. On a slight rise behind this house is a much grander two-story Spanish-style villa with a red tile roof, a swimming pool, and a formal garden. It doesnt seem real to even think about it, he says. The only time we dont work, Hawley tells me, is when its raining and lightning, or when its very hot. According to a 2005 article in The Western Horseman Magazine, But another event in 1902 had a lasting impact on the Waggoner Ranch. Very few test wells havepenetrated the remaining 400,000 acres. Thats how it was reported in nearly every newspaper in Texas, including the Dallas Morning News, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and the Houston Chronicle. For more than a century the520,000-acre Waggoner Ranch has been an inseparable part of the culture and fabric of the Red River country west of Wichita Fallsand of Texas itself. The Waggoner (Three D) Ranch had its beginnings in the early 1850s when Daniel Waggonerqv and a fifteen-year-old black slave trailed 242 longhorn cattleqv and six horses into Wise County. What does it take to be a good cowboy? I ask. We love our customers, so feel free to visit during normal business hours. They gathered information on the value of individual pastures, with the help of foreman Jimmy Lee Smith. The greatest annual precipitation occurs to the east, in Archer and Wichita Counties, at just over 29 inches per year annually. (It still is, except for the magnificent Wise County courthouse.) The family made their main homes in the city and returned to the ranch for weekend getaways and holidays. I was there. Copyright 2023 W. T. Waggoner Ranch Uptown Style WordPress theme by, 2013 Gelding (Cat Man Do X Smoked Diamonds), 2015 Stallion (Cat Man Do X Smokin and Swingin). You get in here far enough, it just swallows you up, Hughes tells me. On the map of Texas it appears as a great emptiness south of Vernon, occupied only by the thin strip of U.S. 183/283. But the difference is that the cattle barons of the King Ranch led private, almost secretive lives, running their empire themselves and living on the land, while the Waggoners turned their ranch over to professionals, moved away, and pursued flamboyance. This was probably a bluff. They buried him standing up, Hughes informs me. It was a crash course, but I learned more in those six months than Id learned my whole life. In 1975 he married Joline, a young woman he had met in Albuquerque seven years earlier. Biggss brother-in-law was the president of General Motors, and he later named a Buick model for Electra. Vernon Regional Airport has a 5,100 foot long runway. His most arresting feature is his green eyes, which are reminiscent of the luminous eyes that made his grandmother, the original Electra, such a commanding figure. Settling into an apartment attached to Busters former home at Zacaweista, he enrolled at Midwestern State University, in Wichita Falls, and commuted between ranch and campus, pursing a degree in business administration while learning the ins and outs of the estate. Another number brand is placed on the left hip to denote the year. He offered to pay Buckys attorney fees and pitch in an extra one million. As Smith put it, They were a beer-and-champagne twosome.. Two years after Prathers resignation, Bucky gave notice of termination of the trust in a letter to Electra IIs family. Now he lives in the bunkhouse. The only thing I can figure, it was give to them. She finally pulled up in front of the Vernon drugstore, pieces of gate and fence hanging off the car, Bucky tells me. The cowboys of the Waggoner Ranch are living legends, men who embody the attributes of the lean and dusty riders who braved the wild a century ago to make room for a herd. They built him a grand home on West Cache Creek, the only permanent structure between Fort Sill and the Texas border, and the chief decorated the roof of his Comanche White House with fourteen stars, symbolizing his generalship in battle. Biggs second in command was comptroller Killen Moore, a onetime Internal Revenue Service agent. A complete list of this inventory can be made available. All framed prints are professionally printed, framed, assembled, and shipped within 3 - 4 business days and delivered ready-to-hang on your wall. One of the striking sights as you leave the ranch is the sudden appearance of enormous green fields of cotton, wheat, and alfalfa. | A full moon hangs over West Diving Board Pasture. The Waggoner Ranch Store is located in the Waggoner Estate building in Vernon Texas. The house eventually fell apart and was torn down. Seafood City (California, Hawaii, Washington, Nevada, Illinois) - Filipino American. The two sides have never been able to agree on a replacement. a full partner, gave him $12, a group of drovers, and fifty hard-used saddle horses, and sent him to Abilene, Kansas, with a herd of five thousand steers. [4] It was acquired by Stan Kroenke, who is married to Ann Walton (niece of Sam Walton), in February 2016. He was teaching at Will Rogers Elementary School, in Houston, where Helen Biggs was also a teacher. W.T. The Waggoner Ranchis a historic north Texasranch located 13 miles south of Vernon, Texas. SOLD. The squabbling that has ensnared the ranch for almost a century began on Christmas Day of that year, when W.T. LOCATION Brooks, Jim Wells, Kenedy, Kleberg, Nueces, and Willacy counties. A unified decision has now been made by the shareholders to sell this legendary ranch. [8] By 1903, he sold some of the land near China Creek to developers. Joe Roberson showed me how to read the books. Its been vacant ever since. This will still be ranchland, for thats all its fit to be, but not ranching on