A history of Deaf Smith County, featuring pioneer families Page: 20 of 174
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History
Deaf Smith County
Pioneersa banner headline in red proclaiming, "Courthouse Bond
Issue Carries."
"The election went off quietly, both sides working hard
all day," the story said. "At night the victors called out
the brass band, held a jubilee, fired a few salutes, and
serenaded most of the leaders on the losing side. W. H.
Rayzor appeared on his front proch when the band had
played one number and in a short speech acknowledged
his defeat and added that he had lost by fair means and
at the hands of as brave men as the world produced."
Perhaps the latter statement refers to the apprehension
some felt as the county's being able to stand the
indebtedness. One opponent is said to have remarked that
at the current rate of county income it would take 500
years to pay off the debt.
Funds were ample, however, to proceed with the building
of a structure of Georgia marble ample in size for the
needs of the county in 1965--one which would cost in the
millions of dollars today. Following a recent remodeling,
it serves every need of county officialdom and has been
awarded a medallion by the Texas State Historical Committee.
Church and private buildings for the year of 1909,
including the court house which was completed in 1910,
equalled more than a quarter-million dollars. Included
were the new brick school building, $30,000; $25,000 new
brick hotel; $25,000 new Christian church building;
new Methodist church, $20,00; causeway, $10,000; business
houses $25,000; sidewalks, $10,000; and street
improvements, $10,000.
Irrigation Proved in 1910With its Commercial Club calling for boldactionin 1910,
it was that year that the young city felt the pinch of reverses.
Drouth, depression, and an epidemic caused
numbers of people who had come so hopefully on the
immigration trains to head back east. Rent on city property
and property value dropped.
Those who stayed in Hereford and believed in her
future, however, were not taking back a word they had
said about the opportunities offered by their adoptedhome.
Some already had tried irrigation. Basing their hope
on results of the first test well in 1905, the Commercial
Club guaranteed D. L. McDonald $3,000 for the drilling
of two new test wells.
McDonald was as enthusiastic as were members of the
Commercial Club at the results. He began farming with
irrigation to show what could be done. The first crop of
irrigated oats was reported in June, 1911, to have produced
80 bushels per acre. Wheat made 40 bushels;
cotton a half-bale, sugar beets, 15-20 tons per acre.
On Aug. 11, 1911, L. Weaver reported 12,000 bushels
of sweet potatoes from seven acres.
Good yields of sugar beets in 1910 led the local paper
to suggest the feasibility of a sugar mill if local farmers
would guarantee 4,000 acres of sugar beets for a period
of years. "Does Hereford Want One of These Big Million
Dollar Sugar Beet Factories?" the paper asked through
a headline on Aug. 15, 1911. Although Texas' and Hereford's
first carload of sugar beets was shipped that fall,
the farnners apparently did not make the acreage guarantee;
so the sugar mill was to wait more than 50 years.
"Quit praying for rain, and dig, dig, dig," the newspaper
admonished. Prospective farmers were told they
could "buy rain by the acre....three inches of rain for
25 cents per acre." An experiment conducted on the
Hillcrest Farm, formerly owned by L. Gough, indicated
that the irrigation wells produced the equivalent of four
inches of rainfall for 65 cents per acre. McDonald
drilled wells for other farmers, and by 1912 there
were 30 wells in the county.
In 1913 John J. Zinzer, who had come from Michigan
the previous year, reported good yields under irrigation,
including oats, 65 bushels, spring wheat, 30 bushels,
maize 60 bushels per acre. He produced 350 tons of silage
on 35 acres of kaffir. His income from 155 acres under
irrigation was reported to be $5,610,
Wheat Fields Challenged The Range
The range-wheat field battle grew in intensity in the
second decade of the 1900's. The newspaper had been
plugging for a "flouring mill" as early as 1906 and 1907,
as farmers continued to raise more acres in wheat,
and the wheat proved excellent for milling purposes.
J. C. Womble had threshed 31,000 bushels in 1906. In
1907 there were 81 wheat farmers with yields averaging
10 bushels per acre. J.C. Coker averaged 15 bushels
per acre on dry land that year.
Great West Mill and Elevator Co. built the county's
first elevator with a unit of 10,000 bushels, later increased
to 40,000. As more and more acres were planted,
the Hereford skyline changed as new elevators were
built to handle the growing business. E. W. Harrison
established a commercial elevatbr here in 1919.
Toward the latter part of the decade, farmers were
growing wheat by the hundreds of acres, with B. A. Atchley
of Summerfiled dubbed the "wheat king" for several
years because he raised several hundred acres of wheat
each year. He bought the county's first combine for
use on his farm in the Summerfield community.
Many farmers were planting alfalfa under irrigation
in 1913 and harvesting five to six tons per acre. Yields
on grains were 40-80 bushels of oats, 50-80 bushels
kaffir, 30 bushels wheat, and 60 bushels Indian corn
per acre.
In January 1915, the Hereford Brand reported, "The
four best cards a farmer can hold in the game of farming
in the Hereford district are: Water, Work, Sail,
and Sunshine." John Pollock and Percy Welliver had
come to this county in the spring of 1914 and bought
virgin land 10 miles northeast of Hereford. They hired
a Mr. White to break out 200 acres. McDonald dug an
irrigation well for them.
Working in shifts, the two men kept their well going
35 days, 24 hours a day, at a total cost for the season
of $369.45. They produced over 3,000 bushels of kaffir,
2,500 bushels of maize, 1,200 bushels o f cane seed, 100
tons of cane hay, and 400 tons of rough feed hay.....
"easily worth $5,650."
"When talking about their experience....they declareRube Norton's record alfalfa seed crop in about
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Patterson, Bessie. A history of Deaf Smith County, featuring pioneer families, book, 1964; Hereford, Tex.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth16011/m1/20/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Deaf Smith County Library.