On each of those transactions, Kroenke had relied on Leadbetter's counsel and the insights of Sam Connolly, general manager of Kroenke Ranches. 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. 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. Bucky wanted to make it clear that he believed the situation was untenable. But Wait, There's More A smattering of the more than 4,000 items listed on the. asked his children to draw cards for the three parcels. The Waggoner Ranchis a historic north Texasranch located 13 miles south of Vernon, Texas. But even as board members, they were powerless to exercise any authority over the ranch, except to elect future trustees. Moore resigned as trustee in the early eighties, at a critical moment for the estate. Vernon, the county seat of Wilbarger County, is located approximately 12 miles due north of the ranch. Meanwhile, W.T.s widow, Ella, ran the ranch as dowager empress until her death, in 1959. I worked a couple of weeks gauging wells. Land Broker and Land Appraisalfirm established in 1920. 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. Originally, Dan Waggoner burned the Reversed 3Ds into the right hip, thigh or rib of his cattle; however, as the price of hides increased, it made economic sense to only use one Reversed D in order to save more of the hide. [13] He once played there with polo champion Cecil Smith. It is as much a part of the legacy as horses, cattle, oil, opulent mansions, divorces, and drunken sprees. Currently, the ranch has a water well lease on a nearby offsite well, which furnishes livestock water through an extensive waterline network to the large block of farmland located on the northwest side of the ranch, and also to the main ranch headquarters. [11], The ranch has been surveyed by the United States Department of Agriculture for matters of preservation. Shortly after leaving, he got his draft notice, at the height of the Vietnam War. Though there are more than two thousand miles of road inside the ranch, there are hardly any road signs or navigational landmarks. Waggoner Ranch cattle have been 60 percent Hereford and 40 percent Angus/Hereford and Brangus/Hereford. St Louis, Missouri, United States. W.T. Traveling to the Four Corners line camp, where Guy Waggoners great home once stood, I tried to imagine that day in the twenties when Anne Burnett Waggoner, the fifth of Guys eight wives, decided shed had enough. $720,000,000 Two large, privately-owned lakes are located on the Waggoner Ranch. After Buckys father died, Lula [the last of Busters four wives] stripped this place. [10], By 1909, W.T. The history and the legend surrounding the Waggoner Ranch are as big as the ground it covers. Houses back then were very dark, with low ceilings and small windows. Dan Waggoner, who was born in Tennessee in 1828, moved to Texas with his family in the mid-1840s. Add to cart. Some area ranches have rural water systems available, but still principally rely on creeks and ponds as their major water source. 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. Please create an account or shop as a guest. Dan sent Tom (his son), who was only 16 years old at the time, to Kansas City with a herd of 5,000 steers. The Bronc-busting, Cow-punching, Death-defying Legend of Boots ONeal, At Texas Swingers Clubs, the Lifestyle Is Booming. The ranch is fenced and crossfenced, with an estimated several thousand miles of ranch roads and ranch fencing. She hosted parties of celebrities, movie stars, and barons of capitalism, including the daughter of J. P. Morgan. A complete list of this inventory can be made available. A municipal waterline from nearby Seymour serves some of the homes located at Lake Kemp. 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. Nothing is too trivial to spark an argument. W. T. Waggoner Ranch is currently developing hunting opportunities for quail, wild hog and deer. Forrest Wilder writes about politics and the outdoors. Moreover, a sale would be taxed and so would the distribution of the money. He usually dresses in jeans, a polo shirt, and cowboy boots; in the three times I was with him, he never wore a hat or tried to act like a cowboy. He ended up using it for cattle dip, and the well became Electras city dump., Near the entrance to Zacaweista, once the home of the first Electra, we stop at the grave of Poco Bueno. Two years after Prathers resignation, Bucky gave notice of termination of the trust in a letter to Electra IIs family. Growing up, the ranch didnt seem like a big deal, Bucky told me. declared a misdeal and had them draw again. The family made their main homes in the city and returned to the ranch for weekend getaways and holidays. W.T. They wintered the herd that year in Clay County and the following spring drove it to market, netting a profit of $55,000. 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. To Buckys surprise, the Biggs family responded by filing suit, asking the court to liquidate the estate. [11] Buster raised polo ponies and established the El Ranchio Polo Club on the ranch. Its a trade that suits only a select few for whom the life satisfies rather than restricts. [5], The ranch is located west of Wichita Falls, Texas, south of Vernon, near the Red River. Dan took advantage of this great opportunity. 