Show pw am yo forward X 4 4 10 0 1 au Z nl 4 4 K group of oil wells in texas prepared br national geographic Soc washington D C demce HILL scientists are penetrating win WHILE the black depths of eaves caves in texas to trace the lives of their early occupants among americas oldest inhabitants the lone star state swiftly marches in the opposite direction toward modern progress texas Is so big I 1 so big that some one sald aalde the people of el paso jeer at those of galveston as being effete easterners in terms of people area animals crops and natural wealth she Is so big and her regional interests are so BO diverse that she has outgrown her very constitution as a boy outgrows his pants laws good for mt east texas may be bad for west texas states policies agreeable to the natives on the lower rio blo grande may cause grief and pain to those hundreds ot of miles away in the vast panhandle merely to confound the newcomer the native himself takes delight in mentioning casually that his state could swallow up more than rhode islands and have a large area left over and that it la Is farther from el paso to beaumont than it Is from now new york to chicago ner her governor rules more territory than any king or premier of europe has in the continental limits of his country russia alone excepted were texas as densely settled as massachusetts shed have more than people in texas mere native americans starting only with hard bard hands strong wills and great energy have built up a vast rich and powerful commonwealth the human tide to texas so far has been steady but never in any sense a great migration mi gratto n when stephen F austin founded his famous colony on the banks of the brazos a little more than years ago the texas population including mexicans and indians was probably not more than or in the next quarter of a century the state had only white inhabitants and slaves not till railways began to reread in the seventies was its growth at all rapid in the last 20 years it has gained more than from the middle western states since 1920 more than people have come each year to settle inT in tedas eias of these immigrants 80 per cent have settled in towns and cities the remaining 14 per cent going to the country have put close to acres of new land into crops since the erld end of the world war it Is estimated that provably prop ably people have settled on new farms in the vast panhandle region less lees than half cultivated the enormous agricultural potentiality of texas Is shown by the fact that although less than halt half of her arable land has been put under cultivation yet in a good year she produces a billion dollar crop more than a billion dollars worth of oil has been produced in texas in five years and the state probably has more lignite or brown coal than the whole famous ruhr region of germany her deposits run into billions of tons no one knows how much her industrial population though long of minor consequence Is now increasing fast with her abundant oil gas lignite iron ore and other minerals the resulting gradual increase of trade and industry Is bound to bring substantial growth to certain texas cities on the maps ot of the united states used by the general staff at washington certain little flags are flying they indicate the strategic cities of america such as new york chicago san francisco and san antonio texas besides its place on the map among the things which give a city strategic importance are safe and ade adequate quare food and fuel in easy reach find and ample transport in these respects san antonio as well as aa houston and dallas Is well supplied to a singular dezree decree east texas with her oil lignite and other minerals her lumber her excellent means of transport and her easy access to vast meat grain and natural gas supplies Is a strategic may spot abercon it Is easy to visualize a great southwestern city already ready houston Is conspicuous it Is the greatest spot cotton market in the world on its ship canal it has huge storage for export oil and grain grain sent from iowa kansas and nebraska for liverpool and europe fed by 17 railways rall ways and served by numerous steamship and tanker lines it trades with the world its destiny Is one of large possibilities bigger and better cattle in all the industrial transitions transition that art sweeping so BO much of our south and west nothing has changed more completely than the texas cattle ranches today the original high speed texas longhorn that streak of hoofs horns homs and yellow hide that used to run with the deer and wild mustangs Is practically extinct yet ret in hla his time he was the basla basis of vast for fortunes with the banished longhorn there also passed from this wild cattle arena most of those rollicking hard riding quick shooting heroes whose names still live in the old cowboy ballads ballada when barbed wire was invented romance and adventure died on the texas plains freedom was no more As to texas the climatic geographic floral fact remains that she Is still the tha biggest natural cow pasture in the united states at this very minute millions of bulky bovines are quietly feeding and fattening inside the wire fences of texas bigger and better meat bearing animals that Is the modern texas cow mans slogan gradually building up the herds no yearly models but con scantly improved to get a husky fever resisting beast for the low coast lands the canny texans have crossed their native cattle with the great humpbacked brahmans Brah mans of india in good years the fort worth market alono alone will receive more than cattle as well as perhaps C calves alves sheep and hogs measured in dollars and cents texas cotton Is above cattle cotton in texas Is above everything but nothing Is above cattle in the sentiments and memories of texans to keep alive and spread the fame of texas cow kingdoms 82 32 historic cattle brands have been carved on the walls of garrison hall newest building on the canups of the state university when cabeza do de vaca crossed texas in 1535 the indians gave him garments of cotton from the few plants of those early days there has developed a production of astounding magnitude at times texas crop has amounted to tc more than 40 per cent of all cotton grown in the united states in the record year 1920 it reached the amazing total of pound bales taking a leaf from the book of north carolina texas Is beginning to build up her most obvious industry the tha cotton mill she sha enjoys three of the most vital factors for bior their profitable operation adequate labor cotton at tike the gate of the cotton patch and fuel for power developing its resources like north carolina also texas la Is setting about methodically to make the most of all her natural gifts the newly formed society for the scientific development of texas natural resources Is just what its name implies vast as many resources of texas are known to be further farther surveys must yet be made to determine the best local industrial use of the many mineral deposits which exist already the annual mineral production exclusive of oil Is valued at take potash A thorough survey of the texas deposits may reveal enough of these salts to make the united states forever independent of the present french german potash monopoly texas produces of net surplus wealth each year it Is the aim of the scientific society by publishing freely the results of its surveys to aid this home capital in the development of mining and industry texas never a territory entered the union on her own terms shrewdly she kept title to her own public lands half this vast domain she gave to her schools her university received more than two million acres oil found on thesa lands has made the university of texas very rich I 1 hosts of americans americana have seen texas from the windows of transcontinental trains to such train riders it seems seem largely a flat dry almost treeless country the fault of men who located the railroads parts of texas like the great barrancas barr ancas aneas of the panhandle or the santa helena gorge in brewster county are wild and picturesque tur esque cross country train trippers grippers trip pers killing time nt at bridge between kansas city and los angeles see nothing of these rougher wilder regions likewise by hundreds of miles they miss the verdant fruitful sub trople gulf coast with its palms and beaches its pleasure resorts and its busy growing tourist traffic from all over the middle west increasing numbers of visitors go now each winter to gal veston corpus christl christi and other gulf towns farther south and along the rio grande between laredo and browns ville has developed rapidly a vegetable and citrus growing region of wealth and importance |