Euell Lester Moor ~ 1872-1960

Herbert Roedenbeck (1881-1975) in the given course of time will suffice as one of the last legendary pioneers of this century; his achievements in agriculture and land development proved to be an integral part of the present demographic status of Southeast Texas.

Mr. Roedenbeck is credited as having planted one of the first commercial scale rice crops in Chambers County in 1910, developing a new strain of rice that became known as the "Roedenbeck Prolific"; during his tenure as Chambers County land commissioner, 1920-1924, he eradicated the fever tick by mandatory dipping of cattle, mostly longhorns. Roedenbeck is responsible for the migration of over five thousand emigrants to this area through his land development transactions. After having lost most of his holdings, Roedenbeck became active in the oil leasing business in Chambers and Jefferson Counties where he estimated transactions in excess of 300,000 acres.  

The above excerpt from his biography  - Tyrrell  Historical Library Archives

"My first rice farm operation was in 1910 on 160 acres on H. T. & B. Railway Co. section 113 in Chambers County. The land was sod and in spite of brackish irrigation from the Lone Star Canal, we made two barrels per acre and broke even. In 1911, '12, and '13, I leased some of my lands to rice farmers for $2.50 per acre per year. Some of the crops in those years were lost, because the Canal Water was polluted by salt water which had entered Turtle Bay which acted as a reservoir from which the water was pumped into the canal. It took several years before the canal water was fairly free from the influx of salt water. It took great engineering and a lot of money to assure safety of the water for irrigation under the Lone Star of Anahuac Canal."
"During World War One, before the U. S. entered the War in 1917, the price of rice advanced until it reached $16 per barrel of rough rice in 1918-1919 to May 1920. The increase in price from $2 to $3 per barrel in 1912-13, induced many non-farmers, lawyers, bankers, barbers, and other professionals to enter rice farming mostly by financing farmers for a share of the crop."
"1917 was the best rice year of those times, season was favorable, price of rice up to $12 per barrel, labor still low, and equipment and feed still reasonable."

 "During 1917-18-19 I leased my lands to farmers, either for cash or on the basis of one-fifth of the Crop, and I came out fairly well in those years..." "One remembers the old saying 'When the donkey gets feeling too well, he goes on the ice trying skating and falls thru into the icy water.' this was the case in 1920 with many people who believed the rice farming business would continue to be profitable, but that year 1920 taught us all including me that there is a limit to the sky." "In that year I took on 18 tenants and farmed with them about 3000 acres on the Neches and on the Lone Star or Anahuac Canal. My leases provided that I as landlord furnished the land, the seed, and paid for the water sent for one half the rice produced; the other one half to go to the tenant who was supposed to finance the field work and all other costs of operation. This arrangement looked feasible in the spring of 1920 when rice reached a market price of $16 per barrel of rough rice in the local warehouses. In May of that year one of the tenants ran out of money and applied for a loan of $4,000 with a bank in Beaumont. The bank insisted that I as landowner endorse the note. Before doing this, I consulted brokers and economists about what they thought of the immediate future of the rice market. All assured me that as long as the Government insisted that farmers raise all they could, these economists assured me that the rice market would hold. To be short to tell about this expert advice, I mention that the price of rice was down to $4 per barrel in July, to $2 per B. in Sept. and almost unsaleable (sic) by November 1920. It is unnecessary to mention the fatal consequences of the break in the price of rice. American Rice had to meet the World market and the American farmer had to compete with Asiatic rice, from Saigon, Thailand, Burma, and other countries where surplus rice flooded the World markets." "I end this excursion of my thoughts of farming and knowing that they cover the vast subject only in spots. I nevertheless enjoyed expressing them, especially writing about them in the Week of Easter when Nature brings forth new life in all living creatures. Millions of flowers and buds on trees awake out of the slumber of winter; Azaleas greet us everywhere, little violets peep out of the prairies, forget-me-nots smile at us, the white dogwoods flutter in the breeze. All of them presenting a picture of colours, in light and shadow, such as a gifted painter may put on canvas, but a picture which the Greatest Artist of the World, 'Nature' offers us of colours of Light and Shadow in hundreds of variations each year." "And who dares to say, 'there are no miracles?'”