One story has it that a gunslinger named Jimmie Roberts, originally hired to deal with rustlers, was sent out to make farmers an offer they couldnt refuse. They have been up since three and have had a hefty cookhouse breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, biscuits, and gravy. Some people dont see it, but shes beautiful. Our ranching operation includes, cattle, horses and the farm. ACRES 825,000. Electra died in 1925 at the age of 43, her life and much of her fortune spent on extravagance. The major block of this farmland, which is located on the northwest side of the ranch, contains approximately 14,000 acres. Texas History: What's your opinion?: Cattle Brands - Blogger Chip Gaines Bought Larry McMurtrys Historic Texas Bookstore. Deal of the Century: Waggoner Ranch - The Land Report 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. Sachueista Gate - WT Waggoner Estate Ranch - Vernon, Texas Wharton, a Philadelphia blue blood she met while traveling in the Himalayas. Most other ranches in this general area also rely on creek water and earthen ponds. Meanwhile, the Waggoner family tree was sprouting more branches. Nearby Vernon, which serves as the famed headquarters for the ranch operations office complex, receives an average of 28 inches per year. Worth Metroplex area. Guy, who eventually settled on another ranch the family owned in New Mexico, married eight times. Waggoner left behind in East Texas the grave of his wife. Several small on-site water wells are also located in this large block of farmland. . St Louis, Missouri, United States. He secretly wanted his favorite, Electra, to draw Zacaweista, because it was nearest to his homestead. Some people believe that she would never have permitted the sale of the Waggoner Ranch. Potential buyers include a group of Japanese investors, Ross Perot Jr., Boone Pickens, even the Mormon churchor so go the rumors. The Waggoner Ranchis a historic north Texasranch located 13 miles south of Vernon, Texas. In early 1963 Buster filed a lawsuit, seeking a dispensation to sell shares, but he died before the matter was litigated. From the highway, its pastures seem timeless and impregnable. Since his retirement, in 1991, Proctor has lived in Vernon, raising a few cows and tending his yard. Waggoner Ranch, the 800-square-mile plot of land in North Texas, is really big. Dan and W.T. Daniel Vaughn is the countrys first barbecue editor, and he has eaten more barbecue than you have. The two sides have never been able to agree on a replacement. We farm approximately 25,000 that we use to graze cattle and raise crops for sale and internal use. 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. I cant sit down, never could, he tells me. Making Texas history: Legendary Waggoner Ranch sells to Rams owner (and future trustees) would have the sole right to make all management decisions. 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. 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. But for how much longer? W.T. Waggoner Estate Ranch | Chas S. Middleton The cowboys sided with Bucky, who felt that hunters left litter, cut fences, and left gates open. had said, I want to run the most cattle, breed the best horses and work harder than anyone. When he was 17, his dad made him a full partner. This is your chance to purchase the W.T. They cant wait to get started. The Waggoner Ranch fully supports the AQHA initiative to implement the Ranchers Heritage Breeders Program and the AQHA Versatility Ranch Horse Program with current staff serving as a member of two AQHA Committees. 940-552-2521 x:270. Buckys pride in this place was unmistakable. The history of the land and the Waggoner family is so entwined with myth and legend that nobody can untangle the truth. 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. 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. They chose the latter. 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.. 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. Bernard Uechtritz, one of the property brokers, told the. Neither of her parents came to the wedding; biographer Porter reports that E. Paul and Helen were having marital problems. They were super, super people. Nevertheless, Smith resigned in 1997, tired of being caught in the middle of the power struggle. cattle inventory, horse inventory, horse facilities, brands . At least thats what everyone outside the two families, their lawyers, and the judge believe happened. This treated water is used for human consumption to serve the substantial headquarter improvements. 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. Hed consult with him and get back to us. The ranch is fenced and crossfenced, with an estimated several thousand miles of ranch roads and ranch fencing. Many carry the bloodline of Poco Bueno. 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. has created a haven for deer, turkey, quail, dove, waterfowl and feral hogs. 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 party bagged seventeen wolves (some of which were really coyotes), and the president beat a five-foot rattlesnake to death with his quirt. As previously noted, this massive holding spans six North Texas counties. 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. 