Inside the Decades-long Effort to Commemorate a Notorious Waco Lynching. Poco Bueno sired 36 AQHA Champions, and many of his offspring have excelled in all the different disciplines of modern day horse events. There is a photograph of her in the Red River Valley Museum, near Vernon College, along with a large collection of her work: busts of Will Rogers, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Bob Hope, Knute Rockne, Amon Carter, John Nance Garner. Waggoner Ranch with all of its history and be a part of its future unbridled potential. Both families are already fabulously wealthy, though the wealth is in the land rather than their pockets. [6], In 1991, Electra Waggoner Biggs sued to be able to sell the ranch. Making Texas history: Legendary Waggoner Ranch sells to Rams owner Some people believe that she would never have permitted the sale of the Waggoner Ranch. Yet the Waggoner Ranch has outlasted its South Texas rival in one respect: It is still under the direct control of its founding family. It may be many years before a similar ranch of this magnitude becomes available, if ever. They plied him with extravagant gifts: engraved pearl-handled revolvers, diamond stick pins, junkets to Fort Worth, Dallas, and Washington, D.C. 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. [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. Neither of her parents came to the wedding; biographer Porter reports that E. Paul and Helen were having marital problems. 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. Genes got to drive within fifty feet of Buckys house every morning and again every evening to get to his own place. 27 of 56 28 of 56 Cowboys on the Waggoner Ranch brand calves in the spring of 1983. The facility is equipped to do embryo transfers and has both indoor and outdoor arenas, two barns, and over 30 stalls. They wintered the herd that year in Clay County and the following spring drove it to market, netting a profit of $55,000. Waggoner Ranch cattle have been 60 percent Hereford and 40 percent Angus/Hereford and Brangus/Hereford. Joe Roberson, who was the estates auditor for many years, describes him this way: Big belt buckle, expensive boots, a bottle of whiskey. E. Paul had a good eye for horseshe bought Poco Bueno, the great cutting horse sireand loved to be seen as the ultimate cattle baron, but a retired Waggoner Ranch foreman named G. L. Proctor told me, He wasnt much of a rider. The Waggoner Ranchis a historic north Texasranch located 13 miles south of Vernon, Texas. After Biggs fell ill with cancer in the early seventies, Moore was essentially running things, and the boardwhich then consisted of Electra II and Buckyappointed him trustee after Biggs died, in 1975. was determined to keep Electra nearby. The wooded river and creek courses offer exceptional cover and desirable habitat for native game. Because of Toms great influence on the horse industry, he became a founding member of the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA). Choose from multiple print sizes, border colors, and canvas materials. Some of these were bred strictly for ranch work, and others for the show arena, but they all had one thing in common, they were cow horses., Poco Bueno was foaled in 1944 and was purchased by E. Paul Waggoner in 1945. According to a 2005 article in The Western Horseman Magazine, But another event in 1902 had a lasting impact on the Waggoner Ranch. (Waggoner) hit oil instead. Why do they fight on? King Ranch. The sale of the iconic Waggoner Ranch, while marking the end of one era, creates for a new owner the opportunity to begin another. 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. When it is necessary for them to be in the same room, they let third parties do the talking. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. It seems inconceivable that they cant agree on a compromise. Leave them blank to get signed up. The Waggoner has been owned by the same family almost as long as Texas been a state. 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. Map: The Waggoner Ranch is really, really big, y'all - MySA They ride the trails of their forebearers, living a life and practicing skills that have almost disappeared. In 1923, W. T. formed what is known today as the W. T. Waggoner Estate. Waggoner biographer Roze McCoy Porter writes that Electra spent $90,000 remodeling the one-year-old mansion and another $55,000 on draperies. By the time he was 27, Tom had full reins of the Waggoner cattle empire.. Deal of the Century: Waggoner Ranch - The Land Report W.T. declared a misdeal and had them draw again. 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. Meanwhile, W.T.s widow, Ella, ran the ranch as dowager empress until her death, in 1959. W.T. The Waggoner Ranch: The Largest Acreage in America Under One Fence and 283. 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 history and the legend surrounding the Waggoner Ranch are as big as the ground it covers. In one last attempt to keep the range open, W.T. I was there. He pointed to an impenetrable thicket of mesquite and told me, Thirty years ago we cleared that pasture, all the way to Beaver Creek. Showdown at Waggoner Ranch - Texas Monthly 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. Nothing is too trivial to spark an argument. He secretly wanted his favorite, Electra, to draw Zacaweista, because it was nearest to his homestead. 