Paul Colt's Blog, page 48
June 26, 2016
King Ranch
In the category of Great Western Ranches, surviving to this very day you couldn’t come up with a more startling counterpoint to the Waggoner Ranch legacy than that of the great King Ranch. If the Waggoners were flamboyant and ostentatious, the Kings reigned stately and regal.
King Ranch got its start in 1852 when Richard King settled a small herd on Santa Gertrudis Creek in south Texas. In 1853 land acquisition began with a near-by Spanish land grant, soon followed by a much larger Mexican land grant. By the mid 1850’s King Ranch encompassed 68,500 acres. Richard King was just getting started. He determined to grow his ranching empire with land and cattle. It became his life’s work. The running ‘W’ brand we recognize today first appeared in the 1860’s. It became the King Ranch registered brand in 1869.
Richard King passed away in 1885. His widow hired the family lawyer to serve as ranch manager. Robert J. Kleberg eventually married King’s daughter Alice and continued to grow the ranch and strengthen the breeding program. The breeding program began in the 1870’s with the introduction of Brahman Bulls, well suited to south Texas heat. In the 1880’s Herefords and Shorthorn were introduced to the breeding program. The program would go on to produce the King Ranch signature Santa Gertrudis breed.
By the turn of the twentieth century King Ranch enterprises spread its wings beyond cattle, breeding quarter horses and thoroughbred race horses, including 1946 Triple Crown winner, Assault. Like many Texas Ranches, oil found its way into King Ranch in the early 1900’s. Not much was made of it until Humble Oil discovered a rich field in 1945. The discovery grew rapidly to include nearly 400 wells and a refinery.
In the years following WWII, King Ranch expanded ranching operations on a grand scale. Ranching assets were acquired in Pennsylvania, Florida and Kentucky. International expansion focused on countries with strong beef industries including Australia, Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela. Today King ranch encompasses more than eight hundred thousand acres. King Ranch has incorporated conservation and wildlife preservation into its land management culture. International ranching conglomerate, who knew?
More recently King Ranch has taken up merchandising its Flying W brand on everything from high end home décor to pick-up trucks. King Ranch is more than an icon among great western ranches. It is a diversified commercial enterprise.
Next Week: The King’s Cattle
Ride easy,
Paul
King Ranch got its start in 1852 when Richard King settled a small herd on Santa Gertrudis Creek in south Texas. In 1853 land acquisition began with a near-by Spanish land grant, soon followed by a much larger Mexican land grant. By the mid 1850’s King Ranch encompassed 68,500 acres. Richard King was just getting started. He determined to grow his ranching empire with land and cattle. It became his life’s work. The running ‘W’ brand we recognize today first appeared in the 1860’s. It became the King Ranch registered brand in 1869.
Richard King passed away in 1885. His widow hired the family lawyer to serve as ranch manager. Robert J. Kleberg eventually married King’s daughter Alice and continued to grow the ranch and strengthen the breeding program. The breeding program began in the 1870’s with the introduction of Brahman Bulls, well suited to south Texas heat. In the 1880’s Herefords and Shorthorn were introduced to the breeding program. The program would go on to produce the King Ranch signature Santa Gertrudis breed.
By the turn of the twentieth century King Ranch enterprises spread its wings beyond cattle, breeding quarter horses and thoroughbred race horses, including 1946 Triple Crown winner, Assault. Like many Texas Ranches, oil found its way into King Ranch in the early 1900’s. Not much was made of it until Humble Oil discovered a rich field in 1945. The discovery grew rapidly to include nearly 400 wells and a refinery.
In the years following WWII, King Ranch expanded ranching operations on a grand scale. Ranching assets were acquired in Pennsylvania, Florida and Kentucky. International expansion focused on countries with strong beef industries including Australia, Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela. Today King ranch encompasses more than eight hundred thousand acres. King Ranch has incorporated conservation and wildlife preservation into its land management culture. International ranching conglomerate, who knew?
More recently King Ranch has taken up merchandising its Flying W brand on everything from high end home décor to pick-up trucks. King Ranch is more than an icon among great western ranches. It is a diversified commercial enterprise.
Next Week: The King’s Cattle
Ride easy,
Paul
June 19, 2016
Remembering Dallas
Now I date myself by recalling the 1970’s TV series Dallas which centered on the dysfunctional Ewing clan and every conniving, greedy, underhanded scheme and vice you could imagine; but if that show had an inspiration it would have to be the saga of the Waggoner clan. When W.T. got the ranch divided up to his satisfaction, the kids dashed his hopes they might settle down to the family business.
As if he sensed trouble on the horizon from his black sheep family tree, W.T. wrapped the estate in a trust he and elected successors controlled. The kids owned shares in the trust, representative of their holdings. They had a voice in selection of the trustees who succeeded W.T.; but none of them had control of the estate itself. The arrangement resembled the starting line for a demolition derby.