the grand scale that allows men to be cowboys. He pointed to an impenetrable thicket of mesquite and told me, Thirty years ago we cleared that pasture, all the way to Beaver Creek. After her husband died, Electra II did not keep up the pressure on Bucky, as John Biggs and Killen Moore had done. Horses like Waggoners Rainy Day, Midnight, One Eyed Waggoner, Yellow Wolf, Yellow Jacket, Pretty Boy, Pretty Buck, Snipper W, Pep Up, Jesse James and of course Poco Bueno still appear in the pedigrees of many great horses today. Approximately 30,000 acres are in cultivation. Ranches, Farms and Land forsale in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas. When full, Lake Kemp covers an area of over 16,540 surface acres and Lake Diversion covers approximately 3,420 surface acres. The ranchs famous reverse triple-D brand, for example, supposedly got that way when a blacksmith inadvertently read W.T.s hand-drawn design upside down. But for how much longer? All pens are very well maintained. Since his retirement, in 1991, Proctor has lived in Vernon, raising a few cows and tending his yard. Electra II married twice, the second time for keeps to John Biggs, a Texan who worked for International Paper Company, in New York, in 1943. "W. T. Waggoner Estate: Venerable, $725 million ranch about to be sold", American Quarter Horse Association: Waggoner Ranch, "You Can Now Buy a Texas Ranch That's the Size of a Small Nation, For $725 Million", "Waggoner Ranch: 1994 Best Remuda Winner", "NFL Owner Stan Kroenke Buys Texas Mega-Ranch Listed for $725 Million", "Legendary Waggoner Ranch Historical Combination of Then and Now", "Massive Waggoner Ranch, "last of the True West," is up for grabs", "Mammoth estate to be split up, auctioned", "Waggoner Ranch, among US' largest, listed for sale", "Ranch Dressing: Brokers Prep Giant Waggoner Farm for Sale", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Waggoner_Ranch&oldid=1097984814, Infobox mapframe without OSM relation ID on Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 13 July 2022, at 17:07. Guy, who eventually settled on another ranch the family owned in New Mexico, married eight times. The dam was right on the dividing line. Genes got to drive within fifty feet of Buckys house every morning and again every evening to get to his own place. This is a robust and versatile multi-faceted operation like none other available on the market today. The Waggoner Ranch got into oil in a big way, and today oil wells still methodically pump as cattle graze around them.. Sign up to hear from us about specials, sales, and events. [6] Other towns nearby include Electra and Seymour. Concerned about the future of the ranch, W.T. Bernard Uechtritz, one of the property brokers, told the. Dan and W.T. was determined to keep Electra nearby. 27 of 56 28 of 56 Cowboys on the Waggoner Ranch brand calves in the spring of 1983. On each of those transactions, Kroenke had relied on Leadbetter's counsel and the insights of Sam Connolly, general manager of Kroenke Ranches. He knows the ranch, its cast of characters, and its skeletons and stories as well as any outsider. Waggoner, a widower, and his young son, William Thomas, settled on Catlett Creek, near present-day Decatur. [8] Although it still spans six counties, it is primarily centered on Wichita County and Wilbarger County. Mid America is your local truck topper and trailer dealer in St Louis MO for all your new and used truck toppers in st louis as well as dump trailers and utility flatbed trailers in St Louis MO. | (and future trustees) would have the sole right to make all management decisions. No way I could live in the city. He means Vernon (population: 12,000). Recently, new ownership has brought substantial investment in both equipment and design. The answer lies in the rich and rowdy heritage of the Waggoner clan. He didnt want to sell the ranch, but he thought it could be divided, that a line could be drawn on a map so that each side would have a separate but equal share. When they presented the map to Gene, they say, he asked for more details. I cant sit down, never could, he tells me. All together, as one may imagine, with this many contiguous acres, there is an immense variety of land types on the Waggoner. The family feud began the moment the old man rigged the game. To make the trip, Dan gave Tom $12, a group of drovers, and 50 saddle horses, all of which had sores on their backs from heavy use. Some whitetail deer on the Waggoner Ranch are estimated to be of Boone and Crockett quality. $ 58.00. Reply Anonymous February 3, 2013 at 8:00 PM B. The gifts were not entirely altruistic. Proctor, whose daddy was a Waggoner cowboy too, went to work for the ranch in 1937, at age thirteen. The Willingham house is a low, ranch-style brick structure, set behind a wall of trees. Waggoner's death, his three children, Guy Waggoner, E. Paul Waggoner and Electra Waggoner each inherited a section of the ranch, although there was still a Board of Trustees. Back in town, I am introduced to 79-year-old G. L. Proctor, the old cowboy who Weldon Hawley has modeled himself after. As previously noted, this massive holding spans six North Texas counties. [13] He once played there with polo champion Cecil Smith. Hawley has a cell phone handy, and the ranch radio under the dash crackles with voices from isolated posts miles away. West Texans Are Learning What It Means to Live in Bear Country, H-E-Bs True Texas BBQ Restaurant Is Slipping, Jimmy Carters Peanut-and-Egg Taco Made Quite the Impression on San Antonians. The sale of the iconic Waggoner Ranch, while marking the end of one era, creates for a new owner the opportunity