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. Guy, who eventually settled on another ranch the family owned in New Mexico, married eight times. Bickering and backstabbing have been a way of life in the family. Rani's World Foods (Texas & Nevada) - Indian supermarket chain. 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. But W.T. But by the 1920s, with the advent of the automobile, W.T.s attitude about oil had changed. There is also a rumor that the Willinghams have already bought a home in Fort Worth. Sold! Texas's legendary Waggoner ranch bought by Arsenal owner Stan Dan sent Tom (his son), who was only 16 years old at the time, to Kansas City with a herd of 5,000 steers. They gathered information on the value of individual pastures, with the help of foreman Jimmy Lee Smith. This is your chance to purchase the W.T. When they supplied them, he fumed. 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. He offered to pay Buckys attorney fees and pitch in an extra one million. American Made Cap Company 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. | Consequently, climate data can vary over such a large area of the state. 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. Passing under a granite arch, we head down a long, paved driveway to Zacaweista, an Indian word meaning good grass. Its the name of both the ranch headquarters and the sprawling rock-and-wood home that Electra built in 1910. The Waggoner Ranch Reversed D Brand is burned on the right hip of calves, and dates back to June 11, 1849. The many improvements and related assets mentioned above combine to offer the purchaser an extremely attractive depreciation schedule. Hawley is the ranch manager, and Im sitting in the passenger seat of his pickup, holding my third cup of coffee. Most other ranches in this general area also rely on creek water and earthen ponds. Buster received income from his share of the estate, but he had no role in the ranch management and was happy to leave the ranching to E. Paul. [8] By 1903, he sold some of the land near China Creek to developers. We have unique items that feature our brand. These live creeks and their tributaries provide a desirable source of livestock water throughout the property. L. Proctor was foreman when I got here, and I made him my model., The ranch has about thirty cowboys, many of them second- and third-generation Waggoner employees. Now look at it! 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. I tried college in Vernon for a little while, but it wasnt for me. 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. The squabbling that has ensnared the ranch for almost a century began on Christmas Day of that year, when W.T. When E. Paul drew Zacaweista instead, W.T. There are several other large ponds, as well as hundreds of livestock ponds scattered throughout the property. 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 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. He was the first quarter horse ever to be insured for $100,000. Its a constant battle. Over these past three decades, Bucky has absorbed every inch of this ranch and most of its colorful history. It may be hard to truly comprehend the sheer vastness of the Waggoner Ranch. 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. Meanwhile, the Waggoner family tree was sprouting more branches. The family made their main homes in the city and returned to the ranch for weekend getaways and holidays. Oil production soon followed. Hunting big game in Africa and hosting extravagant parties at the ranch occupied most of Busters time. W.T. In the late eighties, as the oil revenue began to peter out, the new trustee of the Waggoner estate, Charles Prather, resigned. While the last of the calves are being loaded onto the trucks, I talk to a 22-year-old cowboy named Shane Bone, a handsome young man in dusty brown chaps and a well-used cowboy hat. 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. St Louis, Missouri, United States. Buster never liked cows; the only thing about the ranch he cared about was horses, especially his polo ponies. At every opportunity, Dan Waggoner purchased land. They communicate by written memos, even though their offices are separated by only a few feet. [9] One of the lakes on the ranch provides water for the City of Wichita Falls. Guy had a weakness for the ladies; he once skipped town with the lead actress from a traveling burlesque show. Some say these deer may have never heard a rifle shot. [6][12], When Guy Waggoner died in 1950, his sons sold their share of the estate to members of the family. After her husband died, Electra II did not keep up the pressure on Bucky, as John Biggs and Killen Moore had done. Some people dont see it, but shes beautiful. In later years, W.T. Marketing is done through private treaty and production sales. 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. 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. [6] His children would elect a Board of Trustees, who would make decisions with him at the helm. Bucky and Gene and their lawyers were there. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. [11] Buster raised polo ponies and established the El Ranchio Polo Club on the ranch. E. Paul was a dapper, dashing Hollywood-style cowboy, with a mustache and mischievous eyes. 