Son Guy proved least troublesome of the lot. He married once and had no children. His branch of the family tree has no part in the contemporary dispute over control of the ranch. He spent his days in pursuit of his first love, horse racing.
Electra Waggoner roared through the twenties in a lavish lifestyle worthy of the Great Gatsby. She lived a life of extravagant parties, mansions full of the latest fashions and world travel. She lived fast, died young and left two children by her three marriages. Her ranch holdings passed to Buster Warton Jr. a polo playing playboy. He claimed the inheritance when his sibling died. Four marriages later, Buster bred the heir who was one of the protagonists in the contemporary fight for control of the ranch.
Electra’s brother, E. Paul might have passed for a western matinee cowboy star. Married once, he had a fondness for whiskey, women and horses. E. Paul purchased Poco Bueno champion sire to some of the world’s finest cutting horses. E. Paul and his wife had a daughter named after his sister Electra (II). The name was well chosen. A talented sculptress, she enjoyed a high profile lifestyle. Who do you know gets a car named after them? Electra II and her second husband John Biggs had two daughters, Helen and you guessed it, Electra III. Helen and her husband become the second protagonist in the contemporary dispute.
The dispute itself was complicated, decades long and bitter. It was finely resolved earlier this year with sale of the ranch to Stan Kroenke, owner of the NFL L.A. Rams, NBA Denver Nuggets and NHL Colorado Avalanche. In a statement, Kroenke said the ranch would be preserved intact, allaying fears the historic landmark would be broken up. Looks like a happy ending.
Next Week: A Pair of Kings
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolt
Ride easy,
Paul
As if he sensed trouble on the horizon from his black sheep family tree, W.T. wrapped the estate in a trust he and elected successors controlled. The kids owned shares in the trust, representative of their holdings. They had a voice in selection of the trustees who succeeded W.T.; but none of them had control of the estate itself. The arrangement resembled the starting line for a demolition derby.
Son Guy proved least troublesome of the lot. He married once and had no children. His branch of the family tree has no part in the contemporary dispute over control of the ranch. He spent his days in pursuit of his first love, horse racing.
Electra Waggoner roared through the twenties in a lavish lifestyle worthy of the Great Gatsby. She lived a life of extravagant parties, mansions full of the latest fashions and world travel. She lived fast, died young and left two children by her three marriages. Her ranch holdings passed to Buster Warton Jr. a polo playing playboy. He claimed the inheritance when his sibling died. Four marriages later, Buster bred the heir who was one of the protagonists in the contemporary fight for control of the ranch.
Electra’s brother, E. Paul might have passed for a western matinee cowboy star. Married once, he had a fondness for whiskey, women and horses. E. Paul purchased Poco Bueno champion sire to some of the world’s finest cutting horses. E. Paul and his wife had a daughter named after his sister Electra (II). The name was well chosen. A talented sculptress, she enjoyed a high profile lifestyle. Who do you know gets a car named after them? Electra II and her second husband John Biggs had two daughters, Helen and you guessed it, Electra III. Helen and her husband become the second protagonist in the contemporary dispute.
The dispute itself was complicated, decades long and bitter. It was finely resolved earlier this year with sale of the ranch to Stan Kroenke, owner of the NFL L.A. Rams, NBA Denver Nuggets and NHL Colorado Avalanche. In a statement, Kroenke said the ranch would be preserved intact, allaying fears the historic landmark would be broken up. Looks like a happy ending.
Next Week: A Pair of Kings
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolt
Ride easy,
Paul
June 12, 2016
Waggoner Ranch
After the XIT series readers highly recommended doing a post on the Waggoner Ranch. I did a little research and discarded the suggestion because the Waggoner Ranch story didn’t fit the nineteenth century focus of these pages. Once we decided to do this series on great American ranches, I added it back to the mix because the Waggoner story may not be a nineteenth century story; but it is certainly an interesting American ranch story.
The story begins about 1850 when Dan Waggoner established a small ranch on Denton Creek near Decatur Texas. The ranch grew over the next twenty years. In 1870 Waggoner drove a herd to Kansas that he sold for $55,000, serious money in the nineteenth century. Dan began an expansion program that grew Waggoner herds and range land. By the 1880’s the Waggoners owned several banks, a cotton processing plant and a coal company. The family lived in a mansion in Decatur known as El Castile.
During that period Dan and son W.T. developed an informal business relationship with the Comanche chief Quanah Parker. The Waggoners wanted a huge parcel of Indian land to pasture their ever growing herds. Parker persuaded tribal elders to deliver the land. The Waggoners rewarded him with wealth and fame, establishing him in an opulent home that became known as the Comanche Whitehouse.
Dan died in 1903, leaving W.T. a ranch of more than 500,000 acres with leases extending it to more than a million. That was the end of the nineteenth century Waggoner Ranch story; but it was only the beginning to the rest of the story. W.T. continued to build the ranch in true cattle baron style. He had three children, a daughter Electra and two sons Guy and E. Paul. Raised in privilege, W.T.’s offspring showed little interest in ranching and the newly developing oil business. In 1923 W.T. formed the W.T. Waggoner Estate as a structured way to pass the ranch along to his children and to make something of their lives. The best laid plans. . .
