waggoner ranch brand
waggoner ranch brand
Its absence symbolizes the fate of the Guy Waggoner clan in the history of the ranch. And You Thought Feral Hogs Were Bad. The ranch was established in 1849 and spans six Texas counties and almost 800 square miles. He pointed to an impenetrable thicket of mesquite and told me, Thirty years ago we cleared that pasture, all the way to Beaver Creek. 940-552-2521 x:270. 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. From the highway, its pastures seem timeless and impregnable. G. After her husband died, Electra II did not keep up the pressure on Bucky, as John Biggs and Killen Moore had done. One thing you dont see on the ranch is windmills. 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. Quality horses are always the pride of a true rancher, and this original set of broodmares became a huge influence in the development of the Quarter Horse breed. (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. Land Broker and Land Appraisalfirm established in 1920. Its now the home of Electras grandson, Bucky Wharton, his wife, Joline, and their two children. Or you draw a line and Ill take first pick.. 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. Weve root-plowed, sprayed, pulled it up with a tractor, dug it up with a backhoe. All framed prints are professionally printed, framed, assembled, and shipped within 3 - 4 business days and delivered ready-to-hang on your wall. Find a huge selection of trailers from DooLittle and SureTrac in MO. Shareholders of the ranch reside at these two divisions. In later years, W.T. Waggoner Estate Ranch. Bickering and backstabbing have been a way of life in the family. At least thats what everyone outside the two families, their lawyers, and the judge believe happened. 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. $ 58.00. Forrest Wilder writes about politics and the outdoors. 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. 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. Since his retirement, in 1991, Proctor has lived in Vernon, raising a few cows and tending his yard. The house sits on high ground, mostly hidden by oak and pecan trees and a fieldstone wall. A drought in the last part of the nineteenth century made the land where the Waggoner Ranch now sits nearly useless for growing crops. These are the men who made the ranch work while the Waggoners were off in Fort Worth or New York or Europe. Gene has told people that the ranch would sell in no time, the whole 520,000 acres. 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). As Parker biographer Bill Neeley has noted, ethics and morality played no part of this business arrangement. Slaughter (Slaughter Ranches), Jim Loving (JA Ranch) and Dan and W.T. [11] Buster raised polo ponies and established the El Ranchio Polo Club on the ranch. Heath@WaggonerRanch.com | Subscribe Contact Us We love our customers, so feel free to visit during normal business hours. He served as trustee, and his three children, Guy Waggoner, Electra Waggoner Wharton, and E. Paul Waggoner comprised the Board of Directors. Can College Sports Get More Absurd Than SMU Joining the Pac-12? W.T. The Texanist: Why Dont Texas Houses Have Basements? 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 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. At that time, Gene wanted to sell leases to hunters and Bucky didnt. He was the first quarter horse ever to be insured for $100,000. Ill draw a line and you take first pick, he offered. 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. W. T. Waggoner Ranch is located 13 miles south of Vernon, Texas with office headquarters in Vernon. When they presented the map to Gene, they say, he asked for more details. But Wait, There's More A smattering of the more than 4,000 items listed on the. Cowboys of the Waggoner Ranch - Photography Book by Jeremy Enlow 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. It was notable for being the largest ranch within one fence in the United States. We would love to have our customers come by and see us and see our newly remodeled store. The cowboys sided with Bucky, who felt that hunters left litter, cut fences, and left gates open. But the difference is that the cattle barons of the King Ranch led private, almost secretive lives, running their empire themselves and living on the land, while the Waggoners turned their ranch over to professionals, moved away, and pursued flamboyance. They plied him with extravagant gifts: engraved pearl-handled revolvers, diamond stick pins, junkets to Fort Worth, Dallas, and Washington, D.C. How Florence ButtNot Her SonLaunched the H-E-B Empire, More Colorful Texas Sayings Than You Can Shake a Stick At. Sachueista Gate - WT Waggoner Estate Ranch - Vernon, Texas This land sits atop the Seymour Aquifer, while the ranch itself is bone-dry. On a Dan Waggonerfinanced trip to Fort Worth, Chief Yellow Bear was asphyxiated and Quanah nearly was when the Indians blew out the gas lamp in their hotel room before retiring. Yet the Waggoner Ranch has outlasted its South Texas rival in one respect: It is still under the direct control of its founding family. 