Today in Texas History – June 3

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From the Annals of the Horse Marines – In 1836, a Texas mounted ranger company captured a Mexican ship.  Maj. Isaac Watts Burton’s unit was keeping watch over a stretch of the Gulf Coast south of San Antonio Bay. When they heard of a suspicious vessel in Copano Bay, the rangers hid on the shore and sent up distress signals. The ship responded first by hoisting American and Texan signals, which were ignored. Only when the ship raised Mexican signals did the rangers respond. Thus tricked into thinking the supposedly distressed soldiers were Mexican, the captain came ashore and was captured. With him as hostage, sixteen rangers rowed out, boarded the Watchman, and seized its cargo of provisions for the Mexican army.   The mounted rangers were dubbed “Horse Marines.”

Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’ – Though the Streams are Swollen

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The recent flooding resurrected the practice of a real life cattle drive for some modern day cowboys in Liberty County.  Approximately 500 head of cattle had to be rescued from a small dry island of land.  The drive took the herd straight through downtown Dayton to the amusement and fascination of local residents.  The Houston Chronicle reports on the step back in time.

It was a scene lifted straight from the sepia-tinged film of an old Western – a harrowing rescue of hundreds of cattle through floodwaters, herded onto dry land and through town to safety.

But there were cars and boats here to carry the calves too small to tread water. And in town there were people – hundreds of them – snapping enough pictures and video on smartphones to stir up a viral sensation.

It was a distinctly Texan success story after a hard week in Liberty County, where road flooding along the Trinity River trapped residents in at least 600 homes last week. On Sunday, downtown was full for the show.

“Oh my goodness – you couldn’t even park a car all the way through Dayton,” Liberty County sheriff’s Capt. Ken DeFoor said of the crowded streets in the town of about 7,400 northeast of Houston. “It’s not every day you see a cattle drive going through a major highway going through downtown. You see that in the movies, but you don’t see that in real life any more.”

Today in Texas History

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Wegefarth and Greer Ghost Counties TX 1876 RR Map

From the Annals of the Lost Counties –  In 1873, the Texas Legislature declared the existence of Wegefarth County.  It was named for C. Wegefarth, president of the Texas Immigrant Aid and Supply Company. The county, which was created in a disputed area west of Greer County in the eastern panhandle region, had but a brief existence. It was abolished by another act of the Legislature in 1876 which created the current Panhandle counties.

Is There No End to Their Evil?

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FIFA has elected Sepp Blatter to a fifth term to lead the organization which almost single-handedly controls the biggest sport in the world.  The 209 FIFA member federations voted to keep Blatter despite the allegations of massive corruption occurring during Blatter’s watch.  The 79-year-old Blatter outpolled Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan by 133-73 in the first round of voting.  The Prince, who promised of a clean break from Blatter’s legacy of corruption, conceded defeat.

“I like you, I like my job,” Blatter said to cheering voters. “I am not perfect, nobody is perfect, but we will do a good job together I am sure.”

Blatter isn’t on the same continent with perfect. Blatter wouldn’t know perfect if Red attached it to briefcase filled with 100’s and handed it to him.   And it is hard to fathom what FIFA members considered to be a “good job.”  If their definition includes almost unlimited opportunities for fraud, graft and corruption, then Blatter is probably the right guy.

Red loves his soccer, but this stain on the world’s greatest game must be expunged.  Red urges all soccer fans to write their national federation demanding that they not participate in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups unless and until a full and complete investigation is undertaken into the award of the World Cup Finals to Russia and Qatar.  Both awards are clearly tainted by massive corruption.  Heads need to roll.  And Blatter’s should be the first.

Is Texas Weather Really That Bad?

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Jacquielynn Floyd of the Dallas Morning News wonders if Texas is the worst place in the Nation for for catastrophic weather events and natural disasters.

After a series of devastating 2011 tornadoes and floods in the U.S., The New York Times commissioned data analysts at Sperling’s Best Places to rank hundreds of metro areas by their relative safety from natural disasters.

Their findings: If you’re paranoid about such things, move to the Pacific Northwest. In ranking 379 metropolitan areas — where 85 percent of people in the country live — seven of the safest 10 are in Washington state.

The part you’ll want to chew on, though, is that six of the worst 10 are in Texas. And ranked at the tippy-top (or bottom, if you’re reading it that way), the riskiest place in the nation for catastrophic weather is — grab hold of a desk or something if you’re prone to giddiness — here. Us.

Ted Cruz Against All Spending – Except When it Might Cost Him Votes

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Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) will apparently support federal funding to help Texans affected by the recent disastrous flooding.  When the good citizens of New Jersey and New York needed such funds after Hurricane Sandy, the good Senator was not so understanding.  He claimed that the relief bill was loaded with pork (a dubious claim in light of the history of such measures) and voted against it.  But when it comes to protecting his base in Texas, Cruz will apparently have no qualms about federal money pouring into our fair state.  That evil federal money will soon start to flow and you can bet Cruz will be claiming credit.  The Washington Post reports on Cruz’s hypocrisy.

Sen. Ted Cruz showed his support for federal disaster relief in the wake of devastating floods in Texas last week — two and a half years after voting against a disaster relief bill for victims of Hurricane Sandy, which devastated the East Coast in 2012.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Cruz said that it appears as though the disaster money will come through due to the magnitude of the floods, which killed 15 people in Texas.

