Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1895-08-01

S4NAfS 4 ~ VI Aeff1tDFy-DtT nd%H1n-
cent Estate and Army of EmpIoyees-Her
BaroniaI Chateau.
One representative in the next con-
RTess will be nominated and elected BY
q woman. She is the widow Of Captain
Richard King, and she owns a princi-
patty in southern Texas. Her landed
estates consist Of about 1880, 600 acres
that is to say, nearly 1000 square
miles. For taking care Of this vast do
main a small army Of men is required
Their votes are controlled by the mis-
tress, who is 10 all intents and purposes
a queen
The records Of the land Office at Wash
layton reveal ON extraordinary facts
with relation 10 that part Of southern
Texas which seems ON the map TO in
trude into Mexico, terminating III a
point at the mouth of the Rio Grande.
This region, nearly as big as New Eng
land comprises four great counties and
is owned by four families-the Kings,
the Kennedys, the Collinses and the
Armstrong;. Much the largest of the
four shares belongs in fee simple to Mrs
King.
The ancient road from San Antonio
TO Brownsville has been closed by Mrs
Kings fences, and there are no gates.
There is no road law in that country.
The only way to get from Brownsville
70 Alice is by a stage route Of 40 hours.
The stage carries mail for a large part
of Mexico. In the entire distance there
Is not q single settlement, because the
territory traversed belongs to Mrs. King.
The region is wholly wild, being used
for cattle grazing. Mrs. King is refer
red to by Richard Harding Davis in one
Of his articles, who remarks that IL is
difficult TO imagine a solitary family
occupying IN area larger than some Of
the eastern states-an area that would
in the east support q state capital, with
governor and Legislature and numerous
small towns, with competing railway
systems and rival baseball mines.
The owner Of this principality is a
generous and liberal minded woman,
about 60 years Of age. She does much
good and takes cara of her people. To
each laborer on her estates she gives q
COW. Her ranch of Santa Gertrudis is
the largest in the world 1t is bounded
by Corpus Christi bay for a distance of
40 miles and by barbed wire fences for
800 miles more. From her front door to
her front gate is ID miles, and she can
drive in her carriage 65 miles in a
straight line without going of her own
premises. Her house looks like a castle
on the Rhine-a typical baronial man
sion. 1t is situated ON q slight eminence,
surrounded by the modest dwellings of
her dependents and by fields of waving
corn. Beyond on every side is a green
wilderness Of mesquite and cactus.
The chateau is as completely furnish
ed and as handsomely equipped as any
mansion ON Fifth avenue in New York.
No luxury hat money can bay any
where is lacking to the widow, who, by
the way. il the daughter Of the first
Presbyterian missionary TO the Rio
Grande. Corpus Christi is the terminus
of a railway, and from that point a
continuous stream Of wagons carry ice
and other necessaries TO the ranch. Mrs.
King lives for several months Of each
year in a palace at Corpus Christi. Her
son-in-law, Robert J. Kleberg, is gener-
al manager of the ranch, on which are
200. 600 cattle of improved breeds. Long
trains of freight cars are made up at
Corpus Christi TO carry Mrs. Kings
cattle to the east.
To run the vast estate costs about
500. 900 a year. For every 90 miles vi
parbed wire fence there is q man to
make repairs and see that no break &C.
ours. In the old days To cut a fence was
an offense likely 10 result In the death
Of the perpetrators Of the act. Three
hundred cowboys are regularly employ
cd, 1900 ponies being set aside for their
ase. Every spring all Of the calves are
rounded up for branding. They are
driven into q pen through a wooden
chute, and as they leave the chute each
one is caught by tine leg and thrown
upon its side.
Then one Of q dozen irons that are
kept redhot in an open fire is pressed
registered, and sometimes each member
Of q family has one. Mr.. Davis speaks
OF q girl who came out in society in
New York three winters ago, and who
is known in Texas only as 1.-THE wner
Of the triangle brand. Nobody can get
water in that country save by good viii
Of the owners Of the great estates. and
one can travel without their permits
sion. inasmuch as there are no public