San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-10-20
SAN ANTONIO. TEXAS, MONDAY. OCTOBER 90 1900
Sunday at Van Raub.

1t was fully 30 minutes after the adver-
tised time for sailing when conductor
+. j. Loring shouted "all aboard" and
the merry Sunday excursionists bound
Van Raubward, were of" Arriving
shortly after II o'clock at the little city
lit is only chgySaliS now, but promises
to be full fedged butterfly soon,) the
press party were taken in hand by the
genial Col. Van Raub, mounted in a
vehicle, cross between buck board
and boards that buck, drawn by couple
to show us the wonders of Van Raub.
The altitude of the little city above sea
level at It's lowest point is 1900 feet, the
highest about 1900. The air is delightful
ly invigorating and one feels after drink
ing 1t in for an hour or two an eXhilera-
ton similar TO that produced by drinking
cd wine. The Colonel told us that per-
sons suffering with lung troubles had
recovered in a short time at Van Raub.
Ascending Grice's hill we were afforded a
perfect view of the town of Van Raub.
the pretty little station, pretentious and
rock school house (the finest in BeXar
county outside of San Antonio). From
this elevation we were also enabled 10
look into three counties, TO obtain view
of Boerne, distant seven miles, San An
tonic, twenty-five miles. Comal noun
tainS and table lands and the beautiful
Leone and Bandera valleys. This is one
of the prettieSt building spots we have
ever seen. Ascending the hill known as
"Donaldson's Choice, a landscape as
beautiful and picturesque as is possible
for the Imagination to conceive burst up
on us. The sun had reached its zenith,
the air was soft and warm, here and there
the outline of the immense oaks with
which the adjoining mountains are tim
bered, the broad valleys of Bandera, Bal
comics and Soloro, with the Leon wind
ing its way Coloradowards; after this the
beautiful valley in which the Biesceto's
were so foully murdered. The Don Cor
los ranch, celebrated in story and song,
all made picture for the Imagination to
dwell upon. Driving slowly around the
hills which have been perfectly terraced
by nature. We reached the QuarrieS
owned by the Lincoln Iron works of
Rutland. Vermont. These quarries have
an inexhaustible supply of limestone of
fine quality. The government building
and courthouse of San Antonio was sup
piled by them, and they are now shipping
stone to Corpus Christi and other Gulf
ports. The plant is fine one, twelve
saws with cutting capacity of six inches
an hour for each saw. Mr.. j. w. Hughes,
who is representing the company's inter-
ests at Van Raub, tells us that another
plant of larger capacity will be put in
SllOTlly. hebuIuIuS w Ile plClllC SIOutuS
with an appetite that spoke wonders for
Van Raub air. we were invited to par
take of barbecued kid prepared by
those knights of the spit and vinegar
swab, Hersberg, Jimmy Kidd, James
Brady, Fitzgerald and Tom Hunt, of Fort
Wayne. The boys culinary skill is prob
ably not equal to some French cooks we
know, but the kid disappeared just the
same, so did gallon of beer and other
hardware. The inner man satisfied,
speaking was now in order.
An ox-wagon did duty as rostrum and
Messrs. Sanchez, Farmer, Denman, Nor
rison and Bergstrom obliged" in the
order named, shouting the merits OF their
tickets and the dement's of the other fell
lows, until they were satisfied. The au-
dience consisted for the most part OF
senoritas, whose knowledge of English
was limited, aud Mexican string band,
who rendered appropriate airs as each
speaker mounted the rostrum. For in
stance, when Farmer was called on, the
ballad Upper Ten-Bergstrom, MY
Country, IT'S of Thee"-and for Colonel
Morrison, La Paloma," finishing with
the lord chancellors song in lolanthe,
''Said l to Myself, Said l."
A claypigeon shoot was in progress all
day and lovers of the Winchester also eX-
hibited their skill. In the latter, Con-
ductor Loring made the best score.
Altogether, the day was an enjoyable
one, and Van Raub is a delightful place
to picnic or live in.
"