Land Utilization in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas

Mi ATANY local and national studies have been made in ILV1 the field of Utilization in recent years, in attempting to determine what is the best use for a given piece of land. A recent publication of the U. S. Department of Agriculture by L. C. Gray and 0 E. Baker, entitled Land Utilization and the Problem, considers the subject of Utilization as a possible solution of the ever-pressing Farm Problem. Utilization does not necessarily mean an adjustment for all times. The most efficient use of the land at one period under one set of conditions may cease to be the best use of that same land at another period under different conditions. Possibly one of the most important geographic factors underlying a shift in land utilization is improvement in transportation, and the resultant improvement in the accessibility of a region. The lands of the Lower Rio Grande Valley illustrate the point. From the time of the early colonization by the Spaniards about the middle of the eighteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century, that area (Fig. 1) was an isolated locality. To approach it from the Mexican cities to the south, or later from the American settled area on the north, required a tedious, and often dangerous, overland journey. Few people visited it and even fewer of those who dwelt there left it. As there was no way to get produce to market, the area had to become self-supporting. Cattle raising established itself as the leading industry soon after the first settlers arrived, and remained the dominant industry until the completion of the railroad in 1904. The coming of the railroad gave rapid transportation to the outside world, thereby making it possible to raise crops for the exterior market. In a short time isolation was broken down and use of the better lands near the river shifted from ranching to irrigated farming. Cattle ranching which had been supreme in the area for more than 150 years was suddenly dislodged from its monopoly upon river lands, and driven into the back country, orout on the coastal prairie that was too wet to cultivate

Environmental protection · Geography · Archaeology and Natural History · Environmental Science · Forestry

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