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. For several years there were no further attempts to settle. Weve root-plowed, sprayed, pulled it up with a tractor, dug it up with a backhoe. 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. Waggoner Ranch, the 800-square-mile plot of land in North Texas, is really big. As land was cleared for settlement, he gradually moved west and by the late 1870s settled along Beaver Creek near Electra Texas. With the trust on the verge of expiring, Bucky and Electra II agreed to extend it until March 31, 2003. 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. 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. and 283. 2021 Chas S Middleton and Son. The Waggoner Ranch got into oil in a big way, and today oil wells still methodically pump as cattle graze around them.. The Waggoner Ranch was founded by a man named Dan Waggoner around 1854 when he and his son relocated to a 160-acre farm in Wise County, TX, after the untimely passing of Dan's wife Nancy in 1853. Most sets of pens are capable of handling several thousand head of cattle at one time. On the other three sides are a number of buildings constructed of identical reddish-brown stone, quarried on the eastern part of the ranch. They plied him with extravagant gifts: engraved pearl-handled revolvers, diamond stick pins, junkets to Fort Worth, Dallas, and Washington, D.C. Waggoner Ranch is a working one, with 20 cowboy camps scattered throughout the property to house the more than 120 workers. In 1879, the Waggoners foiled rustlers by changing their brand from the D-71 to the now-legendary three reverse Ds. He offered him pennies on the dollar for his fifty percent share., It was a paltry amount, Roberson agreed. Bucky and Gene and their lawyers were there. 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 Big Pasture, however, remained available for grazing and hunting. The dispute seemed to highlight Bucky and Genes contrasting attitudesone loved the land, the other loved the money. 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. As previously noted, this massive holding spans six North Texas counties. Another formula was used to calculate mineral rights, pipelines, cattle, horses, equipment, other assets. The ranch is approximately 175 miles northwest of the Dallas/Ft. W.T. By 1881, his ranch had reached its modern dimensions: half a million acres sprawling over six counties the largest ranch in Texas under a single fence. Quanah saw his alliance with the Waggoners and other cattle barons as a way to better the lives of his peopleand his own to boot. Oil production soon followed. Numerous food plots are located adjacent to these protected creek bottom areas, and these food plots serve as a magnet for wildlife. The settlers, most of them German or Czech, moved north of Paradise Creek, which runs just beyond the present northern boundary of the ranch. In one last attempt to keep the range open, W.T. Thats where Electra Waggoner Biggs lived and where she kept her studio, Hughes tells me. This is a robust and versatile multi-faceted operation like none other available on the market today. No way I could live in the city. He means Vernon (population: 12,000). In later years, W.T. Buckys home sits on one side of the square. It was in terrible condition, Joline explained as she showed me through their home. Though their homesteads are only a few miles apart, the families of Bucky Wharton, the original Electras grandson, and Gene Willingham, Electra IIs son-in-law, might as well live on separate continents. The Waggoner Ranch Reversed D Brand is burned on the right hip of calves, and dates back to June 11, 1849. When Helens father died, in 1975, they moved to the ranch, where Gene gradually assumed the position of head of the family. I think there were twenty-five or twenty-seven attorneys involved, he recalled. Dan died in 1903, leaving everything to Tom. The cowboys are already waiting on horseback just outside the loading pens, cutting up like schoolboys awaiting the bell for recess. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. How could things have spun so wildly out of control? Some say these deer may have never heard a rifle shot. He went on and on about how heartbroken he was and how much he missed them, but he didnt write them. After a big wedding in Decatur, the couple honeymooned in Europe and then planned to settle in Philadelphia. (It still is, except for the magnificent Wise County courthouse.) Each camp is equipped with a managers house, outbuildings and pens. Why do they fight on? Members of American Quarter Horse Association, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, National Beef Council, Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, and the Texas Land and Mineral Owners Association. At one dinner party, two Texans pulled six-guns from their dinner jackets and shot up the ceiling. We opened it up. Today the home is bright and welcoming. Bickering and backstabbing have been a way of life in the family. There are none to be seen, because there is not a drop of groundwater. They chose the latter. These cows are bred to Hereford, Angus, and Charolais bulls. Behind his back, other employees referred to Moore as Rasputin. When they supplied them, he fumed. 