Tag Archives: Texas History

Today in Texas History – November 13

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From the Annals of Plutonium –  In 1974, union activist Karen Silkwood died in an automobile accident. Silkwood was born in Longview and was a laboratory technician at a Kerr-McGee  plutonium plant in Oklahoma. She joined the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union and became the first female member of the union bargaining committee in Kerr-McGee history.  Working to investigate health and safety concerns, she quickly discovered evidence of spills, leaks, and missing plutonium.  As a result of conditions in its plant, Kerr-McGee was sued in connection with worker safety and environmental contamination claims.  Braving strong opposition and threats, Silkwood testified before the Atomic Energy Commission that she had suffered radiation exposure in a series of unexplained incidents.  The automobile accident that claimed her life occurred while she was on the way to a meeting with an AEC official and a New York Times reporter.  Although there was many theories floated regarding her death, nothing in the way of foul play was ever proven.  However, an autopsy confirmed that she had been contaminated by plutonium.  She was portrayed by Meryl Streep in the 1984 movie Silkwood. 

Today in Texas History – November 11

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From the Annals of the Colonists –  In 1833,  members of the Beales Colony left New York aboard the Amos Wright headed for Texas. .  John Charles Beales and others had obtained large colonial grants that encompassed much of western Texas, eastern New Mexico, and the Rio Grande valley. The first colonists landed at Copano Bay on December 12, 1833. From there they traveled to a site on Las Moras Creek near Presidio del Rio Grande in the Rio Grande Valley.  The colonists named their settlement Dolores, in honor of Beales’s Mexican wife.  Beales’ Colony was a failure.  It was located in semi-arid brush unsuitable for farming and in country claimed by the Comanche.  Many colonists left for other settlements.  The final blow came during the Texas Revolution when the entire colony was abandoned before the advance of the Mexican Army.

Today In Texas History – November 10

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From the Annals of LBJ –  In 1967, the President’s Ranch Trail was dedicated in Wimberley. The 90  mile route includes places in Hays, Blanco and Gillespie counties that were important in the life of Pres.  Lyndon B. Johnson.  It extends from the LBJ Ranch, located on Ranch Road 1 near Stonewall, to San Marcos. From the ranch two approaches are possible to Blanco, from which the main route extends to San Marcos: one, referred to as the north branch, proceeds from Ranch Road 1 via U.S. Highway 290 through Hye to Johnson City, then to Blanco via U.S. Highway 281; the other approach, referred to as the south branch, leads from the ranch to Stonewall and reaches Blanco by means of Albert on Ranch Road 1623. The route from Blanco to San Marcos leads via Ranch roads 165 and 2325 through Wimberley, where Ranch Road 12 leads to San Marcos.

Photo of the Western White Houston from the National Park Service.

Today in Texas History – November 6

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From the Annals of the DRT – In 1891, the organizational meeting of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas was held in the Houston home of Mary Jane Briscoe.

 Mary S. M. Jones, widow of Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas, was selected to serve as president. The rather awkward first name chosen for the new association was the Daughters of Female Descendants of the Heroes of ’36. The group quickly changed its name to the Daughters of the Lone Star Republic, then Daughters of the Republic of Texas at the first annual meeting in April 1892. The stated objectives of the association are to perpetuate the memory and spirit of the people who achieved and maintained the independence of Texas, to encourage historical research into the earliest records of Texas, especially those relating to the revolutionary and republic periods and to promote Texas Honor Days.  However, membership is limited to descendants of ancestors who “rendered loyal service for Texas” prior to February 19, 1846, the date the Republic ceased to exist and Texas became part of the U.S.  The DRT was most famous for its custody of the Alamo – but it has now been displaced by the state of Texas.

Photo of DRT members in 1932 at Laguna Gloria, home of notable member Clara Driscoll from KayKeys.

Today in Texas History – November 5

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From the Annals of Neutrality –  In 1806, the United States and Spain established the “Neutral Ground” between Louisiana and Texas.  After the Louisiana Purchase, the US and Spain had been unable to agree on the boundary between Louisiana and Texas despite Spain having once controlled the area.  To avoid an armed clash over the disputed land, Gen. James Wilkinson and Lt. Col. Simón de Herrera, the American and Spanish military commanders, entered into an agreement establishing a Neutral Ground between Texas and Louisiana. Even the boundaries of the NG were never exactly prescribed.  The NG was generally described as being bordered by the Arroyo Hondo on the east and the Sabine River on the west.  The Gulf of Mexico clearly constituted the Southern boundary and most likely the thirty-second parallel of latitude formed the northern boundary. Despite an agreement that no settlers would be permitted in the NG, settlers from both Spanish and American territory moved in.  Predictably, the NG became fertile ground for illegal activity and the US and Spain cooperated in sending joint military expeditions in 1810 and 1812 to enforce order and expel undesirables. The US obtained ownership of the NG with the signing of the Adams-Onis Treaty in 1821.

