(BCPM) “The Eagles Are Coming!” The Long Battle Between Texan Mohair Ranchers and the Golden Eagle

This blog post was composed by Aaron Ramos, master’s student in the History Department.

The W. R. Poage Legislative Library houses extensive amounts of correspondence between U.S. and state officials and the everyday folks they represent. While isolated letters may not offer much on their own, they create a window into the past that can give us an idea of the real issues Texans faced. One example is the plight of mohair ranchers in the early 1960s. Mohair is the material made from the wool of the Angora goat.

As I sat at my desk processing documents from the O.C. Fisher papers, I encountered multiple folders, dating 1961-1963. Most were stuffed to capacity, and their contents had to do with a problem unique to the mohair ranchers of West Texas near the Mexican border.

The wool and mohair industries have long standing roots in the state of Texas, dating all the way back to when Spanish colonizers first arrived in the state. Production of mohair would not begin in earnest, however, until the Civil War when imports of textiles were no longer coming to the South from northern mills. It was then that Southern textile companies sought local means of producing the cloth they needed. Ranchers began raising sheep and goats for their wool rather than mutton, as had been common practice. From the mid-nineteenth century onward, the mohair industry in Texas skyrocketed, and Texas became the primary producer of mohair in the United States.[ii] However, as the industry expanded, mohair ranchers encroached upon the hunting grounds of the Golden Eagle.

Mohair ranchers found that their livestock were being hunted by the Golden Eagle. As a result, their businesses suffered as they could not meet the demand for mohair. By 1963, the issue became so pressing that it made its way to Congress.

In September 1963, Baylor alum and Representative of Texas’s 21st Congressional District Ovie Clark (O.C.) Fisher, stood before Congress to highlight that mohair ranchers in West Texas were losing their goats to the eagles at a rate faster than the goats could reproduce. In his testimony, Fisher referred to Fritz Kahl, a farmer from Fort Davis, whose business was suffering from the eagle’s predation. Kahl stated that he had lost 122 lambs to eagle attacks.[iv] Kahl also stated how West Texas was primarily the site of cattle ranching until the 1940s when sheep and goat herders began moving to the area en masse. From the moment sheep and goat farmers settled in the area, the Golden Eagles began preying upon the lambs and kids. Mohair ranchers had been fighting a losing battle against Golden Eagles for over two decades. To protect their livestock, mohair ranchers took to the skies.

It had become common for mohair ranchers to charter pilots to kill eagles via poisoning from an airplane. Kahl argued that this was crucial to keeping their ranches profitable. Killing the eagles, however, was a violation of federal law which had classified them as a protected species. Texans from El Paso to New Braunfels wrote to their representatives to challenge these protections. Fisher himself was against these protections and validated the concerns of many mohair ranchers who wrote to his office.

In a letter from the Texas Angora Goat Raisers’ Association, President C.H. Godbold wrote that laws protecting the eagles would be disastrous to the Angora industry in Texas, particularly the area surrounding Uvalde, as they produced 90% of the country’s mohair (wool).[vi] Farmer Charlie Hinds wrote that “it would be impossible for the ranchers in this area to produce an average lamb crop with the presence of the golden eagle to prey on them.”[vii] The O.C. Fisher papers at Poage Library contain dozens of letters expressing similar sentiments.

Despite the plethora of letters pleading support for the killing of the eagles, many wrote to express their opposition. Former president of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, Carl Thacker, wrote to Representative Fisher asking that the Golden Eagle remain a protected species alongside its cousin, the Bald Eagle, invoking the eagle’s significance to American national identity.[viii] Moreover, House Joint Resolution 489 from October 24, 1962, indicated that the Bald Eagle populations were suffering due to mistaken identity. Farmers were killing them, thinking they were Golden Eagles. Furthermore, the eagles bore cultural and religious significance to many Native American tribes in the region.[ix] Representative Fisher responded “[t]he bald eagle does not visit Texas. The Golden Eagle does migrate to the area along the Rio Grande …and lives chiefly off of young sheep, goats and wild game.”[x]