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. 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. Potential buyers include a group of Japanese investors, Ross Perot Jr., Boone Pickens, even the Mormon churchor so go the rumors. The main set of shipping pens are located along the highway at the Zacaweista Headquarters Division. This is your chance to purchase the W.T. "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. 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. He began buying land in western Wise County in 1870. 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. Most other ranches in this general area also rely on creek water and earthen ponds. [6] His children would elect a Board of Trustees, who would make decisions with him at the helm. Bucky wanted to make it clear that he believed the situation was untenable. 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. Waggoner Ranch cowboys like and respect both families and consider them fair and generous. [8] W.T. I worked a couple of weeks gauging wells. . As previously noted, this massive holding spans six North Texas counties. Two of the camp divisions, the Zacaweista and the Santa Rosa, are very highly improved. [3][14][15] It was ultimately sold in February 2016 to billionaire Stan Kroenke, the husband of Wal-Mart heiress Ann Walton Kroenke and current owner of the National Football League's Los Angeles Rams and the Premier League's Arsenal F.C. Oil was a nuisance, and any good cattleman knew the value of water. 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. They include a bunkhouse for single cowboys, more homes for the foreman and senior cowboys, a cookhouse, several maintenance sheds, and a truck barn. After that, negotiations were dead in the water. Gene remembered it differently. He secretly wanted his favorite, Electra, to draw Zacaweista, because it was nearest to his homestead. declared a misdeal and had them draw again. Santa Rosa Lake covers approximately 1,400 surface acres when full. The Municipal Airport at Wichita Falls is served by American Eagle, and the runway is 13,100 feet long. 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). Bucky and Gene run the operation from offices in the W. T. Waggoner Estate Building. I saw them together at a backyard wedding two years ago, but they stayed on opposite sides of the yard, Jim Hughes told me. Busters card room, on the second floor, which was once walled in leather, now has the original wood exposed. The operation can breed outside mares as well as ship cooled or frozen semen. Hes not a large man, but his pleasant and unassuming manner and his quiet, considered confidence give him stature. These camps range in size from just over 20,000 acres to nearly 40,000 acres each. . 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. Skyfood Supermarket (six locations in New York) - Asian Oriental Supermarket. What must be going through his mind? But the Willinghams arent talkingabout the lawsuit or anything else. By all rights the Waggoner Ranch ought to be the equal of the King Ranch in Texas lore. I cant sit down, never could, he tells me. Heath Ownbey. They gathered information on the value of individual pastures, with the help of foreman Jimmy Lee Smith. 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. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Both lakes offer good fishing, boating, and water skiing, and the Waggoner Ranch leases out approximately 500 privately-owned housing sites surrounding these two lakes. In the Roaring Twenties, Electra Waggoner was the most infamous socialite in Texas. The history of the land and the Waggoner family is so entwined with myth and legend that nobody can untangle the truth. These live creeks and their tributaries provide a desirable source of livestock water throughout the property. Nothing is too trivial to spark an argument. The only time we dont work, Hawley tells me, is when its raining and lightning, or when its very hot. Our cattle herd consists of approximately 10,000 mother cows comprised of 60 percent Hereford and 40 percent Angus/Hereford and Brangus/Hereford cross. Waggoner biographer Roze McCoy Porter writes that Electra spent $90,000 remodeling the one-year-old mansion and another $55,000 on draperies. [8], After the death of Daniel Waggoner in 1902, his son W.T. W.T. Lonny Morrison [Genes attorney] said he knew an expert who could advise on that matter. Today, it is estimated there are over 1,000 producing oil wells on the Waggoner Ranch, with the W.T. 