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When they supplied them, he fumed. Now 56, Bucky is one of the protagonists in the battle over the future of the ranch. [6] His children would elect a Board of Trustees, who would make decisions with him at the helm. But Gene and Helen seem determined to do just that. 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. We try not to put stress on the livestock.. Dan took advantage of this great opportunity. They wintered the herd that year in Clay County and the following spring drove it to market, netting a profit of $55,000. Waggoner acquired more land. W.T. Quietly and efficiently, Moore began to purge anyone friendly to the Wharton half of the trust: Jim Hughes, who most people had believed would succeed Biggs as trustee; Joe Roberson, the auditor who was being groomed as comptroller; Bill McBroom, the head of the oil division; and Ross Malone, the game warden. Seafood City (California, Hawaii, Washington, Nevada, Illinois) - Filipino American. Each camp is equipped with a managers house, outbuildings and pens. He offered to pay Buckys attorney fees and pitch in an extra one million. These cows are bred to Hereford, Angus, and Charolais bulls. Patel Brothers - largest Indian American supermarket chain. Waggoner raised Quarter Horses on the ranch, including Poco Bueno, who was buried on the ranch. By the turn of the century, settlers were overrunning Indian reservations, and the open range was all but gone. declared a misdeal and had them draw again. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. She was strikingly pretty, with a long, sensitive face and dark, sparkling eyes. Instead of six bedrooms, it now has four. In 1877, Burk Burnett (6666 Ranch), Col. C.C. In one last attempt to keep the range open, W.T. The family made their main homes in the city and returned to the ranch for weekend getaways and holidays. The Waggoner (Three D) Ranch had its beginnings in the early 1850s when Daniel Waggonerqv and a fifteen-year-old black slave trailed 242 longhorn cattleqv and six horses into Wise County. In the late eighties, as the oil revenue began to peter out, the new trustee of the Waggoner estate, Charles Prather, resigned. [6] However, in 1923, he changed his mind, and set up a Massachusetts trust. | With the trust on the verge of expiring, Bucky and Electra II agreed to extend it until March 31, 2003. Bernard Uechtritz, one of the property brokers, told the. They are already being augmented by Kroenke Ranches' world-class commercial Angus herd. 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. 510,527.00 Leave them blank to get signed up. Recently, new ownership has brought substantial investment in both equipment and design. Both ranches once covered more than a million acres. 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. His daddy worked this ranch for fifteen years, and Shane grew up on Cowboy Row. The Waggoner Ranch Store is located in the Waggoner Estate building in Vernon Texas. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vista Caliente - Signed Print by Woodrow M. Blagg - Cowboys - Waggoner Ranch at the best online prices at eBay! The last e-mail I got from him, he testified, [was] five years ago.. Two years after Prathers resignation, Bucky gave notice of termination of the trust in a letter to Electra IIs family. The other half belonged to Electra Waggoner Biggs, through various trusts. 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. Additionally, all livestock (cattle and horses), an extremely substantial inventory of rolling stock, farm equipment, pickups, trucks, etc., and considerable other personal property are included in this offering. Its a trade that suits only a select few for whom the life satisfies rather than restricts. A granite marker, weighing four tons, notes his grave site. and 283. In 1965 he replaced Tony Hazelwood as foreman. Approximately 160,000 acres of the 560,000 acres areproven prolific oilproperties. In a January 2003 deposition, Gene said he sent Bucky his own draft of the map but never got a reply. 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. The only thing I can figure, it was give to them. The Waggoner Ranch was established in 1849 by Dan Waggoner. Concerned about the future of the ranch, W.T. Reply Anonymous February 3, 2013 at 8:00 PM [8] W.T. 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. This huge block of farmland is crossfenced into large manageable fields which are suitable for grazing thousands of head of wheat pasture cattle. (Tom) Waggoner was heard to say, There I was with more t, han 5,000 big, wild steers, 50 sore-backed horses, $12 and 16 years of my life.. As the frontier pushed westward, he expanded his herd and bought more land, in Clay and Wichita counties. The assets of the estate have been estimated at $200 to $300 million, but it would surely fetch far less if liquidated. Its a constant battle. Over these past three decades, Bucky has absorbed every inch of this ranch and most of its colorful history. Patricia Sharpe writes a regular restaurant column, Pats Pick, for Texas Monthly. 