My first job was walkin hotscooling down winded horsesbetween chuckers. No way I could live in the city. He means Vernon (population: 12,000). The history of the land and the Waggoner family is so entwined with myth and legend that nobody can untangle the truth. 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. 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. On each of those transactions, Kroenke had relied on Leadbetter's counsel and the insights of Sam Connolly, general manager of Kroenke Ranches. Moreover, a sale would be taxed and so would the distribution of the money. The facility is equipped to do embryo transfers and has both indoor and outdoor arenas, two barns, and over 30 stalls. Before the day is done, well spot hundreds of deer and numerous herds of feral hogs, fifty or sixty in a bunch, wee piglets scurrying to keep up. 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. This huge block of farmland is crossfenced into large manageable fields which are suitable for grazing thousands of head of wheat pasture cattle. This rare phenomenon. Without question, this legacy ranch represents a once-in-a-lifetime chance for an investor with vision and love of the land the rare opportunity to take this legendary offering to the next level. A full moon hangs over West Diving Board Pasture. Bickering and backstabbing have been a way of life in the family. How could things have spun so wildly out of control? 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. Waggoner Ranch cowboys like and respect both families and consider them fair and generous. Historically, the Waggoner Ranch has been operated as a cow/calf ranching unit, with stocker cattle used for seasonal grazing on wheat fields. The Municipal Airport at Wichita Falls is served by American Eagle, and the runway is 13,100 feet long. [6] Thirty cowboys, and about 120 people overall, are employed on the property. 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. cattle inventory, horse inventory, horse facilities, brands . We have unique items that feature our brand. E. Paul was a dapper, dashing Hollywood-style cowboy, with a mustache and mischievous eyes. An enormous picture window with a panoramic view of the ranch replaced the porthole-size window of 1910. This treated water is used for human consumption to serve the substantial headquarter improvements. King Ranch. The house sits on high ground, mostly hidden by oak and pecan trees and a fieldstone wall. 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. 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. It would be Helens husband, Gene Willingham, who would one day become Bucky Whartons main opponent in the struggle over the Waggoner Ranch. This well-renowned offering includes the 510,527 contiguous acres, together with all permanent improvements, approximately 41.67% of the mineral estate, all water rights, and all wind generation royalty rights. 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. It comprises 520,000 acres in six counties, and is the home for 12,000 mother cows. He was teaching at Will Rogers Elementary School, in Houston, where Helen Biggs was also a teacher. 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. They married in 1969. She hosted parties of celebrities, movie stars, and barons of capitalism, including the daughter of J. P. Morgan. In May, Judge Neely heard the motion for partial summary judgment and made his ruling. 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. In 1879, the Waggoners foiled rustlers by changing their brand from the D-71 to the now-legendary three reverse Ds. Weve root-plowed, sprayed, pulled it up with a tractor, dug it up with a backhoe. The other half belonged to Electra Waggoner Biggs, through various trusts. Biggs second in command was comptroller Killen Moore, a onetime Internal Revenue Service agent. Choose from multiple print sizes, border colors, and canvas materials. Our horses are American Quarter Horses and we raise them for our use on the ranch. Subscribe Contact Us We love our customers, so feel free to visit during normal business hours. The answer lies in the rich and rowdy heritage of the Waggoner clan. 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. The Waggoner Ranch has been very well managed over time, and considering the recent four-year drought, the worst in recorded history, the ranch supports an overall good turf of native grasses. A complete list of this inventory can be made available. Now the fate of the ranch was up to the court. A granite marker, weighing four tons, notes his grave site. Disgusted, he continued drilling for water. At midnight, March 31, 2003, the clock ran out on the W. T. Waggoner trust. It doesnt seem real to even think about it, he says. The other wants to sell the ranch and divide the assets. Without a trustee to keep them at arms length, they set off on a collision course. Waggoner acquired more land. Daniel Vaughn is the countrys first barbecue editor, and he has eaten more barbecue than you have. 