Shafter TX
N 29° 48.921 W 104° 18.387
13R E 567015 N 3298526
Shafter Texas got its start with silver mining, but died after the mines struggled and military bases in nearby Marfa closed
Waymark Code: WMTYKG
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/24/2017
Views: 1
In 2016 Shafter is an interesting place to explore -- a silver mining ghost town in Texas! We are used to seeing these all over New Mexico and Nevada.
In the 2010 census, 11 people lived in the Shafter vicinity. Source: Wikipedia (
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More on Shafter here, on the Texas Escapes website: (
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"Shafter History in a Pecan Shell
Shafter became a mining town in 1880, when John W. Spencer discovered silver ore.
Spencer showed a sample to Col. William R. Shafter, commander of Fort Davis, who had it assayed. Shafter shared the information with two of his fellow officers. They then convinced the state to allow them to buy huge tracts of school land around the site in 1880. The three made Spencer a partner (at least verbally) but although they now owned the land, they lacked the capital to mine the silver.
In 1882 they leased some of their holdings to a California mining group. A new company - The Presidio Mining Company was formed. In 1884, the company installed new machinery and the town of Shafter was born.
The post office was granted in 1885.
One partner sued when the company started mining on land deeded under his wife's name. The case went to the Texas Supreme Court who ruled in favor of the mine over the disgruntled partner in 1887. Operations increased and Shafter became a full-fledged "company town" with the miners totally dependent on the company.
Shafter only had 110 people around 1900. The mine closed and reopened several times throughout the 20s and 30s.
By 1943 Shafter's population had grown to 1,500 with the economy buoyed by nearby Cavalry Fort D. A. Russell and Marfa Army Air Field. When the posts were closed at the end of WWII, the population shrank to only 20.
The town was used for early scenes of the 1968 science fiction movie "The Andromeda Strain"."