50 on the $100 valuation. Building permits for 1920 represent $2,654,000. There are thirty blocks of brick pavement laid on a five-inch concrete base.
CISCO
Cisco has gained the reputation of being one of the cleanest and most healthful cities in the state, and its citizens are notably progressive. One
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of the newest enterprises in addition to the reservoir is the construction of a $250,000 high school, the funds for which have been voted and the bonds approved by the attorney general.
The city hall is a neat, substantial brick building. Cisco is not, strictly speaking, an oil town, but rather a source of supplies for the surrounding oil country, and a neat, quiet and attractive residence place for the better class of oil men. The principal streets, and even some of the alleys, are paved and the town is not disfigured by unsightly shacks, straggling sheds, or any of the miscellaneous debris characteristic of the average oil town. The city is strictly under the reign of law and order. and its aspect is that of a thoroughly civilized community. But though quiet and orderly, Cisco is not dead. The pulse of business life beats strongly. Some of the large companies connected more or less closely with the oil industry are represented here. There is an active chamber of commerce, and several important enterprises are now well under way. Perhaps the most important of these is the immense water reservoir, the construction of which began last September (1920), and which, when completed, will be the largest artificial water reservoir in the entire South. For the construction of this reservoir the citizens of Cisco voted with practical unanimity for the issuance of a million dollars in bonds, which bonds were readily disposed of and the money deposited in the banks. The low tax rate of 75 cents and the high tax valuation approach- ing the fifteen-million-dollar plane, made it possible for the city fathers to dispose of bonds when other municipalities of similar size have no market for their securities.
Though Cisco as yet has made no record as an oil town, oil produc- tion has been found within four or five miles, in one place at 1,600 feet and in another at between 3,000 and 3,500 feet; and Cyrus Drury and associates are now drilling a well just beyond the south limits of the city, intending to go 3,500 feet if necessary.
Cisco is the headquarters for a number of oil and supply houses, and two years ago the Illinois Torpedo Company established a nitro plant three miles from town, the concern manufacturing nitro-glycerine car- tridges for shooting wells. This company operates out of Cisco through the whole Central Texas field.
ECTOR COUNTY
The Texas & Pacific Railway passes diagonally through Ector County, and soon after that road was completed, in 1881, three stations were established within the present limits of Ector County-Odessa, now the county seat, Doura and Metz. These were the shipping stations for stock gathered from the surrounding ranges and points of receipt for supplies to the ranchmen, who in scattered numbers occupied all the country on both sides of the railroad. Off the railroad no other towns have been established in thirty years, and the level plains and breaks of the county have never had any important use except for the grazing of live stock. The eastern part of the county belongs in the shallow water belt, and during the last few years some development has been done in farming by irrigation. There is not a running stream of any kind in the county, but the rich growth of nutritious grasses has made the county a favorite resort for stockmen for many years.
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Ector County was created from the western portion of Tom Green County, February 26, 1887, and was organized January 6, 1891. Its population in 1890 was 2,241; in 1900, 381; in 1910, 1,178, and in 1920. 760. Immigration has been fairly rapid during recent years. In 1903 the property valuation was $1,324,184; in 1909. $3,224,731; in 1913, $3.268,005. and in 1920, $3,086,305.
In 1910 there were eighty-four farms in the county, preceding census having reported twenty-five. The total area of the county is 570,880 acres, of which 452,860 acres were occupied in farms in 1910, but only 4,796 acres in "improved land," representing an important increase since 1900, when only 92 acres were so classified. The chief source of wealth is cattle, and 23,765 were enumerated in 1910, and about 1,400 horses and mules. In 1920 there were 14,858 cattle, and 787 horses and mules. The acreage in kaffir corn and milo maize in 1909 was 1,524; in hay and forage crops, 340; in cotton, 222, and in corn, 216.
ERATH COUNTY
The development of this country began during the decade of the '70s, after the fear of Indian raids had ceased. Population increased six or sevenfold during the '70s, and since 1880 has increased about 300 per cent. Erath County is well above the average agriculturally, with cotton its largest crop, is also a producer of apples and peaches, has coal mines in the northern part, and still retains a share of the live stock activities that once were almost the sole industry.
Erath County was created January 25, 1856, from Bosque and Cor- yell counties. Settlement began in the early '50s, and before the county was organized the town of Stephenville had been laid out. Its pro- prietors on July 4, 1855, offered land for the county buildings, pro- vided the county seat was located there, and the legislative act above noted designated that town as the seat of justice, provided these donations were made.