W.T. divided the ranch in four parcels, one for himself and one for each of his children. He decided to determine which parcel each got by drawing cards. Seems reasonable unless you have a predetermined outcome in mind, which W.T. did. Clearly he was a better rancher than card player in a game given two out of three chances to come out wrong- which it did. When W.T. declared ‘misdeal’, the seeds of deep-seated family discord were sown for generations to come.
Next Week: Remembering Dallas
Ride easy,
Paul
The story begins about 1850 when Dan Waggoner established a small ranch on Denton Creek near Decatur Texas. The ranch grew over the next twenty years. In 1870 Waggoner drove a herd to Kansas that he sold for $55,000, serious money in the nineteenth century. Dan began an expansion program that grew Waggoner herds and range land. By the 1880’s the Waggoners owned several banks, a cotton processing plant and a coal company. The family lived in a mansion in Decatur known as El Castile.
During that period Dan and son W.T. developed an informal business relationship with the Comanche chief Quanah Parker. The Waggoners wanted a huge parcel of Indian land to pasture their ever growing herds. Parker persuaded tribal elders to deliver the land. The Waggoners rewarded him with wealth and fame, establishing him in an opulent home that became known as the Comanche Whitehouse.
Dan died in 1903, leaving W.T. a ranch of more than 500,000 acres with leases extending it to more than a million. That was the end of the nineteenth century Waggoner Ranch story; but it was only the beginning to the rest of the story. W.T. continued to build the ranch in true cattle baron style. He had three children, a daughter Electra and two sons Guy and E. Paul. Raised in privilege, W.T.’s offspring showed little interest in ranching and the newly developing oil business. In 1923 W.T. formed the W.T. Waggoner Estate as a structured way to pass the ranch along to his children and to make something of their lives. The best laid plans. . .
W.T. divided the ranch in four parcels, one for himself and one for each of his children. He decided to determine which parcel each got by drawing cards. Seems reasonable unless you have a predetermined outcome in mind, which W.T. did. Clearly he was a better rancher than card player in a game given two out of three chances to come out wrong- which it did. When W.T. declared ‘misdeal’, the seeds of deep-seated family discord were sown for generations to come.
Next Week: Remembering Dallas
Ride easy,
Paul
June 5, 2016
Hashknife Outfit
Color me who knew? Ranches take on personalities. Never would have guessed that when we started down these pages; but here we are. Take a ranch covering two million acres, add a brand based on a chuck wagon cook’s tool and a raucous band of cowboys with plenty of attitude and you get the Aztec Land and Cattle Company, better known as the Hashknife Outfit.
The Hashknife Outfit operated in northern Arizona between 1884 and 1902 on grasslands ranging from the New Mexico border west to Flagstaff. The ranch owed its origins to a Boston- that’s right Boston based investor group who sought to capitalize on the collapse of the Texas cattle business and a softspot in the beef market. These ‘bottom fishers’ boutht cheap and spread out big with the idea of turning huge profits. They did, for a while.
The Aztec Land and Cattle Company bought a million acres in norther Arizona from the financially troubled Atlantic & Pacific Railroad. The bought stock, sixty thousand head of cattle and twenty two hundred horses from failing Texas cattle ranches and move the stock to Arizona. The Hashknife brand came along, courtesy of Texas’ Continental Cattle Company. Aztec adopted the brand because of the difficulty rustlers found in running a hot iron over it in any meaningful way. They were right. Frustrated, the rustlers hired on as Hashknife cowboys and that’s when the trouble started.
Wild, thieving and murderous Hashknife hands terrorized towns like tiny Holbrook with the temerity to border Aztec range. They lit the tinder that sparked range wars with sodbusters and sheep herders in northern Arizona. We’ve done the research for a post series on notorious western range wars. One of them, known as the Pleasant Valley War pitted the Hashknife Outfit against sheep men. We’ll get to that dust-up farther down the road.
None of the other ranch histories I’ve done had a chapter on train robbery. In 1889 elements of the Hashknife gang masked up and lifted fifteen hundred dollars from a Santa Fe Railroad train. Yavapai County sheriff, Buckey O’Neil and a posse ran down the culprits in Waheap Canyon near Cannonville, Utah.
Shortly after the turn of the century seeds of the Azetec demise were sown. Seasonal monsoons washed topsoil away, turning lush grasslands to dried desert. Cattle and land suffered leading to liquidation of assets.
By 1902 the Azetec Land and Cattle Company ceased operation. The Hashknife brand continued under new ownership until 1910 when the brand departed the commercial cattle scene.
Next Week: Waggoner Ranch
Ride easy,
Paul
The Hashknife Outfit operated in northern Arizona between 1884 and 1902 on grasslands ranging from the New Mexico border west to Flagstaff. The ranch owed its origins to a Boston- that’s right Boston based investor group who sought to capitalize on the collapse of the Texas cattle business and a softspot in the beef market. These ‘bottom fishers’ boutht cheap and spread out big with the idea of turning huge profits. They did, for a while.