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. Its a weird deal. But Gene and Helen seem determined to do just that. I guess you could say its traumatic, but in two or three days the calves will forget they ever had mamas, Weldon Hawley says in response to my city-boy question. [8] The ranch spanned more than a million acres of land. The 1905 hunt was a classic Waggoner production. Beaver Creek feeds Santa Rosa Lake, and the Wichita River feeds Lake Kemp and Lake Diversion. The W. T. Waggoner Estate is seeking a working relationshipwith an industry partner to furtherexplore and develop the ranchlands. $ 58.00. In a January 2003 deposition, Gene said he sent Bucky his own draft of the map but never got a reply. W T Waggoner Ranch Brand Honoring Waggoner Ranch Family and Owners Framed Print by Richard W Linford. I worked a couple of weeks gauging wells. Its been vacant ever since. Then, in 1997, Bucky and Roberson drew another map, this time setting aside the two homesteads, and again offered Gene first choice. Buster too had multiple spouses (four, to be exact), but his only heir was A. This historic brand has been used in one form or another since that date, making it one of the very oldest brands in Texas. Ranches, Farms and Land forsale in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas. Waggoner raised Quarter Horses on the ranch, including Poco Bueno, who was buried on the ranch. Gene has told people that the ranch would sell in no time, the whole 520,000 acres. In fact, when this ranch was first established, Abe Lincoln was in Congress, California was petitioning to join the U.S. as a free state, and neighboring Oklahoma was Indian Territory. The three smaller, 85,000-acre parcelsZacaweista, Four Corners, and Santa Rosawere gifts to his three children, Electra, Guy, and E. Paul. How could things have spun so wildly out of control? When E. Paul drew Zacaweista instead, W.T. Both families are already fabulously wealthy, though the wealth is in the land rather than their pockets. When it is necessary for them to be in the same room, they let third parties do the talking. By the time he was 27, Tom had full reins of the Waggoner cattle empire.. I ask him what he thinks of the family feud that threatens to end the way of life that he knew. $725 million Waggoner Ranch in Texas finds lender for - Chron It seems inconceivable that they cant agree on a compromise. Legend has it that Electra once blew $1 million in a single day at Neiman Marcus. When Helens father died, in 1975, they moved to the ranch, where Gene gradually assumed the position of head of the family. The Texanist: Why Dont Texas Houses Have Basements? Guy had a weakness for the ladies; he once skipped town with the lead actress from a traveling burlesque show. was determined to keep Electra nearby. (Tom) Waggoner had a good eye for quality horse flesh and developed a herd of broodmares to produce working ranch geldings for his cowboys. Vernon, the county seat of Wilbarger County, is located approximately 12 miles due north of the ranch. Didnt any of them have to work or suffer to get it. [9], In August 2014, the ranch was listed on the real estate market with an asking price of US$725 million. 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. In 1879, the Waggoners foiled rustlers by changing their brand from the D-71 to the now-legendary three reverse Ds. Bucky and Gene run the operation from offices in the W. T. Waggoner Estate Building. Hughes grew up in Vernon and has been hunting and fishing on the ranch since high school. 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. Each camp manager is responsible for the operation of his specific unit, but all of the managers and cowboys work together during spring branding and shipping. 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. Oil was a nuisance, and any good cattleman knew the value of water. 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. Leave them blank to get signed up. 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. Stretching across six North Texas counties, the Waggoner Ranch is considered to be extremely well located. Poco Bueno died in 1969 and was buried in a standing position in front of the main ranch entrance. Today, the W. T. Waggoner Ranch is managed by Sam Connolly of Bozeman. Waggoner Ranch cowboys like and respect both families and consider them fair and generous. It was in terrible condition, Joline explained as she showed me through their home. I worked for six months with various people in the oil and the ranching divisions, he told me. E. Paul was a dapper, dashing Hollywood-style cowboy, with a mustache and mischievous eyes. Seafood City (California, Hawaii, Washington, Nevada, Illinois) - Filipino American. Shareholders of the ranch reside at these two divisions. Both were famous for breeding, the King Ranch for Santa Gertrudis cattle, the Waggoner Ranch for cutting horses. Approximately 160,000 acres of the 560,000 acres areproven prolific oilproperties. Historically, the Waggoner Ranch has been operated as a cow/calf ranching unit, with stocker cattle used for seasonal grazing on wheat fields. As the large ranches of Texas, such as the Waggoner, 6666, JA, Slaughter, King Ranch and others, were