The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-01-07
FIELDS OF FlF1l rhoYah@0 AcEI


thinking of western Texas under
stand that nearly the whole of it is
at present fenced up in mammoth
pastures, yet such is the case,s Mlhy
of them are larger than o1snJDry
counties, and some of them en- yirkce
large parts of three or four corr in is
Just west of Bclcherville, 2 TX,
come the Silverstine, the Ikeard Nnd
the Worsham pastures. This ls tier
contains $4,000 acres a''1 hasdone
line of fence % miles long. Pastures
OF about this size continue in almost
unbroken succession until we reach
Armstrong county. There we bind
what is known as the Goodnight
ranch, the southern boundary OF
which is little string OF fen le So
miles long. Charley Goodnight At, as
the owner is Familiarity knovsn, is
considered one of the richest men in
the panhandle, but I really feells
ry for his boys if he ever sends them
out on a hot afternoon to stop hog
holes in that line of fence. 1t is hard
ly likely that this is the case how
ever, as all fences III that e5SJn's!yA
are built to turn cattle and without
reference to hogs. There is little
railway station called Goodnight,
which consists of the Goodnight res
idencc and the depot. Mr.. Good
night lives in almost baronial style.
His park contains deer, drove OF
elks and one of the few herds of
buffalo in the United States.
Another fair sized holding of land
is that Of the Espinella Cattle COM
pany. This contains over l, 500, 600
acres and takes in parts of Dickens,
Crosby and Emma counties. II the
land were in the form of a square,
it would be about so miles each way.
The Matterdere is smaller, but still
includes rather more than LOCO, coo
acres.
These are owned by syndicates,
with headquarters in London, and
they are only two selected at ran
dom out of a large number. They
have had their bearing on state pol
itics. If it were not for the railroad
commissioners, the uniform text
book bill and the alien landholder
question, Texas politics would not
be worth shucks.
The largest of these alien land
holdings belongs to what is called
the capitol syndicate. A few years
ago the old capitol at Austin burned
down, and it was decided to build
another on q magnificent scale, An
English syndicate agreed to put it
up, and in payment therefor they
received 5000, 600 acres of public
lands. Does the reader realize how
big 5000, 900 acres of land is? .Ira9g-
inc slice of land "a miles wide ard
extending across the state of Nilsson
II at its northern border. Such a
strip would include the whole north
ern tier of counties and would be
larger than several states of the In.
ion.
This would be about the extent OF
the capitol syndicate S pasture Few
people have any idea that there is
such a thing as q single pasture, il
one body and within one fence, lar.
ger than some states of tho Union,
yet such is the fact. More than that,
it is owned by a foreign syndicate
1t takes in half Of Dear Smith coun
ty and parts Of several others.
Another large pasture is that o.
then. l. T. Cattle company. II begins
with the Colorado line and extends
several counties back this way. The
Fort Worth and Denver railroad
runs through it. Some idea of it
size may be gathered from the fac
that the regular night express train
enters on the south side Of the pas
ture at Hos, and after c0ntinuou:
running leaves ii at 1920 next morn
ing. a pasture which it takes an ex
press train Jour hours and a quartei
/ to cross would be considered large il
conn. rO--7,i7.:C, (f1,7noCO Ei1,laa