The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 75, July 1971 - April, 1972 Page: 45
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The Texas Myth in Reality
also for dry land farming and early vegetables under irrigation, which
can be made a source of great profit."'
The Jim Wells County land, from which the Seefelds hoped to
realize net resale profits of $30 to $35 per acre, lay forty miles west
of Corpus Christi; four miles south of Alice and the mainline of the
Texas-Mexican Railway and a branch of the San Antonio & Aransas
Pass Railway; and one mile east of Ben Bolt, which was also on the
Tex-Mex mainline. Unlike the other Seefeld properties, which were
offered with their need for irrigation clearly stated, the Jim Wells
tract was offered as a "dry farming proposition." Because this tract
received far more attention and promotion than the others it can
be taken as most instructive of the Seefelds' intentions, style, and
results.'"
First, 563 acres was reserved as a demonstration farm and ranch
to be operated by Charles Friedrich Seefeld's son Walter and his
family. Known locally as the "Palo Verde Ranch," this parcel of
land was used to support beef and dairy cattle, hogs, chickens, and
plots of cotton, corn, sugar cane, milo maize, Bermuda onions, cab-
bage, tomatoes, celery, asparagus, cucumbers, cantaloupes, water-
melons, and potatoes. The beef and hog operations were primarily
feed-lot operations and the large Jersey herd was handled with
the most modern and mechanical milking and creamery equipment.
The intention was always to maximize crop rotation and diversification
for self sufficiency and market sale. For the physical plant the See-
felds constructed a five-room ranch house, two houses for workers,
a large barn with dairy, granary, hayloft, and buggy shed, a large
implement shed, a garage and storeroom, chicken houses, stock corrals,
five silos, two windmill-driven wells, and all necessary fencing."
The remaining 2,289 acres were offered for sale at $75 per acre.
Purchasers were offered three options: they could secure outright
deed to their acreage and farm it themselves; they could take title
and rent it out to tenant farmers; or they could take a land contract
for their acreage under what the Seefelds called their Co-operative
Farming Plan. Under this contractual plan, the Seefelds agreed "to
oSeefeld & Son, Did You Ever Strike a Deal, 3-4-
1"Ibid., 4-5; Seefeld & Son, Acre Shares in Texas, passim; "Walter Seefeld Increases
Dairy Herd," Alice Echo, undated clipping. Walter F. Seefeld Papers (in possession of
the author).
11Seefeld & Son, Did You Ever Strike a Deal, 4-5; Seefeld & Son, Acre Shares in
Texas, passim; "Walter Seefeld Increases Dairy Herd," Alice Echo.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 75, July 1971 - April, 1972, periodical, 1972; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101201/m1/57/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.