History in
a Pecan Shell
El Sauz is
said to be is a variant of sauce, which is Spanish for "willow."
The original land grant was given to José Narciso Cavazos in 1781
by the Spanish crown. His history of ownership is sketchy - but
it is known that he had stocked it with nearly 1,000 head of cattle.
While riding north from Brownsville
in 1852, Richard King mentioned that he had discovered a deserted
ranch in that region named El Sauz. This is also a mention of a
coastal community named El Sauz established around that same time
frame. Situated on Redfish Bay, this town had a post office (1870
to 1875) and it's said that after a hurricane in 1882, the community
moved inland to the present location.
In 1881 Richard King and his partner Mifflin Kenedy incorporated
El Sauz into their vast holdings. It later became a subdivision
of the King Ranch. A post office by the name of Sauz was
opened in 1893 and the town served as a stage-stop - for the Brownsville
to Alice
stageline. A school district was established in 1925 and the 100,000
acre ranch was owned by the Atwood family - an extension of the
King family.
El Sauz made national newspaper headlines in late 1936, when two
residents of San Perlita, disappeared
while hunting on or near the ranch. Family and friends of the missing
men (whose bodies were never found) claimed that over zealous King
Ranch employees murdered the two men for trespassing. There was
enough outrage to have the Governor (James Allred) to send a token
force of Texas Rangers to the area under Capt. Bill McMurray to
prevent the public from storming the ranch.
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