waggoner ranch brand

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 is what shes good at, raising cattle. Hawley is 52 and has been at the ranch since 1972, working his way up from cowpuncher to straw boss to headquarters boss and finally to ranch manager. Poco Bueno died in 1969 and was buried in a standing position in front of the main ranch entrance. 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. 20% off all products! The current inventory of studs, mares, geldings and colts is approximately 474 head. They have been up since three and have had a hefty cookhouse breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, biscuits, and gravy. Leave them blank to get signed up. We could drive the 60 miles from Bull Run Pasture, on the northeast corner, where the 10th Cavalry camped in 1871, to the David Camp, on the southwest corner, and never venture outside the Waggoner fence. He either didnt care or didnt notice that E. Pauls clanespecially his socialite wife, Helenconsidered Electras line of the family to be tainted and Buster to be an irresponsible spendthrift, and they were plotting for the day when they could force the Whartons out. They wintered the herd that year in Clay County and the following spring drove it to market, netting a profit of $55,000. Buckys pride in this place was unmistakable. Guy had a weakness for the ladies; he once skipped town with the lead actress from a traveling burlesque show. The Waggoner Ranch was ordered liquidated. We invite you to browse through our store and shop with confidence. This rare phenomenon. It is as much a part of the legacy as horses, cattle, oil, opulent mansions, divorces, and drunken sprees. Meanwhile, the Waggoner family tree was sprouting more branches. This sprawling property is approximately three-fourths the size of Rhode Island. Without a trustee to keep them at arms length, they set off on a collision course. Numerous smaller cultivated fields are scattered throughout the ranch. W.T. Thistle Hill, as Electras mansion was called, stands to this day on the crest of Summit Avenue, near downtown. Most other ranches in this general area also rely on creek water and earthen ponds. Bucky wanted to make it clear that he believed the situation was untenable. The squabbling that has ensnared the ranch for almost a century began on Christmas Day of that year, when W.T. This was a time when much of Texas was open range and unexplored. Waggoner acquired more land. Sep 1989 - Present33 years 6 months. Ranch Manager. The Bronc-busting, Cow-punching, Death-defying Legend of Boots ONeal, At Texas Swingers Clubs, the Lifestyle Is Booming. All canvas prints are professionally printed, assembled, and shipped within 3 - 4 business days and delivered ready-to-hang on your wall. 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. (It still is, except for the magnificent Wise County courthouse.) Be alert all the time and ready to go, he says in a strong, sure voice. Then, in 1997, Bucky and Roberson drew another map, this time setting aside the two homesteads, and again offered Gene first choice. . A number that denotes the foal's dam is placed on the left shoulder, and the ranch's famous D brand is placed under that. In one, he wished Electra happy birthday and said, I bought you a $2,500 bond.. asked his children to draw cards for the three parcels. There is also a rumor that the Willinghams have already bought a home in Fort Worth. [8] Although it still spans six counties, it is primarily centered on Wichita County and Wilbarger County. Buster Wharton Jr., a polo player, playboy, and famous drunk who died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1963. As their cattle business grew, the ranch needed more grazing land, especially as barbed wire began to close in the open range. Not a shred, she told me. [14] Her second cousin, Albert Buckman Wharton III, also known as Bucky Wharton, who was Buster Wharton's son, appealed to stop the liquidation. The party bagged seventeen wolves (some of which were really coyotes), and the president beat a five-foot rattlesnake to death with his quirt. The King Ranch, based in south Texas, has more acreage spread over several parcels. LOCATION Brooks, Jim Wells, Kenedy, Kleberg, Nueces, and Willacy counties. In later years, W.T. Sign up to receive timely, useful information in your inbox. Two large, privately-owned lakes are located on the Waggoner Ranch. Our cattle herd consists of approximately 10,000 mother cows comprised of 60 percent Hereford and 40 percent Angus/Hereford and Brangus/Hereford cross. 