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. 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. Whats Up With All the Kangaroos on the Loose in Texas? The Waggoner Ranch is a historic north Texas ranch located 13 miles south of Vernon, Texas. Many thousands of additional acres of native pasture are suitable for cultivation, if desired. Electra married A.B. In 1877, Burk Burnett (6666 Ranch), Col. C.C. One morning she packed, jumped in her car, and headed for town, not bothering to stop and open any of the ten gates on the way. In his entire life, he never drew a paycheck from anyone but the Waggoners. The substantial structural improvements, thousands of miles of fences and roads, hundreds of earthen pond dam sites, rolling stock, waterlines, natural gas and oilfield lines, oil field equipment, the Waggoner office building, the included livestock (horses and cattle) and the entire operation are offered as a turn-key sale on an as-is, where-is basis. Texas became the 28th state on December 29, 1845, so the Waggoner Ranch is nearly as old as Texas itself. 1700 Deaf Smith St., Vernon, TX 76384, US. Its a constant battle. Over these past three decades, Bucky has absorbed every inch of this ranch and most of its colorful history. When it is necessary for them to be in the same room, they let third parties do the talking. This was probably a bluff. [8] Although it still spans six counties, it is primarily centered on Wichita County and Wilbarger County. In the lower draws and creek bottoms, hackberry and soapberry trees are common. Yet the Waggoner Ranch has outlasted its South Texas rival in one respect: It is still under the direct control of its founding family. As Parker biographer Bill Neeley has noted, ethics and morality played no part of this business arrangement. Either way, your shopping cart will be active until you leave the store. (Waggoner) hit oil instead. This land sits atop the Seymour Aquifer, while the ranch itself is bone-dry. They almost killed him with kindness, literally. These are the men who made the ranch work while the Waggoners were off in Fort Worth or New York or Europe. We farm approximately 25,000 that we use to graze cattle and raise crops for sale and internal use. In The American Quarter Horse Journal, Jim Jennings writes, The Waggoner contribution to the Quarter Horse industry has long been recognized. | Look out there! Bucky wanted the ranch to be divided, not liquidated. All canvas prints are professionally printed, assembled, and shipped within 3 - 4 business days and delivered ready-to-hang on your wall. 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. The W. T. Waggoner Estate is seeking a working relationshipwith an industry partner to furtherexplore and develop the ranchlands. They include a bunkhouse for single cowboys, more homes for the foreman and senior cowboys, a cookhouse, several maintenance sheds, and a truck barn. When I asked Joline if they had found any memorabilia from Electras time, she laughed. American Made Cap has manufactured for all types of customers, from professional baseball teams to local ranches, including the world-famous Waggoner Ranch just down the road. The dam was right on the dividing line. Three pivot sprinkler systems are used to distribute irrigation water to three large fields on the ranch. We love our customers, so feel free to visit during normal business hours. Its a perfect October morning, cool and crisp, and the ranch spreads out in every direction, 25 miles north to south, 30 miles east to west. The three smaller, 85,000-acre parcelsZacaweista, Four Corners, and Santa Rosawere gifts to his three children, Electra, Guy, and E. Paul. This iconic ranch property has been owned and operated by Waggoner heirs for approximately 165 years. The Reversed 3Ds is still used as a symbol representing the historic Waggoner Ranch. Waggoner left behind in East Texas the grave of his wife. Inside the Decades-long Effort to Commemorate a Notorious Waco Lynching. The only time we dont work, Hawley tells me, is when its raining and lightning, or when its very hot. This historic brand has been used in one form or another since that date, making it one of the very oldest brands in Texas. All I ever knew is the Waggoner Ranch, he tells me. After a time everyone seemed in agreement on all except one pointmaintenance of the dam at Santa Rosa Lake. When my wife got sick with cancer, Gene and Buck got the company plane to fly her to M. D. Anderson. This rare phenomenon. Maybe thats why Judge Neely told me that he has no intention of setting a deadline. The Waggoner is the largest U.S. ranch within one fence, measuring 520,527 acres (207,000 hectares) or 800 square miles (2,072 square kilometers). [9] One of the lakes on the ranch provides water for the City of Wichita Falls. We always meet with our employees present, and nothing is really handled. They have quarreled over which wells to cap or abandon, over control of the corporate airplane, over the purchase of bulls and the size of cow herds. She finally pulled up in front of the Vernon drugstore, pieces of gate and fence hanging off the car, Bucky tells me. Gene has told people that the ranch would sell in no time, the whole 520,000 acres. The property is divided into approximately 16 camp or division units. Horses have always been big business at the Waggoner Ranch. Disgusted, he continued drilling for water. I didnt ask for the nuts and bolts, he said and walked away. 