Kleberg -- Robert Justus Page: 2 of 11
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He developed trench silos, encouraged settlement of the country and the
establishment of business and industry. He experimented with upgrading cattle with
registered British breeds and improving breeds of carriage and cavalry horses. He
also helped establish the community of Kingsville. He was a dominant factor in the
effort that resulted in the Port of Corpus Christi in 1926. Together with John Kenedy
he worked on soils. They brought citrus trees, palms and olive trees. He planted
Rhodes Grass, built new houses for its employees and he helped to solve the tick and
Texas Fever. The headquarters house was built at a cost of $350,000 and two years.
Kleberg County-p. 18-This modern Moses was R. J. Kleberg, manager of the Santa
Gertrudis Ranch, the largest estate in the United States owned by a private
individual. His discovery of a great lake of artesian water underlying plains three
times the area of the State of Connecticut, lying between the Nueces and the Rio
Grande Rivers, is but one in a record great achievements.
p. 19-Having supplied his cattle with more water than they could drink, Mr.
Kleberg cast about for means to utilize the surplus. Twenty acres planted in
cabbage and irrigated with artesian water as an experiment yielded returns of $300
an acre. An experiment in onions showed returns of $350 to $500 an acre, though
the crop had to be hauled twenty miles to reach a railroad. He showed his stock
raisers that they averaged a steer on ten acres for $40 and vegetables for 3000 to
5,000 every year or 9,000 to 15,000 in the same time to raise a cow.
KPR-One of Mr. Kleberg's greates achievements was the development of an
adequate water supply which brought the St. Louis Brownsville & Mexico Railroad
to his locality and gave his cattle speedy access to Northern markets. He later grew
cotton, introduced dairy farming and brought blooded cattle from Missouri and
Kentucky. He set aside 45,000 acres for the townsite of Kingsville and another
40,000 for towns of Raymondville and Lyford. On the ranch over which he managed
there were 100 miles of railroad, four schools, a cotton mill, a butter factory and
many other plants for manufacturing ranch products. They men employed required
2000 saddle horses and thirty automobiles.
KPR-813-The new arrivals to the towns learned to resent the feudal fiefdom of
King Ranch. The Klebergs devised a method of sealing their borders against trepass.
The half mile or so of property nearest their fences was declared to be Texas State
Game Preserves, and these strips of land patrolled by State Rangers as well as by
King Ranch fence riders. In 1936 they got the article the Walled Kingdom.
KRP-811-Robert Kleberg Obituary-Headline: Noted Ranch Owner-Pioneer
Texas Cattleman Ruled a Domain Larger Than State of Delaware-1,000,000 acres
in tract.-Corpus Christi, Texas October 10-He died at his ranch home near
Kingville today. He was 79 years old. He had been in ill health for five years. Robert
J. Kleberg Jr. assumed management of the ranch and Richard M. is a Representative
in Congress. His achievements was development of an adequate water supply which
brought the St. Louis, Brownsville, & Mexico Railroad to his locality giving him
speedy access to northern markets. He later started growing cotton, introduced
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Kleberg -- Robert Justus, text, 2010; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1841275/m1/2/?q=%22cat-bom%22: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.