USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume II > Part 42
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Outside of Amarillo and its suburban territory Potter County has had the same general characteristics of development as other adjacent counties. The northern part of the county is traversed by the Canadian River, and most of this consists of the broken grazing land character- istic of the Canadian brakes. At this time there are numerous farms in this section of the county, but a large part of it is given over to large ranches. It is in this section of Potter County, north of the Canadian River, that an immense field of natural gas has been developed. At this writing the gas production is about 400,000,000 cubic feet per day. This gas has been piped to the city of Amarillo and forms the basis of great expectations in the way of industrial development for the city. Fully four-fifths of the entire population of the county is concentrated in Amarillo. Population of the county in 1880 was only 28; in 1890, 849; in 1900, 1,820; in 1910, 12,424; and in 1920, 16,910. The valu- ation of the property in the county in 1903 was $1,615,559; in 1913, $12,577,135; and in 1920, $17,557,716.
Owing to the fact that less than one-half of Potter County is classed as agricultural land, and as evidenced by the fact that outside of the city of Amarillo there are only about 1,500 people in the county, this county does not rank high in agricultural production. At the present time (1920) there are only about 150 farms in the county, although a very considerable portion of the large ranches is devoted to raising feed crops. The total acreage of Potter County is 597,760. In 1910 there were 29,000 acres of land in cultivation. In 1920 there
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are 50,000 acres in cultivation. The 1920 census shows in the county 1,460 horses and mules, 15,200 head of cattle, and other live stock, including hogs and sheep, 1,200. The last assessor's reports shows in Potter County 25,000 acres in wheat, 5,000 acres in oats and barley, 5,000 acres in forage crops and 15,000 acres in kaffir and maize.
AMARILLO
Amarillo for a number of years has been one of the most progressive small cities in Texas. Its importance as a railroad center has already been noted, and its standing as a distributing point is indicated by its volume of wholesale trade, amounting to $20,000,000 annually. The increase in population during the last thirty years has been: In 1890, 482; in 1900, 1,442; in 1910, 9,957; and in 1920 the city has 15,494 population. Amarillo has a commission form of government, with city manager, has several miles of paved streets, a sanitary sewer system, the modern public utilities of gas, electric light, water works, and since 1906 has had street car service. The largest item in the city's pros- perity is its railroads, and as a division point on the three principal lines the different railway companies contribute about $3,000,000 in salaries and wages to the local population. The position of Amarillo as the center of the live stock business of the Panhandle has remained unchanged since the early days of the '80s and '90s, when this was the largest cattle shipping point in the world. The financial interests of those engaged in the cattle business is still centered here, and the Western Stock Yards Company contributes largely towards making Amarillo a good live stock market.
Amarillo has one of the largest flouring mills in Texas, and there are several elevator companies here, likewise owning elevators in all of the principal grain shipping points in the Panhandle.
The wholesale and jobbing interests of Amarillo are very large, including almost all lines of merchandise and distributing warehouses for all the leading manufacturing and agricultural implements. The great packing and food products corporations also have distributing houses here.
The standard lines of industries and manufacture are also repre- sented by the various laundries, creameries, sash and door factories, mattress factories, planing mills, etc.
Amarillo is the site of the Federal District Court, the Court of Civil Appeals of the Seventh Judicial District of Texas, the State District Court, the United States Weather Bureau Service, headquarters of the Live Stock Buyers and Sellers Association and has one of the eleven first-class post offices of the state, the resources of its six banks aggregate more than $13,000,000 and there are more than a quarter of a million dollars invested in public school property. The state also has two or three preparatory and business schools, one large hospital, and a bond issue has been authorized for a $220,000 county hospital and a $500,000 city auditorium. The post office, United States courts, revenue collectors and other United States officers are housed in the Federal build- ing erected here by the Government. Postoffice receipts for the year 1919-20 were $121,722.30.
