Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-20
QUEEN OF THE RIO GRANDE
A Woman who11 Owns Principality in
Southern Texas.
Makes Her orn, Laws and Has a
Standing Rrm,-The biggest
Rnnchsin the World.

written Tor The Evening star.
One Represent atire in the next Congress
win be nominated and elected by woman.
Sh. is the widow of Capt. Richard King.
and she owns a principality in southern
Texas. Her landed estates consist Of
about 1.25O,OOo acres-that Is to say nearly
1000 square miles. For taking care Of this
vast domain a small army of men is re-
quired. Their votes are controlled by the
mistress. who Is to all intents and purposes
a queen.
The records Of the land office at Washing
ton reveal some extraordinary facts with
relation to that part Of southern Texas
which seems on the map to intrude into
Mexico. terminating in a point at the
mouth Of the Rio Grande. This region, near
ly as big as New England, comprises four
great counties and is owned by four fam
i}fes-tne Kings the Kennedys, the Col
linses and the Armstrong;. Much the larg-
est 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
stage route of forty hours. The stage car
ries mail for a large part of Mexico. In
the entire distance there is not a single
settlement, because the territory traversed
y.
wild. being used for cattle-grazing. Mrs.
King is referred to by Richard Harding
Davis. in one of his articles, who remarks
that 1t Is difficult to imagine solitary
family occupying an area larger than some
Of the eastern states-an area that would
in the east support state capital, with
governor and legislature and numerous
small towns. with competing railway sys-
TENS and rival base ball mines.
A Liberal Proprietor.
The owner Of this principally is a gen.
erous and liberal-minded woman, about
sixty years of age. She does much good
and takes care Of her people To each la
borer on her estates she gives a cow. Her
ranch of Santa Gertrudis Is the largest in
the world; 1t Is bounded by Corpus Christi
bay for a distance of forty miles and by
barbed wire fences for three hundred miles
more From her front door to her front
gate is thirteen miles. and she can drive
in her carriage sixty-five miles in straight
line without going of her own premises
. Her house looks like a castle on The Rhine
"a typical baronial mansion. 1t is situated
on a 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 furnished
and as handsomely equipped as any man
sion on 9Th avenue in New York. No lux
ury that money can buy anywhere is lack
ing to the widow who, by the way, is the
daughter of the first Presbyterian missicn-
airy to the Rid Gfande. 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 general
manager of the ranch, on which are 100000
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 100000
year. For every twenty miles of barbed
wire fence there Is man to make repairs
and see that no break occurs In the old
days to cut a fence was an offense likely to
result in the death of the perpetrators of
the act. Three huSdred cowboys are regu-
larly employed, 100 ponies being set aside
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 the leg and thrown upon
its side.
Then one of a dozen irons that are kept
red hot in an open fire is pressed upon the
animals nose. All brands are registered
and sometimes each member of family
has one. Mr.. Davis speaks of a girl who
ters ago. and who is known in Texas only
as 1.-THE owner of the triangle brand" No
body can get water in that country save
by goodwill Of the owners of the great es-
tates, and no one can travel without their
permission, inasmuch as there are no pub
lie roads Thus 1t comes about that the
region is entirely shut up and unused to
any extent for agriculture, though it is ex-
traordinariIy fertile.