Los Angeles herald., 1910-12-18
TOWNS IN TEXAS
BUILT IN A DAY
HomeSeekers Hurry Development
of New Villages in the
Lone Star State
OPENING THE ARTESIAN LAND
Stirring Scenes Mark Back to
the Farm Rush on Last From
tier of the Middle West
OPENING THE ARTEslAN LAND
Especial to The Herald)

SAN ANTONIO, Tex, Dec. 17.-NeW
towns in a night That is what south
west Te-...s is seeing this winter. The
days in the odd vest during the
Pixies Peak rush and the journeyings
of the gold seekers in the early '6Os
are being duplicated at the close OF
the year 1910 in this Last Frontier,
the great stretch of hitherto lonely
country north of the Rio Grande.
The richest sections to the southeast
the southwest of San Antonio are be-
ing opened to new settlers. Ranches
and ranges where roamed cattle up
to a year ago are now being cleared OF
the MESQUITE, thick chapparal and other
wild undergrowth'; the deer, the jaVe-
lima and the bear are being driven
further southwark; artesian wells to
n depth of 1900 to 2100 feet are being
drilled, and surveyors are creating out
of the wilderness ten, twenty ana
forty acre farms, with canals, later
ais and bitches in an irrigation sys-
TEN that within a few weeks after
h the farmer comes on his land provides
q yeritable checkerboard of growing
crops. This development is due to
the steady arrival of the homeseeker
He is now coming from the north, mid
die west and the western states by
the trainload and is taken by the land
correspondence to his prospective pur-
chase-these newly opened farms.
With this development of the land
and the sale of farms has come the
building of branch lines of railroads
to care for the traffic, both passenger
and freight. Three new lines in the
San Antonio territory alone are now
building and four are projected and
will soon begin construction.
TOWNS BUILT OVER NIGHT
The Uvalde & Crystal City. nearly
100 miles in length, operating from
Crystal city to Harlandale. so miles
south of San Antonio, is the most re-
Gently completed and the town of Big
Wells, named so because of the large
artesian wells is the most recent in
stance of "the towns that spring up
in night" AS these railroads enter
new tracts towns are planned and
townsites are auctioned off at a date
announced several weeks in advance.
The occasion IS made notable by spec
tally arranged excursions from San
Antonio, and such points in the north
as Kansas City, st. Louis and even
Chicago, under the auspices of the
land companies and railroads. Tents
are erected for the accommodation of
the prospective buyers, and it is
dramatic sight in the phase of quick
development to see in the midst of a
Iar-SIfeCCnlDS green WllueTneSS-IOr 1T
is summer ali the year around in
southwest Texas-what resembles an
enormous circus with many small tents
surrounding the larger ones. During
the days of the auction band plays
sprightly music at frequent intervals
and immense barbecues are held. Here,
over large pits, whole oxen are roast
ed with goats, javelina, which is COM
monty known as the wild hog, and
deer Butter is lacking but there is
a small mountain of bread and plenty
of coffee and tobacco.
BUY AND BUILD SAME DAY
Lumber merchants take advantage
of these sales and among the first
shipments over the new railroad are
piles of lumber. There are plenty of
masons and carpenters and all during
the night of the first day of the auc-
tion building is in progress on newly
purchased town lots. Among the first
buildings to go up are hotel, res
taurants and stores. Ranchmen from
the surrounding country drive in by
the scores with their families They
are among the first and most eager
purchasers. Before the auction is
over, town embryo dots the green
plains.
On Sidetrack usually stands a long
line of Pullman sleepers, cars chart
cred for the occasion and occupied by
the "moneyed men" and their friends.
No town is started unless it is in a
proved farming section, where, prior
to the coming of the railroad, much
of the country has been cleared and
settled. The coming of the railroad
makes the new town and assures it's
future as a supply and distributing
point. On the program for this win
ter in the territory around San An
tonic there are at least twenty of
these new towns To he started