XIT Ranch
The Capitol Syndicate investors launched ranching operations to employ the capitol land grant until such time as it might be divided for agriculture and settled. They began by fencing sections of the land, drilling wells and erecting windmills to bring water to the herds. Cattle herds, purchased in south Texas began to arrive in the summer of 1885. A year later the herd numbered over 100,000 head, growing from there to some 150,000 head by 1887.
The ranch was organized into eight divisions, each with its own headquarters, foreman and ranch hands. The XIT employed more than 150 cowboys and a remuda numbering a thousand head. Cowboys were paid $25 to $30 a month. Contrary to the image of wild Texas cowboys, terrorizing Kansas railhead towns, the cowboys of the XIT lived by a strict code of ranch laws. Gambling and alcohol were prohibited along with the mistreatment of livestock.
Herefords were introduced to the herd to strengthen the breed. The herd produced over thirty thousand calves each spring. Grazing pastures were maintained as far north as Montana and the Dakota’s for stock destined for shipment to eastern markets. By the turn of the century the vast holdings in Texas encompassed nearly one hundred fenced pastures served by more than three hundred windmills and one hundred dams.
An operation the size of XIT had a significant impact on the communities that grew up around it. Ranch managers and employees often held political positions giving ranch communities the flavor of company towns. Ranch influence spilled over into law enforcement especially where ranch interests were concerned by crimes such as rustling.
Despite its size, the XIT faced all the same problems faced by any other ranching operations. Fluctuations in the price of beef, drought, disease, harsh winters and prairie fires all taxed the profitability of the operation. By the 1890’s foreign investors grew restless waiting for a return on their investment. Management began the slow and gradual wind up of ranching operations, the last of which concluded in the fall of 1912.
So what do you do if you need a new state capitol you can’t pay for? You carve out land for one of the largest ranching operations in Texas and use it like a self-liquidating thirty year mortgage to pay for constructing your capitol building.
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolt
Ride easy,
Paul
The ranch was organized into eight divisions, each with its own headquarters, foreman and ranch hands. The XIT employed more than 150 cowboys and a remuda numbering a thousand head. Cowboys were paid $25 to $30 a month. Contrary to the image of wild Texas cowboys, terrorizing Kansas railhead towns, the cowboys of the XIT lived by a strict code of ranch laws. Gambling and alcohol were prohibited along with the mistreatment of livestock.
Herefords were introduced to the herd to strengthen the breed. The herd produced over thirty thousand calves each spring. Grazing pastures were maintained as far north as Montana and the Dakota’s for stock destined for shipment to eastern markets. By the turn of the century the vast holdings in Texas encompassed nearly one hundred fenced pastures served by more than three hundred windmills and one hundred dams.
An operation the size of XIT had a significant impact on the communities that grew up around it. Ranch managers and employees often held political positions giving ranch communities the flavor of company towns. Ranch influence spilled over into law enforcement especially where ranch interests were concerned by crimes such as rustling.
Despite its size, the XIT faced all the same problems faced by any other ranching operations. Fluctuations in the price of beef, drought, disease, harsh winters and prairie fires all taxed the profitability of the operation. By the 1890’s foreign investors grew restless waiting for a return on their investment. Management began the slow and gradual wind up of ranching operations, the last of which concluded in the fall of 1912.
So what do you do if you need a new state capitol you can’t pay for? You carve out land for one of the largest ranching operations in Texas and use it like a self-liquidating thirty year mortgage to pay for constructing your capitol building.
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolt
Ride easy,
Paul
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