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| Ophthalmosaurus icenicus |
It means "eye lizard," a type of ichthyosaur (fish lizard) that lived between 152 million and 145 million years ago. This animal is considered one of the top predators from the Jurassic and Cretaceous time period. Their skeletons have been found in Southern Coahiola. They have fins for swimming and were not able to walk on land. This is how we know that these ancient reptiles lived underwater in what was the Paleo-Gulf of Mexico. Today the Paleo-Gulf is known as Northeastern Mexico and South Texas.
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| Mosasaur Skeleton Replica |
Ancient reptiles didn't walk the Valley -- they swam. These predators terrorized the sea covering most of South Texas and Tamaulipas, some 80 million years ago. Mosasaur's were marine reptiles, not dinosaurs. They went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous, but may have modern descendants -- the monitor lizards and possibly snakes.
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| Map of Texas in the Cretaceous era, about 75 million years ago |
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| Mammoth skeleton (and Jim) |
During the Ice Age, the Pleistocene period. Mammoths range from Alaska through Mexico, including prehistoric South Texas. Cousins to the later elephants, they live in wandering herds, feeding on vegetation. They share the savanna-like landscape with giant bison, camels, saber-tooth cats, horses, and perhaps, man.
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| Saber-tooth cat skull |
The saber-tooth cat ranged across much of North America during the Pleistocene or Ice Age epoch. In South Texas fossil remains have been found at Ingleside, near Corpus Christi, as well as south of San Antonio. These predatory cats followed herds of grazing animals such as bison and camel, attacking them with enlarged canine teeth. Their prey likely included mammoth and ground sloth, Paleo-Indian hunters in South Texas may have encountered the saber-tooth cat.
They are sometimes referred to as saber-tooth tigers, but were not related to modern big cats (tigers or lions) but were in fact a separate development. Saber-tooth cats went extinct about 10,000 years ago when many other Pleistocene animals also disappeared. An adult saber-tooth cat was about the size of an African lion, and weighed between 450 and 600 pounds. Thousands of cat remains have been found in the Rancho La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles, including the original of the above skull.
Through millions of years, as the continent shifts and contorts, the land that will become Texas rises, then is set upon by water and wind. Debris from the eroding mass washes seaward and, layer upon layer, becomes an ocean floor. Slowly, as the ocean recedes, it forms the Gulf of Mexico. Sea bottom emerges to become coastal plain, until the land has taken the form and outline familiar to man. This occurred about 20 million years before the present.
Mollusks, fish, mosasaurs, and other creatures swim the prehistoric sea, leaving fossil remains in the rock-strata floor. As the waters slowly recede, land emerges, coursed by the Great River and its tributaries. Palms and broad-leaf trees grow, fall, and are petrified. Animals flourish through millions of years. In time, Ice Age mammals scurry, run, and stomp. Some vanish; others survive, to be encountered by the region's earliest human dwellers.
Some 12,000 years ago the first people enter this region. Mostly hunters, they leave few traces. In time, others inherit the land. From stones, animals and plants come their implements, clothing and food. For millennia, they raise families, engage in trade, make war, and celebrate life. Then Europeans arrive. Within three centuries the native people and their ancient culture will all but vanish.
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| Hunting bison with darts and dart-throwers |
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| A Coahuiltecan Camp, circa 1200 A.D. |
Coahuiltecans were mostly nomadic, moving every few days or weeks. They utilized plant and animal resources at different places. Their diet included mammals such as deer and rabbit, and seasonal foods like prickly pear tunas and mesquite beans. In lean times, almost anything was eaten, such as snakes and spiders. Fresh water and high ground were important. This diorama reconstructs a typical Coahuiltecan family's camp above the Rio Grande, in what is now Hidalgo or Starr County. It is early evening, in summer.
Around 1000 A.D., many small tribes live in South Texas and northeastern Mexico. It's a rugged land that yields sustenance to those who know it well. A family-based society helps ensure survival: all tribe members are related. They share resources equally, and take what nature provides. Their customs include courtship, marriage, divorce, healing, warfare, and supernatural beliefs.
