PICTURES
[OLD GENERAL LAND OFFICE BUILDING] iii [PRESENT GENERAL LAND OFFICE BUILDING] v
I.
HISTORY OF TEXAS LAND
When Christopher Columbus stepped ashore in the West Indies in October, 1492, he drew the curtain to an immense area of land, some fertile and some desert—land of all types and for all purposes.
So vast was this discovery that land-conscious European powers who sponsored New World exploration were soon giving away large areas with a surprising disregard for their value. However, when rival powers disputed their claims to specific territories in the New World, they were quick to argue. The effect was that nations which matured in the Western Hemisphere grew up with a high regard for land.
From this it may be inferred that the history of any nation or state has been and continues to be largely a history of land. The political, social, and economic superstructure of a people is traceable to the land they control. Especially is this true of western nations and of Texas.
In what is now Southwestern United States there were several settlements of Mexicans and Indians on both sides of the Rio Grande as early as 1750. These people held no title to their land. They had assembled for reasons of economics and security.
Agents of the King of Spain finally arrived in the New World in 1767, surveyed the river lands, and issued titles. With the exception of Laredo, there was little colonization until 1815, when the Spanish governor began to feel the French encroachment on the east. Before then, Spain’s main effort had been directed toward the erection of missions, which required constant support and defense, rather than toward establishing civil settlements that could defend and support themselves.
Thus, the vast area of the Southwest was sparsely populated and lay as a wilderness to American settlers who had pushed to its borders from the United States. A grant to colonize was made to Moses Austin in January, 1821, to settle 300 families in Texas; this was the first deviation from the Spanish policy of maintaining a predominately native population.
Later in 1821, the Spanish yoke was thrown off by Mexico, and the Mexicans continued the policy of granting land to Americans. A liberal colonization policy brought an immediate and widespread response. By 1835 it is estimated that there were over 30,000 people in the Texas colonies—people who had come to Texas not as adventurers or speculators, but to establish new homes. The fourteen-year period had wrought many changes. Texas was no longer a complete wilderness. Many areas had been cleared and turned into small agricultural districts where the people were both industrious and self-reliant.
Because of the differences in the background and heritage of the Anglo-Americans and the Mexicans, it was inevitable that conflicts would develop. Differences in political views, religion, language, and mode of living all served to kindle and feed the flames of the Texas Revolution.
At the very beginning of hostilities, Texans closed the colonial land offices and assumed control of the land problems under one agency. This was the foundation and beginning of the General Land Office, as it is known today.
In separating from Mexico, Texans recognized the valid titles to land which had been made by Spain and Mexico, but all vacant land within the borders of the new republic became the property of Texas. These borders were defined by the Congress of Texas in an Act of December 19, 1836, and included all land within the present boundaries of the state (and out to three marine leagues in the Gulf of Mexico), more than half of the present State of New Mexico, and parts of Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming. The first commissioners of the General Land Office, who were given the momentous task of administering this huge domain, were John P. Borden (who served from 1837 to 1841) and Thomas Wm. Ward (whose tenure of office was 1841 to 1848). On December 29, 1845, the Republic became a state.
Events leading to the annexation of Texas by the United States were significant in the land history of the state. Relations between the Republic of Texas and the United States during this time may be separated into three periods, each of which lasted about three years.
During the first period, Texas sought annexation. Partly as a result of the slavery controversy then raging in the United States and partly in fear of war with Mexico, the United States refused annexation.
In the second period, Texas altered her attitude, withdrew her application for annexation, and made plans to perpetuate her republic. During this period, Texas was recognized by powers such as Great Britain, France, Holland, and Belgium. Americans, laboring under the influence of what they considered a Manifest Destiny, feared the influence of foreign powers in Texas.
This led to the third phase, which was characterized by renewed U. S. interest in Texas. On June 8, 1844, a treaty of annexation was defeated in the United States Senate, largely by partisan politics. This treaty stipulated that the United States would pay Texas debts up to ten million dollars, but that Texas would have to surrender title to all public lands.
Texas was fortunate that this treaty was not approved, because only a small part of the land that she would have traded for ten million dollars has since put more than 625 million dollars in the Permanent School and University Funds. Later that year, President John Tyler of the United States proposed that the treaty of annexation be adopted by a joint resolution of Congress, and this maneuver succeeded, the treaty receiving approval on February 28, 1845.
