Franklin Selden Robertson Jr. (1873 - 1943)

Born 1873 in Otoe, Nebraska, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Anna Myrtis (Conerly) Robertson — married 17 Apr 1901 in Hornbeck, La

Descendants

Died 1943 at about age 70 in San Benito, Cameron, Texas, United States

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FRANK SELDEN ROBERTSON Jr., b. 04 Jan 1873; d. 10 Feb. 1943

Profile written by Allan Harl Thomas

Frank S. Robertson was the father of two daughters, Merry and Kate

Biography

Frank Selden Robertson Jr. was born in Nebraska City, Nebraska January 4th, 1873.

In 1868 the family moved to Nebraska City, Nebraska. Franks father, Frank Selden Robertson Sr., was engaged in the grain business and livestock, and was elected to the Board of Alderman of Nebraska City.

“Father was also a friend of J. Sterling Morton, founder of “Arbor Day” and afterwards became Secretary of Secretary of Agriculture under Grover Cleveland.”

1870 “The grain business was, of course, conducted by steamboat from their warehouse on the banks of the Missouri River. A boat load of grain, owned either by the partnership, or by my father individually, I’m not sure which, sank somewhere on the Missouri between Nebraska City and St. Louis, Missouri resulting in a total loss, this being followed by the “Greenback Panic”, I think it was called.”

In 1871Otoe County, Nebraska, The family moved to a ranch on the frontier, the area was still occupied by the Otoe Indians at the time, “Those were precarious times for the Robertson family. One of those terrible “grasshopper plagues” came in full force, destroying the effort to raise a crop. I have heard my Mother (Katherine Ann Merry Lewis Robertson) say that she happened to have a sizable flock of turkeys, which were able to exist by eating grasshoppers, and provided the family with sustenance.” <S2>

Frank Selden Robertson Jr. was born in Nebraska City, Nebraska January 4th, 1873.

“Sometime in the fall of 1874, the family found it necessary to give up the struggle in Nebraska and return to Missouri… On this removal Mother and her three children descended the Missouri by steamboat.”<S2> Frank Sr. and brother Sam drove a herd of "longhorns" they had acquired overland.

1876 Carrollton, Missouri “The family removed from Saline County early in 1876 across to a farm in the Moss Creek Bottoms in Carroll County, owned by Mr. Henry Turpin, a third cousin of Father’s, I think.” <S2>

Frank helped his father on the farm, getting such an education as he could, being tutored by his mother and grandmother, both of whom had been schoolteachers, the latter continuing to teach for many years.

1882 found the family in Norborne, Missouri, “Father was chosen Cashier of the Farmers Bank in Norborne, to which the family moved to early in 1882, he retaining the position and his family residing there until his death February 10th, 1896."

Frank Jr. finished school in Norborne MO. His first job was with the Union Pacific RR Engineering Corp. as an axman and was transferred from that job to the Utah and Northern Line, originally built by Brigham Young. That line was later purchased by the Union Pacific and changed to a standard gauge railroad.

He spent his entire life in public works as engineer and contractor, building and operating railroads, irrigation systems, drainage and flood control works. He assisted in building 15 different railroad lines in Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas; on 10 irrigation systems in Louisiana and Texas; spent 6 years in construction and maintenance work on the Mississippi River levee works.

In 1900 he and brother Sam took a contract to build the Fernwood, Columbia and Gulf in Pike County, Mississippi. There is where he met Myrtis Conerly, who later became his wife.

He built rice irrigation canals in western Louisiana, then went to Texas to build the Richman Rice Canal. He became the manager of Colorado (River) Canal Co. in May 1902.

In the fall of 1904 he did a stint in Bay City, Texas on the Gulf Coast Line Railroad. After that he started work with brother Sam on the St. Louis, Brownsville, and Mexico Railroad from Bay City to Brownsville.

"The veteran manager of the San Benito irrigation district (1920-43) was the most widely known and probably the best informed of the Valley's early leaders in the long fight of water conservation and flood control. His was the first Anglo family to settle in San Benito. Arriving in 1907, Mr.and Mrs. Robertson and their five-year-old daughter Merry lived in three tents near present North Bowie Ave. The only building in sight was the newly built railroad section house." ^[1][2]

His wife Myrtis and daughter Merry remained in San Benito (then Bessie) while Frank, Sam and the crew went forward laying the rails to Brownsville.

After the track reached Brownsville he returned to San Benito and brother Sam acquired the lands for the San Benito Land and Water Company.

Frank, Sam, Emmet, William Robertson.