The Aztec Land and Cattle Company bought a million acres in norther Arizona from the financially troubled Atlantic & Pacific Railroad. The bought stock, sixty thousand head of cattle and twenty two hundred horses from failing Texas cattle ranches and move the stock to Arizona. The Hashknife brand came along, courtesy of Texas’ Continental Cattle Company. Aztec adopted the brand because of the difficulty rustlers found in running a hot iron over it in any meaningful way. They were right. Frustrated, the rustlers hired on as Hashknife cowboys and that’s when the trouble started.
Wild, thieving and murderous Hashknife hands terrorized towns like tiny Holbrook with the temerity to border Aztec range. They lit the tinder that sparked range wars with sodbusters and sheep herders in northern Arizona. We’ve done the research for a post series on notorious western range wars. One of them, known as the Pleasant Valley War pitted the Hashknife Outfit against sheep men. We’ll get to that dust-up farther down the road.
None of the other ranch histories I’ve done had a chapter on train robbery. In 1889 elements of the Hashknife gang masked up and lifted fifteen hundred dollars from a Santa Fe Railroad train. Yavapai County sheriff, Buckey O’Neil and a posse ran down the culprits in Waheap Canyon near Cannonville, Utah.
Shortly after the turn of the century seeds of the Azetec demise were sown. Seasonal monsoons washed topsoil away, turning lush grasslands to dried desert. Cattle and land suffered leading to liquidation of assets.
By 1902 the Azetec Land and Cattle Company ceased operation. The Hashknife brand continued under new ownership until 1910 when the brand departed the commercial cattle scene.
Next Week: Waggoner Ranch
Ride easy,
Paul
May 29, 2016
Miller & Lux Empire
It turns out you can’t tell the story of the Miller & Lux ranch without telling Henry Miller’s story. When you step back to look at what Henry Miller accomplished, calling it a ranch understates the achievement. The Miller & Lux truly became an empire worthy of the title, King of the California Cattlemen.
German born Henry Miller got his start as a butcher. He found his way to California like so many drawn by the discovery of gold in 1848. He got waylaid along the way by illness in Panama, finally arriving in San Francisco in 1850. He opened a butcher shop in 1851 following the San Francisco Fire. Miller was an entrepreneur by nature. Hardy, vigorous and energetic some suggest he resembled Ulysses S. Grant in appearance. He attacked the business of butchering with a vision and resolve to action that quickly set him apart.
Rather than wait for ranchers to bring their cattle to his market, he roamed the valleys south of San Francisco to buy his beef and herd it to town for slaughter. He got to know cattle ranchers and ranching and quickly came to realize the value of land to ranching. Henry faced larger established competitors in the San Francisco butcher business. He set out to secure a position of strength by succeeding in purchasing options on all the cattle available in the ranching environs serving the San Francisco market. When Henry came to terms with his beef-less competitors, one of the largest, Charles W. Lux became his partner.
The firm of Miller & Lux established ranching operations of its own in the valleys south of San Francisco to the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There Henry found millions of unclaimed acres, land held under tenuous Spanish land grants that could be purchased for paltry sums along with established ranches operated by owners eager to sell. Henry Miller came to understand cattle, ranching and men. He relentlessly drove Miller & Lux expansion. Miller propelled his partner, a conservative financier and bookkeeper to massive wealth.
Henry’s insatiable appetite for land grew to the point Miller & Lux holdings measured not in acres but square miles, stretching from Oregon to southern California’s border with Mexico. The amassed empire was breathtaking as was the wealth. Despite his success,
Henry remained a simple man. A philanthropist, he was known to give a cow to anyone for the asking. He built a canal to serve a community in need of water at a personal cost of three million dollars. When the county needed a road, he had it built. He did it all without pride, pretense or self-interest. Henry Miller lived to age ninety, leaving an enduring mark on the golden state of California.
Next Week: Hashknife Outfit
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolt
Ride easy,
Paul
German born Henry Miller got his start as a butcher. He found his way to California like so many drawn by the discovery of gold in 1848. He got waylaid along the way by illness in Panama, finally arriving in San Francisco in 1850. He opened a butcher shop in 1851 following the San Francisco Fire. Miller was an entrepreneur by nature. Hardy, vigorous and energetic some suggest he resembled Ulysses S. Grant in appearance. He attacked the business of butchering with a vision and resolve to action that quickly set him apart.
Rather than wait for ranchers to bring their cattle to his market, he roamed the valleys south of San Francisco to buy his beef and herd it to town for slaughter. He got to know cattle ranchers and ranching and quickly came to realize the value of land to ranching. Henry faced larger established competitors in the San Francisco butcher business. He set out to secure a position of strength by succeeding in purchasing options on all the cattle available in the ranching environs serving the San Francisco market. When Henry came to terms with his beef-less competitors, one of the largest, Charles W. Lux became his partner.