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. Guy had a weakness for the ladies; he once skipped town with the lead actress from a traveling burlesque show. 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. The only time we dont work, Hawley tells me, is when its raining and lightning, or when its very hot. The history of the land and the Waggoner family is so entwined with myth and legend that nobody can untangle the truth. . Thats the case that has been snaking through Judge Tom Neelys Forty-sixth District Court, in Wilbarger County, for these past twelve years. 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. 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. The three smaller, 85,000-acre parcelsZacaweista, Four Corners, and Santa Rosawere gifts to his three children, Electra, Guy, and E. Paul. 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. 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. Moore astonished Bucky by trying to buy his stock in the estate. Some of the larger main shipping pens are equipped with hydraulic chutes and scales. Proctor, whose daddy was a Waggoner cowboy too, went to work for the ranch in 1937, at age thirteen. $ 58.00. I was there. She took everythingthe furniture, even the light fixtures. Handsome and trim, Joline once competed in the New York and Paris marathons and still gets up before first light to run. Two large, privately-owned lakes are located on the Waggoner Ranch. Rani's World Foods (Texas & Nevada) - Indian supermarket chain. 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. We would love to have our customers come by and see us and see our newly remodeled store. 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. Some of the wells discovered in the 1920s are still in operation. [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. Sign up to hear from us about specials, sales, and events. (Tom) Waggoner had a good eye for quality horse flesh and developed a herd of broodmares to produce working ranch geldings for his cowboys. In The American Quarter Horse Journal, Jim Jennings writes, The Waggoner contribution to the Quarter Horse industry has long been recognized. [9] It also includes 30,000 acres of arable land and about 1,100 producing oil wells. And so they were, for a hundred years and more. Texas became the 28th state on December 29, 1845, so the Waggoner Ranch is nearly as old as Texas itself. A drought in the last part of the nineteenth century made the land where the Waggoner Ranch now sits nearly useless for growing crops. Its second only to the King Ranch in size, and second to none in its history of drink, divorce, and dissension. Slaughter (Slaughter Ranches), Jim Loving (JA Ranch) and Dan and W.T. His most arresting feature is his green eyes, which are reminiscent of the luminous eyes that made his grandmother, the original Electra, such a commanding figure. 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. 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). 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 were super, super people. Nevertheless, Smith resigned in 1997, tired of being caught in the middle of the power struggle. Buster too had multiple spouses (four, to be exact), but his only heir was A. This iconic ranch property has been owned and operated by Waggoner heirs for approximately 165 years. The Willingham house is a low, ranch-style brick structure, set behind a wall of trees. Land Broker and Land Appraisalfirm established in 1920. The operation can breed outside mares as well as ship cooled or frozen semen. Genes got to drive within fifty feet of Buckys house every morning and again every evening to get to his own place. They say he was as mad as a nest of hornets. At an early age, Dan started building what would become a ranching empire and founded the Waggoner Ranch in 1849. They seldom speak and hardly ever socialize. Anne was the granddaughter of W.T.s friend Burk Burnett and hardly the type to sit around waiting for a roving husband. W. T. Waggoner Ranch is located 13 miles south of Vernon, Texas with office headquarters in Vernon. It seems inconceivable that they cant agree on a compromise. By the time he was 27, Tom had full reins of the Waggoner cattle empire.. After the Biggses requested liquidation, he hired Hughes and Roberson to draw a map, splitting the ranch in a way that would be acceptable to both sides. In early 1963 Buster filed a lawsuit, seeking a dispensation to sell shares, but he died before the matter was litigated. It is the nations biggest ranch within the confines of a single fence, a spread so vast that it extends across six counties and covers more than eight hundred square miles. We met in the boardroom at the Waggoner building, Roberson told me. He first settled on Catlett Creek near the site of present Decatur. 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. 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. Electra II married twice, the second time for keeps to John Biggs, a Texan who worked for International Paper Company, in New York, in 1943. 