Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1930-06-29
Bv Z. :.

Coast ] nes railroad INTO the VAL
ley, Sam Robertson, who mad the
bridging and track laying contract,
discovered that the river bank was
the highest land in this part OF the
Valley. Also that the TWO old resac-
as heading ne the river mo ex-
tending East and Northeast across
these lands were likewise high
alonT their banks and the land
sloping away from them, made
this an ideal location for an irriga-
ton project which would be low
IN construction and operation costs,
80 he decided II build g system
here. Sam . J short on cash, but
| long on optinnis so b set about
to find the mean with which TO
building a system OF which he would
be proud and at the same time do
a real service TO poSterity.
He entered lto CO tract with
Jas. L. Landrum and wifi, the Hicks
heirs, and IS. Fred and Joe Com
bes for the lands TO form the base
1 OF his project BY the terms OF these
contracts ne was 10 subdivide the
lands into $50 acre blocks. The
respective owners reserved certain
parts OF the land. which was t
subdivided but which was 10 have
irrigation works built on the re-
Servations as well as to each 100
acre subdivision. Sam was 20 pur-
chase each alternate subdivision
BLOCK at $500 per acr 4; but the o.
sers got irrigation. VIZ s built 70
their lands free Of cost % lem.
In addition TO the irrigation works
he also agreed TO build a river pro-
lection levee from Lon Hills Har-
1ingen plant to the East line OF the
Hicks land and along their ast
line from the river TO the high
land { the resaca, and also a
drainage ditch through the low
lands between the river and resaca.
In 1905 he started engineers
making the subdivision and run
ming levels around each block for
topography. He had contracts for
building the Santa Maria and .Ier-
rcedes canals and figured on enough
profits from these 70 finance his
own project until he could raise
enough capital to ut Il over but
luck was against hir". His OPTIONS
expired and the Drs. Combes re-
fused TO renew. However. the Hicks
and Landrums did renew his op-
tons twice before he finally rIt
over his deal.
Left 1900 Acres
This gave Kim about I7.O acres
- " -. -~ANAA -nr
to purchase a 1T 5000 acres. This
project extended from the river %
an East and We line running
through San Benito and corztr- I
the first unit OF the San Benito
. system.
Sam interest e. F. Rowson OF
Jennings, La. in his development
and Rowson induced the Haywood
Bros, also OF Jennings 10 ,cmc IN
with them. In the spring OF 1907
they formed the 81 Benito Land
and Water Co. 70 tax, over these
contracts nd develop the project.
The first construct work was
started IN December 1905. John
Dacke and J. brewery were the
first contractors on the lob.
The ..rst Enrinetrs were 0. 2.
AMoore. G. S. Clark. now OF the
ate Board OF Water Engineers.
Id Fletcher II. Pratt. and Charlie
Todd was draftsm u. I came to the
Job in January 1907. with nv grad
ing outfit. but went 20 work first
as en- ,er TO get the construction
work started. and worked az that
until Nav 1907 IA then went with
the Rio Grande Construction Co.
which VIC had formed for the
handling OF the I Est Iction CT the
canals.
We soon cot strung out in good
shape. We had three or four sub
contractors. bouEt' IS teams and
a drag line dredre and elevating
grader.
One might think that IN those
days we had no labor troubles but
we did. There were only three or
four goat ranches in the district
and the settlement a'Ong the Millt-
airy road. We got plenty OF men
for the outfits near the river: but
for San Benito and north they said
10 was too far ID 90. All lab0- was
Sl-00 Mexican money. per day az
first; but non OF them wanted 70
drive teams so we paid Si.25 per
day for "skirners" and 81 10 the
balance. Right OF way clearing and
grubbing was all contracted at $500
TO 5000. American money. per
Gre We used Mexican currency
and silver money exclusively here
for the first " more.
Engineers Got 500
You may think that those were
the good old DE- g." with labor az
so cents TO 90 1-2 cents per day: