Texas Nature Observations and Reminiscenses Page: 186
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186 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES.
and while many of the remote
mountainous regions aIc still in
their primitive state--just about
the same as hundreds of years ago,
when the Indian, buffalo, panther,
bear and other wild animals roam-
ed about andl haunted the forests
and rocky caverns, it is a notice-
able fact that in late years, in con-
sequence of the heavy immigration
and the building of railroads, those
regions have changed immensely.
After the first German settlers,
who had many a desperate en-
counter in early days with red-
skins and wild beasts, noticed
what immense fertile soil Texas
harbors, many of those wild prai-
rie regions were soon converted in-
to blooming fields and gardens,
and not better testimony of this
high cultured state could be re-
corded to-day than the thriving,
industrious and beautiful towns
of Boerne, Comfort, New Braun-
fels, Fredericksburg, and others.
But the flourishing neighboring
towns are not the only ones that
justly can be proud of their horti-
cultural achievements. Our own
City, at least in its close vicinity,
can also boast with no little pride
of its flourishing fields and truck
gal dens.
Where once nothing but a dense
wilderness of cacti and underbrush
and mesquite existed around our
beautiful Alamo City, we now can
notice a widespread area of the
finest gal (len products imaginable.
All sorts of grain and garden pro-
ducts: corn, maiz, rice, sugar cane,
alfalfa. oats, rye wheat, okra,
lettuce, cabbage, spinach, turnip,s
onions, and also different varieties
of fruit trees, melons, pumpkins,
cucumbers, potatoes and various
other market goods can here be
seen in profusion. And not alone
during the hot summer months,
but even in the midst of the cold
winter, these gardens delight the
visitor with their diversity of
vegetation.
Such is especially also the casewith the truck gardens along the
romantic pecan groves south of
the San Antonio IRiver up to Me-
dina, and including the United
States Observation gardens and
the Southwestern Asvlu m proper-
ty.
And to our old1 townsman, F. F.
Collins and IMr. B1radcl the honor
is clue of being the first who con-
ceived the happy idea of convert-
ing a vast cactus andl mesquite
plain and eyesore into now flour-
ishing and blooming fields and
gardens, by aid of modern irriga-
tion facilities. Mr. Collins, in-
deedl, must be a practical gardener
to have achieved such a succeess
in such a short time, and his fol-
lowers also have achieved wonder-
ful results with their irrigated
lands. E videnltly, there exists al
immense sub)terra(nean water strma-
ta or basin in the surroundings of
of San Anltonio \whliclh furnishes
such oenormllOlus volllllles of water
daily not alone to San \Antonio
with its approxim late population
of over 100,000 inhablitallts, 1but
also to supply those and other irri-
gated fields in the western dis-
tricts of San Antonio: and these
fields also conisu me immense vol-
umes of the lpurest water ilmagill-
a)le.
If one visits those fields, alou,
the Leona Boad(l, passing near t lme
Union Slaughlter IIouse, it' is no-
tice(l that the first and so far lar-
gust irrigated farm extends bXeVond
or south of the slaughter houses,
from the ol( Pleasaiton Road
westwar(l, up) to the nice villas
of Mr. Collins: and near these
ether ingenious investors also
have estalished irrigated farms,
which extend nearly up to the
Leona hills, or about six miles in
length, and some of the bare lands
have just now been successfully
supplied with artesian wells.
The entire valley this side and
above Leona Crck will some of
these days--and in no long dis-
tance-be converted into one im-
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Menger, R. Texas Nature Observations and Reminiscenses, book, 1913; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth143558/m1/190/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas Health Science Center Libraries.