The firm of Miller & Lux established ranching operations of its own in the valleys south of San Francisco to the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There Henry found millions of unclaimed acres, land held under tenuous Spanish land grants that could be purchased for paltry sums along with established ranches operated by owners eager to sell. Henry Miller came to understand cattle, ranching and men. He relentlessly drove Miller & Lux expansion. Miller propelled his partner, a conservative financier and bookkeeper to massive wealth.
Henry’s insatiable appetite for land grew to the point Miller & Lux holdings measured not in acres but square miles, stretching from Oregon to southern California’s border with Mexico. The amassed empire was breathtaking as was the wealth. Despite his success,
Henry remained a simple man. A philanthropist, he was known to give a cow to anyone for the asking. He built a canal to serve a community in need of water at a personal cost of three million dollars. When the county needed a road, he had it built. He did it all without pride, pretense or self-interest. Henry Miller lived to age ninety, leaving an enduring mark on the golden state of California.
Next Week: Hashknife Outfit
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolt
Ride easy,
Paul
May 21, 2016
Matador Land & Cattle Company
The Matador Land & Cattle Company founded by cattleman Hank Campbell had its humble beginnings in 1878. Campbell sold a herd of Texas Longhorns and formed a partnership with banker A. M. Britton. He established his ranch in Motley County along the Pease Rivers. He purchased a small herd and grazing rights to run a low-overhead operation out of an abandoned dugout. His spread became known for its brand, the Matador V.
Cattle attracted investment in as far away as Scotland. In 1882 Britton ventured there to raise expansion capital for the Matador. Backed by investors from Dundee Scotland, Alexander Mackay purchased the Matador Land & Cattle Company in 1882 for $1.2 million and began acquiring land and grazing rights to expand its herds. Hank Campbell managed ranch operations.
The new owners expanded land holdings and grazing rights adding improvements including fencing, windmills and water tanks. Murdo Mackenzie took over ranch management in 1890 and went on to become one of the most influential cattlemen in Texas. He began a breeding program importing Hereford bulls to strengthen the rangy Texas stock. He moved the ranch headquarters to Colorado and began an aggressive program, acquiring some 1.5 million acres of land and grazing leases ranging from Texas up through Indian Territory to the Dakota’s and into Canada.
By the early twentieth century Matador cattle bred to blue ribbons at livestock shows across the west and Midwest. Mackenzie resigned in 1912 and was succeeded by his nephew, John McBain. McBain negotiated building a rail line through the Texas ranch that spawned the town of Roaring Springs not far from ranch headquarters. Growth in ranch operations slowed for a time by the distraction of oil discoveries in Texas. Explorations and test wells on Matador land yielded little oil so by the outbreak of World War I is was back to business in cattle.
After the war the cattle market declined. Matador pulled in the horns of its northern operations such that by 1928 ranch operations were concentrated in Texas. The Matador survived the Great Depression and prospered through WWII. The Matador was acquired by the investment banking firm of Lazard Freres and liquidated in 1951.
Next Week: Miller & Lux Empire
Ride easy,
Paul
Cattle attracted investment in as far away as Scotland. In 1882 Britton ventured there to raise expansion capital for the Matador. Backed by investors from Dundee Scotland, Alexander Mackay purchased the Matador Land & Cattle Company in 1882 for $1.2 million and began acquiring land and grazing rights to expand its herds. Hank Campbell managed ranch operations.
The new owners expanded land holdings and grazing rights adding improvements including fencing, windmills and water tanks. Murdo Mackenzie took over ranch management in 1890 and went on to become one of the most influential cattlemen in Texas. He began a breeding program importing Hereford bulls to strengthen the rangy Texas stock. He moved the ranch headquarters to Colorado and began an aggressive program, acquiring some 1.5 million acres of land and grazing leases ranging from Texas up through Indian Territory to the Dakota’s and into Canada.
By the early twentieth century Matador cattle bred to blue ribbons at livestock shows across the west and Midwest. Mackenzie resigned in 1912 and was succeeded by his nephew, John McBain. McBain negotiated building a rail line through the Texas ranch that spawned the town of Roaring Springs not far from ranch headquarters. Growth in ranch operations slowed for a time by the distraction of oil discoveries in Texas. Explorations and test wells on Matador land yielded little oil so by the outbreak of World War I is was back to business in cattle.
After the war the cattle market declined. Matador pulled in the horns of its northern operations such that by 1928 ranch operations were concentrated in Texas. The Matador survived the Great Depression and prospered through WWII. The Matador was acquired by the investment banking firm of Lazard Freres and liquidated in 1951.
