Harlingen
The story of turning the Wild Horse Desert green
The area extending from the Rio Grande River to Kingsville was once known as the Wild Horse Desert — a disputed territory that was as lawless as its name suggests until the Mexican-American War. Raising livestock was the primary use for the semi-arid land. The Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) of Texas, the area north of the Rio Grande, remained sparsely populated and largely unproductive until strong-willed pioneers like Lon C. Hill opened it up to agriculture.
A visit to the Harlingen Arts and Heritage Museum shines some light on this Texas success story. Here visitors learn about Hill’s history and original 1904 house (the first built in Harlingen) via numerous period artifacts. Nearby in the same patio area are the reconstructed 1884 Paso Real Stagecoach Inn, once located at the Arroyo Colorado ferry crossing west of Rio Hondo, and Harlingen’s first hospital (1923).
Pioneer Lon C. Hill’s house at the original site.
The Geography
In 1890, Lt. William H. Chatfield, an officer stationed at Fort Brown, Brownsville, conducted an in-depth survey of the LRGV and documented an important topographical fact. The Rio Grande was at a higher elevation than the lands to its north. In short, if the river water could be pumped above the river’s bank, its waters would flow northward by gravity. A few enterprising individuals had created canals and pumping stations over the decades, but only on a limited scale.
The Railroad
Newer entrepreneurs quickly realized that any commodity produced in the LRGV had no place to go, as the area had no reliable port or railroad connections. Hill and a group of businessmen persuaded investors to construct a railroad financed by St. Louis investors. Railroad builder Uriah Lott began construction of the line from Robstown to Brownsville in 1904, and on the fourth of July, Brownsville celebrated the arrival of its first train from outside the Valley.
First Harlingen Canal Pumping plant
Irrigation Canals
Hill created the Lon C. Hill Town and Improvement Company and laid out a town along the Arroyo Colorado that he named Harlingen in honor of Lott’s ancestors from Harlingen, Holland. Entrepreneurs began constructing giant gravity flow canals, and Hill constructed his Harlingen Canal about 10 miles south of the Arroyo Colorado in January of 1907. By early September of that year, the pumping station on the river filled the canal on its 18-mile journey to Harlingen. Soon canals would be constructed to serve more of the Brownsville–Los Fresnos area as well as San Benito, La Feria, Mercedes, Llano Grande (later to be Weslaco), Donna, Pharr-San Juan, McAllen and Mission.
The Harlingen Irrigation Canal
Land Sales
In order to recoup canal construction costs, land sales along these canals were highly promoted in the Midwest. Early area farmers experimented with a host of agricultural plants, including broom corn and cabbage. Eventually Valley farmers concentrated their agricultural production primarily on citrus, cotton, grain sorghum and various winter vegetables — foods that brought the region fame and continue to attract visitors today.