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. 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. [14] Her second cousin, Albert Buckman Wharton III, also known as Bucky Wharton, who was Buster Wharton's son, appealed to stop the liquidation. In 1869 Dan made seventeen-year-old W.T. 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. | No one, it seems, wants to witness the breakup of a mythic Texas ranchexcept the Waggoner heirs. 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. Nothing is too trivial to spark an argument. 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. Bucky Wharton didnt think of the ranch as his heritage until he was in high school at Culver Military Academy, in Indiana. Hawley has a cell phone handy, and the ranch radio under the dash crackles with voices from isolated posts miles away. The dam was right on the dividing line. Bernard Uechtritz of Briggs-Freeman Sothebys International Realty in Dallas, and Sam Middleton, of Chas. 2021 Chas S Middleton and Son. Our cattle herd consists of approximately 10,000 mother cows comprised of 60 percent Hereford and 40 percent Angus/Hereford and Brangus/Hereford cross. [13] He once played there with polo champion Cecil Smith. 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. One thing you dont see on the ranch is windmills. Biggss brother-in-law was the president of General Motors, and he later named a Buick model for Electra. Heath Ownbey. Waggoner Ranch livestock have access to water at both lakes. W.T. 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. Guy, who eventually settled on another ranch the family owned in New Mexico, married eight times. Hostile Comanches and Kiowas, plus a few foolhardy nesters trying to scratch out a living, occupied this endless stretch of grassland. [5], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}3354N 9900W / 33.9N 99.0W / 33.9; -99.0. Marketing is done through private treaty and production sales. 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. Some people believe that she would never have permitted the sale of the Waggoner Ranch. 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. Now look at it! One side wants the ranch divided equally but otherwise left intact. By all rights the Waggoner Ranch ought to be the equal of the King Ranch in Texas lore. This is your chance to purchase the W.T. 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. There are none to be seen, because there is not a drop of groundwater. The cattle will be sold, along with the trucks that haul them, and the vast pastures will be chopped up, and who knows what will replace them. Ranches, Farms and Land forsale in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas. What the hell could he do with oil! As Parker biographer Bill Neeley has noted, ethics and morality played no part of this business arrangement. All pens are very well maintained. Killen told Bucky, Take this, go back to New Mexico, and live your life. Subscribe Contact Us We love our customers, so feel free to visit during normal business hours. A portion of this acreage is seeded to very productive Coastal Bermuda. Today the ranch consists of approximately 535,000 acres, and is recognized as the largest ranch in Texas under one fence. Waggoner Ranch cowboys like and respect both families and consider them fair and generous. Waggoner Ranch, the 800-square-mile plot of land in North Texas, is really big. Its pastures and wheat fields, cattle and horses, mansions. The Waggoner (Three D) Ranch had its beginnings in the early 1850s when Daniel Waggoner, his son W. T. (Tom), and a fifteen-year-old Black slave trailed 242 cattle and six horses into Wise County. Not a shred, she told me. I ask him what he thinks of the family feud that threatens to end the way of life that he knew. From the highway, its pastures seem timeless and impregnable. divided the ranch that he and his dad had founded into four large tracts. Shortly after leaving, he got his draft notice, at the height of the Vietnam War. 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. Mrs. Biggs called ahead and had the director meet us on the front step. 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. Thats where Electra Waggoner Biggs lived and where she kept her studio, Hughes tells me. [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. 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. [6] Meanwhile, Electra Waggoner Biggs became a renowned sculptor. 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. The other wants to sell the ranch and divide the assets. After a big wedding in Decatur, the couple honeymooned in Europe and then planned to settle in Philadelphia. How Florence ButtNot Her SonLaunched the H-E-B Empire, More Colorful Texas Sayings Than You Can Shake a Stick At. 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. Who was going to be responsible for it? Some say these deer may have never heard a rifle shot. After Buckys father died, Lula [the last of Busters four wives] stripped this place. 