Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1911-07-26
COUNTRY COMPARISONS
ON THE BoRDERLINE- MEXICO
AND UNITED STATES
Thomas A. Henry in Wide Southwest
and Big Lone Star State-Won-
derful Progress
GALvEsToN. TExAs. July s. l9ll.

GALVESTON, TEXAS, July 5. 1911.
FRIEND MUNSoN; = Thinking that the
readers of the CENSOR might be inter
ested in hearing some news from the
south, ! will write few lines telling OF
my trip.
l left Wisconsin June 10th and Chic.
ago on the 10Th. Over the Illinois Cen
trail to St Louis, and then by way OF
the Frisco line to Dallas; by the II. 4
I. c. to Houston. AS it was night
when left Chicago / didn't see much
until we were near st Louis. From
here, olr train was drawn by two loco
motives Gntil we had reached the crest
of the Iron Mountains. II was certain
| ly terrible to see the condition of the
crops in this section of Missouri. Oats
were almost an entire failure and corn
would be, unless they have had rain be-
fore this. Prairie hay in this section
was reported TO be worth from SIS to
$50 per ton.
When we came through the "Red
Apple" section of Missouri and Arkan-
sas, il was reported to be so dry that
the apples were falling from the trees.
The same condition as to crops, pre-
vailed through Arkansas, Oklahoma and
northern Texas Corn in northern
Texas is reported an entire failure, also
the oat crop. From Dallas to Houston,
the crops seem to be in better condit-
ion. spent two days at Houston, and
saw A. E. Groves, Ross Everett, Ed.
and Frank Purdy. They were all glad
to hear from Viroqua and Wisconsin.
Asa invited me to attend the Masonic
picnic at Houston Heights, on Satur-
day, and we surely had a good time,
even among the wild Texans. Satur-
day night | moved south again, with
Mission, Texas, as my terminal point.
arrived in the land of irrigation at
one p. M. Sunday, thus completing a
journey of eighteen hundred miles.
Mission is new town, only two and
one-half years old, with population of
nearly 1000 people. About one-half
this number being Mexicans, who work
| for fifty cents per day. They live in
little huts or sheds constructed so as to
protect them from the sun. They live
in part of the town by themselves,
called Mexakito, and on Saturday night,
! the street is crowded with the wagons
and street stores of the Mexicans, who
come in for the weeks trade and then
move away before Monday. The Mex
leans are great lovers of music, and al
ways have a band to make the gaiety
complete, and the Saturday night car
ouse continues until the early morning
hours.
The white settlement, is made up OF
people from nearly every state in the
union, and they are making rapid strides
in developing the country. This irriga-
ton project is being developed by q
| Wisconsin man, ]. j Conway, who at
tended the Oshkosh Normal and taught
school ia Wisconsin, in an early day.
About three years ago he purchased
I27, 900 acres of this arid land from the
4 Obolate Fathers, a band of Catholic
| Priests, who had come into possession
of it by some deal with the Indians ano
the U. S. Government, in an early day
He bought the land for a very small
sun, and then started the irrigation
| ditch, taking the water from the RiC
Grande river. He has just completed
the third pumping station, and Is able
to pump water to all of the p, 900 acres.
Today this land is selling for Sl25 pei
acre, and is seemingly a good invest
ment at that price when you consider
what can be raised on il. AT the pre-
sent time, cotton is the prevailing crop
being grown, but they have already
taken off one crop of corn, cabbage,
grapes, melons and other vegetables
this year, tomatoes being an important
one on the list. / saw ten acres OF to-
matoes in one field and they looked fine.
| They also raise oranges, figs, pears,
| peaches and pecans. These fruit tree .
are young however, and it RENAME e
| see what will be the outcome or the
crop / also saw bananas grep, ing il
| this section. The corn war ripe and
! they wel1 gathering it from som
| fields. The yield was from go to 81
bushels per acre, and they will be able
| to grow another crop of corn this sea.
son. The cotton viii produce from q
bale to bale and one-half per acre,
| which is considered very good crop.
A bale is worth from $50 to $780,
! They have two giEs, one oil mill and
canning factory in operation; state
bank already running, and National
banb organized, ready to start business
in few days.
It is certainly wonderful to see what
has been done here in so short time,
and even at the high prices believe il
| is good investment IL one can get
started right. There are several irri.
cation companies in the Rio Grande
valley but / think this is the leading
one. In another year most Of the n,
000 acres will be improved and then
| Mission will be great town.
] left Mission Sunday, July 2, and
went TO Brownsville. This city IL
marked by its close similarity to the
! Mexican city, Motomoras, across the
Rio Grande. You can see many OF the
/ Mexican houses and their customs seem
very prevalent. The streets are mar
row and very dirty, but there is wave
Of progress sweeping over the city and
| it will be likely o. come 10 the front 10
| the future. Within the past four years
they have installed electric lights and
/ water system. Yet, yOu 90 up the
street you San see the MeXiesns with
| their two wheeled carts and water oar
rel lined up at the well ready to deliver
/ the water TO the houses where they
1 have not yet installed the water system.
spent few hours over in Matam.
oras and visited the opera house. the
Cathedral, cemetery and the aft IA,
where the bull fights take place. w en-
/ you cross the river, which sep. ates
the two nations, you cant help but
! think what this continent would have
been if the wheels Of progress had beer
stopped five hundred years ago. The
natives are living in huts similar to
those used in that remote age. It Is
/ like another world.
From Brownsville came to Calves
/ ton, By way Of Houston, spending part
Of the Fourth of July IN the latter
place, and closing the day in this city,
1 by taking plunge in the surf on the