Corpus Christi History by Murphy Givens

Yes, George West still has its famous steer

Questions & answers as we ponder the fact that progress, whatever that is, hasn't been able to get rid of George West's famous longhorn, Geronimo. Read on.
  
   Q. I enjoyed your column about the old ranches. I was once told a story about George West by an old railroad man. It seems Texas passed a law that there had to be a courthouse in every county. Since West's ranch took in most of Live Oak County, he said if he had to build a courthouse he was going to have his name all over it. He went to Ennis and had a brick mold made with the initials GWW (for George Washington West) for the front and back of the bricks. But since bricks are laid side to side, the letters don't show. I also wonder if that mangy old longhorn is still in his glass house outside the Live Oak County Courthouse. Do you know?
   -'Doc' Crossley,
   Athens, GA.
   A. I've never heard about the monogrammed bricks, but the rancher would have been entitled to do so. Our files say he spent $146,958 of his own money to build the red-brick courthouse. It was completed in 1919 after the county seat was moved from Oakville to George West. Now, about the famous longhorn. After a prized steer on West's ranch named Geronimo died in 1927, West's nephew - Albert West - had a San Antonio taxidermist stuff and mount the steer in a standing position. George West businessmen put up money to have a glass house built to display Geronimo.
   You can find this item in "The Longhorns" by J. Frank Dobie: "In a glass case on the courthouse grounds of the town of George West, in Live Oak County, another steer owned by a man for whom the town was named stands mounted - a well-intentioned piece of work, but an execrable example of taxidermy. During the steer's lifetime, newspaper stories gave the spread of his horns from nine to 18 feet! Actually, it is a fraction over six feet."
   Geronimo is still there, bigger than life. I can't imagine George West without its prized longhorn, but he was gone for awhile. He was shipped to Moscow to be part of an exhibit of Americana in 1976. He might be, as Dobie said, a bad example of taxidermy, but this old steer should be preserved. The longhorn in its day represented wealth, commerce and progress in South Texas, the birthplace of the Texas cattle industry.
   By the way, George West was not the only town founded by the Live Oak County rancher. He also founded a settlement between George West and Three Rivers named Kitty. Streets were laid out, a water tower was built and mains laid, but Kitty didn't thrive. West also began a community named Ike, after his brother, but like Kitty Ike didn't survive.
  
   Q. I was interested in your column of Dec. 20. Can you tell me where I can find more information about Archie "Cow" Clark? I have some info on his activities in the Victoria area, but I need to know more about his activities farther south.Was Clarkwood named for him?
   -Mary R. Barber
   A. I don't have any other information on "Cow" Clark. He was mentioned in several accounts because he had so many cows wearing his brand that he was given the nickname "Cow." I do know, however, that Clarkwood was not named after him. The name Clarkwood was derived from the names of Z.H. Clark, a developer, and an earlier planned settlement that failed, Woodland Park.
  
   Q. I noticed in the photo of the State Hotel (Dec. 27) the sign on the building says it was built in 1907, but there were venetian blinds in the windows. I didn't know they had venetian blinds that early.
   -Danny Morgan, Ingleside
   A. I didn't either, but my Webster's says they originated in Venice, Italy, in the 1770s.
  
   Q. I read your Nov. 15 column (Little towns of the past), and thought I would see if you can satisfy my curiosity. I was reading a book on the Goths in Spain and saw that they called one part of their kingdom "Toloso." That got me to wondering about Toloso-Midway and the origins of its name. If you have any knowledge of this, could you share it with me?
   -Bob Campbell, Austin
   A. There's no connection. The school district was named for two older districts - Midway, so-called because it was halfway between Calallen and Corpus Christi, and Tuloso, which was named for Tule Lake and Oso Creek. At least, that's what I've been told.
  