established, fenced and began to operate, these legendary holdings were, at times, confronted with the problems of Indian raids and cattle rustlers. But selling the ranchor, worse still, permitting the court to liquidate itwould cost both sides dearly in taxes and prestige. The squabbling that has ensnared the ranch for almost a century began on Christmas Day of. To sum up the great legacy of the Waggoner Horse Program, it has produced three AQHA Hall of Fame Members (one Waggoner heir and two Waggoner horses): E. Paul Waggoner, Poco Bueno and Poco Lena; it is the number one All-Time Leading Breeder of NCHA Hall of Fame Members, Poco Lena, Poco Mona, Poco Stampede and Snipper W; it is the number three All-Time Breeder of AQHA Champions; and it is the Breeder of All-Time Leading Sires, Poco Pine, Poco Tivio, Poco Dell and Poco Bob. 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. Thistle Hill, as Electras mansion was called, stands to this day on the crest of Summit Avenue, near downtown. 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. The W. T. Waggoner Ranch is five-time winner of the Texas Ranch Roundup and a recipient of the American Quarter Horse Association's "Best of the Remuda Award". The bidding period on the ranch, going for $725 million, ended Oct. 20 with about six serious potential buyers. This was probably a bluff. The rich and spoiled siblings nearly squandered the family fortune on wild parties, all-night poker games, trips around the world, and divorce settlements. Map: The Waggoner Ranch is really, really big, y'all - MySA Not a shred, she told me. 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. But Buckys mother was not about to give up her sons inheritance without a fight. [6] It has about 14,000 cows and bulls as well as 500 horses. The majority of the ranch is in native pasture, supporting a mixed variety of palatable native grasses. Skyfood Supermarket (six locations in New York) - Asian Oriental Supermarket. The horse operation, known as the Whiteface Division, is a state-of-the-art training/breeding facility located in the northeastern portion of the Waggoner Ranch. It may be many years before a similar ranch of this magnitude becomes available, if ever. Weve root-plowed, sprayed, pulled it up with a tractor, dug it up with a backhoe. He offered him pennies on the dollar for his fifty percent share., It was a paltry amount, Roberson agreed. All canvas prints are professionally printed, assembled, and shipped within 3 - 4 business days and delivered ready-to-hang on your wall. As their cattle business grew, the ranch needed more grazing land, especially as barbed wire began to close in the open range. They ride the trails of their forebearers, living a life and practicing skills that have almost disappeared. In the late sixties Bucky attended the University of the Americas, in Mexico City. Since Electra IIs death, in 2001, the board has been composed of these two men who rarely speak to each other. As Smith put it, They were a beer-and-champagne twosome.. All I ever knew is the Waggoner Ranch, he tells me. Waggoner met in Graham, Texas, and formed what today is known as the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA), which is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. Yet the Waggoner Ranch has outlasted its South Texas rival in one respect: It is still under the direct control of its founding family. W. T. Waggoner Ranch - LARGEST RANCH UNDER ONE FENCE W T Waggoner Ranch Brand Honoring Waggoner Ranch Family and Owners Ill tell you one thing: Mrs. Biggs [Electra II] was the nicest person in the world to me, said Jimmy Lee Smith, who cowboyed at the ranch for 38 years, rising from cowpuncher to foreman and ranch manager. 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. He was teaching at Will Rogers Elementary School, in Houston, where Helen Biggs was also a teacher. John and Electra had two daughtersa third Electra and Helen. Bring on the Shiplap. Thats where Electra Waggoner Biggs lived and where she kept her studio, Hughes tells me. S. Middleton & Son in Lubbock are honored to announce the exclusive offering of the historic W.T. Seymour, the county seat of Baylor County, is several miles south of the ranch, and has a runway that is 4,300 feet long. Very few test wells havepenetrated the remaining 400,000 acres. As land was cleared for settlement, he gradually moved west and by the late 1870s settled along Beaver Creek near Electra Texas. 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. Waggoner Ranch, among US' largest, listed for sale - Chron "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. Bucky looks more like a Little League coach than a cattle baron. An additional 320 acres were then purchased in 1856 near the small town of Decatur, marking the first major expansion of Waggoner's estate. Brokers: Sale of Waggoner ranch looks hopeful as bidding ends - Chron 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. Consequently, climate data can vary over such a large area of the state. 