Goats and guajilla honey built an unusual farm economy

By 1900, Uvalde County ranchers kept 81,705 goats. Three years later, one-fourth of all mohair produced in the United States came from the county. Mohair is the silky fiber shorn from Angora goats, so those herds connected local ranches to clothing and fabric markets far beyond Uvalde.

The bees had their own export story. D. M. Edwards sent Uvalde's first recorded shipment of bulk comb honey in 1883. During the 1890s, Laguna dealer James Whitecotton reportedly sold about a million pounds a year. Guajilla shrubs supplied the nectar, and Uvalde County honey took first place at the 1900 Paris World's Fair.

Together, Angora goats and guajilla bees gave this dry ranch country two exports that traveled far beyond it: silky fiber and prizewinning honey.