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. [6] It has about 14,000 cows and bulls as well as 500 horses. Whats Up With All the Kangaroos on the Loose in Texas? Some of the larger main shipping pens are equipped with hydraulic chutes and scales. Biggs second in command was comptroller Killen Moore, a onetime Internal Revenue Service agent. It is as much a part of the legacy as horses, cattle, oil, opulent mansions, divorces, and drunken sprees. 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. Lonny Morrison [Genes attorney] said he knew an expert who could advise on that matter. 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. The greatest annual precipitation occurs to the east, in Archer and Wichita Counties, at just over 29 inches per year annually. And You Thought Feral Hogs Were Bad. 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. Some of the wells discovered in the 1920s are still in operation. 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. Employees of the Waggoner Ranch horse operation concentrate on raising horses for working ranch purposes and strive to create athletic and trainable horses that are 15-hands tall with outstanding conformation. All I ever knew is the Waggoner Ranch, he tells me. After Guy died, E. Paul and Buster faced the issue of what would become of his shares in the Waggoner estate. Hostile Comanches and Kiowas, plus a few foolhardy nesters trying to scratch out a living, occupied this endless stretch of grassland. The ranch originally operated under the name of Dan Waggoner & Son. Approximately 160,000 acres of the 560,000 acres areproven prolific oilproperties. The summer after his discharge, in 1970, Bucky decided it was time to move to the ranch and begin his real education. Moore resigned as trustee in the early eighties, at a critical moment for the estate. [6] Specifically, this went to Albert Buckman Wharton, Jr., also known as Buster Wharton, who was Electra Waggoner's son, and Electra Waggoner Biggs, who was E. Paul Waggoner's daughter. 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. 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. began courting Quanah Parker, the Comanche chief, with their eyes on the Big Pasture, a huge block of Indian land just across the Red River in what would eventually become Oklahoma. This huge block of farmland is crossfenced into large manageable fields which are suitable for grazing thousands of head of wheat pasture cattle. Vista Caliente - Signed Print by Woodrow M. Blagg - Cowboys - Waggoner Main interests of the company are ranching, oil, and approximately 26,000 acres in cultivation. Waggoner Ranch - AQHA - American Quarter Horse Association Heath Ownbey. Quanah delivered the land to the Waggoners and other cattle baronsat one time, Waggoner and son leased 650,000 acres for an annual payment of $30,000and the cattle barons made Quanah rich and famous. In one, he wished Electra happy birthday and said, I bought you a $2,500 bond.. Fort Worth-based Jeremy Enlow was given exclusive access to the cowboys behind the prestigious reversed triple D brand of the Waggoner Ranch, the largest ranch in the United States under one fence. 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. Joe Roberson showed me how to read the books. We would love to have our customers come by and see us and see our newly remodeled store. Even when he was a young lad of 14, W.T. 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. Three pivot sprinkler systems are used to distribute irrigation water to three large fields on the ranch. Proctor, whose daddy was a Waggoner cowboy too, went to work for the ranch in 1937, at age thirteen. E. Paul, a whiskey-drinking, poker-playing party animal, stayed married to his wife, Helen, for fifty years, but few people doubted the rumors that he kept mistresses in Mexico and South Texas. Cowboys worry that the feud will destroy the ranch. The other wants to sell the ranch and divide the assets. Thats what folks in Vernon, Electra, Seymour, and other towns near the Waggoner Ranch are asking as they watch one of Texass greatest ranching empires teeter on the brink of disintegration. All-night parties that started at Shadowlawn sometimes ended up on the ranch, after a trip by private railroad car, so that Eastern dandies could be treated to the sights of cowboys branding and castrating calves. 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. She finally pulled up in front of the Vernon drugstore, pieces of gate and fence hanging off the car, Bucky tells me. Anne was the granddaughter of W.T.s friend Burk Burnett and hardly the type to sit around waiting for a roving husband. 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. The W. T. Waggoner Estate is the nation's largest ranch under one fence. We have unique items that feature our brand. As a boy, Bucky visited the ranch at Christmas and during the summer, but he was never close to his father and knew nothing about cattle or oil. B. Wharton III, known as Bucky. Texas History: What's your opinion?: Cattle Brands - Blogger Salt cedar is found along creek and river courses, and cedar is moderate to dense in the rougher, eroded areas of the ranch. At least thats what everyone outside the two families, their lawyers, and the judge believe happened. A municipal waterline from nearby Seymour serves some of the homes located at Lake Kemp. Jos R. Ralat is Texas Monthlys taco editor, writing about tacos and Mexican food. 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. His daddy worked this ranch for fifteen years, and Shane grew up on Cowboy Row. 