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 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. Mesquite is the major invader in this part of Texas. This is a diverse operation consisting of cattle, horses, farming, oil, recreational lakes and wildlife. Numerous smaller cultivated fields are scattered throughout the ranch. W.T. Yet the Waggoner Ranch has outlasted its South Texas rival in one respect: It is still under the direct control of its founding family. [14] After Electra Waggoner Biggs's death, her share was inherited by Electra Waggoner Biggs's daughter Helen Biggs and her husband, Gene Willingham. Thats the case that has been snaking through Judge Tom Neelys Forty-sixth District Court, in Wilbarger County, for these past twelve years. Bucky looks more like a Little League coach than a cattle baron. FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) One of the largest ranches in the U.S. and an icon for Texas horse and cattlemen has been listed for $725 million, marking the end of a decades-long courtroom battle among. (Waggoner) hit oil instead. 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. You have no voice here and you never will.. The terrain varies from fairly level to gently rolling, sloping and hilly, but there are areas of rougher breaks and scenic, very eroded, red clay badland. The gifts were not entirely altruistic. Waggoner Ranch is now officially, for the first time ever in its history, offered for sale on the international marketplace. [8] By 1903, he sold some of the land near China Creek to developers. The Waggoner Ranch, 550,000 acres extending into six counties, a realm steeped in Texas history, teeters on the brink of liquidation. SOLD. When Judge Tom Neely, who is in charge of the current lawsuit to break up the ranch, was a young attorney in a previous round of Waggoner lawsuits during the sixties, he and other lawyers found some of E. Pauls letters to Helen. Some whitetail deer on the Waggoner Ranch are estimated to be of Boone and Crockett quality. Find a huge selection of trailers from DooLittle and SureTrac in MO. Horses have always been big business at the Waggoner Ranch. Now look at it! The history and the legend surrounding the Waggoner Ranch are as big as the ground it covers. [13] He once played there with polo champion Cecil Smith. 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. Then, twelve years ago, the two branches of the Waggoner family that control the W. T. Waggoner estate, which in turn controls the ranch, locked themselves in a lawsuit no one can win. The house eventually fell apart and was torn down. They have been up since three and have had a hefty cookhouse breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, biscuits, and gravy. All pens are very well maintained. They work six and sometimes seven days a week, from daylight until the job is done, often late at night. But Wait, There's More A smattering of the more than 4,000 items listed on the. On the other three sides are a number of buildings constructed of identical reddish-brown stone, quarried on the eastern part of the ranch. (Tom) Waggoner had a good eye for quality horse flesh and developed a herd of broodmares to produce working ranch geldings for his cowboys. 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. Texas became the 28th state on December 29, 1845, so the Waggoner Ranch is nearly as old as Texas itself. After that, negotiations were dead in the water. Gene remembered it differently. There are none to be seen, because there is not a drop of groundwater. [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. Electra married A.B. They plied him with extravagant gifts: engraved pearl-handled revolvers, diamond stick pins, junkets to Fort Worth, Dallas, and Washington, D.C. 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). Poco Bueno sired 36 AQHA Champions, and many of his offspring have excelled in all the different disciplines of modern day horse events. All framed prints are professionally printed, framed, assembled, and shipped within 3 - 4 business days and delivered ready-to-hang on your wall. 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. Sep 1989 - Present33 years 6 months. This land sits atop the Seymour Aquifer, while the ranch itself is bone-dry. The 1905 hunt was a classic Waggoner production. He owns a bank, an oil company, and a cattle company, but he is happiest when he is working outdoors or having dinner with his family. 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. 27 of 56 28 of 56 Cowboys on the Waggoner Ranch brand calves in the spring of 1983. The majority of the ranch is in native pasture, supporting a mixed variety of palatable native grasses. Consequently, climate data can vary over such a large area of the state. There are several other large ponds, as well as hundreds of livestock ponds scattered throughout the property. He built the newlyweds an eighteen-room mansion in Fort Worth, where he later built a twenty-story office building as the base for his empire. Proctor, whose daddy was a Waggoner cowboy too, went to work for the ranch in 1937, at age thirteen. We met in the boardroom at the Waggoner building, Roberson told me. 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. Some people think that the last chance for a settlement died with Electra II.