On the western side of the Panhandle, right on the Texas/New Mexico border are two towns that were established just a few years apart in the late 1800s. They were separated by a line as thin as a goal line. They both still exist today — with populations of less than 1,500 each. But Texas Standard commentator W.F. Strong says their beginnings were very different.
New Mexico
The controversy surrounding GOP Rep. Troy Nehls’ military badge
Hundreds of homes and businesses have been destroyed by fires in New Mexico, and Texans are lending a helping hand.
Houston Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee revealed earlier this month that she has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. A look at the implications amid the heat of a re-election battle.
The algorithm that investigators say is having the effect of creating a cartel for rental properties, driving up prices and removing apartments from the market.
And: A case of stolen valor or something else? The battle over a combat badge worn publicly by a Texas Rep. Troy Nehls – a badge the Army says should not have been awarded in this case.
Voters in Texas have elected their first slate of property appraisal board members
A former Texas oil exec is being punished for allegedly raising the price of oil. Is it the tip of the iceberg or water under the bridge?
In spring elections across larger Texas counties, voters got a more direct say in who runs the obscure agencies that oversee the property appraisal process – agencies that determine how much you pay in property taxes.
The promise of solar panels seems bright, but some companies are getting some heat for misrepresentation. What you need to know.
New Mexico has a booming recreational marijuana industry thanks in part to some Texans making the trip. Will laws change on this side of the border?
Plus the most beautiful spot in Texas? Some point to a place out west that’s a bit off the beaten path.
What’s next after Cruise suspends self-driving cars in Texas?
Several of the biggest cases before the Supreme Court this term originated in Texas, including United States v. Rahimi, which centers around the constitutionality of prohibiting people under domestic violence restraining orders from possessing guns.
There are growing concerns about near misses at airports – and the Austin airport in particular is drawing a lot of attention.
The driverless taxi company Cruise suspended its service in Texas and elsewhere, pending a review of accidents. What’s next in the driverless car space?
Plus a conversation with a musician many consider the original queen of outlaw country: Jessi Colter discusses her 13th studio album, “Edge of Forever.”
Emmitt Smith’s latest move is fighting opioid overdoses
Texas governor Greg Abbott’s prediction a school voucher bill would pass now looks unlikely as the latest special session winds down.
Legendary running back and three-time Super Bowl champ Emmitt Smith teams up with NARCAN to reduce opioid deaths.
How Texans cross into neighboring New Mexico for abortions. We’ll have a special report.
A Texas town’s long-lost photos go on display. What residents hope to learn about their past.
And how a notorious monster has helped generations of parents get children to behave – especially at bedtime. Kristin Cabrera explains the Cucuy.
Texas Standard: August 30, 2022
As a debate grows over whether or not the US is in a recession, where does Texas stand, and where’s the state’s economy headed? After the economic downturn of 2008, many people pointed to the resiliency of the Lone Star State as the Texas Miracle. But the current economic picture has many wondering about the toll on Texas and what it means going forward. We’ll talk with an economist at the Dallas Fed. Also after the Dobbs decision, why some LGBTQ couples across Texas are making plans to defend same sex marriage. And it survived two wars but will it survive a move tomorrow through the Houston ship channel? The future of the Battleship Texas. Those stories and much more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: June 24, 2022
Roe vs. Wade has been overturned. A closer look at the impact of the 6-3 decision on abortion announced by the US supreme court. It is one of the most profound and significant changes to US constitutional law in recent memory. A discussion of the court’s rationale, what the Dobbs decision means as a practical matter for for those seeking access to abortion services, for Texas law and the laws of almost half the states in the union. This and more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: April 11, 2022
A woman charged with murder in Texas after an alleged self induced abortion has been released, but that’s far from the end of the story. Many fear the arrest and murder charge in Starr County could be a harbinger of what’s to come amid a rise in abortion restrictions and an expected ruling from the United States Supreme Court. We’ll hear more. Also the hype over hemp: what new data says about the legalization of the hemp industry in Texas and whether it has turned out to be as big an economic boon as advocates had hoped. And the race to save the stories behind a musical movement: reclaiming and preserving San Antonio’s Westside sound. All of that and more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: March 31, 2022
A federal judge calls for an investigation into possible criminal charges of sex trafficking and pornography at a shelter for teens in Bastrop. Robert Garrett of the Dallas Morning News with more on an explosive hearing in a long running suit against the state’s foster care system. Also New Mexico prepares for marijuana tourists from Texas at that state’s laws on recreation pot change at the stroke of midnight. Angela Kocherga with the view from El Paso. And Texas’ role in the personal computer revolution. The unlikely story of the TRS-80, and the man behind it. Those stories and much more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: September 30, 2021
In 2018, he came within fewer than 5 points of picking off Dan Patrick in the race for Lt. Governor. Today, he talks about giving it another go. Our conversation with Democrat Mike Collier, and how he hopes to distinguish himself as a candidate following yesterday’s big announcement from another democratic contender for Texas’ number two post. Also, the politics of geography: what Texas’ tilt to the cities means for redistricting in vast parts of rural west Texas. And how abortion providers in neighboring states are dealing with a rush of patients from Texas. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas: A State That Loves Its Flag
By W.F. Strong
If you were ever to start a new country, one of the first tasks you’d have to undertake would be to design a flag. Are you really a country if you don’t have a flag to advertise your existence – a flag that can fly atop skyscrapers, state houses, schools and ships at sea? Now cities and even corporations have flags, as do organizations and social movements.
