The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-02-03
Great Variety Of Soils and Climate
on San Antonio Plateau Offers
Diverse Opportunities to the
Farmer and Investor.
ALI. ADVANTAGES OF A
GREAT STATE FOUND HERE
Country Surrounding City of the
Alamo Has Conditions Already
Resulting in Marvellous Growth
and in Increase in Wealth.
eY HERBERT VANDERHooF.

BY HERBERT VANDERHooF.
was talking to railroad man .yester-
day about the present flow OF emigration
to the Lone Star state from all parts or
the country, and particularly from the
middle Western and Northwestern states'
when he said:
Texas as European emigrants talk OF
going to Amerca'-they speak of 1t as
a locality rather than an empire Did
it ever occur to you that there are coun-
ties in Texas as large as some of our
states? Illinois is one Of the big states
of the Union, and yet, very nearly hve
comm, commodated Within the hospitable Dor
ders of Texas.
The very immensely of Texas is fire.
auently a handicap to her. You would
say that the climate Of Illinois was bad
because a friend of his in Cairo had
written him that it sometimes becomes
very hot down there. You would not
who would tell you that peaches will not
do well in Illinois, owing to the east
winds that prevail every spring in Cook
Texas too often by what they hear Of
q small corner Of a state whose area Is
26S,242 square miles.
might be made with reference to Texas
it would be as nonsensical to speak in
sweepihg Of the elimats to-
acteristics Of the state as it would be
to make general statements about Eu-
rope. Asia, Africa, Australia or North
that they are going to Texas and ask
me for advice I always want to Earn
two things before give it. 1. What
part of Texas they are going to? g.. What
object they have In view in going to
Texas? T..
The answers to these questions would
determine whether would advise them
to seek LOCATION in the northern, south
ern, WESTERN eastern or central portions
of the state; up near Indian Territory
or Oklahoma, over near the Rio Grande.
along the New. Mexican border, close
to the Mexican boundary, down toward
the gulf. in the low or in the plateau
country.
One State-Varled Advantages.
There are great stretches of country
in Texas where all the advantages of the
marvellous state may be found in com
bination, and there are immense districts
which offer particular advantages to GER
tain classes of ernigrants, but if I were
asked to advise middle Western and
Northwestern people what part of Texas
to go to in order find splendid soil. eli
mate, social conditions, educational adj
vantages, opportunities for making money
in almost every calling-who are look
with country that is growing up and
getting rich at a rate unparalleled in our
history-I should say to them: Settle
tributary to. San Antonio. And the soon
er you get there the better will be your
chances, not of getting rich quick: but
It would be waste Of time to speak
Of the climate Of the country of which
San Antonio is the commercial, indus trial,
educational and social center, because
tones have been written about the health
giving properties of the sunshine and air
Of this district. From a practical view
given in support of the contention that
the. climate is peerless is that any cereal,
fruit or vegetable that can be raised in
any part Of the United States not only
western Texas.
Something About Population.
What my railroad friend says of south
western Texas and the country round
aabout, San Antonio is true. The city OF
county, which, without saying anything
. of its wonderful growth since, had a
popula ton oo6n, Of 6s,422, according to the CEN
San Antonio is, far removed from
every possible rival. Houston is distant
200 miles, Dallas 2s7. It is removed from
emporium of Kerr, Kendall, Hays, Co.
NAL, Caldwell and Bandera counties or
the north, the last United States censu:
1850 4,1o3, .14.142 zoos, i,763 and 5s32
Of FRO, Atoscosa, Dimmett, La Sale
McMqllen, Live Oak, Webb, Duval, Col.
whose populations in 1900 were, respect.
lively; 1900: 7,14s, 1895: 2,aos, 1924, 226s
Witt on the east, with populations II
and 21,s11; of Medina, Uvalde, Kinney
in 1900. respectively, of 1873, 4,647, 2,44
and 1872.
It would be safe to add IS per cen
and, taking into consideration the tide
of immigration moving toward them now
and which will increase year by year a
the country and its advantages and pos
sibilities become better known, it woul'
be coldly conservative statement t
say that some, If not all of them, vii
realize that + am not dealing wit
large figures, but it must be remembers
that southwestern Texas is as new to
day as Kansas, Nebraska and the Da
kotas were twenty-five years ago. Be
cause the country IS new-and not 70
any other reason-lands are as chea
down there today as they were in tn
states mentioned a few years ago, an
they will not remain cheap any longe
n than they remained cheap in Kansas
Nebraska and the Dakotas, nor as lone
beset the early settlers in the West an
Northwest await the agriculturis
horticulturist, truck gardener or stoc
raiser in southwestern Texas. -''
Live Stock and Truck Farming.
Let me take at random one of the cou1
ties tributary to San Antonio, to illus
- trate the character of all. Comal count
was born in 1846, but, like scores of it
companions, 1t not known to be o
the face of the earth by anybody outsid
of southwestern Texas until very FEY
years ago. This county contains 42O, 90
acres of rich, black land, capable of pro
ducing large crops of corn, cotton, oat:
fruits and vegetables and grasses i
abundance. Like all the counties sur
rounding San Antonio, it is a wonderfl
- live stock producer. ".