Material culture, like the people and their environment, is spare: in the Valley environment, little survives except stone and shell. Spanish accounts are few; Cabeza de Vaca alone describes these hardy people, among whom he and his companions wander. Of the actual tribe names we know little. Their common language group bears a general modern name: Coahuiltecan, from the state of Coahuila.
"I believe these people see and hear better, and have keener senses, than any other in the world. They are great in hunger, thirst, and cold, as if they were made for the endurance of these more than other men . . ." ~~ Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, Spanish Castaway, Relacion, 1542
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| Effigy Figures |
Horses were vital in New Spain. From Spain and the Caribbean Islands, they arrive by ship. On larger vessels, horses have below-deck stalls. In fair weather, standing helps keep leg muscles sound. Heavy slings let them sway above rolling decks, in rough seas. Not all survive: calms trap ships for days, depleting feed and water. Starved horses, cast overboard, give equatorial waters a grim nickname: "Horse Latitudes." But many endure and will help build the Spanish ranching heritage in South Texas.
In 1600 the Spanish plant towns and missions from Yucatan to New Mexico. In the northeast, settlement reaches the Sierra Madre Oriental, where Monterey is founded, and halts. Beyond lies the coastal plain along the Seno Mexicano, "Bay of Mexico." Mostly unexplored, it is home to warlike Indians. Alarmed by La Salle's brief incursion, the Spanish colonize Texas by 1700. A lingering fear of coastal invasion, and continued Indian raids, finally prompt the Spanish to occupy the coastal plain. From potential colonizers they choose one: Joseph de Escandón.
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| Loading a Spanish Galleon at Vera Cruz, early 1600s |
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| The Pineda Stone |
This purported Spanish landfall marker from Pineda's 1519 voyage was unearthed at the mouth of the Rio Grande in the 1970s. Made of fired clay, the "stone" is a famous piece of recent Valley folklore, its authenticity is widely debated. The original object is in the Rio Grande Valley Museum in Harlingen.
Pineda's sketch map, circa 1519, is the earliest known map of the Gulf of Mexico.
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| René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle |
A French expedition lands at Matagorda Bay, Texas. Led by the flamboyant La Salle, they erect Fort Saint Louis and probe South Texas. Word reaches the Spaniards: a hostile force on their soil. It is their worst fear, and an old one. Long before La Salle, intruders prowl the Spanish Sea. Lured by New World treasure, ships from other European powers arrive in the 1500s. French and English captains sail the western Gulf, plundering ships and raiding towns. New Spain worries about its long isolated Texas coast. Rumored landings there bring searches by sea and land into the late 1600s. Then captured French pirates bring news of La Salle. Aroused, New Spain prepares to find and crush him.
The Search for La Salle: Ships find no trace. Land expeditions probe South Texas, and find La Salle's fort abandoned. Wary of further invasions, the Spanish colonize East Texas in 1690. But 58 years will pass before they occupy the coastal regions.
Alonso de León, Governor of Neuvo León, leads the expeditions. In 1686 he explores the Rio Bravo's south bank to the coast but finds no intruders. In 1687 de León crosses the Rio Bravo into the Valley and marches east. Near Laguna Madre he turns north to Baffin Bay. In 1688 he finds a lone Frenchman. Jean Gery tells of "Monsieur la sala" and a settlement further north. Spanish officials order another search. In 1689, de León finds Fort Saint Louis in ruins, abandoned. De León's reports stir interest in the Rio Bravo region. Some ranchers graze cattle there by 1700. Full-scale colonization is only decades away.
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| Spanish Iron-Bound Chest & Key, circa 1600 |
At land or at sea, valuables were kept in chests like this, protected by elaborate locking mechanisms.
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| Philippine Chest, New Spain, circa 1600-1700 |
Sanded wood, painted and decorated with brass tacks. Spanish explorers reached the Philippines and China in the 1500s. Cargoes of Chinese porcelain, silk, and ivory came to Manila, then were packed into chests such as this one. Loaded aboard the galleons, the costly goods traveled to Acapulco, then went over land to Vera Cruz for repacking and shipment to Spain. The Philippine chests often remained in New Spain.
