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. WHAT WE DO: We deliver strategic, brand-driven marketing communications solutions and deploy content that truly resonates . HOUCHRON CAPTION (07/27/2003): A calf is branded on the ranch in 1983. Many thousands of additional acres of native pasture are suitable for cultivation, if desired. When they supplied them, he fumed. 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. Wharton, a Philadelphia blue blood she met while traveling in the Himalayas. The settlers, most of them German or Czech, moved north of Paradise Creek, which runs just beyond the present northern boundary of the ranch. Either way, your shopping cart will be active until you leave the store. Behind his back, other employees referred to Moore as Rasputin. Waggoner Ranch livestock have access to water at both lakes. W.T. 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. 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. A complete list of this inventory can be made available. [9] In 1902, W.T. Its the Story of Shankleville, One of the States Early Freedom Colonies. We met in the boardroom at the Waggoner building, Roberson told me. 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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Cowboys ambling from the bunkhouse to the cookhouse for their five-thirty breakfast see her loping across pastures, dodging bulls and pump jacks. Heath Ownbey. The ranch's wild steers, huge supply of . Waggoner raised Quarter Horses on the ranch, including Poco Bueno, who was buried on the ranch. 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. In a deposition filed with the court in 2001, Bucky acknowledged: We do not meet face to face, just he and I. The Bronc-busting, Cow-punching, Death-defying Legend of Boots ONeal, At Texas Swingers Clubs, the Lifestyle Is Booming. Bucky and Gene run the operation from offices in the W. T. Waggoner Estate Building. 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. 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 Municipal Airport at Wichita Falls is served by American Eagle, and the runway is 13,100 feet long. The Waggoner has been owned by the same family almost as long as Texas been a state. They still talk here of Paul Whitley, an unmarried cowboy who in 1950 rode his horse to Cedar Top, the most remote camp on the ranch, and lived alone in a primitive cabin until his final illness, in 2002. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. Growing up, the ranch didnt seem like a big deal, Bucky told me. In 1877, Burk Burnett (6666 Ranch), Col. C.C. Waggoner first settled his wife and son, William Thomas (Tom) Waggoner,qv in a home on Catlett Creek near the site of present Decatur. The ranch is fenced and crossfenced, with an estimated several thousand miles of ranch roads and ranch fencing. 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. After dinner by the creek, Dan suggested that they all ride into Frederick, Oklahoma, personally setting the pace. [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. Nobodys sure. They work six and sometimes seven days a week, from daylight until the job is done, often late at night. Dan Waggoner, who was born in Tennessee in 1828, moved to Texas with his family in the mid-1840s. It was notable for being the largest ranch within one fence in the United States. The many improvements and related assets mentioned above combine to offer the purchaser an extremely attractive depreciation schedule. Currently, Waggoner Ranch offspring are excelling in multiple competitive associations, including AQHA, Stock Horse of Texas, NRHA, NRCHA and NCHA. What must be going through his mind? But the Willinghams arent talkingabout the lawsuit or anything else. But for how much longer? Today, the ranch boasts 7 stallions and over 90 broodmares containing bloodlines of Poco Bueno, High Brow Cat, Peppy San Badger, Top Sail Cody, Smart Chic Olena, and Wimpys Little Step. Waggoner Ranch, the 800-square-mile plot of land in North Texas, is really big. Copyright 2023 Waggoner Ranch Store - All Rights Reserved. W.T. Who was going to be responsible for it? By the time he was 27, Tom had full reins of the Waggoner cattle empire.. 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. Weve root-plowed, sprayed, pulled it up with a tractor, dug it up with a backhoe. He first settled on Catlett Creek near the site of present Decatur. 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. Hughes grew up in Vernon and has been hunting and fishing on the ranch since high school. "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. The house eventually fell apart and was torn down. When E. Paul drew Zacaweista instead, W.T. Thats the case that has been snaking through Judge Tom Neelys Forty-sixth District Court, in Wilbarger County, for these past twelve years. Not a shred, she told me. A portion of this acreage is seeded to very productive Coastal Bermuda. We have unique items that feature our brand. Subscribe Contact Us We love our customers, so feel free to visit during normal business hours. Our ranching operation includes, cattle, horses and the farm. But Wait, There's More A smattering of the more than 4,000 items listed on the. [6] Other towns nearby include Electra and Seymour. Yet the Waggoner Ranch has outlasted its South Texas rival in one respect: It is still under the direct control of its founding family. The squabbling that has ensnared the ranch for almost a century began on Christmas Day of that