The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1920-09-02
THE MEXICAN BORDER.
Path OF Action That Continues in
Public Mind.

widely misunderstood, perhaps, than
the Mexican border" writes Frederick
Simpich, formerly American Consul
at Nogales, Mexico, to the National
Geographic Society.
From the Gulf of Mexico up to Ell
Paso, along the Texas frontier, the
Rio Grande forms the boundary be-
tween the United States and Mexico;
thence to the Pacific coast the line is
marked by stone or iron monuments
(save short break at the COlorado),
SO set that one is supposed to be Wis
ible from another. BY this plan
soldier, miner, or cowman (yes, and a,
smuggler, too) can always tell which
side of the line he is on; or, II wholly
lost and he comes suddenly on
monument, he can soon get orlented.
Adventurous, colorful, and full Of
contrasts as it is, the 1,S00-mile trip
along the crooked, historic line is
rough and difficult and has been made
by few people.
ssThe Rio Grande part of this bord-
er has caused both Uncle Sam and
Mexico much work and mental angu-
ish During bad floods the line as
formed by the river squirms around
in so astonishing and lively manner
that what is Mexico soil one day may
be in Texas the next, and vice versa.
Railroads cut this long border line
at Brownsville, Laredo, at Douglas,
Naco, and Nogales, in Arizona, and at
CaleXico and Tia Juana, in California.
Only four of these railroads, how
ever, are main lines of through traffic
that penetrate the interior Of Mexico;
these start at Laredo, Eagle Pass, Ell
Paso and Nogales.
"You visualize the bigness of Texas
when you look at the length of it's side
that borders on Mexico. You realize
it's emptiness, too, when you travel
through some of its border regions,
where the population is, less than two
per square mile.
mo section of the border has seen
so much of adventure, tragedy, and
turbulent activity as Texas. The flags
of France, Spain, and Mexico have
waved over it; for time it flew it's
own Lone Star and also the Confed-
crate flag.
''In Brownsville you hear more
Spanish than English, because most
of the 5000 people who live there are
y Mexicans.
up the river from Brownsville lies
Laredo, most important border town
in south Texas, even if an old map
does call this vicinity''a wilderness
filed with wild horses
Eagle Pass, on up the Rio Grande,
was favorite camping spot for the
California gold-hunters in As.
LAS you follow the border west,
oaks, pines and undsrbrush decrease,
aridity increases, and cattle lift their
thorny heads. Border counties like
Brewster, Preside, and Ell Paso are of
our small eastern states. Windmills
are everywhere-'big electric fans to
keep the cattle COOL a waggish cow
boy once explained to London ten
derfoot.
eel Paso is the only large city from
San Antoine to Los Angeles, a ride of
1,5O0 dry, dusty miles
''The largest irrigation reservoir
anywhere in the great Elephant Butte
dam, which stores more water than
the worldfamous Assuan dam on the
Nile. This big dam, built in the Rio
Grande above Ell Paso at point in
New Mexico, holds water enough, we
are told, to fill standpipe II feet in
diameter reaching from Ell Paso to the
moon, or to cover Massachusetts, to
to depth of six inches!
From point at Monument No. |
where the boundary line craWls out of
the Rio Grande Cat the southeast
corner of New MeXico) it strikes west
into a wilderness of singularly dry
and empty aspect. For 40 miles
along this march the traveller must
carry his own water.
ITO the west lie the rough, hostile
foothills Of the Dog Mountains; near
here, in the San Luts Range, the line
reaches point of $500 feet above the
sa, marking the continental divide.
"In the San Bernardino Valley the
line strikes the first running water af-
ter quitting the Rio Grande-192
miles to the east Here rises the fam
Gus Yaqui river, that long, crooked
stream that meanders through the
vast Mexican stat Of Sonora and