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The early history of Amarillo has as its central figure a prominent Texas business and cattle man, Henry B. Sanborn. Mr. Sanborn was at one time associated with the inventor of barbed wire, and had the distinction of introducing that fencing material, against the prejudices of stockmen, into Texas, where it is now almost the sole form of fencing over the entire western section of the state. Early in the '80s Mr. San- born bought a large tract of more than a hundred thousand acres in Pot- ter and Randall counties, and in 1882 enclosed the area with a wire fence of four strands. That was one of the first fenced pastures of any size in the Panhandle. After the construction of the Fort Worth & Den- ver City Railway, passing through the Sanborn ranch, the townsite of Amarillo was laid out on the east side of the Sanborn property. The first location was about a mile west of where the town now stands. The county voted about thirty thousand dollars to build a courthouse, and in a short time about a thousand people had located in that vicinity. Mr. Sanborn, in spite of the courthouse, was not satisfied with the location of Amarillo, and exhibited a remarkable degree of enterprise in estab- lishing the town on his own land and at a site he deemed more eligible. According to the Texas laws the county seat, once located, could not be changed for five years. Unable to secure the immediate removal of the courthouse, Mr. Sanborn proceeded to appropriate practically all the rest of the town, first building an expensive hotel on his site, putting up houses, laying out streets, introducing many improvements, and employ- ing every legitimate means to influence the merchants and the residents of old Amarillo to come to his place. Gradually the old town became deserted except for the courthouse, and even the county officers lived in the new town and walked a mile each day to attend to their official duties. After the expiration of the five-year period the courthouse, too, was moved to Mr. Sanborn's site, and thus ended one of the most interesting town site wars in the state.
PRESIDIO COUNTY
Presidio County, formed in 1850, for a number of years comprised the greater part of the Trans-Pecos region of Texas. In 1871 Pecos County was set off, and in 1887 Brewster and Jeff Davis counties were created, leaving its present area of about twenty-five hundred square miles. The county was organized in 1875, and Fort Davis was the county seat until 1887, and after the creation of Jeff Davis County a, county government was established at Marfa, on the line of the South- ern Pacific Railway, which was constructed across the north end of the county in 1880. The northern part of the county consists of high, rolling, treeless plains, but a large part of the area is mountainous and there are very few streams of running water. The mountainous dis- tricts are chiefly noted for their mineral deposits, and the stock raising industry is confined to the plains region in the northern part. About thirty years ago efforts were made to develop the silver deposits in the southern part of the county, near Shafter, and the Presidio mine in that vicinity has been in successful operation for over twenty years and is the principal metal producer in Texas. In 1911 Texas produced silver to the value of over two hundred thousand dollars, and a large part of it came from Presidio County. The town of Shafter is off the railroad,
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and is a mining camp, with several hundred inhabitants, most of the labor being performed by Mexicans. The oldest town in the county is Presidio, located on the Rio Grande, and which has long been a port of entry and the site of a custom house. Marfa, the county seat and chief town, has a population estimated at about seventeen hundred, is a distributing point for most of the country to the South and North, and is also noted as a health resort, having an elevation of nearly five thousand feet. For many years most of the supplies for Fort Davis, Shafter and other points along the Rio Grande have been hauled out of Marfa by wagon train.
Agriculture is as yet in its infancy in Presidio County, and has been largely confined to small patches along the Rio Grande, operated by Mex-
PRESIDIO COUNTY COURT HOUSE
icans with small irrigation plants. Recently a dam has been constructed across Alamita Creek south of Marfa, and with the accumulation of flood water it is estimated that about 12,000 acres may be put under cultivation. At the present time the amount of irrigated land in the county is about 1,000 acres, and experiments have proved that alfalfa, wheat and fruit are profitable crops under irrigation. For many years the county has supported large herds of cattle, sheep and goats, and the raising of goats and sheep is increasing, with Marfa as the market for wool and mohair. Besides its silver mines Presidio County has unde- veloped deposits of copper and lead, and great quantities of excellent marble.
The population of Presidio County in 1870, when its territory still included all that part of the Trans-Pecos region except El Paso and Culberson counties, was 1,636; in 1880, before Jeff Davis and Brewster counties were set off, 2,873; in 1890, 1,698; in 1900, 3,673; in 1910, 5,218, including about 3,000 Mexicans ; in 1920, 12,202. The value of
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taxable property in the county in 1903 was $2,827,572; in 1913, $5,762,- 793 ; in 1920, $7,109,421.
The total area of the county is 2,439,680 acres, and about a third was included in farms or ranches at the time of the last census. The amount of "improved land" was about 7,000 acres, compared with about 2,500 acres in 1900, and the number of farms was 186 in 1910. Forty-three of these farms were irrigated, and in 1909 the acreage irrigated was 855. The livestock enumerated was 49,191 cattle; about 4,400 horses and mules, and 4.197 goats; in 1920, 62,896 cattle; 3,739 horses and mules. In 1909, 601 acres were planted in corn; 504 acres in wheat ; and 479 acres in hay and forage crops.