Provisions of the treaty as confirmed by the joint resolution allowed Texas to retain her public domain and provided also that the new state should keep her debts, which amounted to about 13 million dollars at that time. All in all, it was a better arrangement than the earlier treaty which had been defeated.
Congressional approval was greeted in Texas by considerable enthusiasm.
The initiative in annexation proceedings now lay with Texas. President of the Republic Anson Jones called a convention to meet at Austin on July 4, 1845, to decide whether or not Texas should accept the proposal. The decision being in the affirmative, the State of Texas was admitted into the Union on December 29, 1845, and the State government was formally installed on February 19, 1846. Thomas Wm. Ward, who had been Commissioner of the General Land Office under the Republic, assumed the same position in the State government. His duties remained essentially the same.
Shortly after Texas was annexed by the United States, war broke out between Mexico and the Union over the newly-acquired territory. Mexico had never relinquished her claim to Texas, and had repeatedly warned the United States that annexation of what she considered a rebellious province would mean war. From the beginning of hostilities, however, the United States experienced a minimum of difficulty in subduing her southern adversary. Less than two years after the war began, it came to a conclusion with the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, signed February 2, 1848. Among other provisions, Mexico gave up her claim to Texas.
Hardly had the war come to an end than a dispute arose between the United States and Texas over 78,892,800 acres of land claimed by Texas. When Mexico concluded the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, she sold this and other land to the United States for $15,000,000. Mexico had never recognized Texas’ claim to the land in question, which included parts of what is now New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming.
However, when the United States began taking possession of this land, anger in Texas mounted. The Legislature passed a resolution renewing Texas’ claim to the disputed area.
A solution to the problem was worked out in the Compromise of 1850 by which the United States was to pay Texas $10,000,000 for the area. On February 28, 1855, Congress paid Texas an additional $5,496,477.77 for this land. Therefore, Texas profited handsomely by some shrewd bargaining on the part of its early leaders. Not only was Texas able to pay its public debt, but the State reserved its present domain to itself as well.
This public domain of land has been the basis of growth for the State’s two big educational funds, the Permanent School Fund and the Permanent University Fund, as the result of mineral exploration within Texas and especially because of oil development on public land set aside for the benefit of these funds.
As a result, the history of oil exploration and development within Texas is directly related to the story of Texas land. For that reason, it is briefly told here.
Tradition says that one John A. Veatch arrived in what is now East Texas but which was then a province of Mexico. After meeting certain requirements, he was authorized as an immigrant to select a league of land. Veatch chose his property in two parts: one three miles south of the present city of Beaumont and the other near Sour Lake in present Hardin County. Seventy-five years later, two of Texas’ greatest oil discoveries were made almost on top of his two tracts of land.
Ironically enough, Veatch is reported to have believed that oil existed in those localities and, for that reason, consistently declined to sell.
The first oil well in Texas was probably drilled near Saratoga in Hardin County in the early 1860’s, but the first oil discovered in commercially-suitable quantities was produced in Nacogdoches County 20 years later. The first commercial use of oil appears to have been as a tick remover.
First important oil production in Texas occurred in the Corsicana area in 1895. The Corsicana field was of such importance that it attracted numerous geologists and operators to Texas.
Before the Corsicana field came in, however, efforts had been made to develop the Beaumont location as an oil-producing area. Nearly ten years passed before the famous Lucas gusher came in producing a spectacular 4,000 barrels a day. Other wells were drilled in the same area, and the Texas coast suddenly became a paradise for oil developers.
The next major development in Texas oil history came in that same coastal region. At Sour Lake in Hardin County, a gusher came in in 1902, and it is reported that some wells have produced 10,000 barrels a day in this field. Drilling in this field had been going on since 1893. When the 1902 gusher was drilled, the supply of oil suddenly exceeded the demand, and oil was being sold for 15 cents a barrel. An average 1957 price was about $2.85 per barrel.
In 1903, the Batson field in Hardin County was discovered. The Permanent School Fund experienced its first sensation from this field. A surveyor discovered a scrap of unsurveyed school land near the oil field and filed to purchase it at $10.00 per acre, thinking the General Land Office unaware of its true value. To the contrary, the chief clerk of the Land Office held out for $1,500.00 per acre. He received what he asked for, and the School Fund profited by $23,025.00 from the sale.
