The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1914-03-19
OWNS % MILLION ACRES.
The Worlds Greatest Landlord is
General Terassas of Mexico.

General TerassaS Of Mexico.
The Duke of Sutherland, who is
said to be the greatest landowner
in England with his 1,35S,OOO acres,
has scarcely room enough to turn
around on when his paltry holdings
are compared to those of Gen. Luis
Terassas of Chihuahua, Mexico. Take
a map of Kansas, draw line down
the center of it north and south, and
the eastern half of it will be about
equal in area to the holdings of Gen.
Terassas. In one body of land the
general is said to have something
like 8 million acres, while the whole
area he owns is said to equal % mill
lion acres, or approximately 1870
square miles. Probably no other
man in the world owns so much
land.
Enrique Creel, son of an American
father and a Mexican mother, is
son-in-law of General Terassas, and
a selfmade man, in the process OF
his making he is said to have accu-
mulated a fortune second only to
that of mis- father-in-law, and his
land holdings comprise more thous-
ands of acres than can be counted on
ones fingers and toes. The combin-
ed properties comprise more than
half the State of chihuahua.
Except when revolutions are rev.
oluting, Terassas and Creel between
them practically own the State of
Chihuahua and the city of the same
name. Just now they don't own any
of it for practical purposes since
neither of them dares put a finger
across the boundary for fear that one
of Villas sharp shooters will shoot
it off. But ordinarily Terassas is
the feudal lord of Chihuahua and
Creel is his chancellor.
They own the banks, the brew
cries. some railroads, cotton mills
and nearly every other industry in
the city and the State. They own
mines of gold and silver and almost
everything else. On the huge
ranches there roam uncounted cat
tie, sheep and horses. One estimate
some years ago, before the rebels be-
gan to use the generals ranches
and stores as their commissary de-
partment, was that Terassas had one
million cattle, seven hundred thous-
and sheep and one hundred thousand
horses. Working on the plan of ex-
acting most of the profit for himself,
the general operated his own slaugh-
ter houses, where approximately one
hundred thousand sheep were
slaughtered each year.
On this ranch there nsed to be ap-
proximately two thousand employees.
There the general lived like baron
of old in castle of the typical MeXi-
can mission style of architecture. His
town house, too, is castle, and fur
nished as BELTS man whose wealth
can only be conjectured, but which
is estimated at anywhere from 200
million to 500 million dollars.
Between piling up money and man
aging his vast properties, General
Terassas found time, under most Of
the Diaz administration, to be gov
ernor of Chihuahua, and acting on
the we'll established Mexican princi-
pie of keeping good things in the
family, he appointed Enrique Creel.
his son-in-law, the acting governor
to do the heavy work.
General Terassas came honestly
by his title and the foundation OF
his wealth, for in the troublOus days
of the French invasion, and after
wards, he fought hard and often, first
against the imperial forces and after
ward against the church party. In
lieu of money paid for his services
the government paid him in land
and that was the foundation of the
fortune and the small empire which
he now owns. The general is now
"a wears old, and has lost the crav'
ing for excitement he possessed in his
earlier years, which is one of the
reasons he hot-footed out of Chihua
hua when the revolt started for the
more peaceful California, where
there is nothing more serious thar
an occasional earthquake to disturb