year, when W.T. Fire Ants Have Unleashed Chaos in Texas for Decades. He pointed to an impenetrable thicket of mesquite and told me, Thirty years ago we cleared that pasture, all the way to Beaver Creek. Bucky Wharton didnt think of the ranch as his heritage until he was in high school at Culver Military Academy, in Indiana. Yesterday a helicopter herded one hundred mother cows and their calves into a trapa corner of the large pastureand soon cowboys on horseback will be stripping the calves away from their mothers, herding them into separate pens and loading them onto trucks for transportation to other parts of the ranch. But we are so far from the lights of townany townthat half an hour before daylight its still pitch black. But W.T. Now 56, Bucky is one of the protagonists in the battle over the future of the ranch. Historically, the Waggoner Ranch has been operated as a cow/calf ranching unit, with stocker cattle used for seasonal grazing on wheat fields. (and future trustees) would have the sole right to make all management decisions. Shareholders of the ranch reside at these two divisions. I ask him what he thinks of the family feud that threatens to end the way of life that he knew. All framed prints are professionally printed, framed, assembled, and shipped within 3 - 4 business days and delivered ready-to-hang on your wall. What does it take to be a good cowboy? I ask. Its a constant battle. Over these past three decades, Bucky has absorbed every inch of this ranch and most of its colorful history. Sign up to receive timely, useful information in your inbox. Most sets of pens are capable of handling several thousand head of cattle at one time. 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. [4] It was acquired by Stan Kroenke, who is married to Ann Walton (niece of Sam Walton), in February 2016. No way I could live in the city. He means Vernon (population: 12,000). On the other three sides are a number of buildings constructed of identical reddish-brown stone, quarried on the eastern part of the ranch. One morning she packed, jumped in her car, and headed for town, not bothering to stop and open any of the ten gates on the way. 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. The letters were typed by his secretary, Neely told me. We see a bunch of javelinas too, and a bobcat as big as a mountain lion. [13] He once played there with polo champion Cecil Smith. 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. Some of the larger main shipping pens are equipped with hydraulic chutes and scales. 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. But Buckys mother was not about to give up her sons inheritance without a fight. [9] One of the lakes on the ranch provides water for the City of Wichita Falls. W T Waggoner Ranch Brand Honoring Waggoner Ranch Family and Owners Canvas Print by Richard W Linford. The property is divided into approximately 16 camp or division units. After a hard rain, this endless maze of graded red clay becomes a network of quagmires. An enormous picture window with a panoramic view of the ranch replaced the porthole-size window of 1910. So what does it all mean? The sale of the iconic Waggoner Ranch, while marking the end of one era, creates for a new owner the opportunity to begin another. The rich and spoiled siblings nearly squandered the family fortune on wild parties, all-night poker games, trips around the world, and divorce settlements. 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. My first job was walkin hotscooling down winded horsesbetween chuckers. 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. Jim Hughes, a longtime attorney for the Waggoner estate who was being groomed to become a trustee before the feud cost him the opportunity, slows down as a dozen or more wild turkeys scamper across the highway and disappear into thick stands of mesquite. All I ever knew is the Waggoner Ranch, he tells me. This iconic ranch property has been owned and operated by Waggoner heirs for approximately 165 years. Cowboys worry that the feud will destroy the ranch. So it was the King Ranch whose legend was set down for posterity by the distinguished Texas author Tom Lea, while the Waggoners escapades were left to be recorded by the English author John Bainbridgea few passages in his 1960 book called The Super-Americans, about the excesses of Texass oil millionaires. As a consequence, the King Ranch scions moved comfortably in elite Texas social, political, and business circles, while the Waggoners never achieved the same degree of prominence. When full, Lake Kemp covers an area of over 16,540 surface acres and Lake Diversion covers approximately 3,420 surface acres. Richard King and Captain James Walworth's King Ranch brand was registered June 27, 1859 3. Slaughter (Slaughter Ranches), Jim Loving (JA Ranch) and Dan and W.T. Ranching operations began with 230 head of longhorn cattle and some horses. The Waggoner Ranch was established in 1849 by Dan Waggoner. West Texans Are Learning What It Means to Live in Bear Country, H-E-Bs True Texas BBQ Restaurant Is Slipping, Jimmy Carters Peanut-and-Egg Taco Made Quite the Impression on San Antonians. After the first freeze, 120,000 geese will land on Santa Rosa Lake and feast on winter wheat fields. Numerous smaller cultivated fields are scattered throughout the ranch. The W.T. I worked a couple of weeks gauging wells. Hostile Comanches and Kiowas, plus a few foolhardy nesters trying to scratch out a living, occupied this endless stretch of grassland. [2][3] It was originally established in 1852 near Vernon, Texas, by Daniel Waggoner under the name of Dan Waggoner & Son; his son being William Thomas Waggoner. The Waggoner Ranch, 550,000 acres extending into six counties, a realm steeped in Texas history, teeters on the brink of liquidation. Salt cedar is found along creek and river courses, and cedar is moderate to dense in the rougher, eroded areas of the ranch. 