One of the most productive oil fields in Texas was developed at Humble in January, 1905. The well that brought in the field began producing at 8,500 barrels per day.
Matagorda County caused some excitement in 1908. Its best producer yielded 7,200 barrels per day, but the field soon declined.
About 1910, exploration in Wichita County was active. Development moved at a snail’s pace originally, but discoveries near Burkburnett in 1912 and 1917 resulted in renewed attempts, and a field that was regarded as shallow suddenly became one of extensive resources. The field was even extended into the channel of the Red River. In general, the land was in the hands of small farmers, so this was the little man’s field.
Far to the south, the Goose Creek field in Harris County had been attracting attention since 1907. By 1911, a well on the edge of San Jacinto Bay was reported to be flowing several hundred barrels a day. In 1913, the Legislature enacted into law at the recommendation of Commissioner of the General Land Office J. T. Robison a plan whereby San Jacinto Bay, which was owned by the State, could be opened for development on a royalty basis. The first permit for this purpose was issued on August 18, 1913.
The first royalty, $33.97, was paid to the General Land Office in April, 1914. Six years later, royalties from this source had increased to $600,000.
The Goose Creek field is still producing.
An interesting chapter in the history of Texas oil has to do with natural gas. In 1913, a well was drilled on top of 50-foot-high chalk cliffs on Nueces Bay near Corpus Christi. As the drill cut through the cap rock and into the gas chamber at about 2000 feet, the well blew out, a hole was torn in the ground, the derrick fell in, and the gas burned with a roar that was audible for miles. Four hundred yards away another well was drilled, and precautions were taken to avoid the previous calamity. The precautions were without avail, however, and the experience was repeated. An eyewitness described the scene:
Rushing gas came out with such tremendous force that a crater was torn some two hundred feet in diameter and made the ground and housetops snowlike with white sand for some six miles. The gas was dry. It ignited. A flame some one hundred and fifty feet in diameter shot up two hundred or more feet high and tossed up boulders as large as a peck measure as one would a baseball. The light could be seen forty miles and when I approached to within warming distance of the flame the earth trembled like a mass of jelly.
In northeast Texas, some small production was discovered on Tar Island in Caddo Lake in 1914. Caddo Lake is on the Marion-Harrison County line.
Three years later, oil discoveries began shifting to West Texas.
At Ranger in Eastland County on October 17, 1917, oil was discovered. Uncontrolled, the producers allowed their wells to flow thousands of barrels a day, and in many cases wells were practically exhausted within six months. Though the Ranger field is still producing today, the great period of activity lasted only about five years.
From Ranger, oil exploration drifted to the north in Stephens County. The Stephens County field is reported to have produced up to 90,000 barrels a day at its zenith.
Other oil developments in West Texas in the first quarter of the Twentieth Century came at Blue Ridge field in Fort Bend County in 1919, in Potter County near Amarillo in 1919, and in Wilbarger County in 1920.
Near the coast in 1919, the West Columbia field in Brazoria County came in. Reports say that a 29,600-barrel well was drilled in July, 1920. Though small, the field was quite productive.
The Mexia field was discovered in 1920, and the Powell field near Corsicana was reopened in 1924. As a result, Texas oil production shot above 200,000,000 barrels in 1927. Early in the 1920’s, oil was discovered in the Texas Panhandle. In 1925, Spindletop field near Beaumont was redeveloped, and proved more productive than when first discovered.
In the last half of the 1920’s, oil was discovered in Howard and Winkler Counties in West Texas. Other discoveries included Raccoon Bend on the coast, Van Zandt County in East Texas, and Bee County in 1929.
But the most prolific field of all was the East Texas field, which C. M. (Dad) Joiner brought in in October, 1930. Haunted by two failures, Joiner drilled a well in Rusk County where geologists said no oil existed. The overwhelming success of the well resulted in the wildest battle for leases in the history of the petroleum industry.
The discovery of the East Texas field, which soon covered a large area, led to a decline in the price of oil. After much struggle—some verbal and other physical—the field was put under martial law by Governor Ross Sterling in August, 1931. The reason for the struggle—the desire of some to reduce the amount of production and divide it among the producers—was solved as the Texas Legislature gave the Railroad Commission authority to ration production.
A number of major fields were discovered in the 1930’s, mostly in West Texas and along the Gulf Coast.
The next sensational discovery, however, came in 1948 in Scurry and adjoining counties. The discovery well in this field was brought in on November 21, 1948. This led to further exploration and further discoveries of oil in West Texas.
