BAGDAD

Brian Robertson's Wild Horse Desert is a must read for any Rio Grande Valley historian. He tells in crisp prose the story of the border. He reinforces the sentiment among the intelligentsia that the area's rich past rivals any Texas region. This excerpt epitomizes the book:

"In the years that followed the Civil War, there was no sign of stability in the Rio Grande Valley. A series of disasters and misfortunes struck the region, beginning with a deadly cholera epidemic in 1866. To make matters worse, the winter of 1866-1867 was one of the worst on record, with snow falling for the first time since 1835.

"The summer of 1867 brought an outbreak of yellow fever and it is estimated that one in every three residents died. Continuing the string of misfortunes, a major hurricane washed across South Texas on October 8th of that year, destroying Clarksville and all but leveling Bagdad, once thriving communities at the mouth of the Rio Grande."