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. Perhaps they are afraid of ghosts. Dan sent Tom (his son), who was only 16 years old at the time, to Kansas City with a herd of 5,000 steers. 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. He was the first quarter horse ever to be insured for $100,000. They built him a grand home on West Cache Creek, the only permanent structure between Fort Sill and the Texas border, and the chief decorated the roof of his Comanche White House with fourteen stars, symbolizing his generalship in battle. My first job was walkin hotscooling down winded horsesbetween chuckers. Even the water in Beaver Creek was reda sign, Bucky said, that it was fresh and contained no gypsum. Waggoner found oil while drilling for water. The cowboys are already waiting on horseback just outside the loading pens, cutting up like schoolboys awaiting the bell for recess. He had grown up in Albuquerque, where his mother, the third of Buster Whartons four wives, had moved after their divorce, when Bucky was two. Thistle Hill, as Electras mansion was called, stands to this day on the crest of Summit Avenue, near downtown. [9] One of the lakes on the ranch provides water for the City of Wichita Falls. [8] The ranch spanned more than a million acres of land. Buster Wharton Jr., a polo player, playboy, and famous drunk who died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1963. Approximately 41.67% of the mineral rights with a pro-rata portion of the executive leasing rights are expected to convey with the sale. A municipal waterline from nearby Seymour serves some of the homes located at Lake Kemp. Killen knew that Bucky was strapped with legal fees from the court battles of the sixties, Hughes told me. The sale of the iconic Waggoner Ranch, while marking the end of one era, creates for a new owner the opportunity to begin another. [6][12], When Guy Waggoner died in 1950, his sons sold their share of the estate to members of the family. PRIMARY USE cow-calf, feed yard, farming, horses, oil and gas, wild game hunting, birding . The settlers, most of them German or Czech, moved north of Paradise Creek, which runs just beyond the present northern boundary of the ranch. In addition to land and cattle, the family owned five banks, three cottonseed mills, and a coal company. Disgusted, he continued drilling for water. All together, as one may imagine, with this many contiguous acres, there is an immense variety of land types on the Waggoner. The 1905 hunt was a classic Waggoner production. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. 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. Look out there! The Bronc-busting, Cow-punching, Death-defying Legend of Boots ONeal, At Texas Swingers Clubs, the Lifestyle Is Booming. Its the Story of Shankleville, One of the States Early Freedom Colonies. In the Roaring Twenties, Electra Waggoner was the most infamous socialite in Texas. Quanah saw his alliance with the Waggoners and other cattle barons as a way to better the lives of his peopleand his own to boot. Since Electra IIs death, in 2001, the board has been composed of these two men who rarely speak to each other. There are several other large ponds, as well as hundreds of livestock ponds scattered throughout the property. 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. 1700 Deaf Smith St., Vernon, TX 76384, US. He began buying land in western Wise County in 1870. But Buckys mother was not about to give up her sons inheritance without a fight. 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. Its a weird deal. Ranch Manager. These camps range in size from just over 20,000 acres to nearly 40,000 acres each. 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 Wichita River, the two branches of Beaver Creek, countless small streams and tributaries, and dozens of stock tanks supply the ranchs water. 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.. When I asked Joline if they had found any memorabilia from Electras time, she laughed. 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". 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. Neither of her parents came to the wedding; biographer Porter reports that E. Paul and Helen were having marital problems. Historically, the Waggoner Ranch has been operated as a cow/calf ranching unit, with stocker cattle used for seasonal grazing on wheat fields. Bucky wanted to make it clear that he believed the situation was untenable. Horses have always been big business at the Waggoner Ranch. We farm approximately 25,000 that we use to graze cattle and raise crops for sale and internal use. Without question, this legacy ranch represents a once-in-a-lifetime chance for an investor with vision and love of the land the rare opportunity to take this legendary offering to the next level. The wooded river and creek courses offer exceptional cover and desirable habitat for native game. These lakes were built by the Corps of Engineers as a major source of municipal and irrigation use water for Wichita Falls, area towns and nearby farming communities.