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Michael Barr
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Stieler
Hill is the high point on the road between Fredericksburg
and Comfort.
At the very top is the headquarters of the Stieler Ranch, once home
to Adolph Stieler, the Goat King.
Adolph Steiler was born into the ranching business, with the blood
of three famous ranch families flowing in his veins. His grandfather
on his mother's side was Caspar Real who came to Kerr
County in the 1850s. Real married Emelie Schreiner, one of Captain
Charles Schreiner's sisters.
Caspar Real imported Delaine sheep from Ohio. He shipped them down
the Mississippi River by riverboat to New Orleans, by steam ship to
Indianola,
and then by wagon to his ranch in Kerr
County.
Hermann Stieler, Adolph's father, was born in Germany but came to
Kerr County to work
as a freighter for Captain Schreiner. On January 1, 1877, Hermann
married Emma Real, Caspar and Emelie's daughter.
In the 1870s, Hermann took up three sections of land in the Hill
Country near Comfort.
He retired in 1917 and turned his sheep ranch, now covering 25 sections,
over to his sons.
In 1921 Adolph Stieler borrowed money against a life insurance policy
to buy 800 angora goats. His neighbors thought he was crazy. At the
time goats sold for 25 to 50 cents apiece. Mohair sold for 6 cents
a pound. No one made money in the goat business. |
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The gate at
Stieler Ranch on Stieler Hill
June 2016 photo courtesy Michael
Barr |
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But Adolph saw
the big picture and had an uncanny feel for the flow of the nation's
economy. He saw that automobile manufacturers were beginning to make
upholstery out of mohair. Clothing manufacturers were using more mohair
for suits, coats, dresses, and sweaters. Prices began to rise.
Adolph Stieler held the course, and by 1942 he owned 38,000 goats,
20,000 sheep, and 1,000 cattle grazing on 90,000 acres in Kendall,
Kimble, Kerr,
Gillespie, Blanco,
and San Saba Counties.
Adolph was a skilled stockman who knew how to manage the range. He
studied the grazing patterns of goats, sheep, cattle, and deer, and
he used his knowledge to get the most out of each pasture without
overgrazing it.
In 1942, as war raged in Europe and the Pacific, Life Magazine
sent renowned photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt to Stieler Hill to visit
the Goat King. That was three years before Eisenstaedt took his most
famous picture - the kissing sailor in Times Square on V. J. Day.
Life Magazine introduced the Goat King and his subjects to
the world.
"Goats are among man's oldest friends," Life told its readers.
"Goats are mentioned 137 times in the Bible."
"Angoras are the blue-blooded elite of the goat world. Their long,
curly, silky fleece, known commercially as mohair, is used to make
fine upholstery, yarn, and fabrics."
"Angora goats are dainty, shy, and not at all smelly. Their fleece
is so rich in healthy oil (lanolin), that goat men who handle them
a lot have pink soft hands like a baby's."
When the American economy took off after the war, the price of mohair
soared. By 1950, mohair was selling at 85cents a pound. Angoras sold
for $15 to $16 apiece. Adolph Stieler was a wealthy man. |
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Barns at Stieler
Ranch
June 2016 photo courtesy Michael
Barr |
Barns at Stieler
Ranch
June 2016 photo courtesy Michael
Barr |
Adolph's
first wife died in 1936. In 1955, he married Merle Porter of Austin.
Their reception was in the Crystal Ballroom at the Driskill Hotel.
They honeymooned in New Orleans, Miami, and Havana.
Adolph Stieler was a dyed-in-the-wool Republican. On January 20, 1952
he traveled to Washington, D. C. to attend the inauguration of his
friend Dwight Eisenhower, and he was a delegate to the 1956 Republican
Convention.
In 1956 Mrs. Stieler made a gift for Mamie Eisenhower - a lime green
felt skirt adorned with felt elephants and the words "There's nothing
wrong in Texas that Ike and a little rain won't cure."
On August 9, 1969 local Republicans honored Mr. and Mrs. Stieler with
a reception at Louise
Hayes Park in Kerrville.
The main speaker was another Stieler friend, Congressman George H.
W. Bush from Houston.
At the end of the speech George Bush and Adolph Stieler stood together
on the podium - the future President of the United States and the
Goat King of Stieler Hill. |
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Adolph Stieler's
grave in Comfort Cemetery.
June 2016 photo courtesy Michael
Barr |
©
Michael Barr
"Hindsights" July
1, 2016 Column
Sources:
Kerrville
Mountain Sun, August 3, 1944, "Golden Fleece," p7.
Life Magazine, August 31, 1942.
Albuquerque Journal August 24, 1956, "Mrs. Eisenhower Chooses Purple,"
p17, c2.
East St. Louis Daily Livestock Reporter, May 23, 1957, p3, c1.
Fredericksburg Standard, August 13, 1969, "Republicans Honor Stielers
at Barbecue," p3, c4.
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