Texas Almanac, 1947-1948 Page: 108
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TE AS ALMANAC -1947-1948.
small detachment fi om ban Antonio along
the line of westLin posts to Fort Belknap,
apparently without rea],b ag there was great
danger of attack At Foit Gi iffin a delega-
tion of citizens from Jack Parker and adja-
cent counties had assembled to appeal for
aid Genei al Sherman seems to has e been
impressed too, by a raid bn Comanches and
Kriowas on a wagon train in which the dii-
ers were killed, on the tail which the aimy
expedition had t av eled a few days pi e-
ously.
Sherman ordered an investigation at Fort
Sill and Satank, Santanta and Big Tree,
chieftains, were arrested, charged with the
wagon-train raid and ordered to Jacksboro,
Texas, for trial before civl authorities.
Satank was killed en route trying to escape,
but Santanta and Big Tree were counted
and given the death penalty, which was latIelr
commuted by Governor Davis to life impils-
onment and the Indians w ere confined at
HIuntsville penitentiary They v. eie released
in 1873 conditioned on good behavro Subse-
quently Santanta was red ii ested and relt ui ned
to the penitentiary, wheie he killed himself
in 1876
Finally Gen. R. S. Mackenzie of the United
States Army was c mmissioned to iound up
the Indians of Northwest Texas and retui n
them to the Indian Territoiy reservations.
This he did in an aggressive campaign which
ended when Mackenzie's forces trapped the
main body of the Comanches and Kiowas at
the Junction of the Tule and Palo Duro Can-
yons after their horses had been stampeded
by a surprise night attack This campaign
which ended in 1874, first year of Coke's
administration marked the end of Indian
hostilities in Texas, except some minor inci-
dents in the Big Bend and along the Lower
Rio Grande bolder
XI. PERIOD OF EARLY ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT.
The end of Reconstruction brought Texas,
for the first time in its history, to an era
over which no cloud of armed conflict hung.
Throughout the mission and filibustering
eras civilization had clung tenaciously to a
few spots on the Texas soil menaced con-
stantly by the red men and uncertainty as to
white domination The period of colonization
had hardly gotten under way before it be-
came apparent that a struggle with Mexico
was probable, if not inevitable The era of
the Republic w as darkened by the menace of
reconquest by Mexico by constant warfare
with the Indians and political instability
within the Republic itself Annexation to the
United States brought only a new anxiety
that was soon to culminate in the Cilil War.
Thus, while Texas went back into the
Union and under its Reconstruction period
had sunk to a low ebb politically and eco-
nomically, its people realized that they were
entering upon an ela of peace and political
security.
Beginnings of Economic Expansion.
The period extending from the close of
Reconstruction to the beginning of the T en-
tieth Centurn may be likened to a period of
adolescence From the beginning of Anglo-
American ultui e in Texas the vastness of
the region's nauial resources fired the imag-
ination of those who came to settle within its
confines But the greatest of all resoui ces is
the human resiu cc, population It is tlhe
italizing thing that gies alue to rich soils,
abundance of t atei fo, (tts giasslands and
minerals A ielati elt fe\s natural i esoui ces
aie sufficiently valuable pei unit of weight
to have value in farasav mark- Mitxn e-
sources, such as soils and climate cannot be
removed In laige measure Texas' known ma-
terial resources of that d'iy steie of the kind
that had to aw art the coming of a population
-soils, favorable meteorological conditions,livestock ranges and minerals. Texas cotton
has commanded a world-wide market, but
the soil that produces it had to await the
coming of a population to till the land In
later yeals oil, gas and sulphur have found
side markets, but these deeply hidden re-
soul ces w ere not destined to great dev elop-
ment in the early chapter of Texas' gro, tli
Population and Transportation.
Texas' first need was population Secondly
Texas needed means of transportation As
among the states, the economic deselopmcnt
of Texas has been unique-paralleled only by
the development of the Pacific Coast states
Texas. instead of being overrun by the west-
staid tide of population that spread from
east to west, began as an isolated nucleus,
centering around Austin's colony
The beginning of Texas. It ill be remem-
bered was a Latin-American experiment in
a wilde ness that lay between Anglo-Amerlca
and Latin America For many years aftel
remom ing the political barriers that lay he-
tw een Texas and the United States, first by
rex olt against Mexico and later by annexa-
tion this state was relatively isolated by the
bal ier of the Mississippi Valley. which re-
tarded railroad building. Texas had its appre-
ciable network of rail lines before a connect-
ing link with the rail lines in the United
States was built in 1873.
It was in the period, extending approxi-
mately from the close of the E. J Davis
administration to the beginning of the Twen-
tieth Century, that Texas got its basic growth
in population and transportation. This is not
saying that the last three decades of the last
century were the periods of greatest growth
of population, but it was the earlier period
that gave the state population and transpot-
tation sufficient for a basis for utilization of
its more readily available resources-soils.
climate, water, forests and easily accessible
heavy minerals.
Coke was succeeded by Richard B. Hub-
bard (Dec 1, 1876, to Jan 21, 1879) by virtue
of his position as Lieutenant Governor
Strengthened border defense, reorganization
of the penal system, suppression of land
frauds and further reduction of the state
debt ere achievements of Hubbard's admin-
istration.
State's Debt Reduced.
The administration of Oran M. Roberts
(Jan. 21, 1879, to Jan 16, 1883) has gone
down in history for the pay-as-you-go policy
by which a deficit sweas wiped out, public
debt lowered and taxes reduced The two
terms of Roberts w ere marked also for edu-
cational legislation. An act was passed pro-
siding for a state university in compliance
with constitutional mandate, and the Sam
Houston and Prairie View Normal Schools,
for white and Negro students, respectively,
were established.
The administration of Gov John Ireland
coseied the two terms (Jan 16. 1883, to Jan
18, 1887), and was characterized by continued
impiosement of the educational system In
1883 the University of Texas fas opened at
Austin
It wtas during this administration that ;he
fence -cutting in Wct Texas reached lit tcli-
max Large landowners had fenced in sn l
tracts, cutting small oncis off from public
high s The fence-cutting war that gas
e aced by the small lando ners caused Go us-
ei nor Ireland to call a special session in
1184 at which pro visions against illegal fcnc-
ing-in of land and obstruction of highsaxs
was passed and fence-cutting made a felony
It effectively ended the trouble between large
and small landowners
Rise of Populist Party.
The first disturbance in Texas' political
econoiny as the iesult of a growing indlus-
tiialzation of the United States, was e'l-
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Texas Almanac, 1947-1948, book, 1947; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117136/m1/110/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.