I’m proud to tell you that according to Ted Kaye, one of the world’s leading vexillologists – a fancy word for one who studies flags – the Texas flag is the best-selling of all the state flags. It also rates almost perfect in artistic design. That’s the conclusion of one landmark study by the North American Vexillological Association (try saying that after three beers at sea). The study rated all national, state and territorial flags of North America and found that only New Mexico’s flag had just a smidgen of a better design.
Ted Kaye says these are the five rules of good design.: first, keep it simple – so simple a child can draw it from memory. Use meaningful symbolism. Use two to three basic colors – no more than three. No lettering. No words. The design should speak for itself. Do you hear it saying Lone Star State? Yep. And finally, your design should be distinctive. I know what you’re thinking – the Chilean flag. There are accidental similarities, but there is no evidence at all that the Chilean design influenced ours.
Not only is the Texas flag the best-selling state flag, it is also displayed more in all its forms than any other state flag.
Drive down any neighborhood street in Texas and you will see the flag flying proudly in the Texas breeze on 30 and 40 foot poles in many a yard. It’s displayed from wall mounts on porches or over garages. You will see it over car dealerships and on top of skyscrapers in cities. In the countryside, you’ll see it at the entrance to farms and ranches, perhaps with the Stars and Stripes next to it.
It’s at the beach, fluttering and snapping smartly behind four-wheel-drive pickups. Or on boats and at makeshift campsites and even over children’s forts in the woods. It’s found in dorm rooms and in shopping malls. It’s everywhere.
And when it’s not in cloth form, you will find it displayed in many a medium. It’s painted on barns. You can’t drive very far in rural Texas without seeing a barn flag. I’ve never seen a Nebraska barn flag. I see many a Texas flag painted on gates, too. Beautiful. Never seen a Michigan flag gate, either. And though it’s not the same, I’d like to point out that we’re the only state with our own toast. There’s no Oregon toast. There’s no Florida-shaped waffle maker either.
Yes, the Texas flag is everywhere: t-shirts, swimsuits, towels, bikinis, boots, belt-buckles, earrings and tattoos. We have Texas flag picnic tables, tablecloths and stools. And if it’s not a flag, we have the Texas star as a stand-in, on the side of our houses, hanging on the wall in the kitchen, or on the apron we’re barbecuing with. I have even seen a Texas star barbecue grill cover.
John Steinbeck pointed out that the deep love and commitment Texans have for their state closely approximates that of a religion. Based on the affection we have for our symbols; it seems that we are an extraordinarily devout people. As this is radio I can’t end with the flag, but I can play Willie. You can hear Texas in his voice.
Texas Standard: October 29, 2019
The house prepares for a Thursday impeachment vote. We’ll take a look at what that means. Also, a state board designed to keep spending in check has been working without a director, losing all its executive team and is shedding staff. The rotting away may be part of a plan by the Lt. Governor, we’ll explore. And after a threat from the Governor, Austin is clearing out some of its homeless camps, we’ll have details. Plus, it’s a part of New Mexico rich with roughnecks. Now some are saying they wish they could secede and join Texas, and they may be only half kidding. All of that and then some today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: May 23, 2019
A border detention facility in McAllen shutdown, this in the wake of the death of a detained 16 year old migrant. We’ll have the latest. Also, the U.S. is blacklisting Huawei, the China-based phone maker. And the effects of that decision is hitting home harder than you might think. Plus a new investigation shows police in Texas accused of serious crimes and possible jail time using their badges as bargaining chips. Plus one of Texas’ biggest counties trying to make it easier for voters to do their thing…but will it work? Those stories and so much more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: July 19, 2018
They may call it the reddest state in the nation, but when it comes to bagging the green, the party of the blues is going gangbusters in Texas. We’ll break down what that means. Plus San Antonio’s long been the site of the Air Force cyber command, but now we’re hearing of a shift to combat status? We’ll find out what’s up. And what to do about the feral hog problem. One Texas county says you figure it out: offering bounties to help cut down the wild pig population. Will it work? And you’re just about ready for the family’s summer road trip, did you remember to bring along tech support? Never fear, our very own digital savant is here and so much more today on the Texas Standard:
The Worst Land Survey in U.S. History
By W. F. Strong
You can never underestimate the value of a good friendship forged early in life. If not for such a friendship, Texas would be nearly 1,000 square miles smaller.
