William Franklin Frakes


William Franklin Frakes was an American rancher, naturalist, adventurer, and author.
The son of Elizabeth Lake, pioneers Samuel H. T. Frakes and Almeda Mudgett Frakes, William Frakes grew up on their ranch next to that of his cousin Frank Frakes. He studied in San Jose, probably at the forerunner of the University of the Pacific, but then left to pursue a life focused on the outdoors. He traveled to Argentina in the 1890s, where he explored the country, collected animals, and also fought off a bandit ambush. He introduced the nutria to North America from Argentina and set up a nutria farm at his ranch in Elizabeth Lake in 1899.. Later some nutria escaped and went feral, with negative ecological impacts. In 1904, he also introduced quail to Santa Catalina Island, founding the quail covey there.. He tried to domesticate bighorn sheep with mixed results. He enjoyed hunting in the Antelope Valley and at his hunting cabin near Camp Cady, CA with his cousin William Mudgett of Neenach, CA. Also a writer of nature and adventure stories, Will Frakes had a surprisingly engaging style.
He moved to Phoenix in 1920 and died there in 1942.