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Up-and-down entrepreneur Franklin Shaeffer dies
On this day in 1886, Franklin Wingot Shaeffer died as a result of a
broken leg. This Ohio native had operated a freight line in northern
California during the gold rush of 1849, had lost his money on the stock
exchange in New York in the 1850s, and had moved to Texas in 1857. From
Boerne, where he bought 40,000 acres, he moved to Nueces County to start
a sheep ranch. Shaeffer invested in the Corpus Christi ship channel but
lost his money after the Civil War. He tried raising sheep in fenced
pastures with regularly spaced wells--a technique that failed with sheep
but subsequently succeeded with cattle. His ancillary discovery of
artesian water in South Texas promoted growth in the region. Shaeffer
died because the surgeon working on his leg, broken accidentally in a
carriage accident near San Diego, Texas, muffed the job.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- SHAEFFER, FRANKLIN WINGOT
- SAN DIEGO, TX
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Texas State Fair opens in Dallas (1886)
- "Star Trek" creator beamed from Earth (1991)
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