The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 75, July 1971 - April, 1972 Page: 122

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

litically, until after it came under Spanish rule. In his history of the
city in the American period, he attempts some statistical examina-
tions of the New Orleans business community and finds a high degree
of interrelationship between the economic elite and the political lead-
ers of the community. At the same time, however, he finds a consid-
erable amount of concern for the public welfare on the part of the
elite. But this is not a statistical or quantifying study; it is not "new
economic history." It is traditional economic history of the best type,
utilizing some of the general concepts which the new economic his-
torians have begun to popularize.
Clark has mined Spanish and French, as well as English, sources
to find scattered details. He organizes and pieces them together imagi-
natively, and fits the history of this important area of the United
States into the general pattern of our past. He has performed an im-
portant service; this is a significant book. I do not, however, recom-
mend it as popular reading, in spite of the clear and sometimes
graceful style. The volume has a few tables and an above average
index.
North Texas State University DALE ODUM
Our Roots Grow Deep: A History of Cottle County. By Carmen Taylor
Bennett. (Paducah, Texas: Privately printed, 1970. Pp. 213. Il-
lustrations, appendix. $8.88.)
Cottle County lies directly west of the looth Meridian, just south
of Childress near the eastern escarpment of the Caprock and it is
traversed by all three prongs of Pease River. The county, created in
1876, along with some twenty others, by the carving up of sprawling
Fannin County, was named for Alamo defender George Washington
Cottle. The author states that Cottle's father-in-law, who was with
Sam Houston at San Jacinto, used as his personal battle cry: "You
killed Wash Cottle!" instead of "Remember the Alamo!"
Deep in the heart of the big-ranch country, Cottle County is still
remarkably free of settlements. Besides the county seat, Paducah, the
only two other road-map communities are Dunlap and Swearingen.
Necessarily, the major portion of Mrs. Bennett's written history per-
tains to Paducah.
Particularly interesting are quotes from the several original journals
and letters. They reveal the sturdy frontier characters at their best.
These same qualities are also evident in the numerous old portraits.

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