El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-08-25

X line Tor cattle, insuring a EOol
3 winter pasturage and war crops
az wheat and other grains greater
by many thousands Of bushels than
had been anticipated, have contrib
uted in 1917 TO an era Of prosperity
tn the Panhandle OF Texas greater
than has been known there since the
Staked Plains were made into an EN-
pire OF agricultural and livestock re-
sources
For a time this year Panhandle
grain growers considered their ef-
forts 90 increase the crop to aid the
nation i'm war failure Drouth and
cold retarded the growth of wheat
and other small grains and IL was
not believed the crop. even with the
greatly increased acreage, would
amount TO as many bushels as
did the crop Of last year. Nature.
however came 10 the relief Of the
grain growers with seaSOna Bile
weather and the great wheat fields,
stretching Tor many miles around
Amarillo, began 10 take on new life
The crop IS now regarded as one OF
the best made IN the Panhandle.
Cattle Industry Important.
Alw-Es noted for its cattle the
Panhandle country this year suffered
with the southwest country generally
A.alA OH 4A III llAAAr lot q A4LflEr
threatened TO ruin the cattle industry.
again nature came TO the relieI OF
the men who were working to supply
the nation with food during the war.
and the Darched range was made TO
spring into life and green beauty by
copious rains which, local at first.
soon BEGAN 10 be general until almost
every section Of the Panhandle was
Eiveu all the moisture needed. The
result is that hundreds Of thousands
Of head OF cattle have been saved
and VIII soon grow fat on the grass
now becoming iuXuriant and the Pan
handle VIII ship its usual quota of
fat beeTes TO the markets of the
country TO furnish food for relief OF
the country and its allies during the
war
To show the world what can %
and is being done in the Panhandle
country in an agricultural way. plans
have been made for an agricultural
exhibit on q scale never attempted
in that great territory, at the Ma
tional Farm Products exposition al
Peoria, ILL., and a general agricul-
turaL livestock and industrial exhibit
at the Texas state fair at Dallas.
building Activity Extraordinary.
Building activity in Panhandle
towns broke all previous records dur
Ing the first seven months Of 1917.
In the month Of June alone Amarillo
issued building permits amounting TO
SllS,QO0. In July the building per
mits tOtaled more than $50. 600. These
are in addition to the 100000 Santa
Fe railway station and general Of
fices. now under construction. the
Smith and Hay business building and
four apartment houses Forty resi-
cences. a large sash and door fac
tory and two laundries are included
in the building activity under wav
I'm Amarillo At Lubbock the build
ing activity has been on n scale as
great as that Of Amarillo, size OF
cities considered. and PlaiuvieW, .
towns also had building activity this
year greater than in any previous
year
Panhandle shows Patriotism.
Cities and towns in the Panhandle
mixed patriotism with their
hustling during the past six months
and added 10 the United States army
and navy q greater number OF vol
uureers in proportion 10 population
than any other portion OF the west
Recruits who enlisted at army and
navy substauOus in the Panhandle
were sent 10 FL PasO and their num-
Der demonstrated a high degree OF
patriotism among the youth OF that
g.. ection. Among the cities sending .
men in large numbers 20 the country s .
defence were Amarillo, Plainview, T
Lubbock. Canadian, Hereford, Canyon /
Ity. Clarendon. Memphis and a great 4
lumber OF smaller towns. In adj /
ditiOn. most Of the Panhandle towns .
sither organized companies Of Ma
tional guards for the Texas troops
or merged with other towns in form .
ing companies
West Texas Mines Active.
In response TO the greatly increased ]
demand for copper. silver and sui d
phur TO meet the war emergency. the /
mining districts Of West Texas have
an activity during the first
half Of 1917 unequaled since Texas /
has been q state. Silver mines in I
Brewster and Hresidio counties,
quicksilver mines around TerlingUa .
and the Copper-gOld mines around 4
Auamore have been producing in
greater quantity during the year.
IN quicksilver production Texas
ranks chief among the states Of the
west and all OF the quicksilver mines
II TEXAS are in the Big Bend cOun-
ny. four Of them shipping regularly
and in car load lots, for the first
.iue in their history.
Mining around Shafter, Texas
where there are silver properties that
have been producing for many years,
has been a scale not known there in
a century before, and all through the
Big Bend mineral belt mines have
been producing record quantities
Across the river, IN Mexico, are
mines and bullion from Mexico in
normal times is an important item
II import at the port OF Preside.
Even with the disturbed conditions
N Mexico, large quantities Of silver