 After the Texas-Mexican Railway was built in 1881, its San Diego station was important for hides, wool, and cotton.But in 1886 the sheep began to die, and the boom died.The corrupt Parr family political machine dominated Duval and nearby Jim Wells counties during the twentieth century, and were instrumental in the 1948 election of Lyndon Johnson to the US Senate, and to some extent the 1960 presidential election which threw Texas to John F Kennedy.