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| Model of Spanish Galleon |
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| Arms & Armor of the Spanish Exploration Era |
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| Mariner's Wind Rose |
The wind rose had an important role -- along with the magnetic compass, this circular device enabled a navigator to determine and record wind directions -- vital knowledge in sailing ship days. The wind rose circle represented the sailor's horizon. It was divided into 32 directional points, each named for a prevailing wind. Straight lines, radiating from the center, indicated the wind path from each direction. The intersecting lines from wind roses are a characteristic of antique maps and charts. The modern compass card evolved from the wind rose.
Ships are vital in the Gulf of Mexico exploration, and to the planting of Spanish rule and culture in New Spain. They bring conquistadors, settlers, merchants, craftsman, priests, and those seeking to elude the Inquisition. Cattle and horses, the rootstock of Texas ranching heritage, arrive by ships. So do foods, manufactured goods and tools for mining, metallurgy, farming, weaving, and glass making. Arms, armor fashions, literature, music, and ideas also come by sea. Ships like the Nao and Caravela were the backbone of Spain's ocean life.
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| Sketch of jacales and church at Camargo, circa 1846-47 |
Joseph de Escandón, soldier and administrator, founds the province of Nuevo Santander -- most of today's Tamaulipas and South Texas. The settlers established towns and missions, and plant Spanish ranching traditions deep in South Texas' soil. Mexico is free of Spanish rule in 1821. Nuevo Santander becomes the State of Tamaulipas. On the river frontier, turbulent decades lie ahead.
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| Joseph de Escandón |
Joseph de Escandón surveys the vast region between the Rio Panuco and the Rio Nueces. From separate departure points, seven military columns converge on the lower Rio Grande. A month after setting out, Escandón's party arrives first, and waits for the others. Their captains report on Indians, terrain, vegetation, water resources, and suitability for farming and ranching. In March the combined force returns to Querétaro. With data thus gathered, Escandón will carry out his colonization, and bring European settlement to the Great River.
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| Spanish Colonial Saddle, Mexico, circa late 1700s - early 1800s |
This very rare specimen of the colonial saddler's art is resplendent with silver embroidery, gold thread, and original red velvet upholstery. A wealthy rancher or hacendado (the owner of a landed estate) of Nuevo Santander would have used an ornate saddle such as this for pleasure riding or for special occasions.
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| Sundial |
Found in an irrigation ditch near Monterey. Originally the metal pointer or gnemen stood in the hole. Stone sundials often were mounted on buildings.
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| Indians digging an irrigation ditch, circa 1700 |
In 1760, along the Rio Grande are the northern towns of Camargo, Reynosa, Miser and Revilla on the south bank, and Laredo and Dolores on the north bank. Centers of population and local government, the town layouts follow Spanish tradition: a central plaza encircled by a church, public buildings, houses, inns, and businesses. Beyond are grazing lands and fields. Most settlers live in town, tending crops and animals by the day, returning at night. Religious celebrations, plays, and feasts enliven daily life; Indian raids, floods, and sickness endanger it.
By 1770 grazing lands are granted along the river banks: fringe-like strips called porciones, each with vital water access. As landowners hire workers and extend their holdings across the Great River, South Texas' ranching heritage takes root.
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| The Ranch House |
"Outside, the house appeared a mere plain, dead wall ... Within, was a single room...the floor of hard-trodden earth, and the ceiling...on small, crooked unhewn rafters." ~~ Frederick L. Olmstead, American journalist, 1857
Frontier ranchers replace their jacales with stone houses. Because of Indian attacks, they develop fortress-like houses built of limestone blocks. Wooden beams support a plank-and-cement roof. Gun ports let defenders shoot from within. Some houses have two stories. Jacal dwellers come into the casa mayor (great house) if danger threatens. At some ranches, walls with gates protect livestock during attacks. This reconstruction of a casa mayor and defensive walls include actual limestone blocks from Starr County.
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| Kitchen inside the casa mayor |
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| The Horno |
Most ranches had an horno, a dome-shaped outdoor oven built from native rocks or adobe. To use the horno, the cook built a fire inside it, using mesquite or other wood. When the rock dome itself was hot enough, the charred embers were removed and the food, such as bread or meat dishes, were placed inside. More rocks or a stout wooden cover sealed the opening while the food cooked. A paddle of wood or forged iron was used to move dishes in and out of the horno.
