Editing Zavala County, Texas (section)

==History==
===Native Americans===
Radiocarbon assays indicate the county's Tortuga Flat Site<ref>{{cite web|title=Tortuga Flat|url=http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/st-plains/images/he12.html|work=Texas Beyond History|publisher=UT-Austin|access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref> was used in the 15th and 16th centuries by [[Pacuache]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Campbell|first=Thomas N|title=Pacuache Indians|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/bmp09|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref>
Archeologist T. C. Hill of Crystal City conducted excavations in 1972–1973 at the site, uncovering artifacts. More than 100 archeological sites have been identified by researchers of the [[University of Texas at San Antonio]] at the Chaparrosa Ranch. [[Coahuiltecan]], [[Tonkawa]], [[Lipan Apache people|Lipan Apache]] and [[Mescalero|Mescalero Apache]] and [[Comanche]] have inhabited the area after the Pacuache.<ref>{{cite web|title=Chaparrosa Ranch|url=http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/st-plains/images/ap3.html|work=Texas Beyond History|publisher=UT-Austin|access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref>

=== The Wild Horse Desert ===
The area between the [[Rio Grande]] and the [[Nueces River]], which included Zavala County, became disputed territory known as the Wild Horse Desert, where neither the [[Republic of Texas]] nor the Mexican government had clear control. Ownership was in dispute until the [[Mexican–American War]]. The area became filled with lawless characters who deterred settlers in the area. An agreement signed between Mexico and the United States in the 1930s put the liability of payments to the descendants of the original land grants on Mexico.<ref>{{cite web |last=Wranker|first=Ralph|title=The South Texas Area|url=http://www.taliesyn.com/ralph/stex.htm|access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Bartlett|first=Richard C |title=The Wild Horse Desert |year=1995|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-70835-8|pages=123–141|author2=Williamson, Leroy |author3=Sansom, Andrew |author4=Thornton III, Robert L |chapter=The South Texas Plains}}</ref> According to a list of Spanish and Mexican grants in Texas,<ref>''With All Arms'', by Carl Laurence Duaine, New Santander Press, Edinberg, TX, 1987</ref> Pedro Aguirre owned 51,296 acres in Zavala County, while Antonio Aguirre had 34,552. Seven other people (including two women — Juana Fuentes and Maria Escolastica Diaz) — each had 4,650 acres.

===County established and growth===

Zavala County was established in 1858 and named for [[Lorenzo de Zavala]], a Mexican colonist and one of the signers of the [[Texas Declaration of Independence]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Lorenzo de Zavala|url=http://www.lsjunction.com/people/zavala.htm|publisher=Lone Star Junction|access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref> The county was organized in 1858, with an error putting an additional “L” in the county. The mistake was not corrected until 1929. [[Batesville, Texas|Batesville]] became the county seat. [[Crystal City, Texas|Crystal City]] won a 1928 election to become the new county seat.<ref>{{cite web|title=Batesville, Texas|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/SouthTexasTowns/Batesville-Texas.htm|work=Texas Escapes|publisher=Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC|access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref> Grey (Doc) White and the Vivian family settled Cometa around 1867. They were joined by the Ramón Sánchez and Galván families in 1870 and by J. Fisher in 1871.<ref>{{cite web|last=Ochoa|first=Ruben E|title=Cometa, Texas|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hrc83|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref> Murlo community was settled about the same time.<ref>{{cite web|last=Ochoa|first=Ruben E|title=Murlo, Texas|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hvmcs|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref>  Ranching dominated the county originally, until [[overgrazing]] destroyed the grasslands. Zavala then became the first county in Texas to grow flax commercially.<ref name="Zavala County">{{cite web|last=Ochoa|first=Ruben E|title=Zavala County|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcz02|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref> Ike T. La Pryor the largest ranch in the county and advertised the land for farming. The community that sprang up was named [[La Pryor, Texas|La Pryor]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Ochoa|first=Ruben E|title=La Pryor, Texas|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hll03|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref> Developers E. J. Buckingham and Carl Groos purchased all {{convert|96101|acre|km2}} of the Cross S Ranch in 1905, platted the town of Crystal City, and sold the rest as sections divided into {{convert|10|acre|m2|adj=on}} farms.<ref>{{cite web|last=Odintz|first=Mark|title=Crystal City, Texas|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hfc17|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref>