“The governor has entered a disaster declaration, which is the first step in federal emergency relief,” Cruz said. “There are a series of federal statutory thresholds that have to be satisfied initially. It appears that those thresholds will be satisfied by the magnitude of the flooding.”

Today in Texas History – May 29′

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From the Annals of Hospitality –  In 1947, Hilton Hotels was incorporated in Delaware.  Hilton would later become the first hotel chain listed on the New York Stock Exchange.  HIlton had it humble beginnings in Texas.  In 1919 Conrad Nicholson Hilton purchased the Mobley Hotel in Cisco.  Hilton expanded his holdings in several ways.  After his first purchase in Cisco, Hilton began leasing and renovating old hotels.  After acquiring several such properties, he began building new hotels in Texas on property he ground leased.  Then he moved on to buying existing, low performing hotels at bargain prices. Hilton opened a new hotel in Texas every year between 1925 and 1930 eventually owning 8.  He managed to survive the Depression even though he was close to bankruptcy in1931. But the troubled times forced him to look to outside investors.  Shearn and William L. Moody, Jr., of Galveston were the primary source of new capital and HIlton merged his hotels with the Moodys’ operations to form the National Hotel Company.  The merger was unsuccessful and in 1934 Hilton resumed his independent operation with five hotels. In 1938 he acquired the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco, his first hotel outside of Texas. Hilton later established his corporate headquarters in Beverly Hills.  Ultimately, Conrad Hilton owned 188 hotels in 38 United States cities, including the Shamrock in Houston, the Mayflower in Washington, the Palmer House in Chicago, and the Plaza and Waldorf-Astoria in New York, and another 54 hotels in foreign countries.  He also endowed the University of Houston which named the Conrad Hilton School of Hotel and Restaurant Management after him.  His archives are located at the University Hilton on the UH Campus.

Red vowed to never stay at another Hilton Hotel after they tore down the Shamrock.  For those who never stayed at the Shamrock, it was a glorious place and Red spent many a lazy Saturday afternoon at the enormous pool sipping a libation with friends and planning that evening’s dinner and trip to the Astrodome.

Though April Showers May Come Your Way – They Bring Even More Rain in May

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May 2015 is officially the wettest month ever recorded in Texas.  Texas A&M Today reports that the current deluge has broken all records for precipitation in a single month.

Figures from the Office of the State Climatologist at Texas A&M University show that the month of May has been the wettest month ever in the state’s history, averaging 7.54 inches, besting the previous record of 6.66 inches in June of 2004.

“Many parts of the state have set records for the most rainfall ever,” says John Nielsen-Gammon, professor of atmospheric sciences who also has served as State Climatologist since 2000. He says the reason is a combination of factors: an active El Niño in the Pacific Ocean which tends to bring the jet stream over Texas, a steady flow of moist air from the south that becomes unstable when it undercuts the jet stream, and a stubborn weather pattern “that just won’t go away.

“It has been one continuous storm after another for the past week to 10 days in several regions of the state.  It has rained so much that the ground just can’t soak any more moisture into it, and many creeks and rivers are above flood stage.”

The good news: Nielsen-Gammon says the stubborn pattern should begin to change in a few days, “and after this weekend, we should enter a period of more normal conditions.  Spring is usually wet, but not this wet.”

The state’s wettest area has been from the Dallas-Fort Worth area to the Red River, parts of which have received more than 20 inches of rain this month.

The Houston area was not hit “that hard until the past few days, but then heavy rains came in waves and areas around Sugarland have received more than 17.50 inches of rain.  The area around San Marcos has received heavy flooding, with more than 18 inches of rain this month,” Nielsen-Gammon adds.

 

Bring Your Textbooks, Notebook, LapTop, Pens and .38 Special

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The Texas Tribune reports that the conservative quest to have more guns on Texas campuses is still alive.  Despite repeated admonitions from university administrators across the board (except shamefully for John Sharp at Texas A&M), the Legislature is more interested in kowtowing to its extreme right wing than doing what is in the best interests of our state universities and their students.

Campus carry legislation lived to fight another day as a last-minute deal saved Senate Bill 11 just before a midnight deadline in the House to take initial votes on bills originating in the Senate.

The dramatic scene occurred close to 11:30 p.m. The House had just spent 30 minutes considering a point of order raised by San Antonio Democrat Trey Martinez Fischer. With about 100 filed amendments awaiting debate, many had already started writing the obituaries for the legislation that would require public colleges and universities to allow concealed handgun license holders to bring guns on campus.

 

Today in Texas History – May 28

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From the Annals of Big Oil – In 1923, the Santa Rita No. 1 oil well came in.  The gusher came in the early morning at the solitary rig located in Reagan County.  The University of Texas had leased 670 sections of its west Texas land to Rupert P. Ricker.  Ricker in turn hoped to make enough selling drilling permits from various wildcatters to make the rental payments to UT.  Frank T. Pickrell and Haymon Krupp bought the drilling permits and formed Texon Oil and Land Company.  They then hired geologist Hugh Tucker to select a site for drilling among the almost 200,000 acres.  Carl G. Cromwell drilled the well which was spudded in only minutes before the drilling permit would have expired.  The incredible gusher and the ensuing development of UT’s vast land holdings transformed the school from a small land grant college in a small city to a major institution of higher education.  The University of Texas system has the second highest endowment of any US university ranking only behind Harvard.