RANDALL COUNTY
Located on the northern edge of the Staked Plains region, and just south of the Panhandle metropolis, Amarillo, Randall County's territory was opened to settlement with the building of the Forth Worth & Den- ver City Railroad in 1888. Its area is level except where broken by the Palo Duro Canyon and the Tierra Blanco Canyon, and its most depend- able water supply is obtained from underground. Formerly the livestock industry took precedence over all others in this county. Many large ranches are still conducted, but during the last twenty years homeseekers have placed a large acreage under cultivation.
The population of the county in 1880 was only 3; by 1890 there were 187 inhabitants; in 1900 the population was 963; in 1910, 3,312, and in 1920, 3,675. A considerable number of Germans and other European people have found homes in this county. The chief town is the county seat, Canyon City, which in 1910 had a population of 1,400, nearly half the entire population of the county. In 1910 the West Texas Nor- mal was established by the state at Canyon City, and that was the first state institution given to the Panhandle country.
Randall County was organized July 27, 1889. The chief impetus to its development was given in the construction of the Pecos & Northern Texas Railway from Amarillo southwesterly to the New Mexico line, constructed in the year 1898. The substantial growth of Canyon City dates from the coming of that railway, and several other stations have been established along the line. In 1907 a branch of the Pecos & North- ern Texas was completed from Canyon City south to Plainview. These two roads, with the Forth Worth & Denver City close to the northern boundary, give Randall County unusual railway facilities.
The total area of the county is 599,680 acres, of which 278,484 acres were included in farms in 1910. The amount of "improved land" in 1910 was about 94,000 acres, as compared with only 8,000 acres in 1900. There were 363 farms in 1910 and ninety-six in 1900. The last enumeration reported 25,914 cattle ; 4,875 horses and mules.
The staple crops are the forage plants utilized chiefly in connection with livestock farming. In 1909, 28,682 acres were planted in hay and forage crops; 6,617 acres in kafir corn and milo maize; 5,212 acres in wheat ; 1,307 acres in oats; a small acreage in corn and other cereals, and about 7,000 orchard fruit trees were enumerated. The assessed valuation in 1903 was $1.678,184, in 1913, $4,617,764, and in 1920, $4,959,928.
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REAGAN COUNTY
Until 1903 Reagan was a part of Tom Green County, joined to the present county by the narrow Panhandle land lying between Irion and Sterling counties. The present county was organized in that year and named for Judge John H. Reagan. The county is a portion of the plains of West Texas, has no running streams, very sparse native timber, and has apparently ample water supply obtained at a distance of from fifteen to two hundred feet underground. Situated about a hundred miles from the nearest railroad, the county has until recently been within the open range district, and the statistics of the livestock industry covered the only important phase of economic development. About 1912, however, the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad was completed through the southern half of the county, from San Angelo westward. That has already inaugurated a new era for the county. There are two railroad stations. Barnhart and Big Lake, while Stiles, the county seat is located away from the railroad. The population of the county at the last census was 377. The assessed value of property in 1903 was $735,625; in 1909, $1,125,316; in 1913, $1,279,430 and in 1920, $1,449,534. The last census reported that out of a total area of 685,440 acres, only about two thousand five hundred acres were classified as "improved lands." There were fifty-one farms in the county at that census. Stock interests were enumerated : Cattle, 14,547 ; horses and mules, 781, and sheep, 7,850. In 1909, 832 acres were planted in kafir corn and milo maize, 452 acres in hay and forage crops, and a limited acreage in corn. A limited amount of land is irrigated from wells.
REEVES COUNTY
In 1883 the northwest portion of Pecos County, including an area of 2,721 square miles, or three times the size of an ordinary county, was set off under the name of Reeves County. A county government was organized in 1884. In 1880 Pecos County, an immense region bounded on the south by the Rio Grande and on the east and north by the Pecos River, had a population of 1,807, three-fourths of whom were Mexicans, and at that time old Fort Stockton was the county seat. During 1881 the Texas & Pacific Railroad was built across the northern part of old Pecos County, and the Southern Pacific across the southern part. Set- tlement began along the Texas & Pacific, merchants and mechanics and farmers locating here in the midst of what had for some years been occupied solely by stockmen. It was as a result of this settlement that the new county of Reeves was formed. In 1899 the Pecos River Rail- road was built north from Pecos City to the New Mexico line, and that road opened up to settlement and development the Valley of the Pecos for many miles. Within the last decade the enterprise of citizens at Pecos City and along the Toyah Valley have constructed a home road known as the Pecos Valley Southern, a distance of forty-one miles and furnishing transportation facilities to the rich and rapidly developing irrigation district along the Toyah Creek.
