Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-21

the fever, the work of breeding up the cat
tie went on smoothly enough until every
hoof on the ranch was from one-half to
fifteen-siXteenths Hereford or Durham. and
the value of the stock had been more than
doubled.
Found the Water.
But always the problem of an adequate
water supply for the thirsty herds On tha
arid plains grew more and more pressing
Surface wells were dug and equipped with
windmills, but within twenty miles of the
coast the water was brackish and every
where the supply was insufficient and I'M
satisfactory.
When it began to look as If it was n
question OF finding water going out OF
business Mr.. Kleberg hired a gang of well
drillers and ordered them to keep right on
boring until their drill came out on the
other side Of the earth unless they found
water sooner. When the well gang arrived
at the scene of their labors one morning
afer reaching a depth of 800 feet they
round water flowing out of the well. An
other Of Mr.. Kleberg's ideas had borne
fruit of momentous Importance.
After a second well with flow Of $50
gallons minute had been brought in by
way of verifying the discovery Mr.. Kle-
berg drove to he nearest telegraph office,
twenty miles away and wired an order for
four well-boring outfits and dozen car
loads Of casing. The work Of boring wells
went forward without interruption until 125
wells on Santa Gertrudes were scouting
at the rate of Is to 400 gallons a minute
Other ranchmen who. on learning of Mr..
klebergs discovery, also bought welI-bor-
Ing outfits and undertook to tap the under
ground reservoir. encountered difficulty
with which the original Moses did not have
to contend and that was the difficulty Of
taking care of water after they got it.
The artesan belt was found to dip toward
the gulf. so that while the water lay deeper
near the coast the flow was very much
stronger While boring at the denth of
1,2OO feet on La PARA ranch one day the
drill suddenly shot out OF the ground i'm
mediately In advance of an impromptu gey-
ser. The next instant the men around the
derrick took nice cool unprecedented
douche bath. The geyser threatened to
drown out the gang and wash away the
outfit before 1t coculd be controlled.
Controlling the Water.
1t was necessary to fasten section OF
pipe TO the top of the well tubing with an
elbow and another section of pipe to turn
the stream horizontally to carry it away
from the well. Any one who wants to get
working Idea OF the pleasures of the
task can do so by trying to put new fau-
Get on the bath tub without shutting off
the water in the cellar,
1t took three hours to accomplisb the
task. and when 1t was done there was
nothing In the appearance of the men nor
OF the adjacent landscape to suggest an
the present time Is a grand total of PIN
artesian wells on an area Is by 125 miles
with an aggregate flow of 40 100000 gallons
every twentyfour hours.
Now the dry plains where cattle orca
wandered weary miles in search of water
and not infrequently died of thirst at last
numerous lakelets, which are constantly
increasing in size and number the over
flow from artesian wells, simmer In the
brilliant sun. Myriads of waterfowl have
| eagerly appropriated them for their sum.
lner home, instead of continuing on to the
less hospitable shores of Canada At Santa
Gertrudes ranch, where salt mackerel was
once the only fish known, a pond fed by
an artesian well keeps the table abundant
ly supplied with black bass. Plans for
stocking the larger lakes with bass ere
under consideration which NAV vet maize
arid Texas the rival of northern Wisconsin,
as fishing resort.
Water for Irrigation.
Having supplied his cattle with moro
water than they could drink. Mr.. Kleberk
cast about for means to utilize the sur
plus. Twenty acres planted in cabbage
and irrigated with artesian water as an ex-
pertinent yielded returns OF $500 an acre
An experiment in onions showed returns of
$3.50 to $500 an acre, though the crop had
to be hauled twenty miles to reach a rail-
road.
Mr. kleberg sharpened a lead pencil and
began to figure. Then he called his neigh
pors, living from 20 to 100 miles away
around him. and presented some conclu-
slons deducted from his figures. They were
| to this effect
Gentlemen, we have been raising one
steer on ten acres in three years II the
steer lived and he was of good enough
stock we got an average of $40 for him.
| 1t appears that this same ten acres II
planted in vegetables will yield 5000 to
5000 every year, or 1900 to S15 COCO in
| the same time that IT will
| worth OF cattle. 1t will double even this
| starting amount of we care to raise two
| crops a year. or 1t will raise forage crops
enough to feed fifty steers. While / should
| be sorry to feel that we are doing ANYTHING
to transform the United States into ma.
| ton OF yegetarians. IL seems to me the time
has come for US to beat our branding irons
| into plowshares and turn our lariats into
clotheslfne. But first let us get a rail-
| road, for what shall 1t profit to raise cab
| bage and Strawberries II we cannot get
| them TO the market7'
The Region Transformed.
| The St Louis. Brownsville and Mexico
Railroad Company was formed, with Nj.
| Kleberg as its vice president A line was
built from Houston, the railroad center.
| and Galveston. the chief port of Texas.
southwark through the heart of the artes-
ian belt to Brownsville. quaint old town
! Of 1000 inhabitants, whose only means of
\
| by stage ride of lao miles. without a
stop where food or a place to sleep could
| be found.
! When the first train was run from Corpus
| Christi TO brownsville on July i, 1904, not a
! human habitation could be seen from the
/ car windows. Today there is one village
| OF LOCO Inhabitants and a number OF
| smaller ones on the line, with farms scat
tered everywhere, each with its own reser-
1 voir of artesian water for irrigation on
| which 5000 acres In vegetables cotton
| corn, rice, sugar cane and cantaloupes were
! raised this season. The magio draif pl