The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 34, July 1930 - April, 1931 Page: 88
359 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
With markets opened by transportation, the ascendency of agri-
culture over stock raising was assured. Despite some fluctuations,
population and intensive agriculture have continued to the present
time to show a strong upward trend. In 1909, in anticipation of
the railroads, a number of new towns were laid out. Soon Asher-
ton, Dentonio, Big Wells and Brundage were the scenes of colo-
nization by American settlers, who came in by horse, in covered
wagons drawn by mules, and later by train. Some had been farm-
ers, others not. There were many persons--bookkeepers, clerks,
etc.-who never came, but sought investment or gain from the de-
velopment of the country without active participation therein.
The assessment rolls of the county bear the names of owners dis-
persed from Florida to California, and from Nova Scotia to British
Columbia, some of whom are in the county today, others of whom
never came, or who came and went.
There were many who failed in the new country-it is a local
saying that "it takes three bunches of settlers to develop a new
country." Lack of capital to develop land and withstand early
losses of crops, unduly high prices paid for land, or purchased in
units uneconomically small, failure to secure water, or, if secured,
at too great cost-these were among the reasons for failure, and the
operation of some of them is still visible in both older and newer
settlements. A supply of water adequate for irrigation was not
forthcoming at Dentonio. At Palm a colony of 106 Mennonites
from Ohio settled from 1911 to 1914. There were losses in mar-
keting crops, the land was left to renters, the pumps burned, and
the renters left. The land is now in new hands and ready for
development by other settlers.
There are also many settlers who have succeeded. Some of them
bought land outright or on time and developed it; others came
without resources, rented land and farmed, and later advanced to
ownership. Asherton and Big Wells have survived as important
towns of the county, while others have languished. Colonization
has been going on ever since the coming of railroads. The most
notable of recent projects is Catarina, established in 1926 out of
the old Taft ranch.
The major influx of Mexicans came with the development of
intensive agriculture under American leadership. They came in
to build the railroads, grub land, work on streets, in building con-
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 34, July 1930 - April, 1931, periodical, 1931; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101091/m1/98/?rotate=90: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.