R. M. Turner Family

Ranchers like the Turners sent their clips to market through a seasonal routine. On large ranches itinerant shearing crews, often from Mexico, came back each year; an expert shearer was expected to fleece 100 sheep a day at three to four cents a fleece. The owner and his hands tallied and tied each fleece and packed it into an eight- to ten-foot sack that weighed about 360 pounds when full. In Southwest Texas freighters hauled the wool to San Antonio or Kerrville, often hitching three or four loaded wagons behind five or more pairs of horses.

What the plaque says

R. M. Turner Family On April 28, 1879, R.M. Turner (1858-1928) entered Kimble County with Bride, Emma (Scarborough), (1863-1945), from Dewitt County. They settled near this site, on the north bank of the South Llano River, where Turner soon became a prominent cattle and sheep rancher. Of ten children born to the Turners, eight reached adulthood, most of them remained in the county to become leading citizens. Most noted was Jack Turner, conductor of the first angora doe sale in Texas, and one of the organizers of National Agora Goat Breeders Association, in 1925, serving as the first secretary, then president. (1973)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Kimble County Historical Museum — 8.5 mi
  A free county museum in Junction, the town at the meeting of the North and South Llano, with the papers, photographs and tools of a ranching county.

More markers nearby

• Doom of the Outlaws of Pegleg Station — 1.3 mi
• Wooten Cemetery — 2.4 mi
• Site of Four Mile Dam — 5.1 mi
• Telegraph Store and Post Office — 5.6 mi