Today in Texas History – November 4

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From the Annals of the Little Known Battles – In 1835,  one of the smaller engagements of the Texas Revolution occurred. The battle of Lipantitlán was fought on the east bank of the Nueces River in San Patricio County, directly across from Fort Lipantitlán.   The Fort was one of the last two garrisons of Mexican troops remaining after the initial engagements of the revolution.  Most of the Mexican forces had left the fort for operations in the field.  While they were engaged elsewhere a Texian force of around seventy men from Goliad under the command of Capt.Ira J. Westover seized and dismantled the fort.  The  Mexican force of about ninety men under the command of Capt. Nicolás Rodríguez encountered the Texians as they were attempting to cross the rain-swollen Nueces River on their return to Goliad.  The short battle lasted only about 30 minutes, but the Texian long rifles proved decisive in a longer distance fight against Mexican troops armed with close range muskets.  The Mexican troops were forced to retreat with between 3 and 5 soldiers reportedly killed in action.  The Texans reported only one relatively minor casualty.

Today in Texas History – November 3

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From the Annals of the Founding Fathers – In 1793, Stephen F. Austin was born in Virginia.  Austin often referred to as the “Father of Texas”, was actually following in the footsteps of his father Moses Austin.  Austin was raised in Missouri, but educated back east gaining a degree from Transylvania University and then studying as a lawyer.  He was pursuing a legal career in New Orleans, when his father traveled to Texas and received an grant that would allow him to bring 300 American families to Texas.  Moses Austin caught pneumonia soon after returning to Missouri. He left his empresario grant to his son Stephen. Though Austin was reluctant to carry on his father’s Texas venture, he was persuaded to pursue the colonization of Texas by a letter from his mother written two days before Moses Austin died.

At the age of 24, Austin led a party of potential settlers to San Antonio covering 300 miles in about 4 weeks.  Austin sought a reauthorization of his father’s grant. While in transit, Austin learned Mexico had declared its independence from Spain, and Texas had become a Mexican province rather than a Spanish territory. Jose Antonio Navarro, a San Antonio native with ambitious visions of the future of Texas, befriended Stephen F. Austin, and the two developed a lasting association. Navarro, proficient with Spanish and Mexican law, assisted Austin in obtaining his empresario contracts.  With a reauthorized grant, Austin began to explore the area between San Antonio and the Brazos River to find a suitable location for a colony – eventually settling on San Felipe in present day Austin County.

Today in Texas History – November 2

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From the Annals of Cattle Ranching –  In 1912,  the XIT Ranch of Texas sold its last head of cattle.  The XIT was once one of the largest cattle ranches in Texas, and the land was received in exchange for financing the construction of the state capitol building in Austin.   Thus, the XIT it was not owned by the iconic independent cattle ranching pioneer popular in Western mythology.  In fact, many of the biggest cow operations in the 1800’s were owned by big-city capitalists and stockholders. The Chicago capitalists behind the XIT—also known as the Capitol Syndicate Ranch—were leveraging their capital and banking on the growing American appetite for fresh beef.

The CSR determined that ranching would be the only profitable use for their new land. The built a a large and highly efficient cattle-raising operation that stretched over parts of nine Texas counties. At its peak, the XIT had more than 160,000 head of cattle, employed 150 cowboys, and operated on 3 million acres of the Texas panhandle.

Increasing land prices and declining beef prices, convinced the CSR that they could make more money by selling their land. By 1912, the XIT abandoned ranching altogether with the sale of its last herd of cattle.  As the land was sold off the XIT holdings shrunk.  By 1950, the XIT consisted of less than 20,000 acres.

Map from the XIT Museum.

Today in Texas History – October 30

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From the Annals of the Wilds –  In 1984, Pres. Ronald Reagan signed the Texas Wilderness Act of 1984 establishing five new wilderness areas in East Texas. The five were the Big Slough Wilderness Area, Indian Mounds Wilderness Area, Little Lake Creek Wilderness Area, Turkey Hill Wilderness Area and Upland Island Wilderness Area.  These areas were preserved from logging and development and now serve as islands of wilderness in Texas’ National Forests.  In 1979, the  Secretary of Agriculture had recommended the establishment of three wilderness areas totaling 10,712 acres. Texas congressman John Bryant sponsored legislation that would have set up ten wilderness areas in Texas covering 65,000 acres, but the bill went nowhere until citizen support expanded in the district of Congressman Charles Wilson, where three of the wildernesses lie. Wilson agreed to a compromise of five wilderness areas totaling 34,700 acres. That compromise was made possible by the willingness of lumber giant Temple-Eastex to trade some of its land inside Upland Island and Indian Mounds for Forest Service land outside.

Imagine a Republican President today signing a bill that creates wilderness areas.