Corpus Christi Caller-Times from Corpus Christi, Texas • 32

Corpa Cbristl Mto-Tima Sun July 0 1958 REMEMBER SOVfll TEXAS Wrights Recall Era When i Wool Not Beef Built Ranches sweeping perspective of miles a bride In 1900 Once her children pulled it up to the top He tore down four miles of fences that surrounded the ranch and used the pine wood to add to thettouse It was expanded again in BPS with Mr Wright and his sons build tag onto it without a plan but just as they saw fit Seven Wright children TRnpcd' in and out of the house to saddle horses and ride for the day milk cows visit the cook to snitch hot camp bread Bill still lives on the ranch Hal scy is sheriff of Jim Wells County and lives in Alice Richard is at Sintnn A and Mrs Gordon Lewis in Corpus Christi Mrs IX Choate is at Kenedy and Mrs: Spence at Big Spring Commiutoner For almost 36 years Mr Wright served as a county commissioner both for Nueces County and Jim Wells County When he began in public office Nueces County stretched to Laredo When the commissioners decided to issue bonds to build the court house in Corpus Christi Bill Adams Mr uncle and also a commissioner and his nephew decided the city was to far away to be doing business for their area With the aid of Robert Kleberg Sr and John Kenedy file county was split up into Kleberg Kenedy and Jim Wells Counties in addition to Nueces County Droughts Fmm 1916 until 1944 Mr Wnght pioneer country where he had come to live lie did research on the country writing down the information he found on the land as it wns up to the fifteenth century Parts of his writings were reprinted in file Corpus Christi Caller in 1926 Sutherland later died at Blunt-ser where he taught many years As soon as they were old enough to carry one the young boys kept pistols with them at all times Seared "Guess we were scared all the time but nothing real bad ever happened" Mr Wright recalls In 1878 the last Indian raid in the area came almost to the out-skirts of San Diego but it was turned back by townspeople Every fall though for many years the residents anticipated Mexican raiders coming up from the border to steal saddle horses and rob the ranchers Sometimes the women and children were all taken over to the George Reynolds ranch which had the only rock house in the area Service Being mostly of English stock the families were primarily Anglicans or Episcopalians Mr Wright remembers the Rev Horace dark minister from Corpus Christi riding out to the ranch country once a month and holding a service at the schoolhouse Once during a drought the worshippers asked Mr Clark to add a few prayers for rain to the service He did and in the middle of of dusty mesquite country the farmhouse seems to dominate the cluster of buildings around For 56 years a small twinkle-eyed woman has gone to the side door of the house before every meal and searched down the dirt road leading to the fence and the go by from atop a rocky hill over- main road into town If she sees a cloud of dust she turns back to the kitchen and adds more water to the coffee and more Hour to the biscuit dough Total Bertha Wright has no idea how many biscuits she has cooked since she came to the ranch as In 1874 Capt King fenced in his property George Reynolds on a neighboring ranch followed in 1876 and Mr Wright's father built his fences the next year was all sheep country then" he remembers In the 1870s more wool was shipped out of Corpus Christ! than any other place in the United States" Mutton Wool and mutton built the ranches the houses the fences upon which South Trios grew Then prices began to go down and ranchers wondered what to do next They sent Shacffer to Washington to confer with officials on the sheep industry Shaeffcr came back from his meet-tag with disappointing news and he advised the ranchers to switch to beef The elder Wright sold his last sheep in 1892 Tallow "Before that time cattle were not worth anything except for their hides" Mr Wright said "We took the hide and the tallow out of the meat and then threw the rest in the He 5000 acres In 1898 and began raising cattle a business he is still in The ranch now reduced to 3000 acres was owned by William Benton Despite the many miles between neighbors the families who ranched in these beginning yean were "one big The children attended a one-room schoolhouse built by their parents who paid into the teacher's salary according to the number of children they had in school At the end of every four weeks the oldest child in the family carried home a from the teacher for the month's classes Mr Wright's most memorable teacher wds Sutherland who became known in later years as the "Sage of He was a Scotsman of nobility with mathematics as a hobby and a seal for writing a history of the bought his own ranch of the service a loud clap of thun-wrvH "ttaunuly as county der sounded way over the hills commissioner for Jim Wells Mr Reyn olds slapped MrLHe he Wright's father on the shoulder i 40 droughts in his more shouted "Hear The dig-1 years'assnciahan with nily 1 ft wu lot for year tried to calculate the number by working out a daily average The total was too astronomical to seem sensible Potatoes adapt as well to the Wright dinner table as biscuits never cook Ji'st one potato for everyone I know will be at the Mrs Wright says "Even if