The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 96, July 1992 - April, 1993 Page: 315

Book Revzews

Of comparable importance was the arrival of a number of remarkably moti-
vated civic builders, such as B. B. Paddock, an ambitious young newspaper
man, who arrived in 1872. His first effort was a skimpy sheet he named The
Democrat, with a panther portrayed on its masthead. The venture faltered, but
Paddock went on to be a central figure in Fort Worth for decades.
Cattle trailing closed down by about 189o, and some of the large meat-
packing firms began to look toward the Southwest. Fort Worth entered upon
an extended promotional campaign, and was rewarded in 1902 when two of
the greatest operators, Swift and Armour, selected her as the site of major new
facilities. Almost overnight she became the meat-packing center for the region.
In a single decade the population surged from 26,ooo to 73,000. Significant
too was the arrival in 1905 of Amon Carter; four years later he and a few
venturesome associates put together the Star-Telegram.
Drama aplenty erupted in 1917 on a sandy farm near Ranger, a little west of
Fort Worth. A gamey wildcatter struck oil, and the ensuing excitement bor-
dered on hysteria. Within six months two hundred wells were going down. Fort
Worth and its venerable Westbrook Hotel became headquarters for leasing,
and the action widened. By 1919 there were three great fields in action simul-
taneously, at Ranger, Burkburnett, and Desdemona (known locally as Hog-
town). The storied boom era, after a couple of decades, faded into history; but
to this day Fort Worth is still substantially involved in this industry.
Amon Carter became interested in aircraft as early as 1911, the year dare-
devil Cal Rodgers made the first coast-to-coast flight, in his fragile Wright
pusher named the Vzn-Fizz. With several other boosters, Carter persuaded
Rodgers to stop in Fort Worth; and that same year they brought into town an
internationally-known team of French flyers. Not until the outbreak of World
War II, however, with its acquisition of the great Convair bomber plant, did
Fort Worth set out upon becoming the aircraft industry leader that it is today.
Knight closes his history with the account of an epochal event of 1949, when a
B-5o bomber took off from Carswell Air Force Base, and with in-air re-
fueling put down again in 96 hours, having completed history's first nonstop
flight around the globe.
Amon Carter died in 1955, but by then the city was rich in talent and initia-
tive. The added essay by Cissy Stewart Lale, titled "Corporations and Cul-
ture," competently brings the narrative up to the present. Lale went to work at
the Star-Telegram in 1949, the year of the centennial, and stayed for thirty-
eight years. She traces the phenomenal growth of the city's importance in the
defense industry and air transportation, coupled with the emergence of sev-
eral great philanthropic foundations and the attendant wealth of nationally-
acclaimed museums.
The new volume includes thirty-five photos and several maps, plus an index.
Its reappearance after thirty years should be welcomed by a new generation of
readers.

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Waco

ROGER N. CONGER