Next Week: Miller & Lux Empire
Ride easy,
Paul
May 15, 2016
Coburns Turkey Track
Scottish born James Coburn emigrated to the United States and took up a banking career. He spotted opportunity in the booming business in cattle. He returned to Scotland briefly to raise capital and organize the Hansford Land and Cattle Company. He returned to the United States in 1882 and began building his empire. He purchased the Turkey Track, combining it with the Scissors Ranch at Adobe Walls and Thomas Bugbee’s Quarter Circle T ranch. The combined holdings adopted the Trukey Track brand.
Peevish and autocratic, though insecure, Coburn made poor management material. He muddled his way to personnel problems almost from the very beginning. Following the brief general management tenure of A. H. Johnston who died when struck by lightning,
Coburn assumed the General Manager position, hiring experienced cattleman Logan Coffee as foreman. Trouble developed when Coburn discovered Coffee running his own cattle on Turkey Track range. When Coburn sought to dismiss Coffee, the cowhands stood with their foreman. Coburn backed down. With his authority spinning out of control, Coburn installed Caleb ‘Cape’ Willingham as supervisor.
Willingham took control of ranch operations. He sheltered Coburn from his management duties, allowing him to return to banking in Kansas City.
Turkey Track prospered for the next twenty years, shipping herds to Dodge City until 1888 when The Panhandle & Santa Fe railroad brought service to the region. The ranch proper grew to more than eighty thousand acres with another three hundred thousand acres under lease. Herds grew to more than thirty thousand head.
Willingham built a home to serve as ranch headquarters, along with a bunkhouse, cook shack and stock pens. Coburn continued to make seasonal visits to his holdings usually relying on Willingham’s protection. During one such visit, Coburn persuaded legendary buffalo hunter and Indian fighter Billy Dixon to open a post office and mercantile at Adobe Walls to serve the ranch and surrounding community.
Willingham acquired rangeland in New Mexico near Roswell in 1893 and moved the Turkey Track headquarters onto land formerly a part of John Chisum’s holdings. With Willingham off day to day operations on the panhandle, Coburn again experienced problems with his panhandle spread. Rustling losses and friction with his cowhands led Coburn to sell the panhandle holding. Coburn moved to New Mexico for a few years before selling out and disappearing from the ranching scene. By 1916 the Turkey Track ceased ranching operations.
Next Week: Matador Land & Cattle Company
Ride easy,
Paul
Peevish and autocratic, though insecure, Coburn made poor management material. He muddled his way to personnel problems almost from the very beginning. Following the brief general management tenure of A. H. Johnston who died when struck by lightning,
Coburn assumed the General Manager position, hiring experienced cattleman Logan Coffee as foreman. Trouble developed when Coburn discovered Coffee running his own cattle on Turkey Track range. When Coburn sought to dismiss Coffee, the cowhands stood with their foreman. Coburn backed down. With his authority spinning out of control, Coburn installed Caleb ‘Cape’ Willingham as supervisor.
Willingham took control of ranch operations. He sheltered Coburn from his management duties, allowing him to return to banking in Kansas City.
Turkey Track prospered for the next twenty years, shipping herds to Dodge City until 1888 when The Panhandle & Santa Fe railroad brought service to the region. The ranch proper grew to more than eighty thousand acres with another three hundred thousand acres under lease. Herds grew to more than thirty thousand head.
Willingham built a home to serve as ranch headquarters, along with a bunkhouse, cook shack and stock pens. Coburn continued to make seasonal visits to his holdings usually relying on Willingham’s protection. During one such visit, Coburn persuaded legendary buffalo hunter and Indian fighter Billy Dixon to open a post office and mercantile at Adobe Walls to serve the ranch and surrounding community.
Willingham acquired rangeland in New Mexico near Roswell in 1893 and moved the Turkey Track headquarters onto land formerly a part of John Chisum’s holdings. With Willingham off day to day operations on the panhandle, Coburn again experienced problems with his panhandle spread. Rustling losses and friction with his cowhands led Coburn to sell the panhandle holding. Coburn moved to New Mexico for a few years before selling out and disappearing from the ranching scene. By 1916 the Turkey Track ceased ranching operations.
Next Week: Matador Land & Cattle Company
Ride easy,
Paul
May 8, 2016
Great Wester Ranches
Last year we did a post series on financing the Texas state capital with a land grant that became the legendary XIT ranch. That post series was read and shared by well over sixty thousand readers. It was one of the most successful posts we’ve done. Along the way, a number of readers suggested other ranches we should consider writing about. Well so many of you asked for it, here we go. We compiled a list from your suggestions and a couple of my own ideas. Let’s see where this journey takes us starting in North Texas at the Turkey Track Ranch.
The Turkey Track Ranch got its start in 1878 when Richard McNalty settled a grassy free range along Moore Creek in what became present day Hutchinson County Texas. The ranch took its name from a distinctive brand having the appearance of a three toed- you guessed it- turkey track. Over the next three years McNulty built a ranch of seven thousand acres running over six thousand head of cattle. In 1881 he sold the Turkey Track to Charles Word and Jack Snider.