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 Bronc-busting, Cow-punching, Death-defying Legend of Boots ONeal, At Texas Swingers Clubs, the Lifestyle Is Booming. Behind his back, other employees referred to Moore as Rasputin. I got two dollars a match. Cecil Smith, the world-famous ten-goal player, rode with Busters Waggoner Ranch team. The land was used primarily to raise crops, beef cattleand horsesas well as for oil production. My dockets not that crowded, he said. Nobodys sure. Bernard Uechtritz of Briggs-Freeman Sothebys International Realty in Dallas, and Sam Middleton, of Chas. Growing up, the ranch didnt seem like a big deal, Bucky told me. 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. Texas became the 28th state on December 29, 1845, so the Waggoner Ranch is nearly as old as Texas itself. This was probably a bluff. Waggoner Ranch is a working one, with 20 cowboy camps scattered throughout the property to house the more than 120 workers. The house eventually fell apart and was torn down. At the time of acquisition, the ranch comprised 520,527 acres (210,650ha), or 800sqmi (2,100km2) but additional acreage was included in the sale making the total closer to 535,000 acres (217,000ha). Many carry the bloodline of Poco Bueno. The Waggoner Ranch, 550,000 acres extending into six counties, a realm steeped in Texas history, teeters on the brink of liquidation. [4] It was acquired by Stan Kroenke, who is married to Ann Walton (niece of Sam Walton), in February 2016. The current inventory of studs, mares, geldings and colts is approximately 474 head. Waggoner Ranch - AQHA - American Quarter Horse Association The Reversed 3Ds is still used as a symbol representing the historic Waggoner Ranch. In the meantime, the Waggoners had been buying out small farmers on the Texas side of the river, paying $1 an acre and often less. Either Guys two children would become their partners or E. Paul and Buster would have to buy them out. S. Middleton & Son in Lubbock are honored to announce the exclusive offering of the historic W.T. Millionaire ranchers from Argentina and the elite of East Coast society came in their private planes for weekends of polo and debauchery. They chose the latter. [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. In the lower draws and creek bottoms, hackberry and soapberry trees are common. The three smaller, 85,000-acre parcelsZacaweista, Four Corners, and Santa Rosawere gifts to his three children, Electra, Guy, and E. Paul. He served as trustee, and his three children, Guy Waggoner, Electra Waggoner Wharton, and E. Paul Waggoner comprised the Board of Directors. A portion of this acreage is seeded to very productive Coastal Bermuda. 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. Seymour, the county seat of Baylor County, is several miles south of the ranch, and has a runway that is 4,300 feet long. Both ranches once covered more than a million acres. Enlow is an advertising, media and fine arts photographer based in Fort Worth. All rights reserved. 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. Bucky wanted the ranch to be divided, not liquidated. [6] However, in 1923, he changed his mind, and set up a Massachusetts trust. From the highway, its pastures seem timeless and impregnable. The land was used primarily to raise crops, beef cattle and horses as well as for oil production. He began buying land in western Wise County in 1870. We farm approximately 25,000 that we use to graze cattle and raise crops for sale and internal use. We would love to have our customers come by and see us and see our newly remodeled store. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. The ranch includes thousands of cattle, hundreds of horses and oil wells, and 30,000 acres of. Oil was a nuisance, and any good cattleman knew the value of water. 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. They say he was as mad as a nest of hornets. A granite marker, weighing four tons, notes his grave site. Now the fate of the ranch was up to the court. Under the terms of the trust, each of the children owned one third of the 100,000 shares in the estate, elected the board of directors of the trust and served on the board themselves, and retained their homesteads. I cant sit down, never could, he tells me. After dinner by the creek, Dan suggested that they all ride into Frederick, Oklahoma, personally setting the pace. He began buying land in western Wise County in 1870. Waggoner had built a great ranch, but in 1909 he was 57 years old and thinking about its future. 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. 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. Dan and W.T. W. T. Waggoner Ranch is located 13 miles south of Vernon, Texas with office headquarters in Vernon. 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.. But even as board members, they were powerless to exercise any authority over the ranch, except to elect future trustees. [6] Thirty cowboys, and about 120 people overall, are employed on the property. Today, it is estimated there are over 1,000 producing oil wells on the Waggoner Ranch, with the W.T. Waggoner Ranch is now officially, for the first time ever in its history, offered for sale on the international marketplace. Some whitetail deer on the Waggoner Ranch are estimated to be of Boone and Crockett quality. Waggoner left behind in East Texas the grave of his wife. 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.