Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1893-12-29

Very few people at a distance in think
ing of western Texas underst and that
nearly the whole of it is at present fenced
up in mammoth pastures, yet such is the
case. Many of them are larger than or
binary counties, and some of them en-
brace large parts of three or four counties.
Just west of this place (Belcherville,
TeX.) come the Silverstein. the Ikard, and
the Worsham pastures. This latter con-
tains $4,000 acres, and has one line of
fence % miles long. Pastures of about
this size continue in almost unbroken sue
cession until we reach Armstrong county.
There " find what is known as the Good
night ranch, the southern boundary of
which is a little string of fence SO miles
long. Charley Goodnight, as the owner is
Familiarity known, is considered one of the
richest men in the Panhandle, but really
feel sorry for his boys if he ever sends
them out on hot afternoon to stop hog
holes in that line of fence. 1t is hardly
likely that this is the case, however, as all
fences in this county are built to turn cat
tie and without reference to hogs. There
is a little railway station called Goodnight,
which consists of the Goodnight residence
and the depot. Mr.. Goodnight lives in al
most baronial style. His park contains
deer, a drove of elks, and one of the few
herds of buifalOes to be found in the Unit
ed States
Another fair-sized holding of land is
that of the Espinela Cattle company. This
contains over 100000 acres, and takes in
parts of Dickens, Crosby, and Emma
counties. If the land were in the form Of
square it would be about 30 miles each
way. The Matterdore is smaller, but still
includes rather more than 100000 acres.
These are both owned by syndicates with
headquarters in London, and they are only
two selected at random out of a large num-
Der. They have their bearing on state
politics. If it were not for the railroad
commission, the uniform textbook bill,
and the alien land-holder question, Texas
politics would not be worth shucks.
The largest of these alien land holdings
belongs to what is called the capitol syndi-
cate. A few years ago the old capitol at
Austin burned down, and it was decided
to build another on magnificent scale.
An English syndicate agreed to put it up,
and in payment therefor they received
100000 acres Of public lands. Does the
reader realize how big 100000 acres of
land is? Imagine a slice of land - miles
wide and extending clear across the state
of Missouri at its northern border Such
a strip would include the whole northern
tier of counties, and would be larger than
several states of the Union. This would
| be about the extent of the capitol syndi-
Gates pasture. Few people have any idea
that there is such a thing as a single pas
ture in one body and under one fence,
larger than some states in the Union, yet
such is the fact. More than that, it is
owned by foreign syndicate 1t takes in
half of Dead Smith county and parts of
several others.
Another large pasture is that of the y.
/ |. T. Cattle company. 1t begins with the
| Colorado line and extends several counties
| back this way. The Fort Worth and Den
yer railroad runs through il. Some idea
of its size may be gained from the fact
that the regular night express train enters
in the south side of the pasture at ll:Oj,
| and after continuous running leaves it at
/ 3 20 the next morning. A pasture which
! it takes an express train three hours and a
| quarter to cross would be considered large
| in some countries.-St. Louis Globe Dcm-
] pgrpt