New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 5

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416

USA > Texas > New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1 > Part 5

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).

100,143

8,600,905

6,442,357

10,904,737

1904

374,318

129,329

65,455

3,433,842

8,848,159

844,563

1.116,655

1,829,923

1912

233,282

251,240

197,421

822,916

1,175,108

1901

763,424

37,121

1902

571,079

46,812

17,420,949

1907

4,525

1910

455,999

9,582

129,497

3,656

1911

561,828

4,344

2,800

677,689

3.379

1908

4,500

62,640

39,901

4,554

4,062

7.074

158,830

TOTAL PRODUCTION OF OIL FOR TEXAS EACH YEAR FROM 1889 TO JAN. 1, 1922 IN BARRELS OF 42 GALLONS

Grand Total from 1889 to 1921.

AGRICULTURE OF TEXAS By CLARENCE OUSLEY Ex-Asst. U. S. Secretary of Agriculture

T HE growing belief in diversification is the "silver lining to the cloud" discovered by observ-

agricultural

ers

of Texas

conditions during the last

year. Contemplating the future, they predict more and more diversification, a growth of the small stock farming industry and increasing pros- perity therefrom. Especially in the "black land sections" of North Texas has this ten- dency become uppermost, and in Dallas County, Ellis Coun- ty, Collin and other counties where land prices are high- est, the small stock farmers are becoming numerous and the interest in pure- bred and registered stock of all kinds is growing.

While individual farmers in Texas are suffering as a result of decline in prices the agricultural in- dustry of the state, as a whole, is nearer than it has ever been to a basis of stability and prosperity.

Record of Production: Production during the last year has been very large and the effect of this large addition to the wealth of the state can not long be observed by the smoked glasses of pessimism. There is inspiration in figures like these for a normal year: Cotton, 4,200,000 bales; corn, 169,000,000 bushels; wheat, 31,665,000 bushels; oats, 42,336,000 bushels; sweet potatoes, 9,000,000 bushels; rice, 9,212,000 bushels; hay, 1,239,000 tons; grain sorghum, 60,000,- 000 bushels; wool, 17,600,000 pounds; apples, 489,000 bushels; syrup, 650,000 gallons; peanuts, 4,900,000 bushels; broom corn, 8,000 tons; barley, 469,000 bushels; hogs, 2,102,000 heads; beef cattle, $200,- 000,000 value; dairy cattle, $90,000,000 value.

While prices are low the actual wealth produced is here and can not fail to circulate through all the intricate and complex channels of trade and thus nourish and enrich all the people.

A very bright spot on the silver lining of the cloud is the large feed crop produced the past year. In former years when something happened to put the price of cotton down Texas farmers faced the next year with empty barns and had to borrow large sums of money to buy feed to make the next year's crop. There is an abundance to feed on Texas farms at this time and borrow- ings for operations will be relatively very small.

There has been more intelligent diversification of crops in Texas this year than ever before. The all-cotton farmer is hard to find where he was a majority a few years ago. Many so- called "patch crops," such as sweet potatoes, peanuts and tomatoes have become dependable cash crops.

Live Stock Improves: There is more and better live stock on Texas farms now than the most hopeful advocate

of live stock believed possible a few years ago. This is particularly true in the rich black land counties. A few years ago the land owners in these sections believed that the high price of land com- pelled them to plant only cotton. Now they have found that only by combining live stock with feed crops and cotton can they earn a return upon the high valuation of their land. The experience of older states is being duplicated in Texas, and we are finding the best quality of live stock in the regions of highest land values.

Recently large numbers of pure-bred hogs and dairy cows were brought into the state, and during the same period many local centers of pure-bred live stock production began to supply other sections of the state with breeding stock.

Marketing Studies: Notable progress has been made during the year by farmers in perfecting co- operative marketing associations patterned closely after the successful California co-operative organi- zations. The first of these to be formed is the Lower Rio Grande Valley Marketing Association, which will handle about $6,500,000 worth of early vegetables and fruits. The Texas Tomato Growers' Exchange now organized will control more than 60 per cent of car-lot tomato shipments from the state of a value approximately $1,000,000.

The outstanding event in the field of co-operative marketing is the launching by the farm bureau of a co-operative selling agency to control not less than 1,000,000 bales of cotton per year. This understand- ing is the outgrowth of a study of the cotton market- ing problem by a large group of farmers and busi- ness men, and it differs from all previous efforts in that it is based upon legal contracts of growers to deliver their cotton to the association, and in a plan of financing which, it is claimed, will command the approval of large banking interests.