   Q. Regarding the column on home remedies (Jan. 3), my grandmother used to give us kids an infusion of pine needles boiled in water and flavored with honey as a spring tonic. I hadn't thought about that in a long time until I read your column. You wrote that George Washington Grim drank a gallon a day of Artesian Square water. My question is, how long did Mr. Grim live?
   -Ernest Tillman
   A. There's a lot more to the story of George Washington Grim. He arrived in Corpus Christi in 1892 selling a brand of soap - Fairy Soap - and soon thereafter married Cora B. Opelt Rabb, the wealthy widow of South Texas rancher and merchant Green A. Rabb, of the famous Rabb family. In later years, Grim said he came to Corpus Christi to die, but was rejuvenated by drinking water from the well in Artesian Square.
   Besides running Grim Ranch west of town, he built and operated the Natatorium on the Bayfront. The Natatorium featured a sulphur bath - for $1 - from water piped in from Artesian Square. One of Grim's problems was that the mineral water corroded and ate away the iron tubs. He had to import copper tubs for the sulphur baths. Grim's Natatorium was destroyed in the 1916 hurricane.
   I don't know when he died. But he was interviewed about the sulphur water when he was 82 - 40 years after he came here to die. I don't know how he lived so long, drinking a gallon a day of water that would eat away iron tubs.
  
   Q. I have two questions: Who was the Yellow Rose of Texas? Second, why, after the massacre at Goliad, was Santa Anna allowed to return to Mexico after he was captured at San Jacinto? I have heard he was freed by Houston because he and Houston were both Masons.
   -Kathy Gamez
   A. Most historical accounts do not mention the young woman named Emily Morgan, but a "Texas Lore" booklet by Patrick Reynolds has this to say: "While chasing Sam Houston's army, Gen. Santa Anna stopped at Morgan's Point to burn the plantation of Texas patriot Col. James Morgan. The general 'appropriated' one of Morgan's servants, a lovely mulatto named Emily, to be his special serving girl. The Mexicans lost the battle of San Jacinto probably because of Emily's influence. During that afternoon, Santa Anna was closeted in his tent with Emily. When Houston's men launched a surprise attack, Santa Anna fled the battlefield clad only in his shirt, slippers and drawers. The original version of an old folk song mentions, 'Emily, the maiden of Morgan's Point.' The title of the song is, 'The Yellow Rose of Texas.' "
   On the second question, Sam Houston was certainly a Mason. He was kicked out of a lodge in Tennessee for a year for fighting a duel with a fellow Mason and he founded the first lodge in Texas. But I don't know if Santa Anna was a Mason. The Texas Army wanted Santa Anna to hang (troops passed resolutions demanding that he be executed), but Houston wanted to improve relations with Mexico and, because of the secret deal he had made with Santa Anna, he wanted him back in Mexico as an agent of influence. Of course, it didn't work out that way. And Houston gained many political enemies because he saved Santa Anna's life.
   By the way, the story of Emily Morgan, the Yellow Rose of Texas, was originated by William Bollaert, an ethnologist who was a friend of Col. Morgan and heard the story from him. The story was published in 1902 in "The Bollaert Papers" and retold in "William Bollaert's Texas," published in 1956. No other evidence has been found to sustain the story.
  
   Q. I'm curious about an area of Cole Park that's between the pier and Oleander Point. There is a spot beneath the street level that has steel doors and palm trees around it. What is this?
   -Jesse Esparza
   A. It's a tunnel under Ocean Drive, but it doesn't have steel doors. Tony Cisneros, director of city's Park and Recreation Department, said property owners across Ocean Drive once had a tunnel leading under the street to the bay. He doesn't know when it was done, or who had it done. The tunnel is blocked with masonry stone, the same stone the house across Ocean Drive is contructed of. The tunnel is sealed in tight. Cisneros says the "round-to-it" plan is to fill in the tunnel and complete the landscaping, but the project has never had a high priority.
   The tunnel leads to the house at 2757 Ocean Drive (corner of Leming), which was once owned by former Mayor Farrell Smith, and before that it was the home of attorney Ben F. Vaughn Jr. If someone out there knows when the tunnel was built, and who built it, give me a call.
   By the way, E.B. Cole gave this parkland to the city because of a mistake. One day city workers were plowing in the Austin J. Wright Park, which adjoined Cole's property on the bayfront. The workers plowed up Cole's six acres by mistake.
   When city officials told Cole, he said, "I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll deed that six acres over to the city if the city will guarantee to use it permanently only for a public park." What was originally the Austin J. Wright Park became the much larger Cole Park - with a blocked-up tunnel we don't know much about.
   (You can reach Murphy Givens by phone at 886-4315 or by e-mail at givensm@caller.com.)
  
  

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