The population of the county in 1858 was estimated at 766 and only about 1,500 acres were in cultivation. For twenty years after the county was organized it was on the frontier, and property was never secure from Indian raids. After the war this entire region was in the great cattle ranges.
In 1860 the population of the county, according to the Federal census, was 2,425. There was a decrease during the war decade, and in 1870 the population was 1,801 ; in 1880, it was 11,796 (257 negroes) ; in 1890, 21,594 ; in 1900, 29,966; in 1910, 32,095 ; in 1920, 28,385.
The county has a considerable foreign element, chiefly furnished by the three countries of Italy, Austria and Mexico.
The Texas Central Railroad, which began building in 1879, was completed through Erath County about 1881. Rapid development followed, a large number of farmers came in and partly dispossessed the range cattle men, and the raising of wheat became an important industry. In 1882 the country had four sawmills and four cotton gins, dependent on the agricultural activities. Along the line of the rail- road were established the towns of Dublin, Alexander and Mount Airy. Stephenville, though twelve miles from the railroad, still led in
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population and had an annual trade of about $400,000. Duffau and Morgan's Mill were other settlements at that time.
In October, 1890, the Fort Worth & Rio Grande Railroad was com- pleted to Stephenville. During the first decade of the present century the Stephenville North & South Texas Railroad was built from Stephenville south to Hamilton, and has since been acquired by the St. Louis Southwestern (the Cotton Belt). The coal deposits at Thur- ber have been developed in recent years, and that is now a considerable mining town and also a center for the manufacture of paving brick. In agriculture, the county has made great progress since the first rail- road came. Special claims are made for the apple crop of Erath County. In 1910 the county had 4,225 farms, as compared with 3,783 at the preceding census. Of a total area of 693,120 acres, much the greater part was occupied by farms, and about 256,000 acres were classified as "improved land." Stock interests are: Cattle, 21,800; horses and mules, about 12,238; hogs, 9,647.
The assessed wealth of Erath County in 1870 was only $356,916; in 1882, $2,240,917; in 1903, $6,456,815: in 1913, $12,071,575, and in 1920, $14,276,830.
In 1920 the principal towns of the county, in order of population, were Dublin, Stephenville, Thurber, Alexander, Duffau and Bluffdale. Dublin and Stephenville have been close rivals as population and busi- ness centers in recent years.
STEPHENVILLE
The city of Stephenville was established about the year 1860 and was named for Col. John M. Stephen, one of its very earliest settlers, who acquired the John Blair survey, on which the town site is located. There are a number of persons residing there who are descendants of Colonel Stephen, some of whom are J. M. McNeill and S. J. McNeill and the family of the late James M. Stephen, who recently died there after a residence of sixty-four years.
The town has undergone a gradual growth until it is now a pros- perous and thriving city, keeping its step with the general progress of the state of which it forms a part. Its population is 3,891, as shown by the last census report. John Tarleton Junior A. & M. College has recently been established in the town, which institution is a branch of the A. & M. College of Texas.
In addition to the John Tarleton Junior A. & M. College, there are two public school buildings, with satisfactory attendance.
There are six churches, four banks, one oil refinery, one flour mill, one cottonseed oil mill, four cotton gins, one machine shop and an active Chamber of Commerce, which gives diligent attention to all matters calculated to increase the growth and progress of the town.
DUBLIN
In 1884 the town of Dublin was incorporated for school purposes. R. H. McCain was the first mayor and J. E. Bishop first marshal. In 1879 the first surveying party of the Texas Central Railroad passed through Dublin. The railroad company decided to establish a depot at Mount Airy, four and one-half miles west of Dublin. The citizens
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of Dublin did not move, but laid out a town along the railroad and began to build. In 1889 the Fort Worth & Rio Grande Railway was built into Dublin.
The first newspaper, The Dublin Enterprise, printed on a job press, under the firm name of Birchmore & Co., with Dr. J. G. O'Brien as editor, issued its first paper May 16, 1881.
Prohibition was voted in Dublin in 1903.
At present there is a population of about 4,000. There are two national banks and one state bank, with a combined capital and sur- plus of $240,000 and total deposits of about $1,500,000. There are two modern school buildings, with an enrollment of about 1,000 pupils. Dublin has one refinery in operation and another in course of construc- tion. The third railroad, The Wichita Falls, Ranger & Fort Worth, is now complete and in operation, and Dublin is fast becoming a dis- tributing center. It has three wholesale houses, two flour mills, an ice plant, a poultry packing plant, steam laundry, municipally-owned water and sewer system, good hotels and splendid churches.