When all the things enumerated above are taken into consideration, I feel warranted in saying that notwithstanding the difficulties of the price situa- tion Texas agriculture is today nearer the basis of permanent stability and prosperity than it has ever been.

An Orchard Scene in East Texas

THE TEXAS COTTON INDUSTRY By M. H. WOLFE

C OTTON is the ouvstand- ing industry of Texas. There is something fascinating about the produc- tion and disposition of a large cotton crop, such as Texas often produces. The crop never fails in Texas. Some years the yield is small- er than in other years, but cotton is a natural growth in the Texas soil and climate and will produce whether it has a chance or not. It is in- teresting to study the pro- duction and the money value of a cotton crop. For in- stance, in 1914 Texas farm- ers planted 11,931,000 acres in cotton and produced 4,959,112 bales which sold for an average price of 7.22 cents. Realizing in money approximately $165,770,000, while in 1918 the acreage was 11,235,000 which produced only 2,580,000 bales but sold for an average price of 28.02 cents, realizing about $363,780,000.

The cotton crop in Texas about equals in value all other crops combined. It might be said in this connection that there are vast domains of agri- cultural lands in Texas, suitable to cotton production that has never been touched by a plow, and it is possible that in the future there will be produced in Texas as much cotton as is now produced in the entire world. By an experienced and observant eye it can be easily seen that there is practically no limit to the cotton possibilities in a state so large and whose productive powers respond so quickly to the

A Warehouse Crew in a Prosperous Farming District

coaxing of nature and the magic hand of man. In her black prairie farms Texas has the largest and finest body of cotton land in the world. The long cotton rows are as straight as the crow flies, and where the mocking bird sings the loudest the cotton stalk grows the tallest. It is in obedience to the natural laws and the divine call that cotton so pre- vails in Texas. During the past decade the in- crease in the cotton acreage in Texas has exceeded the increase in all the other states combined. It seems that the acreage devoted to cotton in Texas is about twice the size of the state of Massachusetts, which explains the fact that Texas produces about one-third of the cotton grown in the United States. Snow time in Texas is not in the winter, but in the

fall when cotton is everywhere and the fields are white with open bolls, instead of ice snow we have cotton snow. Instead of rivers flowing with water we have trains flowing with cotton. As the people went west so did cotton, and many cotton farms are now to be seen over the Panhandle of the West where such seemed formerly impossible. From all parts of Texas come the contestants in the boys' and girls' Texas Cotton Club who have averaged more than one bale per acre and many of them over two bales per acre, running as high as 2.67 bales per acre. These boys and girls have the "bush that

Picking Cotton on a Large Texas Plantation

bears fleece more beautiful than the wool of the sheep" as the Greeks of Alexander's army said about the cotton of India.

Besides the fleecy staple there comes from cotton about 1,600,000 tons of cotton seed from the Texas crop, which has a value of about $90,000,000. There are about 200 cotton seed mills in Texas and when the seed are milled the production is about one- fourth oil and three-fourths "cotton seed cake." The cotton seed oil is very rich and from it the manu- facturers produce "pure olive oil and hog lard," and from the left overs they make everything from soap to phonograph records. Boll worms, boll weevils and caterpillars gather more cotton in Texas than the people gather. However, the worms and their allies, by working overtime find the job too big and a fair crop is left for the people. Only about two per cent of the Texas crop is manufac- tured in Texas. Cotton spinning is just beginning in Texas and last year the cotton mills used 83,389 bales. Some of the mills are very successful, manufacturing chiefly duck. C. W. Post, of Postum fame, built in West Texas a cotton mill that takes cotton from the farmers' wagon, gins it, weaves it, and delivers hemmed sheets and pillow cases ready for use by the housewife. The hope is that his tribe will increase.

One of the principal requirements to the success of any manufacturing industry is the availability of the raw product from which the goods are manufac- tured. With the large amount of cotton raised in Texas, much of which is stored in warehouses here to await marketing. The manufacture of cotton would always find a bountiful supply of the raw product available at a minimum transportation cost. The same would apply to the manufacture of cotton products. Much can be done to increase the value of cotton crops in Texas, by encouragement of manu- facturers who will utilize the raw material.

