With money down to secure El Chamal it was necessary for another group of colony men to venture south to investigate and scrutinize this unfolding opportunity. The investigation committee members were Mr. Jo Miller, Mr. J. P. Roberts, Mr. Tom Brothers, Mr. William Taylor, Mr. George Edwards and Mr. Ben Talley. This party visited the ranch in the fall of 1902. “They returned to Mangum with enthusiastic endorsements and urged immediate purchase.”[6] On Saturday, October 25, 1902, the committee reported their findings. By this time $6,000 had been paid down on the El Chamal property, and $24,000 more would be due by December 1, 1902.[7]
El Chamal DetailsAs more Greer County residents became involved in, or aware of, the Blalock venture, many expressed interest and much curiosity in learning more about the Chamal purchase. In an effort to save money on postage and inform as many people as possible, Mr. Blalock wrote a letter to be published in the Mangum Sun-Monitor. In the letter, he elaborated on the Hacienda Chamal's shape, size, terrain, people, location and access. A portion of the letter published in the November 6, 1902, issue of the Mangum Sun-Monitorfollows:
San Luis Potosí, Mex.October 27, 1902
Sun-Monitor, Mangum, O.T.
...Chamal is a hacienda of 167,000 acres, is in shape of a horseshoe with heel of shoe pointing south and the toe north. There are three running streams which run out at the heel and soon run into the Tamisi River, a navigable stream, which flows into the Panuco River at Tampico, thus giving us transportation from within fifteen miles of Chamal to Tampico, one of the best ports on the gulf.
Explaining further as to the shape of the property; the shoe or outside line is a mountain, and the boundary line, like most all lines in the mountains of this country, is the crest of the mountain and runs in no particular direction. The inside of the shoe is more or less tillable and is very fine black land covered mostly with the palm, so often found on the rich agricultural lands in Mexico. Living on the land, as tenants, are 2000 peones, many of whom have large fields of corn growing and pay, as a rental, 24 measures for every measure planted. Others have nice bunches of cattle, mules, horses, and pay 50c per year for each animal. The writer has traveled in Mexico since last April and finds these people in better condition, financially a hundred fold, than any of their class seen in the republic. A very encouraging item if properly looked at.