Word and Snider continued to build the herd, though their most notable accomplishment might have been constructing a two hundered mile ‘drift fence’ in the fight to control the spread of Texas fever. As those who follow these posts know Texas fever is a tick transmitted cattle disease born parasitically by Texas Longhorns. The fatal disease infected other breeds when they came in contact with otherwise healthy Longhorns. Fear of the disease prompted quarantines and restrictions that limited driving Texas cattle to market. Years later it was discovered that Longhorn calves developed an immunity to the disease early in life and became carriers. Fleas that bite Longhorns lay infected eggs in grasslands the Longhorns grazed on. Fleas hatched from those eggs spread the disease to cattle lacking the Longhorn’s immunity.
In 1883 Word and Snider sold the Turkey Track to Hansford Land and Cattle Company, a Scottish syndicate headed by native Scottsman and Kansas City Banker, James Coburn. With Coburn at the helm, the Turkey Track entered a twenty year period of turbulence and growth.
Next Week: Coburn’s Turkey Track
Find Paul Colt books:
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolt
Ride easy,
Paul
The Turkey Track Ranch got its start in 1878 when Richard McNalty settled a grassy free range along Moore Creek in what became present day Hutchinson County Texas. The ranch took its name from a distinctive brand having the appearance of a three toed- you guessed it- turkey track. Over the next three years McNulty built a ranch of seven thousand acres running over six thousand head of cattle. In 1881 he sold the Turkey Track to Charles Word and Jack Snider.
Word and Snider continued to build the herd, though their most notable accomplishment might have been constructing a two hundered mile ‘drift fence’ in the fight to control the spread of Texas fever. As those who follow these posts know Texas fever is a tick transmitted cattle disease born parasitically by Texas Longhorns. The fatal disease infected other breeds when they came in contact with otherwise healthy Longhorns. Fear of the disease prompted quarantines and restrictions that limited driving Texas cattle to market. Years later it was discovered that Longhorn calves developed an immunity to the disease early in life and became carriers. Fleas that bite Longhorns lay infected eggs in grasslands the Longhorns grazed on. Fleas hatched from those eggs spread the disease to cattle lacking the Longhorn’s immunity.
In 1883 Word and Snider sold the Turkey Track to Hansford Land and Cattle Company, a Scottish syndicate headed by native Scottsman and Kansas City Banker, James Coburn. With Coburn at the helm, the Turkey Track entered a twenty year period of turbulence and growth.
Next Week: Coburn’s Turkey Track
Find Paul Colt books:
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolt
Ride easy,
Paul
May 1, 2016
Dodge City King of the Cowtowns
Dodge City was organized in 1872. Located five miles west of Fort Dodge, the town was named after the fort named after General Grenville Dodge, chief engineer of the Union Pacific route to the trans-continental railroad and one time commandant at Fort Dodge. The first business established in the new town was a whiskey bar. The town was organized in anticipation of the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe railroad arriving in the fall of that year. By the time the AT&SF arrived development was well underway south of the tracks with two grocery and general mercantile stores, dance hall, café, blacksmith shop and did I mention, saloons? Chalk Beeson’s Long Branch being the most notable.
In the early years the AT&SF shipped buffalo hides to markets in the east and as far away as Europe. Over the first six years of Dodge City’s existence an estimated 1.5 million hides piled up on Front Street, coining the sobriquet ‘Stinker’. Another expression claimed by Dodge grew out of the practice of train crewmen leaving their lanterns in front of the cribs and bordellos they frequented by way of apprising supervisors of their whereabouts. Dodge claims to have originated the term ‘Red light district.’ The claim is contested by a claim of the same practice in Cheyenne Wyoming dating back to construction of the Union Pacific line.
By 1875 trade in buffalo hides played our, only to be replaced by a river of Texas longhorns flowing north along the Great Western Trail. With the arrival of the raucous, boisterous wide open cow town atmosphere, Dodge split it personality along two Front Streets. Civility and decorum prevailed north of the tracks while ‘anything goes’ ruled south. With no law and order in half of the town disputants there were prone to “Die with their boots on”, giving rise to their internment on Boot Hill. Law and order came to town with an all-star line-up of lawmen, including Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, Luke Short and Bill Tilghman. Another vote for a series on gunfighters, lawmen and outlaws. It’s in the works.
All good things must come to an end and so it was with the era of cattle trails and cow towns. Railroads reached Texas in the mid 1880’s and the need for those long trail drives disappeared in the prairie wind. Cattle ranching continued to grow; and grow big. This is where we find the tap root of the grand scale cattle ranching empires we know today. One of the best read posts ever done on these pages- read by more than sixty-thousand of you and your friends- dealt with the famous XIT ranch. At the time, a number of you suggested we look into several other ranching empires. We did and over the next few weeks we’ll share the stories of some of the west’s best known and not so well known grand ranches.