Brownsville had the first canal and irrigation district, (#1) The San Benito district was formed in 1917 and Frank was manager of that system. It may of interest to note that https://www.cityofsanbenito.com/327/History#:~:text=Founding,and%20Southwest%20of%20the%20country.Colonel B. F. Yoakum who built the Gulf Coast Lines into the Valley in 1904 had been aware that the waters of the Rio Grande would have to be divided between Texas and Mexico if the Valley was to prosper. It was Yoakum's dream to continue the railroad line to Mexico City. Yoakum was working with Mexican president Porfirio Diaz on the railroad project and irrigation development in both nations. These discussions took place between 1906 and 1910 until the "Madero" revolution put an end to Yoakum's dream.

June 28th 1912 - Sam Robertson charters theSan Benito and Rio Grande Valley RR, the “Spiderweb” Frank Robertson was Superintendent of construction for the Spiderweb Railroad. The citizens of the Valley continued work on the water issue until WW1. After WW1 the Valley engineers succeeded in getting the United States Bureau of Reclamation to make a survey of the Valley. An agreement couldn't be reached with the unstable Mexican government at that time. The Joint Association of Water Improvement Districts was formed to try to get support from Washington. They became the Lower Rio Grande Valley Water Conservation. Frank made many trips to Austin and Washington D.C. by rail as a representative of these groups to stress the importance of obtaining a treaty with Mexico regarding the division of the international water.

Frank S. Robertson Jr. in his office at the Irrigation District Office

"From 1920 until his death in 1943, Frank Robertson, brother of Sam Robertson and also a civil engineer, managed the Irrigation District. Frank and the District's Engineer, Ralph Agar, worked tirelessly on water development issues, including the effort which ultimately culminated in the construction of Falcon Dam, which was completed in 1953. Until the construction of the dam, the river periodically overflowed its banks, destroying crops and property. During flood events, the River often changed course, causing international boundary problems, because the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had fixed the boundary between the United States and Mexico at the Rio Grande as it was situated in 1848. For example, due to a change in the course of the River in the 1920's, the Irrigation District's pumping plant is now approximately one mile north of the River. Falcon Dam eliminated the problem of the periodic overflows and changes in the course of the river. In addition to flood control, the reservoirs created by damming the river are intended to provide a regular and dependable water supply. Until the construction of Falcon Dam, there was no dependable source of water. Irrigation companies were solely dependent on the amount of rainfall in the watershed upstream. For example, during a lengthy drought which began prior to the completion of Falcon Dam, the Rio Grande dried up." ^[3]

Frank was one of the founders of the San Benito Baptist Church, the Valley Baptist Association and the Valley Baptist Hospital where he was a member of the board of directors. He was on the school board and a charter member of the Rotary Club from 1919 to his death. Dr. Cash was Chairman of the Rotary Club in 1943 and passed a resolution in his memory highlighting his achievements on the 18th day of February of that year.

Sam and Frank at Boca Chico - 1931

He was vice president and secretary of Del Mar Beach Resort

Frank Robertson did not live to see the Falcon Dam project completed, but other dedicated leaders at local, state and national levels continued the Valley's 50 year fight to it's final victory. It was dedicated on October 19, 1953 by the presidents of both countries, Adolfo Ruiz Cortines and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Frank worked at the Water Office until the day before he died, February 13th, 1943.

(Frank and his brother Sam's histories have been "merged" over the years. They worked together on many of Sam's projects. Frank was a somber businessman, Sam the adventurer)

Franklin Robertson Obit

Sources

SAM ROBERTSON*MY OWN SUMMATION OF HIS CAREER by his brother, R. E. Robertson, Col. Sam Robertson File and Scrapbook Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. The University of Texas at Austin. Austin, Texas

Biographical sketch of Franklin Selden Robertson, written by his brother,Robert Emmett Robertson, in 1955 Lewis-Robertson Family. Papers (1837-1955 (bulk 1837-1851; 1955).) State Historical Society of Missouri, St. Louis http://collections.mohistory.org/archive/ARC:A0899

An article written for Mercedes News-Tribune on Irrigation, Water Conservation and Flood Control in the Rio Grande Valley, by F.S. Robertson, August 21, 1937

• https://www.cityofsanbenito.com/327/History#:~:text=Founding,and%20Southwest%20of%20the%20country.

1. ↑ http://www.sanbenitohistory.com/projects/Science_Dept/Water_Control.html
2. ↑ https://www.cityofsanbenito.com/327/History#:~:text=Founding,and%20Southwest%20of%20the%20country.
3. ↑ http://www.sanbenitohistory.com/projects/Science_Dept/Role_of_the_Building.html

(https://www.cityofsanbenito.com/327/History

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Allan Thomas for this profile.