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| Horno implement, circa 1700s |
This forged-iron implement once was used to put dishes of food into the horno, and to remove them after cooking. It was found in north-central Mexico. A wooden handle fitted into the socket.
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| Oxcart, circa 1800 Mexico |
The oxcart was the standard freight vehicle of New Spain and later Mexico. In this typical old-style cart, the wooden parts fit together without fasteners. Three heavy wooden pieces make each wheel. Iron bearings and tires probably date from the mid- to late 1800s. A loaded carreta could weigh several tons. Two to four oxen (or more) pulled it.
Across South Texas creaking wooden oxcarts, or carretas, follow trails linking ranches to the river towns. They haul out ranch products such as hides and wool, and salt dug from La Sal del Rey and other salines. Returning carts bring supplies such as tools, cloth, and foodstuffs. Indian attacks claim many oxcarts; for safety, cart drivers, or carreteros, travel in caravans.
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| Saddle and skirt, Late 1700s, early 1800s |
The tooled leather skirt helped protect the horse's flanks. In norther Mexico this style of saddle was used into the 1950s.
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| Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla |
Mexico's War for Independence -- "My children: will you free yourselves? Will you recover the lands stolen three hundred years ago from your forefathers by the hatred Spaniards? We must act at once ... ~~ Fr. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Mexican priest, Sept. 16, 1810
Father Costilla exhorts his congregation to begin the long-waited war for independence. An 11-year struggle commences. After early successes, Hidalgo's peasant army is defeated and Hidalgo executed. Rebel fortunes fall, but rise again. Victory comes in 1821. The Republic of Mexico is born -- a birth with portent for the Great River.
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| Carbine, circa 1760 |
Short-barreled guns were handy for horseback use. This Italian carbine was used in New Spain. The flintlock pistol shown below was used by an insurgente in Mexico's war for independence from Spain. The Miquelet-lock pistol below this one was used by Spanish forces against Mexican rebels.
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| Flintlock Pistol, Early 1800s |
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| Miquelet-lock pistol, circa 1800 |
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| Comanche on War Path, circa 1845 |
Nuevo Santander becomes Tamaulipas. Old patterns of ranch and town life continue. But change is coming. Internal unrest grips the Republic of Mexico. Uprisings and power struggles plague the central government. When Indian raids terrorize the northern states, Mexico City sends little help. Frontier resentment breeds talk of rebellion. Eastward lies another threat: the expanding United States, now on Mexico's doorstep, offers to buy Texas -- with the new boundary at the Rio Grande. Indignant, Mexico refuses to sell. But the future, like a distant storm, is closing in. Meanwhile, the Great River's destiny takes shape: international trade.
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| Church Bell |
Found in a San Juan, Texas scrap yard in 1986, this bell came from Monterey, Nuevo León. The inscription reads: "Echa a espenza de este vecindario por [la] disposición de s... alleluja muerte Doña Maria Guadalupe de Meléndez Pedro Beato Marzo 6 de 1836." March 6, 1836 was the day the Alamo fell to Santa Ann's troops. A connection between that event and the bell is unknown. Church bells called the faithful to services, rang for celebrations, and warned of danger.
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| Mexican Market, circa 1850 |
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| Cuera Dragoons, circa 1730-1830 |
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| Map, Mexico, circa 1826 |
In 1835, over 30,000 Anglo-Americans live in Texas. Some are Rio Grande merchants. Most are cotton planters along other rivers -- Trinity, Brazos, Colorado. In 1825 they came as lawful colonists, led by empresario Stephen F. Austin. Eager for land in return for Mexican citizenship, more rushed in, soon outnumbering Mexican-Texans. Alarmed -- and too late -- Mexico banned American immigration in 1830. (Many still come anyway, illegally.)
Increasingly, Mexican rule -- disrupted by power struggles and uprisings -- chafes the mostly Southern Texans, with strong traditions of independence and self-government. Mounting resentment breeds armed defiance of Mexican authority. In full-scale rebellion, a Texas force has seized the capital, San Antonio. Now, Mexican troops on the Rio Grande await orders to march north.