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. Waggoner acquired more land. Neither the Willinghams nor the Whartons have the funds to buy the other out. (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. For the past 15 years, champions at both the National Reining Association and the National Cutting Horse Association Futurity have had Waggoner bloodlines in their pedigree. [8] The ranch spanned more than a million acres of land. The South and Westernportionsof the ranch are within the shelf and slope regions ofthe carbonate platform where the application ofnew seismictechnology tied to solid geological models will lead to a verysuccessful venture. After that, negotiations were dead in the water. Gene remembered it differently. They buried him standing up, Hughes informs me. 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. 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. The Waggoner Ranch was established in 1849 by Dan Waggoner. As Smith put it, They were a beer-and-champagne twosome.. This is the job I set my sights on, he says. Please create an account or shop as a guest. Mesquite is the major invader in this part of Texas. I think there were twenty-five or twenty-seven attorneys involved, he recalled. Dan sent Tom (his son), who was only 16 years old at the time, to Kansas City with a herd of 5,000 steers. That became the seed money for the Waggoner empire. He knows the ranch, its cast of characters, and its skeletons and stories as well as any outsider. Shortly after leaving, he got his draft notice, at the height of the Vietnam War. Biggs second in command was comptroller Killen Moore, a onetime Internal Revenue Service agent. To Buckys surprise, the Biggs family responded by filing suit, asking the court to liquidate the estate. B. Wharton III, known as Bucky. The bidding period on the ranch, going for $725 million, ended Oct. 20 with about six serious potential buyers. You have no voice here and you never will.. In 1869 Dan made seventeen-year-old W.T. Main interests of the company are ranching, oil, and approximately 26,000 acres in cultivation. Meanwhile, W.T.s widow, Ella, ran the ranch as dowager empress until her death, in 1959. Today the ranch consists of approximately 535,000 acres, and is recognized as the largest ranch in Texas under one fence. [8] Although it still spans six counties, it is primarily centered on Wichita County and Wilbarger County. 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. Both were famous for breeding, the King Ranch for Santa Gertrudis cattle, the Waggoner Ranch for cutting horses. Today, the W. T. Waggoner Ranch is managed by Sam Connolly of Bozeman. In total, the ranch spans nearly 800 square miles. An additional 320 acres were then purchased in 1856 near the small town of Decatur, marking the first major expansion of Waggoner's estate. Guy, who eventually settled on another ranch the family owned in New Mexico, married eight times. The Waggoner Ranch Store is located in the Waggoner Estate building in Vernon Texas. For several years there were no further attempts to settle. 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.. 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. The answer lies in the rich and rowdy heritage of the Waggoner clan. Thats where Electra Waggoner Biggs lived and where she kept her studio, Hughes tells me. Look out there! The dam was right on the dividing line. and 283. Horses have always been big business at the Waggoner Ranch. Two of the camp divisions, the Zacaweista and the Santa Rosa, are very highly improved. Biggss brother-in-law was the president of General Motors, and he later named a Buick model for Electra. The W. T. Waggoner Estate is seeking a working relationshipwith an industry partner to furtherexplore and develop the ranchlands. By the late fifties, forces were marshalling to ensure total control for E. Paul and his heirs. Oil production soon followed. He offered him pennies on the dollar for his fifty percent share., It was a paltry amount, Roberson agreed. And You Thought Feral Hogs Were Bad. Waggoner Estate operating approximately 150 of these wells and 40 independent operators operating the balance. Jos R. Ralat is Texas Monthlys taco editor, writing about tacos and Mexican food. 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.. discovered oil while trying to drill for water, Hughes tells me. Though its a nicer house, the Willinghams have never moved up there. 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. Numerous large, functional and well designed sets of shipping and working pens are scattered throughout the ranch. 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. Instead of six bedrooms, it now has four. W. T. Waggoner Ranch is located 13 miles south of Vernon, Texas with office headquarters in Vernon. W.T.s granddaughter, Electra Waggoner Biggs was nationally known as a sculptress, and with her national notoriety, General Motors named their most luxurious Buick model the Electra and Lockheed Aircraft named a plane in her honor. The last e-mail I got from him, he testified, [was] five years ago..