The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1909-03-13
Marvellous Transformation
CONTINUED from page 81


By utilizing some old resacas the
water from the Rio Grande is secured
by gravity, and the entire tract is ir-
rigated in an economical and effective
manner The company has been in
operation for some years, and a
large number of tracts of from 10 to
$50 acres have been sold to farmers
and investors from all parts of the
United States. Something like one
third of the holdings of the company
have thus passed into the hands of
investors and farmers at prices rang
ing from $40 to $500 per acre
Corn, cotton, cane and truck and
citrus fruits are crops mainly grown
on these. as well as lands generally
in the valley.
At Harlingen, % miles above
Brownsville, where the Harrington
Fordyce branch of the Brownsville
road begins, are headquarters for the
Harlingen Land and Water Company
of which the picturesque and
successful Lon C. Hill is president
and principal owner In this prop
erty there are 10000 acres, which
are served by 80 miles of main can
ais and main laterals, practically all
of which have been finished. Lands
are being sold in tracts of from 20
acres to 1000; mostly, however, in
tracts of from 40 to $50 acres; 12,-
600 acres have thus been sold at
prices varying from $40 to lis per
acre, the purchasers not only being
Texas people. but incomers from Col
orado, California, and the West and
from the North and East generally,
as is the case in other developments
in this section,
A great deal of sugar-cane will be
grown in cultivating the lands here
The value of lands, canals, etc., rep
resented in the initial investment in
this enterprise represents a financial
proposition of something like $780,
600. AS developments proceed this
sum will be considerably added to.
On the line of the Harlin-
gen-Fordyce branch there are
large number of developments,
ranging from few acres to
more than 100000 One of the
first in order is La Gloria Canal, near
Santa Maria, where 5000 acres of
land are served with canals and
laerals. There are 1000 acres in cul-
tivation. mostly in garden truck at
present, but upon which considerable
sugar-cane will be grown. The prop
erty has all been sold in tracts of
from 40 to 100 acres to Northern
and Eastern people at from $40 TO
SIS. an acre The officers of the
n
president, of Illinois; c. w. Zelie,
vice-president. of Appleton, Wis; w.
H. Bloomer, secretary, of Milwaukee.
Wis
At Santa Maria is the Santa Maria
Irrigation Co., an enterprise which
was organized some four years ago.
Starting in a small way, with 100
acres in cultivation, there are now
some 1900 acres under cultivation,
which viii be increased to 1000, the
total holding of these interests There
are two pumping plants. with a total
capacity of 80 900 gallons a minute
The lands have been sold for as much
as 500 an acre, mostly in 80 to 100
acre tracts, and are largely owned
by Northern farmers With the
exception of Judge E. C. Forton of
Brownsville, the development rep
resents Northern capital. J. P. Jones
of Paul Jones & Co, st. Louis, is
the president.
At Santa Maria there is the de-
velopment of the La Feria Mutual
Canal Co.. which has been estab-
lished by the st. Louis and Minneap-
IL g
have bee undertaken, which will
water approximately 5000 acres of
land. Land has been cut up into
tracts and is being sold to people
from the outside. In this develop
ment something like $250,000 repre-
sents the original investment
Near Santa Maria are the opera
tons of the Minnesota-Texas Land &
Irrigating Co. Eleven miles of main
canal have been constructed and
$500 acres are to be served. Land
has been sold at from $50 to $125 an
| acre, some so tracts of 40 acres each
having been already disposed of to
Texas, st. Louis, Minnesota. Mon
| tana, Dakota and Wisconsin pur-
chasers. 800 acres are bling reserved
| for a townsite. The chief owners in
this enterprise are S. J. Schnorenbery
of Minnesota and Fiifield Bros. of
Minneapolis. Minneapolis money
has been utilized in this development
Altogether, the most significant de-
velopment in the valley up to date
is that of the American Rio Grande
Land & Irrigation Co. This is an en-
terprise represented almost exclus-
| lively by St. Louis capital. The COM
pany is organized with $4,000, 900
capital, and already over $4,000 600
has been spent in irrigation enter
prises, buildings, and in the prepare
ton of the property for development
The company owns 1000 acres
! of land in Hidalgo county, and now
waters 10000 acres; 81 100000 will
be expended to extend the canals for
the development of the entire tract.
So far Is miles of main canals have
been constructed. 125 feet wide from
the centers of banks and Is feet deep
and SO miles of laterals 80 feet wide,
8 feet deep. Included in the develop
ment is the town of Mercedes. now
two years old and which has a popu-
lation of 1900 DeoDle- Every feature