1/5/1818: Pioneer Texas scientist born in Germany
On this day in 1818, scientist Ferdinand von Roemer was born in Hildesheim, Hanover.
He studied law at Gottingen from 1836 to 1839 and received his Ph.D. in paleontology in Berlin in 1842. Roemer traveled to Texas in 1845. From November 1845 to May 1847, he explored from Galveston to Houston, as far west as New Braunfels and Fredericksburg and as far north as Waco, studying the fauna, flora, and geology of the country. He also wrote a detailed report of the expedition that led to the Meusebach-Comanche Treaty. His book Texas (1849), published in Bonn and translated in 1935 by Oswald Mueller, describes German immigration to Texas and the physical appearance of the state. Roemer was the author of the first monograph on Texas geology, The Cretaceous Formations of Texas and Their Organic Inclusions, published in Bonn in 1852. He died in Breslau in 1891, having published over 350 works.
1/5/1854: First telegraph company in Texas chartered
On this day in 1854, the first telegraph company in Texas was chartered.
The Texas and Red River Company opened its first office in Marshall on February 14, offering patrons connections with New Orleans via Shreveport and with Alexandria, Louisiana, and Natchez, Mississippi. Wires were strung from treetop to treetop, and in many instances telegraph operators closed the offices and rode along the lines to make repairs when the wind swaying the trees caused breaks in the wires. By 1870 there was an estimated 1,500 miles of telegraph wire in Texas. Expansion was rapid up to 1890 as the transcontinental railroads completed lines across the state. By 1943 the Western Union Telegraph Company, which had begun operating in Texas in 1866, was the only telegraph company still operating in the state. The company closed the Marshall telegraph office--the oldest in the state--in 1972.
Topic: 01/05/26 A Two Fer! (Read 20 times)