San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-09-07
NOW AND THEN.
Eagle Pass, September 2, 's9.

Daily LIGHT.
In my communication on the sur
prises of west Texas / failed to give
you the most encouraging surprise
of all, the evidences of thrift, adj
vancement and growth. The des-
peradoes, that ruled or rather that
terrorized the land then are dead.
Many died with their "boots on"-
died for their country's good, and
some were compelled, by the majesty
of the law, to seek other pastures.
Life is more secure, and property
rights are not made valid by the
pistol as then. AS result the ranch
man is not travelling arsenal now
as then; neat houses are dotting
the hills; stock of all kinds undis-
turbed, and brands and counter
brands seldom heard of. Comfort
crops out about villages and ranches
that were unheard of and undreamed
of then. Improved stock range
fence-guarded pasture now instead
of the puny and scrawny kinds
then. A well graded and well
wColed Texas sheep has displaced
the clean legged and barebellied
Mexican of that day. Corn fields APP
peard along the line of the railroad
where it was positively asserted that,
corn could not be grown. The rain
line that wavered along the Colorado
a few years ago, has moved its roll
call to the Rio Grande. In brief, West
Texas has become the stockman's
paradise, because no where else can
such pastures be had; no where else
can such grazing be had for cattle,
horses and sheep. Then the water
question confronted every stockman
with "Thus far, but no farther" The
few running streams, running only in
spots, and the water holes like angels
visits, few and far between, too far,
for comfort, had stayed the stockman's
march, but tanks, artesian wells and
wind mills came to his rescue. So
today 1.-The worthless desern which
our Mexican war soldiers told us of,
is now alive with cattle, horses and
sheep. The term desert" applied to
West Texas in early days, has chung
to it and retarded its progress like the
old man to Sinbad, the sailor. 1t is
hard to shake off. 1t was so in the
case of 1.-The great Missouri desert"
covering what is now known as
Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and the
Dakotas. The term desert" stayed
the tide of civilization there more
than fifty years, and the result has
been the same in West Texas. The
word "desert" was placed in our
Biographies and went thence into the
minds of children and went there to
stay. So all through the populous
portions Of our country there were
two great deserts of the United
States in the minds of the people.
The original travellers did not mean
by the term desert, that they were
barren sandy plains, but that they
were treeless plains, so these impress
ions have remained in the minds ofthe
people, as barriers against the west
ern tide of settlement until few
years ago. The old pioneers treated
the regions beyond them, much as
the old geographers did their un-
known countries, by saying "all be-
yong is sea-" So these pioneers said
'all beyond is desert" The writer
has seen much of the United States
and can assert, with positive infor-
nation of other sections, that nowhere
else are there such grazing lands,
covered with such grasses, as in West
Texas, and especially can he assert
that nowhere else can such grass
es be found in such climate.
These combinations must soon tell in
stock industries. No other grasses
can withstand the drouths that they
do, and no other section can guaran-
tee protection from severe winters,
and yet afford mild, genial summers.
These points in time will tell in the
stockman's favor. r. NJ.