CATTLE RAISING IN TEXAS By E. B. SPILLER

Secretary, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers' Association

T HE live stock industry is one of the largest and in many respects the most important industry in the United States. The value of the live stock in the United States is estimated at above $3,000,000,000. Aside from the vast investment the importance of the industry is found in the necessity for live stock to maintain the fertility of the soil, and to consume the products of farms and ranges, 80 per cent of which, according to census reports is fed to live stock; and the further fact that animal food is a very essential factor in the diet of the American people of today.

Texas is the leading cattle breeding state of the Union, and annually furnishes steers for the feed lots of the corn belt states, and the ranges of Okla- homa, Kansas, Col- orado and other range states. Vol- umes would be re- quired to review even briefly the magnitude of the business in Texas and the far-reach- ing influence which the breeding, fat- tening and market- ing of live stock has upon the social and economic wel- fare of all lines of industry. In the short space alloted to me I must be content with a few general observations and re- frain from reference to the hardships of the pioneer

cattlemen, their long journeys over the trails with vast herds of cattle en route to Kansas and other states before the days of the railroads; and the evo- lution of the Texas steer from the longhorn of years ago to the modern market-topping and prize winning steer of today.

The mild climate over most of the state and the succulent native grasses which need be supple- mented with other feed only on rare occasions, make it possible to breed cattle in Texas more economic- ally than in any other state in the United States. The principal beef breeds of cattle are Herefords or white faces, Shorthorns, or Durhams, and Aber- deen-Angus or black muleys, with the Herefords leading numerically. Along the Texas coast the Brahmas because of their power to resist ticks, flies, mosquitoes and other pests, and ability to thrive even in times of short range, are becoming very popular. Many breeders prefer a cross of Here- fords and Shorthorns, and others are crossing the Angus and Brahmas with Herefords and Shorthorns

One of the Herds of Thoroughbred Cattle which Graze on the Large West Texas Ranches

with highly satisfactory results.

Splendid herds of registered and grade breeding cattle are found in all sections of the state, but because of the severe weather, which sometimes visits the Pan- handle, cattle breeding is conduct- ed more successfully in the western, southwestern and southern portions of the state. By using good bulls, culling the herds of undesirable animals annually, careful herd man- agement and good business meth- ods, the leading stockmen of Texas have succeeded in raising the qual- ity of their range herds to a very high plane. Breed improvement has progressed more slowly in the eastern part of the state, but the doctrine of "better sires" is spread- ing, and soon the "piney woods scrub," like the longhorn will be a relic of the past.

Some stockmen keep only their breeding herds and sell the increase as calves; others keep up their

Swift

The Packing House District of Fort Worth as Viewed from an Airplane

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

breeding herds and hold the increase until one or two years old, and still others handle only steers. Many Panhandle stockmen buy calves, yearlings or one or two-year-old steers, hold them for a short time and either feed them for market or sell to grazers and feeders in other states. Cattle bred on the Texas ranches and fed in the corn belt states have won many prizes, the championship at leading stock shows-topped the markets hundreds of times.

St. Louis, Oklahoma City, Wichita Falls, St. Joseph and New Orleans, or from pastures in other states, and many of the choicest fat cattle sold at the Chicago market are bred in Texas and fed in the corn belt.

Texas cattle pulled the chattels of the pioneers to the plains of Texas, drew the plows which first cultivated the soil, converted grass and weeds into

In normal years cattle may be wintered in most sections of the state without feed other than the na- tive grasses. In the Panhandle it is customary to feed cattle thru the winter to have them in good flesh in the spring, and many are "full fed" in order that they might be fat and ready for the spring market. The principal feeds used for wintering and fat- tening cattle are cotton seed cake, meal and hulls, hay, silage, sorg- hum, kaffir and other forage crops. Because of the tropical clim- ate in the south- ern part of the state stockmen of that section usual- ly have grass fat steers for the early spring markets, and realize good prices from them. While Fort Worth is now the third largest market in the United States, and receipts of this market are confined almost entirely to Texas cattle, one cannot get a fair idea of the volume of the cattle business in this state from this alone. In ad- dition to the very large number of cattle handled at the Fort Worth market, thousands are sold and slaughtered at the markets at San An- tonio, Houston and El Paso, and much greater num- bers are shipped direct to markets at Kansas City,

ARMOUR & COMPANY

Where the Live Stock from the West Texas Plains is Converted into Meat.

Upper : The Armour Packing Plant. Center: The Stock Exchange. Lower: Swift Packing Plant

milk and beef, and hauled to market the products of the fields. They were the foundation of our modern civilization; without them the wheels of commerce would grind more slowly.

