THE IKKIGATION AGE. 



745 



scores of colonization projects being promoted in different 

 parts of the ranch territory. Some of these have been oper- 

 ated on a legitimate basis, the owners being satisfied with a 

 reasonable profit on their investment, but there are others 

 that have no other object than quick profit-making by the 

 promoter, the homeseeker being left with a piece of high- 

 priced land on his hands and many difficulties before him to 

 be overcome, before he can hope to derive the profits and 

 benefits to which he is rightfully entitled from the begin- 

 ning-. 



It is the land speculator who is hurting and hindering 

 the settling up of the unoccupied lands of Texas, it is claimed. 

 These men purchase a ranch of ten thousand to fifty thousand 

 acres, for prices ranging from $6 to $15 per acre, have it 

 surveyed into farming tracts of 40 to 200 acres, and then 

 sell this land out to the horde of land-hungry men from other 

 states, for prices ranging from $40 to $100 per acre. The 

 difference between the purchase and the selling price is too 

 excessive to be legitimate. The action of these land specula- 

 tors is having another effect that is far-reaching. It is 

 causing a general boosting of prices on the part of the ranch 



Clearing Land in Lower Rio Grande Valley. 



owners, on a purely fictitious basis. When the fact is con- 

 sidered that six to eight years ago almost any ranch prop- 

 erty in the territory south of San Antonio could have been 

 purchased for from $3 to $5 per acre, and hundreds of thou- 

 sands of acres as low as $2 per acre, and that the agricultural 

 development since that time is hardly worth considering as 

 compared with the enormous area of unoccupied land that 

 is availablle for farming, the increase in the prices of these 

 lands is in most instances unreasonably large. 



In those portions of the state which have been made 

 accessible for settlement, by the construction of lines of rail- 

 way, the enhancement of land values is a natural consequence. 

 This is true of the Gulf coast region and the lower Rio 

 Grande valley, which have been opened up to activities of 

 the farmer during the last six years by the establishment of 

 a railroad transportation outlet. The region around Browns- 

 ville and extending up to the American side of the Rio 

 Grande for one hundred miles was a terra incognito of the 

 average citizen of other portions of Texas and people out- 

 side the state, until the railroad was constructed. Before 

 the coming of the new road it was 160 miles from Brownsville 

 to the nearest railroad point. The broad scope of valley land, 

 embracing more than six hundred thousand acres, was not 



deemed of any value except as a range for goats, by the easy 

 going people of the border territory. Even for a few months 

 after the railroad was finished, the land values remained as 

 low as $2 and $3 per acre. It was seen that the development 

 of the valley region would require the expenditure of enor- 

 mous amounts of money in the construction of irrigation sys- 

 tems, in order to reclaim the land from its arid state. In 

 time this money was forthcoming from large trust companies 

 and private individuals of the financial centers of the coun- 

 try, such as St. Louis, Chicago, New York and other places. 

 In the last six years more than $25,000,000 have been ex- 

 pended in irrigation and land development in what is known 

 as the Brownsville country. Water has been made available 

 for irrigating many thousands of acres of the rich lands, 

 hundreds of prosperous homes have been established, and a 

 transformation of the former chaparral-covered territory ac- 

 complished that is little short of marvelous. 



The increase of land values have been enormous, but the 

 cost of making the land available for cultivation has been 

 stupendous. The land speculator is frowned upon. In order 

 to make it practically impossible for a person to purchase 

 land in the valley for the purpose of holding it idle for a 

 prospective increase in value, a minimum charge of a few 

 dollars per acre per annum for the right to the water for 

 irrigation purposes, whether it is used or not, is made. This 

 stipulation forces the land buyer to bring his land under 

 cultivation as quickly as possible. The big inducement that 

 is bringing about the rapid reclamation of these lands, is the 

 extraordinary large profits that are derived from their culti- 

 vation. The net revenue averages more than $200 per acre 

 per annum, and in many cases it is as high as $500 and $600. 

 This is on the valuation of $80 to $150 per acre for the 

 land. 



It is in the irrigated sections of the state that small farm 

 holdings are chiefly found. In the Brownsville country, hand- 

 some annual incomes are obtained from farms as small as 

 twenty and ten acres. The average size of these farms is less 

 than fifty acres, it is said. 



If the prices of lands in the unsettled parts of Texas can 

 be kept down to a legitimate basis the influx of the new set- 

 tlers will continue at an increasing rate, it is stated by repre- 

 sentatives of railroads. Even at the present rate of settle- 

 ment and development it will be more than three hundred 

 years before the one hundred million acres of unoccupied 

 lands are converted into farms, it is claimed. It is pointed 

 out that the unoccupied domain of the state is too great 

 for land values to go up by leaps and bounds, such as is re- 

 pqrted from some sections of the ranch territory. 



*The cultivated area of Texas yields about $560,000,000 

 per annum. If the remaining five-sixths was in cultivation, 

 these figures would be increased to more than two and one- 

 quarter billion dollars. 



Three million more farmers are needed, and they must 

 come from outside the state. The statistics of the railroads 

 show that the tide of immigration is rapidly turning to Texas, 

 but it is not coming strong enough to make the impress that 

 the opportunities that are offered in the state justify, accord- 

 ing to the opinion of the men who are interested in the up- 

 building of the commonwealth. 



Will pay for the IRRIGATION AGE 

 I.OO one year and the PRIMER OF 

 . IRRIGATION, 