The population of Reeves County in 1890 was 1,247; in 1900, 1,847 ; in 1910, 4,392, including about 800 Mexicans. The principal city and the county seat is Pecos City, whose population in 1890 was 393; in 1900,
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639; in 1910, 1,856, and in 1920, 1,587. The town of Toyah, on the line of the Texas & Pacific, had a population in 1910 of 1,052 and 771 in 1920.
Reeves County lies in the dry farming and irrigation region of West Texas. The Pecos River forms the entire northeast border of the county, while at right angles and flowing centrally through the southern part of the county is Toyah Creek, the water course of the now noted Toyah Valley. In these valleys during recent years have been under- taken some large projects of irrigation development, besides a large amount of individual farming and stock raising.
The surface of the county is generally level and a large part of the soil is the washings from the mountains, and exceedingly rich. During the last few years considerable acreage has been placed under irrigation in the vicinity of the Pecos River, in the shallow water belt near Pecos City and at Balmorhea and Saragosa, at the foot of the Davis Mountains, where several springs are located. In 1913 it was estimated that about twenty thousand acres were irrigated in the different parts of the county, and alfalfa, cotton, fruits and vegetables, and the usual Texas staples, are all products which have helped to make the Pecos country famous. It is claimed that the grapes and melons raised in this section are the equal if not superior to the California fruits, and the horticulture and truck industry is being established on a commercial basis. Among other resources of the county should be mentioned the Toyah shallow oil fields. A shallow sand struck at 657 feet north of Pecos started a development program in which more than fifty rigs were erected in 1920.
The total area of Reeves County is 1,779,840 acres, and the last census reported 563,033 acres included in farms, while about 16,000 acres were "improved land," as compared with 8,000 acres in 1900. The number of farms or ranches increased from sixty-three in 1900 to 225 in 1910. Nearly all the cultivated land is irrigated, and the amount under irrigation in 1909 was 14,000 acres, divided among sixty-three irrigated farms. In 1909 the chief crops were hay and forage crops, kafir corn and milo maize. The assessment values in Reeves County in 1903 aggregated $1,342,989; in 1909, $7,065,548; in 1913, $8,593,312 : in 1920. $8,286,344.
Pecos City, the county seat, was founded about the latter part of the year 1881, when the railroad was completed. The town was at first located near Pecos River, about a mile and a half east of the present site, to which the town was removed in 1885. It has been the county seat since the organization in 1884. Perhaps the chief charm of the city is its residence section, beautiful home-like places surrounded by pretty lawns and embowered among the cypress-cedar trees which have been imported from California and flourish in this vicinity.
The altitude is about twenty-six hundred feet, and the climate is one of the valuable assets. Artesian wells are found in all parts of the town, and there is a water works plant for the business district, which is not needed in the residential section. A sewer system reaches all sections of the town.
Other public utilities include electric lights and an ice plant. Com- mercially Pecos City has for years been the business center for a
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large section of West Texas, and several of the mercantile firms transact a business that is larger in the aggregate than similar establishments in the large cities of the state.
ROBERTS COUNTY
Lying just west of Hemphill County is Roberts County, which was organized January 10, 1890. The Canadian River crossed the county on the north half, and the Southern Kansas Division of the Santa Fe, which was constructed in 1887, gave the county its first and only railroad. The county seat was located at the little town of Miami, on the railroad; and that is the only town of importance in the county. The surface of the county is composed of considerable broken land along the Canadian River and its tributaries, and elsewhere is composed of plains, and the soil is for the most part a sandy loam. The population of the county in 1880 was thirty-two; in 1890, 326; in 1900, 620; in 1910, 950, and in 1920, 1,469.