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| Stephen F. Austin, circa 1850 |
Stephen F. Austin is regarded as the "father" of Anglo-American settlement in Texas. His patient negotiations with the Mexican government secured permission to bring in settlers from the U.S.
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| Sam Houston |
Samuel Houston (March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two individuals to represent Texas in the United States Senate. He also served as the sixth governor of Tennessee and the seventh governor of Texas, the only individual to be elected governor of two different states in the United States.
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| Mier Plaza & Church with Mexican troops 1874 |
Mexican troops pose where the battle against the Texan invaders thundered 32 years before.
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| Replica Mexican Army Infantry Uniform |
The 1st Line Regiment, 1846, fought at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, wearing uniforms such as this. The wool tunic, cotton trousers, and leather "shako" hat show Napoleonic influence. Accoutrements include a cartridge box, a haversack for rations, and a canteen. The main weapon is a Brown Bess musket, with bayonet.
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| Woman lamenting over a dead soldier |
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| Steamboat Bridge |
Wars enmesh the lower Rio Grande. Imperial French and Mexican forces battle for control of Mexico. Yankee and Rebel forces clash east of the Mississippi. Wagon trains haul Confederate cotton to the Rio Grande for export by sea. Valley merchants and profiteers make fortunes, in a lucrative trade that feeds both conflicts. As the wartime commerce ends, a new source of prosperity opens -- cattle.
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| Cut away view of a cotton gin, circa 1910 |
A boiler behind the gin supplies steam to the engine, which turns a horizontal shaft. Belts on the shaft drive the four gin stands, removing seeds and debris. A vacuum system takes the ginned cotton or "lint" to the bale press. Baled cotton is ready for shipping. Seeds, meanwhile, are collected for milling. With electric power and more up-to-date technology, this same basic process is still used today.
South Texas' early cattle trade is limited. Hides and tallow, exported by sea, have more value than beef; coastal "packeries" process thousands of animals per year. During the Civil War, untended "beeves" multiply; but their post-war value is low. Then, rising demands back East open new beef markets. Trail drives head for railroad shipping points. Cattle values soar; herds get bigger, requiring more management and capital. By 1880, ranching in South Texas is a major industry.
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| Ranch worker's family, San Juanito Ranch, circa 1900 |
Ranch life is still the familiar cycle of livestock, crops, and chores. Roundups include branding, sorting, and counting; trail drives to distant markets last weeks or months. Women and older children cook, launder, sew, care for the sick, and look after aged relatives. Gardens yield vegetables and medicinal herbs. Through the year, special days and celebrations, often religious, bring friends and families together.
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| Chuck Wagon, New Mexico, circa 1910 |
The chuck wagon was a ranch kitchen on wheels. With its distinctive chuck box or cabinet, the wagon carried enough supplies for several months, along with cooking utensils. It also hauled cowhands' bedrolls and spare saddles. Chuck wagons saw use at South Texas roundups, and on trail drives, from the 1870s well into the 1900s. This chuck wagon was used on the San Juanito Ranch in South Texas into the 1930s.
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| Cowboys studio portrait, circa 1800s |
"Cowboys" begin as Spanish vaqueros -- "cow men" -- working cattle from horseback. Mexican-Texan vaqueros teach skills to Anglo- and African-Texan newcomers, who adopt the Mexican saddle, gear, and methods. In time the vaquero gains a new name: "cowboy" or "buckaroo." The "Texas cowboy" becomes a national folk hero. But along the Great River he is still un vaquero, in an age-old calling.
"The word 'cowboy' was sometimes used, but not nearly so commonly as now. Vaquero -- from vaca (cow) -- was originally applied only to Spanish or Mexican cowboys. But from an early day, Texans ... have used the word without reference to race." ~~ John D. Young, South Texas Cattleman, 1929
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| San Juanito Ranch House, circa 1905 |
By 1880, ranch house life blends old and new ways. Many still live in casas de sillar. Others build homes of brick or lumber. Workers with families often have two jacales connected by a ramada. The family sleeps in one jacal and cooks in the other; the ramada provides shade for outdoor activity. Bachelor cow-hands live in bunk houses, a recent innovation. Factory-made furniture and other items appear. By 1890 the old frontier days are closing.
