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Show wm jjWoefua Waste of VaiuabSe Timber MSk . : mW Lori va,.ubl tlmbi'r r cotn- Jr' " l,:'8 'locu going on in the JmLl: IP 01 lh,! m 0r:,lc iuriiiK . ,rt0 vcnrs' according to the iSfe ff f I)nic,i(:511 ln'bt.ruien wl o tehcen here recently investieatine: litunt,on. The territory along he cour c n,0 . po lonn (B he le e'S a" ""broken forest of if 'fimb?"y nlK 0,np.r ''ardwood the time it was g ven an out-ojjie out-ojjie outsido world bv th" cin- struct ion of a railroad five years ago. ith tho influx of new se'l tiers the clearing of the lands was begun and lias been carried on with wonderful vigor and rapidity during the last three years. The only person, so far. who has utilized util-ized any pavt of tho timber found growing upon the laud which they purchased pur-chased so ns to obtain the best, results from it is William .J. Bryan, the noted Democratic leader. Mr. Hrvan owns IGO acres of land near Mission. Ho had a small part of it clearod a . few 'months ago and the larger mesquito and ebony logs were exempted from being cut into cordwood or railroad lies. Jlo shipped two carloads of these logs) to a furniture factory in Michigan and it has been made up into sets of household furniture. These pieces of furniture aro said to bo the superior of anything in their line ever made out of native woods in this country. Mr. Bryan is having the plans prepared for a largo and handsome country home which ho will erect upon his land near Mission. It will be furnished with the sets of furniture which he has made from logs cut off of the land. Many of the mesquito trees in tho valley are two to three feet in diameter. The ebony is also of large growth. Jt has ben demonstrated that for fu mill mi-ll ro manufacturing purposes these, trees are of great value. On the Texas side of the river there is probably eight hundred thousand acres of this larger growth and as much more on tho Mexico Mex-ico side. Many thousand acres of (ho timber on this side has already been clearod. Ordinnrily I ho mesquito is a tree of such small growth ns to be of no commercial value. Millions of acres of land in tho southwest are covered with the trees of the shrub variety. The rich soil of the Rio Grande valley, how-over, how-over, has caused the trees to become of forest size. In the clearing so far done nianv railroad ties and fence posts have been made from the trees. The eni.iinder is cut into firewood. 1 is J orcasiouulh that j. railroad tie l is made from the ebony tree; these frees aro of smaller growth and aro used mostly for fence posts and cord-wood. cord-wood. The durability of the mesquito and ebony woods has been amply proved. Cross ties cut from these wood's were placed in Ihe track of the short line of railroad that runs between Brownsville and Point Isabel forty years ago and arc still in perfect condition. condi-tion. It is claimed that the mesquite and ebony trees of the lower Rio .Grande valley can be put to the same uses as mahogany and other hardwood timbers. Many fino los can be obtained from each acre of ground and as tho raijroad transportation and market facilities are easily available, the proposition of utilizing util-izing them in the manufacture of lumber lum-ber may yet receive favorable consideration. |