Before I get to the friendship, come with me up to the northwest corner of the panhandle where Texas meets Oklahoma and New Mexico. If you were looking at a map you would see that the border between Oklahoma and New Mexico doesn’t meet up exactly with the border between Texas and New Mexico. The line makes a jog to the left. It goes 2.3 miles left before heading straight south. That jog is the result of a survey error that some have called the worst survey error in U.S. history. But it isn’t just a two mile error – that error gets bigger as it continues south 310 miles to the bottom Texas-New Mexico corner, where it turns west and heads for El Paso. All total the mistake amounts to a 942 square mile error, a land mass bigger than Houston, though long and skinny, like a gerrymandered voting district.
In truth, that land should have gone to New Mexico. That was what was supposed to happen when Texas sold off its northern and western territories for ten million dollars in 1850. The border between Texas and the New Mexico Territory was to be exactly along the 103rd Meridian. When the official survey was undertaken, almost ten years later, there was a problem with water,, Indians, stars, algebra and math, which all contributed to the error that ended up a blessing for Texas.
Naturally, there’s quite a good long story behind the mistake. It is far too complex for these few minutes. I will give you the “cut to the chase version.”
A man named John H. Clark was hired to do the survey and plant the monuments along the 103rd meridian. He started from the south and surveyed northward until he ran out of access to water. So he stopped and said, “I’ll just go up to the north end of Texas and come down.” So he did.
Clark started again northwest of present day Dalhart and headed south until the native Americans frightened him off. Though he was about 70 miles from connecting his two lines, he figured it was good enough and turned in his work. His two lines wouldn’t have intersected anyway. The problem was his northern starting point was about 2.3 miles west of where it should have been and his southern corner was nearly 3.8 miles west of where it should have been. Consequently, that border slides imperceptibly 1 ½ miles ever so gently southwest over a distance of 310 miles. Pull up a google map on your phone and align the southeastern corner of New Mexico with your left straight-edge phone border. You will see that the border slants off to the right up at the top. That’s the error. It amounts to 603,348 acres. About ¾ the size of the King Ranch.
Well, nobody knew it was wrong and so the bad survey based on poor calculations was certified by the U.S. in 1891 and it became the legal boundary.
By the time New Mexico was about to get statehood with the Enabling Act of 1910, it had become aware of Clark’s error and slipped into the statehood law a clause saying that the eastern boundary would be the true 103rd meridian. New Mexico would get its land back. All was going well and nobody was paying attention to the land grab except for John Farwell, who was an original investor in the XIT ranch. Those were the same investors who essentially built our state capital in Austin. Well, he realized that the XIT would lose hundreds of thousands of acres (and mineral rights) if the New Mexico plan went through as it was.
He couldn’t get any legislators to listen and so he did what we all do in times of trouble: he said, “Who do I know?” Just so happened that he knew President William Howard Taft. They had been good friends during their college years at Yale. So he went to see his old buddy, Howard. He explained the predicament and Taft immediately summoned powerful men to his office and told them that the Clark border would be the legal border when New Mexico was made a state or it wouldn’t be made one. He said that since the boundary had existed for more than fifty years, and had been certified 20 years before, it had to be grandfathered in. Otherwise, people who believed they were Texans would suddenly be in New Mexico and litigation over land titles would never end.
And that is how a survey error, and an old friendship ended up making Texas almost a thousand square miles bigger than it was supposed to be. Once again, it’s all about who you know.
A final note of interest. There is a town out in the Panhandle called Farwell, Texas. It’s just a few feet on the Texas side of the border with New Mexico. It is named after John Farwell. Had he failed to convince Taft to keep the old border line, the town named for him would have become Farwell, New Mexico.
Sources:
Brock, Ralph H. “Perhaps the Most Incorrect of any Land Survey in the United States”
Southern Historical Quarterly, April 2006, pp. 431-462.
Haley, J. Evets. The XIT Ranch of Texas and the Early Days of the Llano Estacado, University of Oklahoma Press, 1953.
Hoover, Mike. “The Southeast Corner of New Mexico.” The Texas Surveyor, May, 2015, pp. 16-23.