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. They communicate by written memos, even though their offices are separated by only a few feet. The Waggoner Ranch is a historic north Texas ranch located 13 miles south of Vernon, Texas. [6] It has about 14,000 cows and bulls as well as 500 horses. 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. 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. Approximately 41.67% of the mineral rights with a pro-rata portion of the executive leasing rights are expected to convey with the sale. Dan and W.T. Not a shred, she told me. Vernon Regional Airport has a 5,100 foot long runway. No Waggoner is buried on the ranch, only this one cowboy and a few early settlers in unmarked graves. A unified decision has now been made by the shareholders to sell this legendary ranch. Currently, Waggoner Ranch offspring are excelling in multiple competitive associations, including AQHA, Stock Horse of Texas, NRHA, NRCHA and NCHA. W T Waggoner Ranch Brand Honoring Waggoner Ranch Family and Owners Neither of her parents came to the wedding; biographer Porter reports that E. Paul and Helen were having marital problems. 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. Concerned about the future of the ranch, W.T. 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. Biggs second in command was comptroller Killen Moore, a onetime Internal Revenue Service agent. Numerous smaller cultivated fields are scattered throughout the ranch. Now look at it! W.T. She finally pulled up in front of the Vernon drugstore, pieces of gate and fence hanging off the car, Bucky tells me. But selling the ranchor, worse still, permitting the court to liquidate itwould cost both sides dearly in taxes and prestige. Electra died in 1925 at the age of 43, her life and much of her fortune spent on extravagance. W.T. W T Waggoner Ranch Brand Honoring Waggoner Ranch Family and Owners They were mailed while she was socializing in New York with her daughter, named after E. Pauls sister, Electra, and known as Electra II. 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. Either Guys two children would become their partners or E. Paul and Buster would have to buy them out. Waggoner raised Quarter Horses on the ranch, including Poco Bueno, who was buried on the ranch. Dan Waggoner passed away in 1903, and his son, W. T. (Tom) Waggoner continued to expand his ranching interests. They chose the latter. 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. John and Electra had two daughtersa third Electra and Helen. I think there were twenty-five or twenty-seven attorneys involved, he recalled. Cowboys are a different breed. Hughes grew up in Vernon and has been hunting and fishing on the ranch since high school. The Running W is the brand for the King Ranch located in south Texas close to Kingsville, Tx. At an early age, Dan started building what would become a ranching empire and founded the Waggoner Ranch in 1849. Waggoner left behind in East Texas the grave of his wife. The W.T. Dan Waggoner, who was born in Tennessee in 1828, moved to Texas with his family in the mid-1840s. Both ranches once covered more than a million acres. 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. He offered to pay Buckys attorney fees and pitch in an extra one million. Her best-known work is the statue of Will Rogers on horseback at the entrance to the Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum, in Fort Worth. This is a diverse operation consisting of cattle, horses, farming, oil, recreational lakes and wildlife. To Buckys surprise, the Biggs family responded by filing suit, asking the court to liquidate the estate. 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. 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. 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. The settlers, most of them German or Czech, moved north of Paradise Creek, which runs just beyond the present northern boundary of the ranch. Its a weird deal. 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. Sign up to hear from us about specials, sales, and events. Our horses are American Quarter Horses and we raise them for our use on the ranch. Very few test wells havepenetrated the remaining 400,000 acres. 