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. The horses are bred for working ranch purposes,and many still carry the bloodline of the famous quarter horse, Poco Bueno; Decendants of the Waggoner family sold the ranch to Kroenke-Ranches of Bozeman, MT in 2016. Poco Bueno sired 36 AQHA Champions, and many of his offspring have excelled in all the different disciplines of modern day horse events. 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. Patel Brothers - largest Indian American supermarket chain. Patricia Sharpe writes a regular restaurant column, Pats Pick, for Texas Monthly. 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. Fire Ants Have Unleashed Chaos in Texas for Decades. My first job was walkin hotscooling down winded horsesbetween chuckers. By the turn of the century, settlers were overrunning Indian reservations, and the open range was all but gone. In the late eighties, as the oil revenue began to peter out, the new trustee of the Waggoner estate, Charles Prather, resigned. I remember my mother taking me to Fort Worth to talk to her attorney. Ahead was a legal battle over whether Buster had the right to dispose of property that Electra, his mother, had left in trust to him and his bloodline. He secretly wanted his favorite, Electra, to draw Zacaweista, because it was nearest to his homestead. has created a haven for deer, turkey, quail, dove, waterfowl and feral hogs. Main interests of the company are ranching, oil, and approximately 26,000 acres in cultivation. Waggoner, a widower, and his young son, William Thomas, settled on Catlett Creek, near present-day Decatur. Waggoner first settled his wife and son, William Thomas (Tom) Waggoner,qv in a home on Catlett Creek near the site of present Decatur. Biggs second in command was comptroller Killen Moore, a onetime Internal Revenue Service agent. [6] Guy Waggoner lived there with his wife Anne Burnett, the daughter of Samuel Burk Burnett and heiress of the 6666 Ranch from 1922 until their divorce. The land was used primarily to raise crops, beef cattle and horses as well as for oil production. W T Waggoner Ranch Brand Honoring Waggoner Ranch Family and Owners Canvas Print by Richard W Linford. You get in here far enough, it just swallows you up, Hughes tells me. The Waggoner Ranch was ordered liquidated. [5], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}3354N 9900W / 33.9N 99.0W / 33.9; -99.0. He pointed to an impenetrable thicket of mesquite and told me, Thirty years ago we cleared that pasture, all the way to Beaver Creek. Poco Bueno died in 1969 and was buried in a standing position in front of the main ranch entrance. 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. After her husband died, Electra II did not keep up the pressure on Bucky, as John Biggs and Killen Moore had done. Waggoner Ranch is now officially, for the first time ever in its history, offered for sale on the international marketplace. Killen knew that Bucky was strapped with legal fees from the court battles of the sixties, Hughes told me. Bernard Uechtritz, one of the property brokers, told the. [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. The bidding period on the ranch, going for $725 million, ended Oct. 20 with about six serious potential buyers. Lake Kemp, a popular North Texas fishing and recreational site, is located approximately 40 miles west of Wichita Falls in Cara Blanca Park, the recreational park surrounding the lake. This is your chance to purchase the W.T. Waggoner Ranch is, the five-time winner of the Texas Ranch Roundup and a recipient of the American Quarter Horse Associations Best of the Remuda Award.. They are already being augmented by Kroenke Ranches' world-class commercial Angus herd. Waggoners have a series of brands that go on each foal, the history of which goes back to the days of W. T. Waggoner. He began buying land in western Wise County in 1870. (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. They buried him standing up, Hughes informs me. Wharton, a Philadelphia blue blood she met while traveling in the Himalayas. The King Ranch, based in south Texas, has more acreage spread over several parcels. We invite you to browse through our store and shop with confidence. Hughes grew up in Vernon and has been hunting and fishing on the ranch since high school. The Willingham house is a low, ranch-style brick structure, set behind a wall of trees. At Christmas, they exchange giftsby messenger. 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. Recently, new ownership has brought substantial investment in both equipment and design. Bring on the Shiplap. Wichita Falls, the county seat of Wichita County, is approximately 20 miles east of the eastern boundary of the ranch.