Mr. and Mrs. Smith of Boerne, Texas expressed similar sentiments, citing the symbolic influence of the eagle to American identity. The Smiths argued that a study done by Texas Tech University found no evidence to suggest that the Golden Eagle preyed upon lambs and kids.[xi] To this end, Representative Fisher responded that the experiences of the sheep and goat herders of
Southwest Texas suggested otherwise.[xii]

In the end, the Golden Eagle remained a protected species due to its significance to tribal nations, and the fact that Bald Eagle populations also suffered mistaken eradication in the name of farmers protecting their herds.[xiii] Despite this, there were certain caveats that allowed for the killing of Golden Eagles. According to HJR 489, the Secretary of the Interior was granted the authority to authorize the killing of eagles “…for the purpose of seasonally protecting domesticated flocks and herds…”[xiv] Writing to a constituent in Junction, Texas, Fisher stated: “I still do not like the Bill but it probably protects us fairly well.”[xv]

This moment in Fisher’s three-decade career is noteworthy because it gives us an idea of what it looks like to be a representative of the people: answering communication from constituents, representing their interests before Congress, and working toward compromise with colleagues. To that end, collections like the O.C. Fisher papers at Poage Library help us to understand the daily workings of a government official and inspire us to become engaged citizens in our democracy.

 

REFERENCES

[i] The Lord of the Rings, the Return of the King, DVD (United States: New Line Home Entertainment, 2004).

[ii] Carlson, Paul H. “Wool and Mohair Industry.” Texas State Historical Association, February 1,

1996. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/wool-and-mohair-industry.

[iii] Nanny with kid. January 29, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angora_goat#/media/File:Mohair_goats-

nanny_with_newborn._-_DPLA_-_f92a422df737028204114eb061497348.jpg.

[iv] “In Congressional Record: Eagle Said Predator.” San Angelo Standard Times, September 23, 1962. O.C. Fisher papers, Accession #46, Legislation, Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Golden Eagles, Baylor Collections of Political Materials, W. R. Poage Legislative Library, Baylor University.

[v] A Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), San Francisco Zoo Hawk with good wing. July 26, 2007.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_eagle#/media/File:Aquila_chrysaetos_Flickr.jpg.

[vi] Godbold, C.H. Letter to O.C. Fisher. Uvalde, Texas, March 7, 1962. O.C. Fisher papers, Accession #46,               Legislation, Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Golden Eagles, Baylor Collections of Political Materials, W. R. Poage Legislative Library, Baylor University.

[vii] Hinds, Charlie. Letter to O.C. Fisher. Comstock, Texas, February 4, 1963. O.C. Fisher papers, Accession #46,      Legislation, Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Golden Eagles, Baylor Collections of Political Materials, W. R. Poage Legislative Library, Baylor University.

[viii] Thacker, Carl. Letter to O.C. Fisher. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 8, 1962. O.C. Fisher papers, Accession #46, Legislation, Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Golden Eagles, Baylor Collections of Political Materials, W. R. Poage Legislative Library, Baylor University.

[ix] Public Law 87-884 [H.J.Res. 489].

[x] Fisher, Ovie Clark. Letter to Car Thacker, October 10, 1962. O.C. Fisher papers, Accession #46, Legislation, Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Golden Eagles, Baylor Collections of Political Materials, W. R. Poage Legislative Library, Baylor University.

[xi] Smith, DT. Letter to O.C. Fisher. Boerne, Texas, 1962. O.C. Fisher papers, Accession #46, Legislation, Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Golden Eagles, Baylor Collections of Political Materials, W. R. Poage Legislative Library, Baylor University.

[xii] Fisher, Ovie Clark. Letter to Mr. and Mrs.  D.T. Smith, July 23, 1962. O.C. Fisher papers, Accession #46, Legislation, Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Golden Eagles, Baylor Collections of Political Materials, W. R. Poage Legislative Library, Baylor University.

[xiii] Public Law 87-884 [H.J.Res. 489].

[xiv] Ibid.

[xv] Fisher, Ovie Clark. Letter to Pierce A. Hoggett, Jr., March 23, 1962. O.C. Fisher papers, Accession #46, Legislation, Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Golden Eagles, Baylor Collections of Political Materials, W. R. Poage Legislative Library, Baylor University.