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. After a big wedding in Decatur, the couple honeymooned in Europe and then planned to settle in Philadelphia. Though he wouldnt talk about the lawsuit, he spoke freely about his bewildering transformation from New Mexico schoolboy to co-owner of one of the countrys most famous ranches. After Buckys father died, Lula [the last of Busters four wives] stripped this place. Nobodys sure. The ranch includes thousands of cattle, hundreds of horses and oil wells, and 30,000 acres of. ACRES 825,000. Its pastures and wheat fields, cattle and horses, mansions. Over the years, a substantial amount of brush work has been done, and the mesquite canopy ranges from nearly extinct to moderate over portions of the ranch. We were talking in Buckys office, a large corner suite on the second floor of the long, low W. T. Waggoner Estate Building just off the main highway in Vernon. Seymour, the county seat of Baylor County, is several miles south of the ranch, and has a runway that is 4,300 feet long. Waggoner Ranch - AQHA - American Quarter Horse Association Chip Gaines Bought Larry McMurtrys Historic Texas Bookstore. W.T. Bucky Wharton didnt think of the ranch as his heritage until he was in high school at Culver Military Academy, in Indiana. Free shipping for many products! Waggoner Estate Ranch and related assets are now, for the first time ever, being offered for sale at a guideline listed price of. In addition to land and cattle, the family owned five banks, three cottonseed mills, and a coal company. 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. It seems inconceivable that they cant agree on a compromise. The cowboys are already waiting on horseback just outside the loading pens, cutting up like schoolboys awaiting the bell for recess. A portion of this acreage is seeded to very productive Coastal Bermuda. 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. 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. This huge block of farmland is crossfenced into large manageable fields which are suitable for grazing thousands of head of wheat pasture cattle. He knows the ranch, its cast of characters, and its skeletons and stories as well as any outsider. They cant wait to get started. W.T. But by the 1920s, with the advent of the automobile, W.T.s attitude about oil had changed. It was in terrible condition, Joline explained as she showed me through their home. PRIMARY USE cow-calf, feed yard, farming, horses, oil and gas, wild game hunting, birding . [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. 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. At the same time, they amended the bylaws to allow either party to give notice of termination within certain windows of timean amendment that would later prove crucial in the battle over the ranch. We opened it up. Today the home is bright and welcoming. Waggoner Ranch, the 800-square-mile plot of land in North Texas, is really big. At one dinner party, two Texans pulled six-guns from their dinner jackets and shot up the ceiling. He was teaching at Will Rogers Elementary School, in Houston, where Helen Biggs was also a teacher. 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. The Waggoner Ranch can be characterized as a potential sportsmans paradise. Some of the larger main shipping pens are equipped with hydraulic chutes and scales. The family feud began the moment the old man rigged the game. Though its a nicer house, the Willinghams have never moved up there. 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. You get in here far enough, it just swallows you up, Hughes tells me. When my wife got sick with cancer, Gene and Buck got the company plane to fly her to M. D. Anderson. Because of Toms great influence on the horse industry, he became a founding member of the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA). Waggoner Ranch - AQHA - American Quarter Horse Association As Smith put it, They were a beer-and-champagne twosome.. Stretching across six North Texas counties, the Waggoner Ranch is considered to be extremely well located. [6] Meanwhile, Electra Waggoner Biggs became a renowned sculptor. Bernard Uechtritz of Briggs-Freeman Sothebys International Realty in Dallas, and Sam Middleton, of Chas. He offered him pennies on the dollar for his fifty percent share., It was a paltry amount, Roberson agreed. Mesquite is the major invader in this part of Texas. Thistle Hill, as Electras mansion was called, stands to this day on the crest of Summit Avenue, near downtown. 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. The sale of the iconic Waggoner Ranch, while marking the end of one era, creates for a new owner the opportunity to begin another. In May, Judge Neely heard the motion for partial summary judgment and made his ruling. Brokers: Sale of Waggoner ranch looks hopeful as bidding ends - Chron Neither the Willinghams nor the Whartons have the funds to buy the other out. Millionaire ranchers from Argentina and the elite of East Coast society came in their private planes for weekends of polo and debauchery. I got two dollars a match. Cecil Smith, the world-famous ten-goal player, rode with Busters Waggoner Ranch team. Killen knew that Bucky was strapped with legal fees from the court battles of the sixties, Hughes told me.