2021 Chas S Middleton and Son. At least thats what everyone outside the two families, their lawyers, and the judge believe happened. So it was the King Ranch whose legend was set down for posterity by the distinguished Texas author Tom Lea, while the Waggoners escapades were left to be recorded by the English author John Bainbridgea few passages in his 1960 book called The Super-Americans, about the excesses of Texass oil millionaires. Today the ranch consists of approximately 535,000 acres, and is recognized as the largest ranch in Texas under one fence. This land sits atop the Seymour Aquifer, while the ranch itself is bone-dry. On a Dan Waggonerfinanced trip to Fort Worth, Chief Yellow Bear was asphyxiated and Quanah nearly was when the Indians blew out the gas lamp in their hotel room before retiring. The ranch has perfected water right permits to pump approximately 3,893 acre feet of water annually, which is used to irrigate farmland and water the grounds around major headquarter improvements. When they presented the map to Gene, they say, he asked for more details. The Big Pasture, however, remained available for grazing and hunting. The ranch is approximately 175 miles northwest of the Dallas/Ft. Northwest Texas was open range in the 1850s, when Dan Waggoner and his fifteen-year-old black slave trailed 242 Longhorn cattle and 6 horses to Wise County. A unified decision has now been made by the shareholders to sell this legendary ranch. Approximately 41.67% of the mineral rights with a pro-rata portion of the executive leasing rights are expected to convey with the sale. A unified decision has now been made by the shareholders to sell this legendary ranch. At every opportunity, Dan Waggoner purchased land. 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. As land was cleared for settlement, he gradually moved west and by the late 1870s settled along Beaver Creek near Electra Texas. The entryway is glass, and there is a skylight over the vaulted ceiling above the staircase. The squabbling that has ensnared the ranch for almost a century began on Christmas Day of. Some of the wells discovered in the 1920s are still in operation. His daddy worked this ranch for fifteen years, and Shane grew up on Cowboy Row. Originally, the trust was supposed to expire after twenty years, in 1943, but the terms of the trust allowed it to be routinely extended in twenty-year increments until 1983. The ranch originally operated under the name of Dan Waggoner & Son. We were talking in Buckys office, a large corner suite on the second floor of the long, low W. T. Waggoner Estate Building just off the main highway in Vernon. Jim Jennings, in a 2005 article in The Quarter Horse Journal, states, By 1868, the Waggoner outfit had grown considerably, but help was still short. Historically, potable drinking water has been an issue on the Waggoner Ranch, and for that matter, on many other ranches in this area of North Texas. 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. 510,527.00 Either Guys two children would become their partners or E. Paul and Buster would have to buy them out. 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. Since Electra IIs death, in 2001, the board has been composed of these two men who rarely speak to each other. We have unique items that feature our brand. The cowboys are already waiting on horseback just outside the loading pens, cutting up like schoolboys awaiting the bell for recess. 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. [8] W.T. The Running W is the brand for the King Ranch located in south Texas close to Kingsville, Tx. These are the men who made the ranch work while the Waggoners were off in Fort Worth or New York or Europe. Several small on-site water wells are also located in this large block of farmland. The majority of the cultivated land is farmed on a dryland basis, but three circle pivot systems are used to irrigate a small portion of the farmland. A portion of this acreage is seeded to very productive Coastal Bermuda. All pens are very well maintained. It is the nations biggest ranch within the confines of a single fence, a spread so vast that it extends across six counties and covers more than eight hundred square miles. Waggoner Ranch is a working one, with 20 cowboy camps scattered throughout the property to house the more than 120 workers. Three pivot sprinkler systems are used to distribute irrigation water to three large fields on the ranch. Quietly and efficiently, Moore began to purge anyone friendly to the Wharton half of the trust: Jim Hughes, who most people had believed would succeed Biggs as trustee; Joe Roberson, the auditor who was being groomed as comptroller; Bill McBroom, the head of the oil division; and Ross Malone, the game warden. He pointed to an impenetrable thicket of mesquite and told me, Thirty years ago we cleared that pasture, all the way to Beaver Creek. So what does it all mean? An additional 320 acres were then purchased in 1856 near the small town of Decatur, marking the first major expansion of Waggoner's estate. After dinner by the creek, Dan suggested that they all ride into Frederick, Oklahoma, personally setting the pace. The mesquite trees that