Editor's Note: Caprock Chronicles are edited by Jack Becker, Librarian Emeritus, Texas Tech University Libraries. He may be reached at Jack.becker@ttu.edu. Today’s article is by Lisa Dennis Mahler, Director of the Borden County Museum, Gail, Texas. Call (325) 234-8049 to arrange a visit.
Borden County was created out of Young Territory on Nov. 19, 1876, along with 38 other counties. The county was named for Gail Borden Jr., an early Texas pioneer surveyor, inventor, newspaper publisher, philanthropist, and a co-author of the first Texas Constitution. Once the county was organized in 1891 the town seat was given the name Gail to further honor Mr. Borden.
These counties were wide open grasslands but it was not until 1877 that ranchers began to move into the area. C. C. Slaughter became the first and started the Long S Ranch. It was not long until other cattle ranchers moved into the territory to take advantage of the open range.
In 1879, the Jumbo Ranch was established by Nick Beal, John Beal and Fountain G. Oxsheer. The 1880s saw many enormous ranches established in the county, such as the 500-section Magnolia Land and Cattle Company and the ranch that Anthony Blum established near the first community of the county, Durham. Durham is in the southeast corner of Borden and included over 65,000 acres.
Blum was from Dansville, New York, the third of 13 children of German immigrant, John Blum Jr., who became a well to do shoemaker that established the Blum Shoe Factory. Anthony Blum purchased Borden County land in 1883. Land abstracts list family members Anthony, J. C. (Joseph), Frank and Philip as landowners. Anthony, his wife Barbara and children, Lantie and Barbara, were the only Blums that lived in Borden County. A house was built soon after they arrived. Lumber for the house was brought by train to Colorado City and hauled by wagon. A cupola was a feature of the house. Unfortunately, the house burned in 1940.
Anthony was commissioned the postmaster in Borden County in 1887 and he served the Durham community and surrounding ranches. Durham became a stopover for the stage line that ran from Colorado City, Texas, to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. On Aug. 17, 1888, Blum would be named the presiding judge of elections.
The brand book, from that time, in Howard County, includes brands for Anthony and for B. Jackson Blum (his wife, Barbara). The Blums registered brands for cattle and horses.
The most interesting part of the Blum history is the number of lawsuits he was involved in, discovered in Mitchell and Howard counties. There is a definite pattern of businesses or employees suing for payment. A pattern that continued after the Blums sold their land in Borden County and continued into their gold mining business. Two of the most interesting cases are located in the county and district court files in Howard County.
Howard County District Court Case #41
J.T. Elliott and A.J. Roe vs Anthony Blum and B. Jackson Blum
Elliott and Roe owned a business in Weatherford, Texas, and had shipped to the Blums lumber and fencing posts and payment for these supplies totaled $436.43. In today’s dollar this would be over $14,000 owed. The bill was to be paid by March 28, 1888. The case was filed August 1889; over a year past due. The supplies were bought for Mrs. Blum for her “separate property” and authorized by “her agent” Anthony Blum, her husband. The Blums tried to argue that the debt was insolvent because Mrs. Blum had not “authorized” the order. The court sided with Elliott and Roe and payment was finally made by the Blums in August 1891. The Blums tried in other court cases to use the “wife didn’t authorize order” argument.
The Blums ranched for several years but like all early ranchers of the area they suffered years of droughts and severe winters. By the late 1890s the Blums had sold their town lots in Durham and by 1903 the Blums had left the area. Prior to dabbling in cattle ranching, Blum had been involved in gold mining operations in Massachusetts. Blum went back into the mining business and established the Laurentian Mining Company located in Ontario, Canada. Lawsuits followed Blum everywhere he set up business. Failure to pay bills; failure to pay stock holders; land disputes.
A wonderful eight-page booklet can be found on the internet written by Glenn Snow in 2010 explaining the rather shady dealings of Blum dealing in his various mining operations. The booklet is call “Fools’ Gold The Mining Schemes of Anthony Blum”. The most notorious lawsuit involved a Catholic Priest was who had invested $5000 in a gold mine in Arizona who was suing Blum to get his money back. Blum successfully postponed the trial for two full years. In the end the lawsuit was dropped because the Priest had been chastised by the Roman Catholic Church for his investment.
In 1922, Mr. Blum wrote a book called “Petroleum: Where and How to Find it”. Blum died in Chicago in 1923 before he could start selling shares in potential oil drilling sites.
Blum’s obituary in the Feb. 15, 1923, Danville Express paints a glowing success story. It is unfortunate for his legacy that the lawsuits portray a different side of his personality.