THE TEXAS COWBOY By TOM L. BURNETT

T HE reconstruction per- iod following the close of the Civil War has oft been referred to by those in whose memory the vision of that dread conflict has not been wholly effaced, as "The days that tried men's souls." Texas, vast empire of the sunny south, for generations the veritable battle ground of civilization, has presented many problems that tried the souls of men and in slowly yielding to the onward march of progress offered boundless opportunities for the demon- stration of those qualities that determine when a man's a man. In the earlier days, and in fact, until quite recently, Texas was largely made up, from Red River to the Rio Grande, from the panhandle to the Gulf, of vast ranches, many of them far exceeding in area some of the petty principalities of Europe and the regions of the Far East.

Between these widely scattered ranches were well nigh boundless forests or vast unending plains where the majestic sweep of the prairies was broken only by slowly moving herds of buffalo.

It was into such regions as this the doughty cow- boy forged his way and planted the seeds of refining civilization that resulted finally in the wrestling of this magnificent domain from a state of barbarism and made possible the scintillating Lone Star that today proudly takes its place in the firmament of commonwealths that go to make up our nation as a whole.

The valor and progress of the western cowboy have been immortalized in song and story and the history of their achievements has a distinct place in the literature of the present day. The glory of his accomplishments will never die and ages after the deeds of martial heroes have faded in the limbo of a forgotten past, the memory of the western cowboy still will be revered.

But the old days of the open range and the wild, exciting scenes of the annual round-up are nearly over. Science and civilization-those twin foes of the freedom of man-are bringing nearer and nearer the time when this dramatic and impressive char- acter will, indeed, be but a memory.

To many, if not to all of the old timers, the pass- ing of the cowboy brings a well defined pang of regret. He has been aptly termed the vanguard of civilization and Texas, in erecting monuments to

those of her sons who have had a distinct and out- standing part in her glorious history ,will bring to herself shame and humiliation should she forget the part played by those rugged heroes of the plains and hills-the cowboys.

Numbers of men who today are leaders in the commercial and financial circles of the state, had their start as cowboys and rode the range in the early days. Notable among those former cowboys who have achieved material and financial success are W. T. Waggoner, Col. C. C. Goodnight, S. Burk Burnett, Col. C. C. Slaughter, Marion Sansom, Phy Taylor, Jack Abernathy, John Blocker, T. A. Coleman, C. B. Lucas, Geo. West, Mr. Kokernot and others too numerous to mention. Majestic office buildings, towering masses of steel and stone, bear the names of some of these men and give silent tribute to their indomitable will-power and determi- nation to succeed.

However, the achievements of these men, former cowboys, in wresting the fertile plains of Texas from domination of the redman and the buffalo, will be

Lunch Served: Theodore Roosevelt and Party of West Texans on Famous Wolf Hunt, May, 1906.

Reading from Left to Right: W. T. Waggoner, Major S. B. Young, Tom L. Burnett, Col. Theodore Roosevelt, Cecil Lyons, Dr. Lambert, Bonnie Moore, Capt. S. Burk Burnett, Capt. Bill McDonald, Chief Quannah Parker, E. M. Giles, Guy Waggoner, on Wagon: D. P. "Phy" Taylor, Lee Bivens.

cherished in the memories of former Texans long after the towering monuments of steel and stone have crumbled into dust.

In order to keep alive for coming generations the knowledge of how the cowboys lived and worked on the plains in the earlier days, there are being staged in many of the cities and towns of Western Texas annual round-ups or rodeos where the few remaining cowboys gather each year and, in good natured com- petition go through with an exhibition which ac- curately typifies the open life of the plains country

The Rodeo at Wichita Falls in 1921. This Western Classic has Become an Annual Event to Perpetuate the Spirit and Traditions of the West Texas Range and the Cowboy

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

in the early days. In keeping with this movement, plans are now under way for the erection in Wichita Falls of a monster stadium where the rodeo may be held each year in connection with the proposed agricultural and live stock fair.

concrete where once the lone cowboy on his pinto pony traversed an endless unbroken plain.

Men of the future have a debt of gratitude to the western cowboy which can never be repaid. Let him be immortalized in song and story, erect monuments of steel and granite to his memory, let the pages of history be emblazoned with a record of his deeds and even then the half will not have near been told.

