
October 1980 Issue

Features


Little House on the Prairie
Robert E. Lee advised his friend Richard King to build his permanent home at the highest point on the surrounding prairie, a little rise on the banks of Santa Gertrudis Creek. The first building was a tiny adobe jacal built of mud and sticks. The one-story house that replaced it

A Family Affair
Richard King and his wife, Henrietta, founded the King Ranch. Their daughter Alice and her husband, Robert Kleberg—shown with their children in the turn-of-the-century photograph at the right—founded the family that sustained it. When Henrietta King died in 1925, the ranch’s 1.2 million acres were divided among her heirs.

The Captain’s Kingdom
A tour through the ranch’s four divisions, an eminent 825,000-acre domain.

A Lot of Bull
Bob Kleberg had a problem. Brahman cattle from India were tough enough to survive in the South Texas climate, but they were too tough to eat. And fat English cattle like Herefords and Shorthorns suffered the traditional fate of the English in the tropics: they degenerated into a stupor and

What Ever Happened to the Storm of the Century?
Hurricane Allen proved that everyone talks about the weather but nobody knows much about it—least of all the National Weather Service.

Twisting the Night Away
South Texas went into a frenzy preparing for Hurricane Allen, then the guest of honor never showed up.
Dirty Money
The ingredients: a criminal with soiled cash, an ambitious banker, a savvy go-between. The result: an almighty mess for Houston’s Allied Bank.
Columns
Measure For Measure
Three Texas poets word their way into print; two new novels trace the adventures of Neanderthals and knights-errant.
Behind the Lines
The present against the past: what the New World can learn from the Old, and vice versa.
A Fan’s Notes
Arnold Shoenberg is the century’s most maligned composer, but to know him is to love him.
Prince Albert
Although Don Albert’s music was a mainstay of the forties, his obstinate stand against racism put him years ahead of his time.
Reporter
The Second Wave
Where have all the boat people gone?; money makes UT go round; Dallas blacks lambaste the co ps; Texas lowriders get down.
Miscellany
The Price is Right
The days of 40-cent gas are back again; the Astros’ midlife crisis; the state budget is gone with the wind; Baytown’s all washed up.