Plainview, Hale County
(August 4, 1855 - February 2, 1941) An Austin native and graduate of the Texas Military Institute, R.P. Smyth became a Brigadier General after Spanish American War duty. As a surveyor, he ran boundaries (1887) of the Two Buckle and other South Plains ranches and platted towns of Plainview, Happy, Tulia, Kress. Married Florence Tucker (d. 1894); was a Masonic leader. As a state legislator, 1897, helped make laws to aid Plains settlers. As an irrigation advocate, helped to create area's agricultural empire. Recorded 1975