Ranch cooking often still takes place outdoors, or in a separate jacal. Some houses have a fireplace for indoor cooking. Most ranches still have hornos for baking. Cooking blends older and newer influences. Canned foods supplement traditional meals of beef, beans, tortillas, and ranch-grown vegetables and herbs. Sacks of mill-ground flour often replace metates. Iron stoves, coffee grinders, and tortilla presses come into use.
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| Ranch House Comfort |
On the porch are three examples of earlier-day ranch house seating. All three probably were ranch made. The chair on the left is a straight chair with hide seat; middle is a rocking chair with hide seat; to the right is a wooden bench.
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| Cattle Raid on the Texas border, 1875 |
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| Rawhide Lariat, circa 1940 |
Rawhide is un-tanned cattle hide. After being scraped, stretched, and sun-dried, it formed a tough material that withstood the wear and tear of ranch work. An old South Texas term for it was "Mexican iron." Spanish and Mexican vaqueros fashioned rawhide into many useful objects, including catch ropes or reatas. Braided rawhide strips made a tough rope that would hold a loop for tossing over a cow's horns or entangling its legs. The word lariat comes from the Spanish la reata, meaning the catch-rope. The loop was called a lazo, which became 'lasso.'
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| The wagon shed |
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| Stage coach near Uvalde, circa 1880 |
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| Arcadio Guerra's store in Falfurrias, circa 1900 |
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| Barbed Wire |
"Without fences, no man could keep his own cattle on his own range, to brand and sell the increase ... Barbed wire meant to the cattle industry what Eli Whitney's cotton gin meant to the cotton business." ~~ John D. Young, South Texas cattleman, 1929
Barbed wire, developed in the 1870s, enables ranchers to fence their ranges effectively and cheaply. Gradually, South Texas stockman divide their ranches into fenced pastures. Cattle stray in their ranges, and neighbors' animals stray out. Better livestock management and improved, modern breeds result.
Ranch woman and sons branding a calf, circa 1900. Women took an active role in ranch work, helping to run the "spread" while men were away on roundups or trail drives.
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| End of an era: Steamboat Bessie at Brownsville, circa 1904 |
Bessie was the last steamboat on the Rio Grande. This picture was made about the time of her last voyage.
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| Inside the train depot |
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| Train at depot, San Benito, Texas St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railway, circa 1912 |
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| Canal Building |
The next main event was bringing water to the Valley for crops. The systems used pumps to lift Rio Grande water over natural embankments, along the river's north side. Beyond each stepping stone, the land slopes gently away, enabling water to flow by gravity. At each terrace stands a pumping station, or lift station. The first lift draws water from the river and into the main canal. Other stations lift water over successive terraces and into the next canal segments. Valves (gates) direct the flow to side channels (laterals) and then through smaller ditches to fields and groves.
Men, mules, and muscle build the early canals. Survey crews map routes through mesquite and cactus. Axe-wielding brush crews hack out rights-of-way. With mule-drawn plows and earth scrapers, construction crews break the soil and build canal embankments. The first canals and open-top, partly above ground; later, many are put underground to cut evaporation loss. With the "earth movers" come other crews, installing gates and valves. Meanwhile, still others build the pumping stations. Before long, steam engines turn, pumps spin, and water flows.
To control and direct water flow, canal builders install valves, or "gates." Along the early main canals are wooden "check gates," used to regulate the volume of water. Smaller metal gates direct water into side channels. From these laterals, the water flows through dictates into fields and groves. But open canals lose water through leakage and evaporation. Many are later concrete-lined and buried, their paths marked by concrete pipes sticking up across the landscape. Bigger pipes contain gates. Smaller pipes vent air to help keep water flowing.
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| D.B. Weston Farm near Mission, Texas |
A frontier look with false fronts and wooden sidewalks marks new Valley towns. Hotels, saloons, and businesses line dirt streets. Houses, schools, and churches rise. Stores sell goods for farm and city folk. Chugging autos weave among horse-drawn wagons. Victrolas play scratchy records. Telephone lines are strung. Carloads of produce roll northward. Daily, more newcomers arrive. With boundless enthusiasm, they impress the life, culture and values of 20th Century mainstream America onto the region and its older Mexican- and Anglo- Texan society -- and thereby plant the seeds of future problems.
