Evening star., 1922-07-06
ribbon OF WATER'
NOT ALWAYSPLAC|D
Rio Grande River, Between
U. S. and Mexico, Occasion
ally on Rampage.


The Rio Grande river. between
Texas and Mexico. which has been
giving an all too realistic imitation
Of the Mississippi on a rampage. is
normally SO shallow and sluggish that
immigration agents and customs of]
ficers are, kept busy 'shooins' back
Mexicans who would enter the United
States by the simple and informal
procedure of wading in" says q bulA
letin from the Washington headquars
ters of the National Geographic SOP
ciety in regard to the country's latest
flood region.
1t is hard" continues the bulletin;
for the Mexican.bound traveller %
realize under normal conditions that
the ribbon of water meandering
through a broad bed of sand is the
stream that in Spanish means the
great river But once year At least,
and sometimes oftener. the Rio Grande
fully lives up to its name.
Lsng ReRarded ~ wilderness.
The loan banks of the lower Rio
Grande and its broad. fertile valleN
covered with heavy growth of the
thorny mesquite-balf shrub and half
tree-was long considered a wilder
ness and given over to deer, wild
pigs, armadillos and jack rabbits.
, Then came ranchmen to Craze great
herds of beef cattle among the
somewhat removed from the river are
still given over to cattle raising.
But near the stream pumping sta
tionS and irrigation canals have com
into existence in recent years. and EACH
spring and summer thousands OF ca =
loads Of watermelons, cantAloupes,.
onions, cabbage and other vegetables
| steam north from the region to help
! feed the more northern portions Of the
country. for this region, near the
the tropics. competes with Florida and
the Imperial valley in producing carry
crops.
make the Rio Grande q second San
Joaquin valley. Between 1,500, 900 ara
1000. 600 citrus fruit trees have beeI,
planted. and in the winter of l9sl-s-%
the first carloads OF oranges ana grape
fruit were shipped out.
River Of Historic lMportaR~"
Historically the Rio Grande -. !,
held a prominent place. 1t was ones
of the chief landmarks in the famous
expeditions Of the Spanish explorer.
who pushed up into Texas and on to
New Mexico and California, four cen
turieS ago. Later IL OeCArue a SUI
or southern Concord; for il the shot
fred in Massachusetts, in April. ltto.
was heard round the world. shot
fred on the banks Of the lower Rio
Grande on another April morning,
seventy lone years later. by Gen.
Zachary Taylor's soldiers might be
said to have been heard over an area
of half a million square miles. That
area was added to the United States
as q result Of the shot: for it brought
on the Mexican war. which re.sulted
in the annexation OF what is now
California, Nevada, Utah, Arisona.
and parts of New Mexico. Colorado
and wyoming In addition this
skirmish near the mouth Of the Rio
Grande led to the confirmation of
the annexation OF Texas, which had
brought an additional quarter mil
lion square miles under the Ameri-
can flag.
Part of the region late,y inun-
dated was known to thousands OF
doughboys during the mobilization
along the Mexican border shortly be-
fore the United States entered the
world war. Port Isabel. almost at
the mouth of the Rio Grande. came
into newspaper fame in .he fall of
1920. when Senator Harding. having
just finished the strenuous campaign
which took him to the White Hous.,
went there for big game rtshins."