===Winter Garden===
Zavala, [[Dimmit County, Texas|Dimmitt]], [[Frio County, Texas|Frio]], and [[La Salle County, Texas|LaSalle]] Counties are considered the Winter Garden region of Texas.<ref>{{cite web |last=Odintz|first=Mark|title=Winter Garden Region|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ryw02|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association |access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref> Irrigation and mild winter climate have made the area ideal for year-round vegetable farming. During the winter of 1917–18, spinach was introduced to Zavala.<ref>{{cite web|last=Mortensen|first=E|title=Spinach Culture|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/afs01|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref> The first annual Spinach Festival was introduced in 1936, halted during [[World War II]], but resumed in 1982.<ref>{{cite book|last=Usler|first=Mark|title=Hometown Declarations – America's Self-Proclaimed World Capitals|year=2008|publisher=DM Enterprises In|isbn=978-0-9786987-1-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780978698713/page/100 100]|chapter=Crystal City: Spinach Capital of the World|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780978698713/page/100}}</ref> Cartoonist [[E. C. Segar]], who created the spinach-eating [[Popeye]], received a letter of appreciation from the Winter Garden Chamber of Commerce, thanking him for his support of spinach in the American diet. Segar's written response appeared in two newspapers exhorting children everywhere to enjoy Segar's favorite vegetable. He later approved a 1937 statue of Popeye to be erected in Crystal City, dedicated "To All The Children of the World".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Reavis|first=Dick J|title=The Importance of Popeye|journal=Texas Monthly|date=June 1987|pages=98,100}}</ref> Bermuda onions became a major crop. Spinach, sorghum, and cotton were the three biggest crops. The principal crops grown in Zavala County in 1989 were spinach, cotton, pecans, corn, and onions.<ref name="Zavala County" />

===Internment Camp===
{{Main|Crystal City Internment Camp}}
The Crystal City, Texas Family Internment Camp began as a migrant labor camp in the 1930s.
By the time it closed, it had held German and Japanese combatants and their families, Latin Americans, and at least one Italian Latin American family, as well as German- and Japanese-American families. The {{convert|100|acre|km2}} were used for housing and security measures. An additional {{convert|190|acre|km2}} were for farming and personnel residences. The first internees, of German ethnicity, arrived on December 12, 1942, and were expected to work on construction, being paid 10 cents an hour. A 70-bed hospital was built in 1943, as was a school for children of the internees. Internees ran nursery schools and kindergartens. From its inception through June 30, 1945, the Crystal City camp held 4,751 internees and had 153 births. The camp closed in 1948.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dickerson|first=James L|title=Inside America's Concentration Camps: Two Centuries of Internment and Torture|year=2010|publisher=Lawrence Hill Books |isbn=978-1-55652-806-4|pages=145–160|chapter=The Konzentrationslager Blues}}</ref>

===Hispanic Americans===

The [[Mexican Revolution]] that began in 1910 resulted in thousands of laborers flowing across the border to cultivate vegetable crops. By 1917 and 1918, [[Pancho Villa]] was sending banditos across the Rio Grande. Crystal City organized home guards for protection against Villa's associates.
By 1930, Crystal City was overwhelmingly composed of [[Hispanic American]]s. That year, Zavala County had the highest percentage of laborers (1,430 per 100 farms) and the lowest percentage of tenants (33 per 100 farms) of all counties in South Texas. Owner-operators were primarily Non-Hispanic white, whereas sharecroppers and farm laborers were Hispanic. By the late 1950s, a majority of those graduating from high school in the county were Hispanic American. In 1990, 89.4% of the county population of 12,162 was Hispanic.<ref>{{cite book|last=Arreola|first=Daniel David|title=[[Tejano South Texas: A Mexican American Cultural Province]]|year=2002|publisher=[[University of Texas Press]]|isbn=978-0-292-70511-1|pages=43–63|chapter=Homeland Forged}}</ref>

===Tejano politics===

Juan Cornejo of the [[Teamsters|Teamsters Union]] and the [[Political Association of Spanish-Speaking Organizations]] organized the Hispanic population among cannery workers and farm laborers of Crystal City in 1962–63 and succeeded in electing an all-Latino city council. The feat became known as the Crystal City Revolts.<ref>{{cite web|last=Acosta|first=Teresa Paloma|title=The Political Association of Spanish-Speaking Organizations|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/vep01|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Acosta|first=Teresa Paloma|title=Crystal City Revolts|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/wmc01|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref>
The [[Raza Unida Party]] was established in 1970 in Crystal City and Zavala County to bring greater self-determination among [[Tejano]]s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ruiz|first=Vicki|title=Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia (Volume 1)|year=2006|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-34681-0|pages=367–368}}</ref>