Corsicana Daily Sun from Corsicana, Texas • Page 14

Daily Sun, Wednesday, July 17, 1974 Little Known Texan Famous in France for Saving Grapes By ROBERT E. FORI) Associated Press Writer it ironic that a fellow who lived at Denison is absolutely unknown in Texas except to a small cult while he remains a hero of france 60 years after his death. And had it not been for an American social experiment which failed, a long stretch of Texas and Oklahoma along the Red River might today be known as the wine center of the world. This individual was Thomas Volney Munson who became interested in grapes while a student at the University of Kentucky. He decided to grow grapes in Nebraska, of all places, but it was too cold.

So he headed for Denison where two brothers B. Munson, a banker and industrialist, and the other a surveyor. John Clift of the Denison Herald, who has become an authority on the vinaculturist, says Munson walked over much of western Arkansas, southern Oklahoma and North Central Texas looking for wild grape vines. The outcome of this, relates Clift, was that Munson developed 300 types of grapes of which 115 are known to exist today. Not long ago, and possibly today, a drive along some roads in Montague County revealed grape vines growing almost everywhere on the fence rows.

And there are some vineyards under cultivation. In the 1880s, the rich Bourdeaux country of France, noted for its grapes and wine, was in serious trouble. A disease had gotten into the vines and it appeared that the industrial base of Bordeaux was doomed. Nothing helped. A delegation from that region went to the Agriculture Department in Washington to see if anyone there had a solution.

Munson had been bombarding the USDA with information Dawson Gets Grant for Sewer Plant DAWSON The City of Dawson has been approved for a $9,375 federal grant through the Environmental Protection Agency, the agency announces. The grant will be used for extensive improvement of the sewer plant, according to City Secretary Mrs. Roy Raley. She said the $9,375 EPA grant will be added to $30,500 in city allocations to almost completely rebuild the sewer plant. Only parts of the old facility will be used.

The plant improvements are now in the planning stage, Mrs. Raley said. about grapes. The department interested. The department help the Frenchmen, but reluctantly said nut down in might know something.

That quote is in one of books. So they came to Denison to see this unknown man. And when they reached Denison, they got a shock. This man they remember was the author of many distinguished articles on grapes and had appeared at international seminars. They just recognized his name when it was bk splash Making a big splash are these San Hafael, high school students who celebrated the start of their summer vacation with a jubilant dive into the Corte Madera Creek.

spoken in Washington. Munson said, sure, he could cure their vines. So he prowled along the Red River and snipped cuttings from the wild grapevines. He sent them to France, they were grafted on the Bordeaux vines, and the European industry was saved. For this the Frenc bestowed on him the legion of Honor.

Only other American given that honor at that time was the inventor, Thomas Edison. Clift says statues of Munson dot the Bordeaux country. California has surpassed A Texan Lost in Texas France and other European countries as the greatest wine producer in the world. It could have been Texas. Horace Foster, 80, of Denison is the only person who worked with Munson known to survive.

He recalls when farmers brought grapes into town by the wagon and truck load. Munson said there was one area where the soil, terrain and climate were as good for grapes as any in the Bordeaux region. This included the Texas counties of Lamar, Fannin, Grayson, Cooke and Montague and the Oklahoma counties of Love, Marshall, Bryan, Choctaw and McCurtain. Then why this region become the grape center of the world? Very simple. Prohibition came along and the farmers plowed up most of their vines.

There jusst a big market for table grapes. The current U.S. anonymity of Munson is about to end. The W.B. Munson Foundation of Denison is preparing to establish a T.V.

Munson Memorial. The foundation is named for Thomas rich brother and contributes heavily to art, health and education. W.E. Dancy of Eureka Springs, a retired comptroller for Gulf Oil who grew up in Cooke County, has been one of those who has kept the Munson cult alive. He can recall when farmers brought great amounts of grapes to town.

Dancy and Foster have been named consultants for the memorial. Ben Munson III, foundation president, is in the middle of it, naturally. Assisting are Grayson College President Truman Wester, foundation Director Ben McKinney and Clift. Dancy has identified 115 of the Munson grape varieties as still existing, and these and any others will be planted on five or 10 acres still to be selected for the memorial. There also will be a memorial building.

The foundation hopes it can persuade the Agriculture Department to return a large number of paintings of grapes done by Manson on glass. Will B. Munson, the grape son, gave them to the department years ago. There is something of a rush to preserve the Munson varieties for the meorial. Clift said he went to see a farmer recently and found he had plowed under all his vines only a couple of weeks before.

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