waggoner ranch brand

He sits across the table from me in his starched jeans and freshly shined boots, ramrod straight, his hat resting in his lap, his gray hair slicked down. Now 56, Bucky is one of the protagonists in the battle over the future of the ranch. Sign up to hear from us about specials, sales, and events. Thats where Electra Waggoner Biggs lived and where she kept her studio, Hughes tells me. This sprawling property is approximately three-fourths the size of Rhode Island. There is also a rumor that the Willinghams have already bought a home in Fort Worth. These live creeks and their tributaries provide a desirable source of livestock water throughout the property. He secretly wanted his favorite, Electra, to draw Zacaweista, because it was nearest to his homestead. 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 ranch is reported to be the largest contiguous ranching operation of its kind under one fence in Texas, and one of the largest in the United States. Making Texas history: Legendary Waggoner Ranch sells to Rams owner My dockets not that crowded, he said. 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. She left an enduring reputation and two children from the first of her three marriages: Tom Waggoner Wharton, who died of syphilis at age 25, eight-times married but childless, and A. An enormous picture window with a panoramic view of the ranch replaced the porthole-size window of 1910. Its like watching the death of a huge and magnificent animal: People cant bear to look, yet theyre powerless to turn away. John and Electra had two daughtersa third Electra and Helen. Its absence symbolizes the fate of the Guy Waggoner clan in the history of the ranch. Shareholders of the ranch reside at these two divisions. Shortly before she ended her eighteen-year marriage to A.B., she purchased another magnificent home on Preston Road in Highland Park and named it Shadowlawn. Numerous smaller cultivated fields are scattered throughout the ranch. Sign up to receive timely, useful information in your inbox. 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. PRIMARY USE cow-calf, feed yard, farming, horses, oil and gas, wild game hunting, birding . 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. Bucky wanted to make it clear that he believed the situation was untenable. Land Broker and Land Appraisalfirm established in 1920. . 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. It is doubtful there is any other contiguous area of this magnitude in Texas which has had no commercial hunting pressure since the land was first settled. (It still is, except for the magnificent Wise County courthouse.) Located about a three-hour drive north-west of Dallas, the Waggoner ranch was founded in 1849 and has remained in the family ever since. In the late sixties Bucky attended the University of the Americas, in Mexico City. Maybe thats why Judge Neely told me that he has no intention of setting a deadline. 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. The Willingham house is a low, ranch-style brick structure, set behind a wall of trees. 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. But even as board members, they were powerless to exercise any authority over the ranch, except to elect future trustees. Busters card room, on the second floor, which was once walled in leather, now has the original wood exposed. The Waggoner Ranch Reversed D Brand is burned on the right hip of calves, and dates back to June 11, 1849. Slaughter (Slaughter Ranches), Jim Loving (JA Ranch) and Dan and W.T. The gifts were not entirely altruistic. 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. This iconic ranch property has been owned and operated by Waggoner heirs for approximately 165 years. The other wants to sell the ranch and divide the assets. Today, Waggoner descendants still reside at the ranch in two main compounds: Albert B. Wharton, III lives at the Zacaweista (Indian term for good grass) Headquarters and Helen Biggs Willingham and her husband Gene live at the Santa Rosa Headquarters. Copyright 2023 Waggoner Ranch Store - All Rights Reserved. The Waggoner Ranch, 550,000 acres extending into six counties, a realm steeped in Texas history, teeters on the brink of liquidation. You Can Now Buy a Texas Ranch That's the Size of a Small Nation, For Some people dont see it, but shes beautiful. Our horses are American Quarter Horses and we raise them for our use on the ranch. Showdown at Waggoner Ranch - Texas Monthly [6] Thirty cowboys, and about 120 people overall, are employed on the property. They still talk here of Paul Whitley, an unmarried cowboy who in 1950 rode his horse to Cedar Top, the most remote camp on the ranch, and lived alone in a primitive cabin until his final illness, in 2002. [6] Meanwhile, Electra Waggoner Biggs became a renowned sculptor. 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. The Waggoner Ranch was ordered liquidated. It may be hard to truly comprehend the sheer vastness of the Waggoner Ranch. They almost killed him with kindness, literally. Hostile Comanches and Kiowas, plus a few foolhardy nesters trying to scratch out a living, occupied this endless stretch of grassland. The W.T. Electra married A.B. The Biggest Ranches - Texas Monthly A unified decision has now been made by the shareholders to sell this legendary ranch. In 1879, the Waggoners foiled rustlers by changing their brand from the D-71 to the now-legendary three reverse Ds. 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. As a consequence, the King Ranch scions moved comfortably in elite Texas social, political, and business circles, while the Waggoners never achieved the same degree of prominence. Waggoner, a widower, and his young son, William Thomas, settled on Catlett Creek, near present-day Decatur. Brokers: Sale of Waggoner ranch looks hopeful as bidding ends - Chron Oil production soon followed. Residents of Waggoner Ranch told to vacate property by Rams - Chron As land was cleared for settlement, he gradually moved west and by the late 1870s settled along Beaver Creek near Electra Texas. But there has been no substantial rain for days now, and we kick up a trail of dark red dust as we head toward Santa Rosa, the area that E. Paul inherited and where his daughter, the second Electra, grew up. The cowboys sided with Bucky, who felt that hunters left litter, cut fences, and left gates open. These cows are bred to Hereford, Angus, and Charolais bulls. The only time we dont work, Hawley tells me, is when its raining and lightning, or when its very hot. His daddy worked this ranch for fifteen years, and Shane grew up on Cowboy Row. By all rights the Waggoner Ranch ought to be the equal of the King Ranch in Texas lore. [11] Buster raised polo ponies and established the El Ranchio Polo Club on the ranch. He was a nineteen-year-old Army sergeant at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, when he learned that the lawsuits had been resolved and that he was heir to 50 percent of the W. T. Waggoner estate. The entryway is glass, and there is a skylight over the vaulted ceiling above the staircase. Add to cart. Enlow is an advertising, media and fine arts photographer based in Fort Worth. 