In 1953, the Neches Field in Anderson and Cherokee Counties was discovered. It has been labeled a major field.
Another area of oil development in Texas has been the so-called “tidelands”, the submerged lands under the Gulf of Mexico to the three-league limit. Production in the tidelands began as early as 1940 but drilling exploration has never developed to the desired extent. One reason has been the controversy between the United States and Texas over the ownership of the tidelands. After some litigation, Congress passed a law in 1953 placing ownership of the “tidelands” in the hands of Texas. Until then, Texas had claimed land out to the outer edge of the continental shelf, an average of about 85 miles.
In another area of petroleum development, the first oil discovery on University of Texas land makes an interesting story. A stubborn professor and a broken-down wagon played key roles.
In the early 1920’s, the governing body of The University of Texas decided to sell the University’s vast land endowment in West Texas. The late Dr. J. A. Udden, then director of the Bureau of Economic Geology and a renowned scholar, protested the sale and insisted that the land had possibilities for mineral development.
To prove his point, he located a site to drill an oil well and made arrangements for the drilling. When the drilling rig was being transported to the location, the wagon on which it was carried broke down and was extensively damaged. It was decided to drill at the site of the breakdown. On May 28, 1923, oil was discovered there.
The well was named Santa Rita and was the discovery well for the Big Lake field in Reagan County.
Ironically enough, a well was drilled later at Dr. Udden’s original location. It was a dry hole.
Santa Rita, though shallow, is still producing. Since its discovery, wells have been drilled nearby at seven levels, and the Big Lake field has yielded a total of 113,878,857 barrels to September, 1956. In terms of dollars and cents, this amounts to $18,874,527.09.
From the meager beginning provided by the Santa Rita well, the Permanent University Fund has grown today to more than 280 million dollars.
As a direct result of oil exploration and development in Texas, the Permanent School Fund and Permanent University Fund have mushroomed. Much oil exploration and development have been done on State-owned lands. This has been the major source of income for these funds, which now total more than 625 million dollars.
Even today these permanent funds are growing as a result of oil and other mineral development on State-owned lands. As a result, the public school systems and higher education in Texas will continue developing in a manner befitting the Lone Star State.
Thus, the history of Texas land is still being written.
II.
DISPOSITION OF TEXAS LAND
The disposal of land within the present boundaries of Texas constitutes an interesting segment of the State’s history.
The disposition of these lands actually began while they were still part of Spain’s colonial empire. In the areas around Nacogdoches, San Antonio, and the Rio Grande Valley, Spain gave away a few very large tracts of land. When Mexico obtained her independence, she granted title to other large areas in Texas. The means by which Mexico disposed of these lands were three: sale, special grants, and empresario contracts. The most famous of the last of these was the contract with Moses and Stephen F. Austin. The total number of acres granted by Spain and Mexico approximated 26,250,000.
When Texas earned her independence, she recognized the legitimacy of titles to land granted by Spain and Mexico. In addition, Texas set about disposing of more land.
In general, Texas parted with land in three ways. She gave some away, traded other for services, and sold some.
Land given away was designed to encourage immigration, reward good citizens and veterans of military service, encourage settlement and improvement of land, help the growth of railroads and other internal improvements, and foster development of educational systems.
Texas traded more than 3,000,000 acres of land for the construction of a state capitol building.
There was but one reason to sell land, and that was important: to pay debts of the State.
Grants of land were given numerous names, depending upon the purpose of the grant. HEADRIGHTS were to encourage immigration and reward native citizens. BOUNTIES and DONATIONS were given to men who had fought with the Army of the Republic during the Texas Revolution. PRE-EMPTIONS (or HOMESTEADS) were given in the late 1850’s to encourage families to settle permanently on and to improve a plot of land. CONFEDERATE SCRIP rewarded Texas veterans who had fought for the Confederacy. CONTRACTOR SCRIP was given for construction of railroads and other internal improvements. Two other classes of scrip were sold: TOBY SCRIP, named for the man who sold it; and SALES SCRIP; these were designed to help pay the public debt. Land granted without any particular designation was that given to public schools, counties, The University of Texas, and eleemosynary institutions to use in developing an educational system.
Here is a detailed study of circumstances surrounding the disposition of all land given, traded, or sold by the Republic and State of Texas.