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. Mammoth estate to be split up, auctioned - Chron The W.T. I just knew that life there was a lot different from life in Albuquerque. In 1963, when Bucky was fifteen, Buster Wharton died, leaving a will that gave his share of the Waggoner estate to his widow and his shotguns to Bucky. His daddy worked this ranch for fifteen years, and Shane grew up on Cowboy Row. Find a huge selection of trailers from DooLittle and SureTrac in MO. I can remember the Firestones and the Beverages and the cream of New York society flying in for those matches, Don Ross Malone, a Vernon attorney and son of the former game warden for the ranch, told me. Nobodys sure. What he got was just the opposite. Roosevelt remembered later: We broke into a lope a mile outside the limits, and by the time we struck the main street, the horses were on a run and we tore down like a whirlwind until we reached the train.. We have unique items that feature our brand. The Waggoner Ranch Reversed D Brand is burned on the right hip of calves, and dates back to June 11, 1849. 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. After a time everyone seemed in agreement on all except one pointmaintenance of the dam at Santa Rosa Lake. Because of Toms great influence on the horse industry, he became a founding member of the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA). W. T. Waggoner Ranch is located 13 miles south of Vernon, Texas with office headquarters in Vernon. As Parker biographer Bill Neeley has noted, ethics and morality played no part of this business arrangement. Waggoner found oil while drilling for water. Some say these deer may have never heard a rifle shot. According to a 2005 article in The Western Horseman Magazine, But another event in 1902 had a lasting impact on the Waggoner Ranch. 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. The ranch includes thousands of cattle, hundreds of horses and oil wells, and 30,000 acres of. W T Waggoner Ranch Brand Honoring Waggoner Ranch Family and Owners Canvas Print by Richard W Linford. Dan Waggoner, who was born in Tennessee in 1828, moved to Texas with his family in the mid-1840s. They married in 1969. We would love to have our customers come by and see us and see our newly remodeled store. The land was used primarily to raise crops, beef cattleand horsesas well as for oil production. 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. Bernard Uechtritz of Briggs-Freeman Sothebys International Realty in Dallas, and Sam Middleton, of Chas. 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. The summer after his discharge, in 1970, Bucky decided it was time to move to the ranch and begin his real education. Who was going to be responsible for it? It is as much a part of the legacy as horses, cattle, oil, opulent mansions, divorces, and drunken sprees. The current inventory of studs, mares, geldings and colts is approximately 474 head. 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. 510,527.00 Why do they fight on? But Wait, There's More A smattering of the more than 4,000 items listed on the. 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. [7] Parts of it can be seen from highways U.S. 183 The Bronc-busting, Cow-punching, Death-defying Legend of Boots ONeal, At Texas Swingers Clubs, the Lifestyle Is Booming. It comprises 520,000 acres in six counties, and is the home for 12,000 mother cows. In one last attempt to keep the range open, W.T. One of the striking sights as you leave the ranch is the sudden appearance of enormous green fields of cotton, wheat, and alfalfa. 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. Electra married A.B. Choose from multiple print sizes and hundreds of frame and mat options. For several years there were no further attempts to settle. 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). The facility is equipped to do embryo transfers and has both indoor and outdoor arenas, two barns, and over 30 stalls. Santa Rosa Lake covers approximately 1,400 surface acres when full. He began buying land in western Wise County in 1870. Poco Bueno sired 36 AQHA Champions, and many of his offspring have excelled in all the different disciplines of modern day horse events. 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. The nearly 30,000 acres of farmland is generally farmed in wheat for grazing, but Coastal Bermuda fields and haygrazer fields are baled and used to feed cattle and also to supply quality hay for the large horse operation. The land was used primarily to raise crops, beef cattle and horses as well as for oil production. Cowboys worry that the feud will destroy the ranch. The settlers, most of them German or Czech, moved north of Paradise Creek, which runs just beyond the present northern boundary of the ranch. Whats Up With All the Kangaroos on the Loose in Texas? The Wichita River, the two branches of Beaver Creek, countless small streams and tributaries, and dozens of stock tanks supply the ranchs water. Moore resigned as trustee in the early eighties, at a critical moment for the estate. In the Roaring Twenties, Electra Waggoner was the most infamous socialite in Texas. Dan took advantage of this great opportunity. All during the spring and summer of 2003, they talked of little else. Patel Brothers - largest Indian American supermarket chain. [6][11] E. Paul Waggoner raised Quarter Horses on the ranch. 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.