now dominate the land arrived later, their seeds transported in cow droppings as herds from South Texas passed through on their way to railheads in Kansas. The operation can breed outside mares as well as ship cooled or frozen semen. The ranch's wild steers, huge supply of . The Waggoner Ranch, 550,000 acres extending into six counties, a realm steeped in Texas history, teeters on the brink of liquidation. As land was cleared for settlement, he gradually moved west and by the late 1870s settled along Beaver Creek near Electra Texas. All I ever knew is the Waggoner Ranch, he tells me. Maybe thats why Judge Neely told me that he has no intention of setting a deadline. The family made their main homes in the city and returned to the ranch for weekend getaways and holidays. The two sides have never been able to agree on a replacement. I worked for six months with various people in the oil and the ranching divisions, he told me. I cant sit down, never could, he tells me. Electra prevailed, as usual. Marketing is done through private treaty and production sales. Rani's World Foods (Texas & Nevada) - Indian supermarket chain. Back in town, I am introduced to 79-year-old G. L. Proctor, the old cowboy who Weldon Hawley has modeled himself after. Bernard Uechtritz of Briggs-Freeman Sothebys International Realty in Dallas, and Sam Middleton, of Chas. The W.T. Enlow is an advertising, media and fine arts photographer based in Fort Worth. The W.T. My dockets not that crowded, he said. Oil production soon followed. Mrs. Biggs called ahead and had the director meet us on the front step. and fellow cattle baron Burk Burnett sent their pet Indian to Washington, D.C., in 1905 to ride in President Theodore Roosevelts second inaugural paradeand to invite Roosevelt to go wolf hunting on the Big Pasture. Bucky looks more like a Little League coach than a cattle baron. 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). The house eventually fell apart and was torn down. Mesquite is the major invader in this part of Texas. Hed consult with him and get back to us. [6] It has about 14,000 cows and bulls as well as 500 horses. After a big wedding in Decatur, the couple honeymooned in Europe and then planned to settle in Philadelphia. He served as trustee, and his three children, Guy Waggoner, Electra Waggoner Wharton, and E. Paul Waggoner comprised the Board of Directors. We would love to have our customers come by and see us and see our newly remodeled store. Some people believe that she would never have permitted the sale of the Waggoner Ranch. By all rights the Waggoner Ranch ought to be the equal of the King Ranch in Texas lore. Genes got to drive within fifty feet of Buckys house every morning and again every evening to get to his own place. Many carry the bloodline of Poco Bueno. After Guy died, E. Paul and Buster faced the issue of what would become of his shares in the Waggoner estate. The Wichita River, the two branches of Beaver Creek, countless small streams and tributaries, and dozens of stock tanks supply the ranchs water. This iconic ranch property has been owned and operated by Waggoner heirs for approximately 165 years. W.T. Gene is, by all accounts, gregarious and outgoing, a typical good ol boy who enjoys playing dominoes at the country club. But by the 1920s, with the advent of the automobile, W.T.s attitude about oil had changed. This was probably a bluff. The Waggoner Ranch got into oil in a big way, and today oil wells still methodically pump as cattle graze around them.. [9] In 1902, W.T. Thats where Electra Waggoner Biggs lived and where she kept her studio, Hughes tells me. Probably the nation's largest single-parcel ranch, the 510,000-acre property is about 175 miles northwest of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and 12 miles south of Vernon, the county seat of. Dan took advantage of this great opportunity. I was there. 940-552-2521 x:270. Bucky and Gene and their lawyers were there. As Smith put it, They were a beer-and-champagne twosome.. They were super, super people. Nevertheless, Smith resigned in 1997, tired of being caught in the middle of the power struggle. Now available for sale on the open market, the Waggoner Ranch represents a singular opportunity so rare, it only comes along every 165 years or so. Heath Ownbey. (Waggoner) hit oil instead. discovered oil while trying to drill for water, Hughes tells me. The ranch was established in 1849 and spans six Texas counties and almost 800 square miles. Concerned about the future of the ranch, W.T. Its the Story of Shankleville, One of the States Early Freedom Colonies. Very few test wells havepenetrated the remaining 400,000 acres. Waggoner found oil while drilling for water. Texas Almanac Rainfall Records show the lowest annual rainfall for this six county area is in Foard and Knox Counties, at 24 inches and 26 inches per year, respectively. Apparently they just agreed to continue to disagree. Vernon, the county seat of Wilbarger County, is located approximately 12 miles due north of the ranch. B. My first job was walkin hotscooling down winded horsesbetween chuckers. The Waggoner Ranch Store is located in the Waggoner Estate building in Vernon Texas. The many improvements and related assets mentioned above combine to offer the purchaser an extremely attractive depreciation schedule. All rights reserved. According to a 2005 article in The Western Horseman Magazine, But another event in 1902 had a lasting impact on the Waggoner Ranch. 