178 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



THE WONDERFUL TRANSFORMATION OF 

 SOUTHWEST TEXAS. 



BY WM. DOHERTY, 



General Passenger Agent St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railway 



Corpus Christi, Tex. 



(Concluded.) 



There is an old slogan which says that "figures 

 do not misrepresent," and in order that there may be 

 no room for questioning the statement that southwest 

 Texas boasts of a climate which for equability, balance, 

 even-temperedness and healthfulness is second to that 

 of no locality within the boundary lines of the United 

 States, the basis of argument shall be the reports of 

 the United States Weather Bureau for the Southwest, 

 covering a period of seventeen years. 



During the period the maximum temperature re- 

 corded wa-s 98 degrees, while the minimum was 12 

 degrees. The mean temperature for the entire period 

 is quoted at 70.2 degrees. 



In this connection attention should be called to 

 the fact that the minimum just given is by no means 

 a safe criterion for judging the usual temperature for 

 the winter months. The figure quoted was the mini- 

 mum reading of the thermometer during the unprece- 

 dented cold of 1899, which will always be remembered 

 as the most extreme cold spell in the history of Texas. 

 As a matter of fact, it is most unusual for the ther- 

 mometer to register a temperature lower than 24 de- 

 grees, and then for no longer than a brief space of a 

 few hours. 



During the month of February, 1905, southwest 

 Texas experienced the severest cold since the mem- 

 orable spell of 1899. The minimum recorded at 

 Brownsville was only 24 degrees, and onions, cabbage 

 and other truck growing green in the open field, with- 

 out protection, were in nowise injured. The test was, 

 indeed, a; severe one, but it conclusively demonstrated 

 that no fear need be entertained from low temperatures 

 as seriously affecting the production of early vegetables, 

 and placing them on the market weeks in advance of 

 any other section of the United States. 



However, it is not the absence of great extremes 

 that speaks so much in favor of southwest Texas as 

 it is the truly wonderful equability of the climate at 

 all seasons of the year. In proof of this assertion the 

 mean monthly temperatures, as deduced from the re- 

 port of the United States Weather Bureau, covering the 

 period of seventeen years, is reproduced herewith : 



January, 55.9 ; February, 58.1 ; March, 63.9 ; April, 

 70.5 ; May, 75.8 ; June, 80.1 ; July, 81.9 ; August, 81.9 ; 

 September, 79.1; October, 72.9; November, 64.1; De- 

 cember, 70.2. 



These facts speak for themselves and call for no 

 embellishment. The difference in mean temperatures 

 for the entire year is only 26 degrees ! Can this record 

 for equability be approached in any other section of 

 the United States? Winters without severe cold, sum- 

 mers without extreme heat, is the story told by the 

 figures themselves. 



Geographical location and topographical conditions 

 have everything to do with climate. In both of these 

 respects Providence has been most considerate of south- 

 west Texas. Two facts contribute largely to the sec- 

 tion's magnificent climate. One is geographical loca- 

 tion, with respect to the Gulf of Mexico ; the other, the 

 unusual elevation, attention to which has already been 

 directed. Becanse of these two facts, southwest Texas 



combines in climate all of the advantages of a coastal 

 country, with its fresh sea breezes, charged with salt 

 air and slight moisture, and the distinctive benefits 

 of inland localities of high altitude, which remove from 

 possibility the existence of swamps, dampness, humidity, 

 miasma and malaria. The atmosphere is warm and 

 dry, possessing the pronounced characteristics of a semi- 

 arid country, but tempered by fresh breezes that pass 

 over the country from the gulf almost every day in 

 the year. 



It is extremely doubtful if any other feature of 

 the territory traversed by the St. Louis, Brownsville & 

 Mexico Railway will so greatly contribute to its rapid 

 development as its magnificent, equable, evenly-balanced 

 climate. 



A Thousand Oranges on a Single Tree along the line of the St. Louis, 

 Brownsville & Mexico Railway. 



Southwest Texas holds the distinguished position 

 of fostering no ailments or diseases which are the result 

 of climatic conditions, and no other section touching the 

 coast of the Gulf of Mexico can claim a similar dis- 

 tinction. 



From a standpoint of climate, southwest Texas 

 meets every requirement. 



In its classification of annual precipitation de- 

 ducted from a series of observations covering a quarter 

 of a century, the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture places the territory contiguous to the St. Louis, 

 Brownsville & Mexico Railway in the group of localities 

 wherein average annual rainfall varies from twenty 

 to thirty inches. The actual average for a period of 



