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Museum Mementoes Real Audio by Eloise LaneWhen
Texas became the 28th state of the United States on December 29, 1845, the state was permitted to retain its public lands. In 1853, railroads were chartered in Texas and, from 1854 to 1882, the state legislature gave
each railroad company 16 sections of land out of its public domain for every mile of railroad constructed and put into use anywhere in the state. These land grants, of which 84% were in the unpopulated public domain
of west and northwest Texas, were checkerboarded among sections set aside by the state for public school revenue.
Surveys of the land grants were made by the railroad companies. Most of the area of Gray County
was surveyed by the International and Great Northern Railroad (I.,.& G.N.R.R.) which later merged with the Houston and Great Northern Railroad (H. & G.N.R.R.). In the southern part of the county, surveys-were
made by the Corpus Christi, San Diego and Rio Grande Railroad (C.C.,S.D. & R.G.R.R.) and the and Pacific Railway (D. & P.R.).
In 1875, the consolidated International and Houston company sold its lands to
the Texas Land Company. These lands were then conveyed to the New York and Texas Land Company, Ltd. in 1880. At that time, the New York and Texas Land Company had headquarters at Palestine, Texas, but, in 1885, moved
its headquarters to Austin for easier accessibility to official documents relating to its vast holdings.
The New York and Texas Land Company acquired approximately 6,000,000 acres of land extending from the
Panhandle of Texas to the Gulf of Mexico. Its first big land sale was to the Francklyn Land and Cattle Company which was organized in 1882 by Charles G. Francklyn, a capitalist from New York and London. Francklyn's
company was backed by his father-in-law, E.F. Cunard of the Cunard Steamship Line.
Colonel B.B. Groom, a promoter from Kentucky, was employed to manage the Francklyn company. He was assisted in this ranching
enterprise by his son, Harrison (Harry) Thomson Groom. With the approval of Charles Francklyn, the Diamond F cattle brand was worked out by B.B. Groom and filed in October 1882.
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After four years the Francklyn company became insolvent, and the company known at first as White Deer Lands was organized in 1886.
One of the rarest documents in the
White Deer Land Museum archives is a mortgage of the Francklyn Land and Cattle Company dated November 27, 1883. It is signed by Charles Francklyn, president of the company, and attached are signatures of E.E. Carhart
and Newton F. Locke, clerks for Carson and Wheeler Counties.
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