someone isn't coming up the road I add another potato for the stranger that might be at the Granted people flow in and out of the Wright house almost like a crowd at a community picnic but few are strangers Several years ago the Wrights tried to keep up with the crowd by having them sign a guest book This almost got out of hand for in the first nine months the -guest book was used 951 persons signed They come to talk with Aunt Bertha or as she is known to the grandchildren about babies and families and friends Wright takes part in these talks but more often he'll be somewhere else in the house or on the ranch discussing cattle or politics or things as they used to be History The genial rancher with a snow-white mustache and eyes crinkled by 87 years in the South Texas sun has imprinted in his memory all of the people the events the times and places that have contributed to the history of his ranch country in the last three-quarters of a century He was born June 4 1869 at Cals lien where his father worked for Capt Richard King and Mifflin Kenedy This same year the two men divided up their holdings and Mr Wright's father bought his own ranch near Alfred His fomlly the Adams had been lured to South Texas from England by pamphlets describing the boundless country They were distributed by Col Henry Kinney sometimes referred to as the founder of South Texas Col Kinney sdd the Adams 100 acres at 81 an acre a yoke of oxen and 10 head of cattle his package bargain to file settlers In this way many of the ancestors of present-day Texans started out in ranching Fence Mr: Wright was almost five five years old before he saw his first ranch country fence When his father moved to fiw ranch near Alfred the land from there to file Rio Grande was open unbroken by fence lines marking the boundaries of property "You never get used to them" he said "But you learn not to complain" Memory Phenomenal1 is the memory of Mr Wright's that connects instantly faces and names today with thier grandparents' lives many decades ago He knows without pausing the year Shaeffer was killed in a mule fight the foreman at each ranch throughout the years the name of file vacquero who escaped from Mexican bandits and led a posse to their hideout the one visit made by a doctor to the ranch people in the years he was growing up Frank Dobie as a little boy "You he said thoughtfully a lot easier to remember what happened 50 years ago than what went on yesterday" few minutes In Nueces The Wrights were born within eight miles of each other Her birthplace was the Rancho Grande in Nueces County In 1874 when she was two years old her family moved into Corpus Christi where she lived until she was married Her father William Halsey was in the ranching business Her mother was raised by an aunt in Houston and attended the first college for women in Texas located near La Grange was a schoolteacher and continued teaching even after she moved to her husband's ranch Expanded The old house brimming over with people and pictures of them tacked on the wall originally was a small little cottage at the bottom of the hill Mr Wright AFTER 56 YEARS THE WRIGHTS EXPECT COMPANY FOR MEALS ON THE HIM fences to the Rio Grande exist when he was a boy on his ranch Every Woman who loves fine shoes will appreciate this extraordinary YWCA CALENDAR 8 pm UCC day camp 9:30 am Tots swimming 10 am Teenage sewing dass beginners bridge public information committee 12 noon Roundtable Luncheon Thursday 9 am Camp Carancahua 9:30 am YW Wives Gub Tots swimming religious emphasis committee 12 noon Teenage committee 1 pm Membership committee 6:30 pm BGs Gay Yers Clubs 7 pm Segovias Gub 7:30 pm Advanced Spanish dass Friday 9:10 am Tots swimming 8 pm Merry Mixers Saturday 8 pm Nav-Y dance' Monday 8:30 am UCC day camp starts 9 am Teenage charm and poise dass 9:30 am Tots swimming 10 am Teenage sewing class starts 6 pjn Althea Garden Gub 7 pm Coed dance group beginners swimming dass synchro nized swimming class YMCA pool 7:30 pml Nav-Y Glib 8 pm Intermediate swimming class YMCA pool Tuesday 9 am Camp Carancahua opens 9:30 am Tots swimming 10 am 6 pm Golf class 8:15 pm Modem-aYers Gub Wednesday of regular 95 IV i 'S'- A ly a wr i jf -i -'V- 20" 24 Palizzio 7 want a guarantee I'm sure my car will always stop quickly and smoothly that it will scoot across busy intersections Regular check-ups by Neal Motors are my guarantee of dependable safe asaaMHBBiBBaHamai THIS SALE I want Service!" I 9 A 9 I want to fool with the darn car So I Just leave it at Neal Motors Jump in an air-conditioned courtesy car and go shopping The car and I are like new when I get home A little courtesy goes a long way with me! SHOP EARLY FOR BEST SELECTIONS This is fashion the Jacketed sheath of a cotton and silk to be worn now until a chill wind blows Ultra smart the deftly cut new moon bodice of the sheath In blue or grey blqck velvet trimmed 3995 You'll be thrilled to the nth degree when you see the beautiful shoes included in this group featured at so much less than' their former regular price i Here too you will find many different colors combinations materials-ond styles High Heels medium heels All sizes and widths but not in every style NEAL MOTOR SALES INC HOI CHAMMAl TUI-0261 sls-twsnty-sat Idsncy park i skats hi aiir-saavsalMt lot 404-06 Chaparral.