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. I didnt ask for the nuts and bolts, he said and walked away. The Waggoner (Three D) Ranch had its beginnings in the early 1850s when Daniel Waggoner, his son W. T. (Tom), and a fifteen-year-old Black slave trailed 242 cattle and six horses into Wise County. For years, its two feuding clans have agreed on only one thing: They want to break up their vast eight-hundred-square-mile spread and close this chapter of Texas history. In the late eighties, as the oil revenue began to peter out, the new trustee of the Waggoner estate, Charles Prather, resigned. [9] It also includes 30,000 acres of arable land and about 1,100 producing oil wells. Santa Rosa Lake covers approximately 1,400 surface acres when full. Perhaps they are afraid of ghosts. One side wants the ranch divided equally but otherwise left intact. Lonny Morrison [Genes attorney] said he knew an expert who could advise on that matter. 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. Now 56, Bucky is one of the protagonists in the battle over the future of the ranch. W.T.s granddaughter, Electra Waggoner Biggs was nationally known as a sculptress, and with her national notoriety, General Motors named their most luxurious Buick model the Electra and Lockheed Aircraft named a plane in her honor. Instead of six bedrooms, it now has four. The Waggoner Ranch owns all of the land surrounding and under these lakes, but the water itself is used for off-site municipal water purposes. [2][3] It was originally established in 1852 near Vernon, Texas, by Daniel Waggoner under the name of Dan Waggoner & Son; his son being William Thomas Waggoner. [8] The ranch spanned more than a million acres of land. Proctor, whose daddy was a Waggoner cowboy too, went to work for the ranch in 1937, at age thirteen. [6][12], When Guy Waggoner died in 1950, his sons sold their share of the estate to members of the family. Reply Anonymous February 3, 2013 at 8:00 PM This legendary horse was named the Grand Champion Stallion at Denvers National Western Stock Show, the Fort Worth Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show, the State Fair of Texas in Dallas, and the American Royal Livestock Show in Kansas City. How Florence ButtNot Her SonLaunched the H-E-B Empire, More Colorful Texas Sayings Than You Can Shake a Stick At. Skyfood Supermarket (six locations in New York) - Asian Oriental Supermarket. [6] It is the second largest ranch in Texas (after the King Ranch),[6] enclosing 510,527 acres (207,000ha; 798sqmi; 2,070km2) of land. Millionaire ranchers from Argentina and the elite of East Coast society came in their private planes for weekends of polo and debauchery. [13] He once played there with polo champion Cecil Smith. As Parker biographer Bill Neeley has noted, ethics and morality played no part of this business arrangement. One thing you dont see on the ranch is windmills. Much of the ranch is covered with mesquite, cedar, and prickly pear, and when the sun softens late in the evening, the dull green of the vegetation and the deep red of the soil give the ranch the pastel serenity of a Mexican village. The bidding period on the ranch, going for $725 million, ended Oct. 20 with about six serious potential buyers. Hughes grew up in Vernon and has been hunting and fishing on the ranch since high school. But when I talked to Judge Neely in October, he told me, No, that wasnt my ruling. The two sides had agreed to this wording: An event has occurred [Buckys notice of termination] which requires the winding up of. Houses back then were very dark, with low ceilings and small windows. Waggoner biographer Roze McCoy Porter writes that Electra spent $90,000 remodeling the one-year-old mansion and another $55,000 on draperies. In The American Quarter Horse Journal, Jim Jennings writes, The Waggoner contribution to the Quarter Horse industry has long been recognized. They cant wait to get started. The little village of Lockett, where the descendants of those settlers now live, is wet in another way: It is the nearest spot where citizens of Vernon can buy beer and liquor. The W.T. He offered him pennies on the dollar for his fifty percent share., It was a paltry amount, Roberson agreed.

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