With the onward sweep of civilization the western cowboy will pass into history, having fully achieved his destiny and com- pleted the work which in the divine plan of the ages it was meant that he should do. In the near future palatial trains of steel Pull- man cars and high powered au- tomobiles will move swiftly a- long roads of steel and

A Herd of Prize-Winning Thoroughbred Cattle on one of the Burnett Ranc hes in West Texas

A tribute to the west- ern cowboy has been beautifully expressed by a well known west ern poet, Jack Hil - dreth Beall, which may be appro- priately quoted be- low:

THE TEXAS COWBOY

It matters not what comes or goes,

Through summer's heat or winter's snows,

At work or play, on plain or hill,

The Texas Cowboy with a will, Is ever ready, night or day, To help a man along life's way. He rides the plains from dawn 'till dark,

Is ever ready for a lark, Throws a lariat, shoots a gun, Does his work and calls it fun; He's rough and ready, tried and true,

Oh Texas Cowboy, here's to you.

In song and story, film and play, We've seen the passing of his day, And now, with labors nearly done, He faces still, the western sun, Undaunted, firm and unafraid, His fame and glory ne'er will fade. And once each year we'll meet again, Those hardy cowboys from the plain, We'll see them ride, bull-dog and throw, At each recurring rodeo. And say to those from every land,

Our Texas Cowboy is a MAN.

-Jack Hildreth Beall.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT AND GROUP OF NOTED WEST TEXANS ON WOLF HUNT, MAY, 1906. Left to Right, Standing: Lee Bivens, Capt. Bill McDonald, Jack Abernathy holding Wolf, Major S. B. Young, Capt. S. Burk Burnett, Col. Theodore Roosevelt, E. M. Giles. Sitting: Two Soldiers, John Doe, Bonnie Moore, Quannah Parker Kneeling: Cecil Lyons, Dr. Lambert, Phy Taylor.

IIISTORY OF THE TEXAS AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY

By J. W. ATWOOD Manager of Dallas Branch Buick Motor Company

T HE automobile indus- try in Texas is only twenty years old, the first car brought to the state being owned by Mr. E. H. R. Green, of Terrell, Texas, president of the Texas Mid- land Ry. Co. In those days automobiles were referred to by many people as horseless carriages. Mr. Green's car was a St. Louis Gas Car of the surrey type, with two cylinders both of which ex- ploded at the same time giv- ing the automobile a rather rough jolt with each ex- plosion.

About this time Mr. Jay Gould, the New York railroad magnate, presented an automobile to Mr. L. S. Thorne, general manager of the Texas & Pacific Ry. Co. This was the second car brought into the state. The first automobile dealer in Texas was Mr. Henry Garrett, of Dallas, who, in 1902, bought his first car, a National Electric. After selling this car he took the agency for the Locomobile. During this year of 1902, Mr. R. L. Cameron, of Dallas, purchased a car from Mr. Gar- rett, an Olds steam car. This was Mr. Cameron's first automobile but later in the year he took the agency for the Steamobile, handling it for one year after which he put in a regular sales place for auto- mobiles taking the agency for Buick and putting travelers on the road, which was the first attempt to sell cars throughout the state. Mr. Cameron has continued in the automobile business for the in- tervening twenty years. In the latter part of 1902 Mr. H. R. Cromer, of Fort Worth, bought a Rambler, a two cylinder car which he still owns, in 1922.

In 1903 Parlin and Orendorff Implement Company took up the agency for Cadillac to distribute them throughout the state. This same year Mr. James Collins, of San Antonio, took the Cadillac agency for San Antonio territory and sold one car, a one- cylinder Cadillac, October 16th, to Mr. Al. Haslett,

The Union Terminal Depot, Dallas, with Ferris Plaza in the Foreground

a Southern Pacific engineer, at the price of $1,050. In 1904 Mr. A. B. Wharton, of Fort Worth, took the agency for the Olds and Winton, opening up a garage in Fort Worth. He sold this business about one year later to Mr. H. H. Lewis.

In 1905 the Maxwell, Briscoe and Handley com-

panies were established in Dallas which was the be- ginning of the establishment of factory branches and distributors in all the large towns of the state.

In 1907 the state legislature passed a bill requir- ing automobiles to be licensed in the county in which

Jefferson Hotel and Ferris Plaza, Near Union Terminal Depot, Built, Owned and Operated by Charles Mangold and E. W. Morten

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 5

Author: Davis, Ellis A. Publication date: 1926 Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?] Number of Pages: 1416

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416