Shafter, Texas
| Shafter, Texas | |
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| Ghost town | |
"Shafter Ghost Town", with Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church
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| Nickname(s): Shafter Ghost Town | |
 Shafter, Texas
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| Coordinates: 29°49′13″N 104°18′12″W / 29.82028°N 104.30333°WCoordinates: 29°49′13″N 104°18′12″W / 29.82028°N 104.30333°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | Presidio |
| Elevation | 3,901 ft (1,189 m) |
| Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| ZIP codes | 79843 |
| Area code | 432 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1380523, 2033842 |
Shafter is a ghost town in Presidio County, Texas. The Texas Attorney General's Office gives a population of 11 as of the 2000 Census. It was named in honor of General William R. Shafter, who at one point commanded the nearby (relatively speaking) Fort Davis. In the early 1900s, six silver mines were in operation near Shafter. When the mines closed, the town died. It was later the location for several scenes in the 1971 movie The Andromeda Strain. As of 2012, at least one silver mine, La Mina Grande, has been reopened by Aurcana Corporation.
It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Shafter Historic Mining District.
Tucked in the Chinati Mountains on Cibolo Creek, 18 miles north of Presidio, Shafter was once a bustling mining town with a population as high as 4000, in 1940.
In 1880 or 1881, John Spencer found silver deposits near this location. Capt. (later Gen.) William R. Shafter, stationed at Fort Davis and he collaborated to establish the mining operation. This operation consisted of the Cibolo Creek Mill & Mining Co. and the Presidio Mining Co., both of which were consolidated as the Presidio Mining Co. The Mina Grande orebody was producing by 1883. The ore, 30 ounces of silver per ton, was treated in a 50-ton Pan amalgamation mill. Annual production from 1898 to 1913 was 20,000 tons. In 1913, a 200-ton cyanide mill was added. Annual production from 1913 to 1926 was 84,000 tons, with 10 ounces of silver per ton.
When an assay commissioned by Colonel Shafter confirmed profitable amounts of silver were in Spencer's ore samples, he brought in two of his military associates, Lt. John L. Bullis and Lt. Louis Wilhelmi, to join the venture. Each would contribute, first, by acquiring acreage around Spencer's discovery. In all, four sections of land, or 2560 acres, were acquired. Spencer and they agreed they would all share equally in profits from the venture. Then, in June 1882, lacking sufficient capital to develop the acreage on their own, the partners leased a portion of their holdings to a mining group from California which had both the money and expertise to proceed. In 1883, this group established the Presidio Mining Company, which in turn contracted with three of the partners to acquire their interests in a stock-for-land trade. Shafter, Wilhelmi, and Spencer received 5,000 shares and a bonus of $1,600 in cash to complete the trade. Bullis, asserting that his purchase money to buy the acreage had been from his wife's account, refused to join the transaction. This would later be cause for dispute. Nevertheless, development proceeded and a settlement began to grow around the mining operation. A post office opened in 1885 and took the name "Shafter" after the colonel. Company housing was provided for the miners. Company stores provided their staples and a company doctor provided medical care.
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