Dublin is also the division point of the Frisco, and this company is spending a large sum of money in building a roundhouse and shops here. The town supports a wideawake Chamber of Commerce, and is constantly pushing ahead for any and everything that will lead to further development.
EL PASO COUNTY
While the Texas Republic, after winning its independence in 1836, claimed the Rio Grande as its boundary from the mouth through all its sinuous course to the West and North, even beyond the City of Santa Fe in what is now New Mexico, and the Santa Fe expedition of 1841 was projected to establish the authority of the Republic in that quarter, this jurisdiction was really nominal and it required the success of the arms of the United States during the Mexican war of 1846-48 to actually establish the Rio Grande as the international border north and west to the 32° of latitude. Thus, that portion of Texas sometimes known as the Western Panhandle, and included between the Pecos and Rio Grande and the line of New Mexico on the north, was a Mexi- can territory, inhabited almost entirely by Mexican people, until the forces of the United States invaded it at the time of the Mexican war and subsequently established their various military posts in that region, including Fort Bliss, Fort Davis and Fort Stockton.
In 1850 the Texas Legislature divided the Trans-Pecos country . into two immense counties, El Paso and Presidio counties. El Paso County included the extreme western corner of the state, with an area of over 8,000 square miles, and this immense territory was reduced by the formation of Culberson County from its eastern half in 1911. In 1917 the county was reduced more than one-half by the creation of Hudspeth, which was organized, with Sierra Blanca as the county seat. The population of the county for successive decades from 1870 to 1910 includes figures also for the new counties of Culberson and Hudspeth. In 1870, El Paso County had a population of 3,671; in 1880, 3,845 ; in 1890, 15,678; in 1900, 24,886; in 1910, 52,599, including
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about 22,000 Mexicans and about 1,500 negroes; in 1920, the popu- lation of El Paso County alone was 101,860.
Nearly all the population is grouped, either in the city of El Paso or the few towns along the railways, and the country districts are very sparsely inhabited. El Paso County has a mountainous surface, though there is much level land, and outside of the irrigation district along the Rio Grande and the industry centering in the city of El Paso, stock raising is the leading occupation.
In the mountains are found valuable deposits of marble and gran- ite, copper and silver are found in the Quitman Mountains, and lead and zinc in the mountains near El Paso.
El Paso City is the center of the economic resources and the his- tory of this region. This brief sketch of the county will refer only to some general statistics affecting the county as a whole, including the recently created Culberson County and still more recent Hudspeth County. The assessed value of taxable property in El Paso County in 1870 was $821,043; in 1882, after the railroads had come, $3,974,444 ; in 1903, $15,073,039; in 1909, before the separation of Culberson County, $38,455,297; in 1913, $45,693,385; in 1920, $64,276,830. In 1913, the assessed wealth of Culberson County was $4,617,206; in 1920, $4,372,564. The last census gave the following statistics con- cerning farming and live stock in what are now El Paso, Hudspeth and Culberson counties. The total area at that time was 5,971,840 acres, and less than half was included in farms and ranches. The number of farms was 669, as compared with 318 in 1900, and the amount of "improved land" increased from about 6,000 acres in 1900 to about 17,000 acres in 1910. In 1909 there were 446 irrigated farms, practically all of which were in the Rio Grande Valley, in El Paso County, and about $300,000 had been invested in irrigation improve- ments, and the total acreage watered was 23,308. The number of live stock comprised 94,966 cattle; about 8,000 horses and mules; 5,913 sheep, and 2,575 goats. In 1920, there were 6,750 cattle; 1,925 horses and mules ; 1,600 sheep ; 5,200 goats. In 1909, 8,196 acres were planted in hay and forage crops, and a limited acreage in corn, oats, wheat and kaffir corn and milo maize. About 475 acres were in potatoes, sweet potatoes and other vegetables. There were 16,000 orchard fruit trees and about 36,000 grape vines. As to the land of the county out- side of the Rio Grande Valley, a report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office in 1905 stated that over 2,000,000 acres were owned by the public school fund, and over 1,000,000 acres of university land. So far, the only profitable use to which they have been put is for cattle and sheep raising.
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