The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 38, July 1934 - April, 1935 Page: 72

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

has been in his earlier books in weaving the mass of apparently
unrelated events into a connected story.
The book, however, shows Foreman's characteristic thoroughness
in research. It is based almost entirely upon unpublished manu-
script material, and apparently every possible source has been in-
vestigated. The book thus represents an important contribution
that is at once unique and definitive. The care with which the
work has been done probably settles for all time the main facts
in an important historical period.
The text is clarified with numerous maps and photographs, and
the format is especially attractive. The index has been prepared
with a thoroughness that makes every fact in the book easily avail-
able. Altogether, in spite of what the reviewer feels is a serious
defect of style, the book will be read and appreciated by all stu-
dents of Southwestern history.
ANGIE DEBO.
The Spur Ranch: A Study of the Inclosed Ranch Phase of the
Cattle Industry of Texas. By William Curry Holden.
(Boston: Christopher Publishing House, 1934. Pp. 229.
$2.50.)
W. C. Holden, professor of history at Texas Technological Col-
lege and frequent excursionist into the fields of ethnology and
archaeology, has added another book to his growing list upon
West Texas.
"This work proposes to be a study of the ranching industry of
the Great Plains area from 1885 to 1907 as exemplified by the
Spur ranch of Texas . .. an outstanding example of a ranch
owned and operated by a foreign syndicate."
In the beginning the author reminds the reader that this
"analytical treatment" will trace the Spur ranch from its acquisi-
tion by the Espuela Land and Cattle Company, in 1885, to its
purchase by S. M. Swenson and Sons in 1907. Noting its found-
ing at the foot of the Texas Plains by the Hall brothers in 1878,
Holden observes its promotion by an American corporation in
which A. M. Britton and S. W. Lomax were the principals, intro-
duces its management, and proceeds to a detailed statement of its
supplies and expenses.
Following this introduction, Holden treats the major phases of
large ranch economy of fifty years ago: cattle, fences, water, hands,