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. Gene is, by all accounts, gregarious and outgoing, a typical good ol boy who enjoys playing dominoes at the country club. 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Waggoner Estate office building in downtown Vernon, and most importantly, the exclusive right and use of the iconic Waggoner Ranch name, historic brand, and related rights are expected to convey within the sale. In a January 2003 deposition, Gene said he sent Bucky his own draft of the map but never got a reply. In the lower draws and creek bottoms, hackberry and soapberry trees are common. Waggoner biographer Roze McCoy Porter writes that Electra spent $90,000 remodeling the one-year-old mansion and another $55,000 on draperies. has created a haven for deer, turkey, quail, dove, waterfowl and feral hogs. Vernon, the county seat of Wilbarger County, is located approximately 12 miles due north of the ranch. One thing you dont see on the ranch is windmills. The cowboys are already waiting on horseback just outside the loading pens, cutting up like schoolboys awaiting the bell for recess. Vernon Regional Airport has a 5,100 foot long runway. The property is divided into approximately 16 camp or division units. But we are so far from the lights of townany townthat half an hour before daylight its still pitch black. Killen knew that Bucky was strapped with legal fees from the court battles of the sixties, Hughes told me. The Waggoner Ranch: The Largest Acreage in America Under One Fence On each of those transactions, Kroenke had relied on Leadbetter's counsel and the insights of Sam Connolly, general manager of Kroenke Ranches. A granite marker, weighing four tons, notes his grave site. I worked for six months with various people in the oil and the ranching divisions, he told me. Waggoner divided the Waggoner Ranch into four subsections: one for himself (White Face); and three smaller 8,500 acre sub-ranches for his children: Zacaweista, Four Corners, and Santa Ros. [8] The ranch spanned more than a million acres of land. A good cowboy does what the foreman tells him and waits for his paycheck and for the sun to go down., Now the sun is going down on the Waggoner Ranch, perhaps forever. In 1869 Dan made seventeen-year-old W.T. Waggoner Ranch is now officially, for the first time ever in its history, offered for sale on the international marketplace. W. T. Waggoner Ranch - LARGEST RANCH UNDER ONE FENCE [4][8] From 1889 to 1903, they acquired land in Wichita County, Wilbarger County as well as Foard County, Knox County, Baylor County and Archer County. 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. [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. W T Waggoner Ranch Brand Honoring Waggoner Ranch Family and Owners The headquarters at Zacaweista is a small, self-contained village built around a park that the cowboys call the square. In its center lies the grave of Tony Hazelwood, a legendary Waggoner cowboy and longtime foreman, who died in 1965. Jos R. Ralat is Texas Monthlys taco editor, writing about tacos and Mexican food. | Ranch Manager. Back in town, I am introduced to 79-year-old G. L. Proctor, the old cowboy who Weldon Hawley has modeled himself after. Several small on-site water wells are also located in this large block of farmland. I never saw him on horseback except during a parade. E. Paul was a famous charmer, though his wife, Helen, perhaps saw his romanticism through more practical eyes. The Big Pasture, however, remained available for grazing and hunting. 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). We see a bunch of javelinas too, and a bobcat as big as a mountain lion. The two sides have never been able to agree on a replacement. The greatest annual precipitation occurs to the east, in Archer and Wichita Counties, at just over 29 inches per year annually. Moore resigned as trustee in the early eighties, at a critical moment for the estate. After Buckys father died, Lula [the last of Busters four wives] stripped this place. 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. [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. The United States Department of Agriculture, as part of a conservation project, had surveyed every foot of ground on the ranch, and Roberson fed this information into a database. It doesnt seem real to even think about it, he says. 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. 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. [6] Electra Waggoner mostly resided at Thistle Hill in Fort Worth, although her husband, Albert Buck Wharton, operated a livery yard and horse stables on the ranch. What does it take to be a good cowboy? I ask. Rani's World Foods (Texas & Nevada) - Indian supermarket chain. While drilling for water, W.T. W.T. We opened it up. Today the home is bright and welcoming. Historically, the Waggoner Ranch has been operated as a cow/calf ranching unit, with stocker cattle used for seasonal grazing on wheat fields. Proctor, whose daddy was a Waggoner cowboy too, went to work for the ranch in 1937, at age thirteen. As previously noted, this massive holding spans six North Texas counties. You can still see Busters polo fields across the road from the big house Electra had built, next to his landing strip, and the skeet- and trap-shooting range where he and his guests gunned down live pigeons. One closet was filled with fur coats, another with 350 pairs of shoes, and yet a third with the latest gowns from Paris and New Yorkand she was said never to wear one more than once. It may be many years before a similar ranch of this magnitude becomes available, if ever. But Gene and Helen seem determined to do just that. This land sits atop the Seymour Aquifer, while the ranch itself is bone-dry. 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. reclaimed all land and assets in 1923 and placed them in a so-called Massachusetts trust, a draconian arrangement in which he, as the trustee, controlled everything, including one of the biggest shallow oil fields in the world.

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