In 1842 French banker Henri Castro secured a colonization grant and recruited more than two thousand Europeans--from France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Hungary, and England--to immigrate to Texas and populate his colony. Here, Bobby D. Weaver describes the impresario system under which this community, now known as Castroville, was formed and considers the life of its founder. He also examines the pioneers' struggles with frontier life--drought, disease, and Indian attacks. Bobby D. Weaver, who received his Ph.D. from Texas Tech University, is the author or editor of several books and other...

These collected tales some taller than others offer revealing glimpses into how and why West Texans are different. Rugged enough to make the harshest of environments their own, this species thrives in hundred-degree-plus heat and near-zero humidity. Folks like the crop duster who nearly sets his plane down in the bed of a pickup, the boll weevil whose naivete is tested in the oil patch, and Frank the Goofy Roofer, who enters a bullfight with nothing more than a denim jacket and a bottle of beer, are far from rare.All these yarns contain a grain of truth, and some of them actually happened...

When the first gusher blew in at Spindletop, near Beaumont, Texas, in 1901, petroleum began to supplant cotton and cattle as the economic engine of the state and region. Very soon, much of the workforce migrated from the cotton field to the oilfield, following the lure of the wealth being created by black gold.
The early decades of the twentieth century witnessed the development of an oilfield culture, as these workers defined and solidified their position within the region's social fabric. Over time, the work force grew more professionalized, and technological change attracted a different...