The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 26, July 1922 - April, 1923 Page: 42
324 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
and sent them scurrying back to their haunts never again to act
as a hindering force against the settlement and development of
Northwest Texas.
In 1874 under Governor Coke the Texas Ranger force was re-
organized and about four hundred men placed in the field, and
about this number of men were kept in service until the Indians
were finally disposed of. They were unafraid and followed many
an Indian trail, and had many a brush with Indians, and are
entitled to great credit for the part they had in the pacification
of West and Northwest Texas from the border ruffian, the outlaw,
and the Indian. But history will not bear out the accuracy of the
statement "that the Texas Rangers drove the Indians out of
Texas," as recently claimed in a book by an ex-Texas Ranger.
Since 1880 there have been no Indians in Texas to. fight, and
therefore her people have been busy with the battles of peace.
In 1879 for the first time the Legislature felt called on to pass
land laws affecting West and Northwest Texas, when the pioneer-
ing cattlemen began "trekking" in greater numbers to the frontiers
with their herds. In 1882 the Texas & Pacific and the Southern
Pacific railways completed their tracks at El Paso to a connection
with the long delayed railroad line to the Pacific coast. Since
that time about fifteen hundred miles of other lines of track have
been built, making possible the addition to Texas of the Empire
of West and Northwest Texas, dotted with dozens of cities ranging
in population up to 80,000 souls, and peopled with probably the
largest proportion of Anglo-Saxon strain to be found in our whole
country.
Of the growth and development of the last forty years I have not
planned to deal at this time. I have not sought to be exhaustive
but rather suggestive only of a line of thought and investigation,
and of sources of light thereon in the study of Texas history
which appear to me have been too little used.
The battles of peace as fought by the people of the region in
question in conquering the elements, and in their fight against
lack of understanding of their difficulties and conditions-so differ-
ent from many other localities-have been at times quite as stren-
uous as any Indian warfare ever staged. And if her people have
measurably succeeded it may be because history has repeated itself,
and that the instances in other sections of our common country
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 26, July 1922 - April, 1923, periodical, 1923; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101084/m1/48/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.