Next Week: Great American Ranches
Wanted: Sam Bass
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolt
Ride easy,
Paul
In the early years the AT&SF shipped buffalo hides to markets in the east and as far away as Europe. Over the first six years of Dodge City’s existence an estimated 1.5 million hides piled up on Front Street, coining the sobriquet ‘Stinker’. Another expression claimed by Dodge grew out of the practice of train crewmen leaving their lanterns in front of the cribs and bordellos they frequented by way of apprising supervisors of their whereabouts. Dodge claims to have originated the term ‘Red light district.’ The claim is contested by a claim of the same practice in Cheyenne Wyoming dating back to construction of the Union Pacific line.
By 1875 trade in buffalo hides played our, only to be replaced by a river of Texas longhorns flowing north along the Great Western Trail. With the arrival of the raucous, boisterous wide open cow town atmosphere, Dodge split it personality along two Front Streets. Civility and decorum prevailed north of the tracks while ‘anything goes’ ruled south. With no law and order in half of the town disputants there were prone to “Die with their boots on”, giving rise to their internment on Boot Hill. Law and order came to town with an all-star line-up of lawmen, including Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, Luke Short and Bill Tilghman. Another vote for a series on gunfighters, lawmen and outlaws. It’s in the works.
All good things must come to an end and so it was with the era of cattle trails and cow towns. Railroads reached Texas in the mid 1880’s and the need for those long trail drives disappeared in the prairie wind. Cattle ranching continued to grow; and grow big. This is where we find the tap root of the grand scale cattle ranching empires we know today. One of the best read posts ever done on these pages- read by more than sixty-thousand of you and your friends- dealt with the famous XIT ranch. At the time, a number of you suggested we look into several other ranching empires. We did and over the next few weeks we’ll share the stories of some of the west’s best known and not so well known grand ranches.
Next Week: Great American Ranches
Wanted: Sam Bass
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolt
Ride easy,
Paul
April 24, 2016
Great Western Trail
The cattle trail established by John Lytle in 1874 when he drove a herd from Texas to the Red Cloud Agency at Fort Robinson, Nebraska would in time stretch from South Texas to the Canadian border. It is best known as the route from Texas to the King of the Cow Towns, Dodge City Kansas. The Great Western Trail, also known as the Dodge City Trail took over from the Chisholm Trail when the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad reached Dodge City.
The Great Western Trail began northwest of San Antonio at Bandera and proceeded north, acquiring herds from a network of feeder trails that joined the Great Western as it made its way north. The Great Western crossed the Red, Canadian, and Arkansas Rivers. The trail ranged over a wide swath of plentiful grass lands as it meandered north. If grass and water were plentiful cattle might actually gain weight on the journey. Fed and watered or not the Great Western dealt in all the perils of weather, hostile Indians, rustlers and river crossings experienced on any trail drive.
Herds began shifting from the Chisholm Trail to the Great Western beginning in 1873 and gradually increased in number until 300,000 head reached Dodge City during the 1881 season. It is estimated more than six million head followed the Great Western Trail to market between 1879 and 1895.
The Great Western may have made Dodge City King of the Cow Towns; but it also did a good business for the last stop in Texas before, departing on the long barren crossing into Indian Territory. The last Texas stop was Doan’s Crossing, a trading post on the Red River. Jonathan Doan and his nephew established a trading post in 1878 to supply drovers on their way to Dodge City. If Dodge became the King of the Cattle Towns, Doan’s Crossing might have been the Crown Prince of Cow Hamlets. By the mid 1880’s Doan’s boasted a post office, school, hotel, mercantile store and saloon. Doan’s Crossing did a land office business. It was not only the only game in town, it was the only town in the game.
Next Week: Dodge City King of the Cow Towns
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolt
Ride easy,
Paul
The Great Western Trail began northwest of San Antonio at Bandera and proceeded north, acquiring herds from a network of feeder trails that joined the Great Western as it made its way north. The Great Western crossed the Red, Canadian, and Arkansas Rivers. The trail ranged over a wide swath of plentiful grass lands as it meandered north. If grass and water were plentiful cattle might actually gain weight on the journey. Fed and watered or not the Great Western dealt in all the perils of weather, hostile Indians, rustlers and river crossings experienced on any trail drive.
Herds began shifting from the Chisholm Trail to the Great Western beginning in 1873 and gradually increased in number until 300,000 head reached Dodge City during the 1881 season. It is estimated more than six million head followed the Great Western Trail to market between 1879 and 1895.
The Great Western may have made Dodge City King of the Cow Towns; but it also did a good business for the last stop in Texas before, departing on the long barren crossing into Indian Territory. The last Texas stop was Doan’s Crossing, a trading post on the Red River. Jonathan Doan and his nephew established a trading post in 1878 to supply drovers on their way to Dodge City. If Dodge became the King of the Cattle Towns, Doan’s Crossing might have been the Crown Prince of Cow Hamlets. By the mid 1880’s Doan’s boasted a post office, school, hotel, mercantile store and saloon. Doan’s Crossing did a land office business. It was not only the only game in town, it was the only town in the game.
Next Week: Dodge City King of the Cow Towns
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolt
Ride easy,
Paul