Outside of its use by the cattlemen for the past thirty years as a great stock range, Roberts County has comparatively little development, though in recent years the farmers have encroached upon the ranches, and the county is now producing a large total of the staple Panhandle crops. The amount of "improved land" in 1900 was 3,600 acres, and was increased by 1910 to about 18,000 acres. The number of farms and ranches was fifty-nine in 1900, and ninety-three in 1910. The total area of the county is 564,480 acres, of which 557,377 acres were reported in farms and ranches at the last census. The last enumeration reported 39,518 cattle and 1,983 horses and mules. In the year 1909, 4,693 acres were planted in hay and forage crops; 3,039 acres in corn; 1,423 acres in wheat, and 915 acres in kafir corn and milo maize. The valuation of property in the county in 1903 was $1,118,987; in 1913, $2,671,554; in 1920, $3,696,803.
MIAMI
Miami is the county seat of Roberts County and has a population of 1,000. It has one of the best courthouses in this portion of Texas, erected in 1912. There are four grain elevators, two banks, the Bank of Miami, unincorporated. and the First State Bank of Miami. Both are strong and flourishing institutions. It has a high school which main- tains full affiliation with the University of Texas; four churches, Baptist South ; Methodist Episcopal, South ; Presbyterian, U. S. A .; and Church of Christ.
RUNNELS COUNTY
This was one of the West Texas counties which shared in the phe- nomenal increase of population and the development of resources during the first decade of the present century. That rapid growth has not been continued in the last three or four years, owing to the continued dry weather conditions that have prevailed over most of Texas, but the county has done well to maintain the level of prosperity attained in previous years. When the first official census was taken of Runnels County its population, in 1880, was only 980, including fifteen negroes. Population grew by 1890 to 2,193; by 1900 to 5,379; and by 1910 to 20.858, showing nearly a quadruple gain; in 1920 the population was
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17,074. While the great bulk of the population is native American; Germany, Austria and Mexico have contributed a substantial number of their people. The progress of the county is also well illustrated in figures taken from the tax assessment. In 1881 taxable property was assessed at $665,077, nearly half being represented by livestock ; in 1903, $4,188,- 000; in 1909, $10,571,775 ; while valuation showed a small decrease by 1913, the figures being for that year $10,167,342; in 1920, $10,411,980.
Runnels County was one of the counties laid out by the legislative act of February 1, 1858, being named in honor of Governor Runnels. The county was not permanently settled for twenty years afterwards, and was finally organized in 1880. On Oak Creek, just beyond the west boundary of the county, Fort Chadbourne was established in the '50s, and was garrisoned by federal troops until the Civil war. Under this protection a few settlers had located in Runnels County, but they were traders or wandering stockmen, and during the troublous times of the war decade the county was practically abandoned.
During the '70s the cattlemen took possession of Runnels County, driving the buffalo before them and establishing their camps all along the Colorado and its tributaries. By 1880 the Texas and Pacific Rail- road had been built through Abilene, about twenty-five miles from the county, and for many miles on both sides of that route, the stockmen and settlers began permanent occupation.
At that time agriculture had hardly been attempted, merely enough to test the productiveness of the soil. When the county was organized the place selected as the county seat was given the name Runnels. In 1886 the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad was built through the county, and the town of Ballinger, founded on this line, soon after- wards became the county seat and has since been the metropolis of the county. The county had no other railroad for more than twenty years. In 1909 what was known as the Concho, Llano & San Saba Valley Railroad was constructed a distance of seventeen miles from Miles to Paint Rock in Concho County and is now operated as a branch of the Santa Fe. During 1910-11 the Abilene & Southern Railway was finished from Abilene to Ballinger. In 1882 the county had about 42,000 cattle ; 30,000 sheep, besides other stock. Since the '80s the county has changed from an exclusive range to a well diversified farming country. In 1903 over 15,000 bales of cotton were raised in the county, and Ballinger claimed to have the largest wagon receipts of cotton among all the cities of Texas, 54,000 bales having been brought into town in 1909 over the country roads. In the meantime the number of livestock has decreased, although the values under conditions of modern stock farming are greater than thirty years ago. The report of the last federal census was based upon conditions existing in 1909-10, at the climax of the county's modern development. That report showed 2,526 farms in the county, as com- pared with 669 at the preceding census. Of a total area of 623,120 acres, the greater part was occupied in farms and ranches, and about 232,000 acres were "improved land," by comparison with approximately 48,000 acres in 1900. Figures representing the livestock interests were : Cattle, 18,315 ; horses and mules, about 7,180; hogs, 4,110; sheep, 10,610. The acreage planted in cotton in 1909 was 121.957 ; in kafir corn and milo
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