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| National Cash Register |
In 1913, W.L. Lipscomb opened the first mercantile store in Edinburg, Texas, in the town's first brick building. Used in his store until the 1930s, this cash register sounded a different tone for each drawer.
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| View of the wreck by Mexican bandits |
The small picture shows US soldiers who helped defend Norlas against Mexican rebels, August 1915. The train wreck occurred near Olmito, north of Brownsville. On October 18, 1915, Mexican revolutionaries detailed the southbound train. The raiders went through the cars, killing or wounding some occupants, before withdrawing. The attack escalated the region's mounting violence.
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| Ford Model T Roadster, circa 1921 |
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| Horseless Carriage |
Truly, the automobile is a revolutionary invention: a personal, self-propelled vehicle that gives unprecedented mobility to the average person. From a spindly "horseless carriage" it becomes, by 1910, a modern machine. The Magic Valley feels its growing impact. New cars arrive by train -- Fords, REOs, Chevrolets, and other makes. Farmers, ranchers, and town folk buy ever-more autos and trucks. Blacksmith shops become garages. Stores sprout curbside gas pumps. Street paving begins. Service stations and tourist courts appear. By the 1920s, South Texas, like the nation, becomes a culture on wheels.
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| La Lomita Well No. 1 Texas Best Oil & Refining Co. |
Black Gold -- In the new 20th century, black gold and its products, especially gasoline, are increasingly vital and profitable. Only dry holes mark the first attempts to drill for Valley oil. But in 1920 the region's first producing oil field is discovered in Starr County. Through the 1920s and into the 1930s more oil wells are drilled in Hidalgo, Willacy, and Cameron Counties, and elsewhere in South Texas. The oil boom draws workers and boosts the region's economy. As pipelines are built and refineries take shape, the Valley and South Texas help to fuel the nation's growing 20th century might.
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| Texas Rangers with smuggler's horses & mules, South Texas 1920s |
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| Texas Ranger with liquor smugglers Brownsville, Texas 1920s |
Businesses and consumers who supported the voluntary trade codes of The National Recovery Administration, or NRA, could display the Blue Eagle emblem on their window, a popular symbol between 1933 and 1935. Workmen building a storm drain, a Works Progress Administration project near McAllen, Texas in the 1930s.
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| Palm Cafe, Edinburg, Texas 1930s |
The Post Era War ~~ The decades after World War II transform Valley life. Change is everywhere. Population rises, from half a million at mid-century to almost one million by century's end. Valley demographics shift, as those of Hispanic descent outnumber all others. Tejanos attain equal opportunity in all fields. Cities grow and highways expand. Border trade and manufacturing supersede agriculture as the leading economic force. Winter Texans and Mexican nationals contribute to economic growth. Education at all levels expands. Advancing technology ties South Texans more closely together, and enmeshes them in the global community. NAFTA ignites frenzied growth, drawing more and more people from the US, Mexico, and around the world to dwell beside the Great River. As the 21st century dawns, the Lower Rio Grande is a booming international crossroads.
The 1910 Old Jail ~~ it was designed in a Spanish Mission Revival style by John Phelps and Atlee Ayers. The Old Jail was built 1909-1910 along with the Hidalgo County Courthouse, which stood in the town square.
The Jail’s walls were made of solid brick, its floors were concrete, and the roof was made of clay tiles on wooden structures. Inside, the jailer’s office and living quarters were located on the ground floor. The prisoners’ cell rooms were located on the second floor, along with the hanging room in the tower. The second floor probably had one or more steel cell-block units.
During the cold winter, wood-burning stoves were used to heat the jail and keep the prisoners warm. Their water source was usually a windmill and wooden water tank that stood behind the Jail.
According to records, the hanging apparatus was used only once. The condemned Abram Ortiz was convicted of rape and murder and executed in 1913. No other hangings are on record. Local folklore rumors Ortiz’ ghost haunts the jail by clanking his shackles. Years later, other reports by volunteer firemen bunking on the second floor claim “hearing things” throughout the night.
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