to begin another. Some people believe that she would never have permitted the sale of the Waggoner Ranch. Our ranching operation includes, cattle, horses and the farm. This is the job I set my sights on, he says. In addition to Lake Kemp and Lake Diversion, the ranch boasts several other large private lakes, some of which, such as Santa Rosa Lake, are reserved for the exclusive use of the families. discovered oil while trying to drill for water, Hughes tells me. Some people think that the last chance for a settlement died with Electra II. Because of Toms great influence on the horse industry, he became a founding member of the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA). The color of this ground is the color of the ranch, Bucky told me as we bumped over the maze of rutted roads, he driving his Toyota Land Cruiser and talking nonstop and I jumping out to open gates. Many thousands of additional acres of native pasture are suitable for cultivation, if desired. Shortly after leaving, he got his draft notice, at the height of the Vietnam War. By that time, Ella had died, at the age of one hundred, and her successor as trustee was John Biggs, the son-in-law whom E. Paul had groomed for the job. These camps range in size from just over 20,000 acres to nearly 40,000 acres each. These live creeks and their tributaries provide a desirable source of livestock water throughout the property. He had grown up in Albuquerque, where his mother, the third of Buster Whartons four wives, had moved after their divorce, when Bucky was two. Waggoners have a series of brands that go on each foal, the history of which goes back to the days of W. T. Waggoner. Quanah delivered the land to the Waggoners and other cattle baronsat one time, Waggoner and son leased 650,000 acres for an annual payment of $30,000and the cattle barons made Quanah rich and famous. G. They almost killed him with kindness, literally. But Wait, There's More A smattering of the more than 4,000 items listed on the. All canvas prints are professionally printed, assembled, and shipped within 3 - 4 business days and delivered ready-to-hang on your wall. [8] W.T. The Reversed 3Ds is still used as a symbol representing the historic Waggoner Ranch. Most sets of pens are capable of handling several thousand head of cattle at one time. The second Electra was, like her namesake, a globe-hopping socialite (she was once linked romantically to Cary Grant by Hollywood gossip columnist Louella Parsons), but she also was an acclaimed artist, who knew all the celebrities of her day and sculpted busts of many of them. Historically, the Waggoner Ranch has been operated as a cow/calf ranching unit, with stocker cattle used for seasonal grazing on wheat fields. Photographs of his wife and children occupied a bookshelf beside four footballs labeled Coach Bucky Whartongifts from former University of Texas coach David McWilliams, whod invited Wharton to join him on the sidelines at several UT games. Buster too had multiple spouses (four, to be exact), but his only heir was A. We met in the boardroom at the Waggoner building, Roberson told me. We try not to put stress on the livestock.. The land was used primarily to raise crops, beef cattle and horses as well as for oil production. King Ranch. Today, the ranch boasts 7 stallions and over 90 broodmares containing bloodlines of Poco Bueno, High Brow Cat, Peppy San Badger, Top Sail Cody, Smart Chic Olena, and Wimpys Little Step. Waggoner raised Quarter Horses on the ranch, including Poco Bueno, who was buried on the ranch. (Tom) Waggoner was heard to say, There I was with more than 5,000 big, wild steers, 50 sore-backed horses, $12 and 16 years of my life., In a 1956 article in The Quarter Horse Journal, Franklin Reynolds notes, It was possibly Tom Waggoners experiences with those sorry horses that caused him to resolve to always have good ones. W.T. The many improvements and related assets mentioned above combine to offer the purchaser an extremely attractive depreciation schedule. From the highway, its pastures seem timeless and impregnable. Dan Waggoner, who was born in Tennessee in 1828, moved to Texas with his family in the mid-1840s. We see a bunch of javelinas too, and a bobcat as big as a mountain lion. The Waggoner Ranch Store is located in the Waggoner Estate building in Vernon Texas. Though there are more than two thousand miles of road inside the ranch, there are hardly any road signs or navigational landmarks. She was a genteel and educated woman, polished at Miss Wrights finishing school at Bryn Mawr, a person who hated the details of ranching but respected and loved the tradition. Moore astonished Bucky by trying to buy his stock in the estate. Stretching across six North Texas counties, the Waggoner Ranch is considered to be extremely well located. After the Biggses requested liquidation, he hired Hughes and Roberson to draw a map, splitting the ranch in a way that would be acceptable to both sides. Vernon, the county seat of Wilbarger County, is located approximately 12 miles due north of the ranch. Depending upon weather and moisture conditions, the ranch has been operated with 11,000 14,000 mother cows, plus calves, bulls and replacements; however, due to the recent drought, and in order to protect the ranch, current stocking rates have been reduced to around 7,000 mother cows/calves, plus replacements and bulls. In 1869 Dan made seventeen-year-old W.T. [8], After the death of Daniel Waggoner in 1902, his son W.T. Bernard Uechtritz of Briggs-Freeman Sothebys International Realty in Dallas, and Sam Middleton, of Chas.
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