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.. Ranching operations began with 230 head of longhorn cattle and some horses. Electra prevailed, as usual. 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. E. Paul was a dapper, dashing Hollywood-style cowboy, with a mustache and mischievous eyes. 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. Marketing is done through private treaty and production sales. 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. The house sits on high ground, mostly hidden by oak and pecan trees and a fieldstone wall. This historic brand has been used in one form or another since that date, making it one of the very oldest brands in Texas. Oil was a nuisance, and any good cattleman knew the value of water. Poco Bueno sired 36 AQHA Champions, and many of his offspring have excelled in all the different disciplines of modern day horse events. The rich and spoiled siblings nearly squandered the family fortune on wild parties, all-night poker games, trips around the world, and divorce settlements. [9] It also includes 30,000 acres of arable land and about 1,100 producing oil wells. 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. . The Waggoner Ranch got into oil in a big way, and today oil wells still methodically pump as cattle graze around them.. and 283. 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. 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. It doesnt seem real to even think about it, he says. Slaughter (Slaughter Ranches), Jim Loving (JA Ranch) and Dan and W.T. Killen told Bucky, Take this, go back to New Mexico, and live your life. The history and the legend surrounding the Waggoner Ranch are as big as the ground it covers. Look out there! Ill draw a line and you take first pick, he offered. [8] W.T. Ranch Manager. Its now the home of Electras grandson, Bucky Wharton, his wife, Joline, and their two children. When Helens father died, in 1975, they moved to the ranch, where Gene gradually assumed the position of head of the family. Growing up, the ranch didnt seem like a big deal, Bucky told me. [11], The ranch has been surveyed by the United States Department of Agriculture for matters of preservation. Jim Jennings, in a 2005 article in The Quarter Horse Journal, states, By 1868, the Waggoner outfit had grown considerably, but help was still short. 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. Because of Toms great influence on the horse industry, he became a founding member of the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA). After her husband died, Electra II did not keep up the pressure on Bucky, as John Biggs and Killen Moore had done. (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. They have been up since three and have had a hefty cookhouse breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, biscuits, and gravy. 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. Millionaire ranchers from Argentina and the elite of East Coast society came in their private planes for weekends of polo and debauchery. Thistle Hill, as Electras mansion was called, stands to this day on the crest of Summit Avenue, near downtown. (and future trustees) would have the sole right to make all management decisions. 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. The other wants to sell the ranch and divide the assets. These are the men who made the ranch work while the Waggoners were off in Fort Worth or New York or Europe. We always meet with our employees present, and nothing is really handled. They have quarreled over which wells to cap or abandon, over control of the corporate airplane, over the purchase of bulls and the size of cow herds. 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. We have unique items that feature our brand. The history of the land and the Waggoner family is so entwined with myth and legend that nobody can untangle the truth. Many thousands of additional acres of native pasture are suitable for cultivation, if desired. 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. [9], In August 2014, the ranch was listed on the real estate market with an asking price of US$725 million. This was probably a bluff. The Waggoner Ranch was ordered liquidated. $720,000,000 Some people dont see it, but shes beautiful. At Christmas, they exchange giftsby messenger. Currently, Waggoner Ranch offspring are excelling in multiple competitive associations, including AQHA, Stock Horse of Texas, NRHA, NRCHA and NCHA. 510,527.00 They seldom speak and hardly ever socialize. [6] However, in 1923, he changed his mind, and set up a Massachusetts trust. This was a time when much of Texas was open range and unexplored. Stretching across six North Texas counties, the Waggoner Ranch is considered to be extremely well located. Inside the Decades-long Effort to Commemorate a Notorious Waco Lynching. 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. [14] After Electra Waggoner Biggs's death, her share was inherited by Electra Waggoner Biggs's daughter Helen Biggs and her husband, Gene Willingham. Bucky wanted the ranch to be divided, not liquidated. This iconic ranch property has been owned and operated by Waggoner heirs for approximately 165 years. 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. It's one of the largest ranches in the world with 825,00 acres. The W.T. It is as much a part of the legacy as horses, cattle, oil, opulent mansions, divorces, and drunken sprees. How could things have spun so wildly out of control? . Two of the camp divisions, the Zacaweista and the Santa Rosa, are very highly improved. By contrast, Bucky is reserved, private, and serious about his business affairs. Dan died in 1903, leaving everything to Tom. In the late eighties, as the oil revenue began to peter out, the new trustee of the Waggoner estate, Charles Prather, resigned. When Judge Tom Neely, who is in charge of the current lawsuit to break up the ranch, was a young attorney in a previous round of Waggoner lawsuits during the sixties, he and other lawyers found some of E. Pauls letters to Helen. I got two dollars a match. Cecil Smith, the world-famous ten-goal player, rode with Busters Waggoner Ranch team. Waggoner, a widower, and his young son, William Thomas, settled on Catlett Creek, near present-day Decatur. 20% off all products! My first job was walkin hotscooling down winded horsesbetween chuckers. 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. 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. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. The Waggoner Ranch was established in 1849 by Dan Waggoner. [6] Thirty cowboys, and about 120 people overall, are employed on the property. Shortly after leaving, he got his draft notice, at the height of the Vietnam War. These camps range in size from just over 20,000 acres to nearly 40,000 acres each. 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. Patel Brothers - largest Indian American supermarket chain. WAGGONER RANCH (VILLAS 18-21) Vernon, TX | Founded 1852 Archer, Baylor, Foard, Knox, Witchita, and Wilbarger Counties Established in 1852, the ranch was primarily used to raise crops, Longhorn cattle and horses. [6], After W.T. Waggoner Ranch livestock have access to water at both lakes. As Parker biographer Bill Neeley has noted, ethics and morality played no part of this business arrangement. Some people think that the last chance for a settlement died with Electra II. As the sun begins to crawl over the horizon, Hawley marvels at the endless prairie. We met in the boardroom at the Waggoner building, Roberson told me. 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. In May, Judge Neely heard the motion for partial summary judgment and made his ruling. . 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. We try not to put stress on the livestock.. 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. He first settled on Catlett Creek near the site of present Decatur. 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. It was notable for being the largest ranch within one fence in the United States. Some of the larger main shipping pens are equipped with hydraulic chutes and scales. Buster too had multiple spouses (four, to be exact), but his only heir was A. $ 58.00. Choose from multiple print sizes, border colors, and canvas materials. The bidding period on the ranch, going for $725 million, ended Oct. 20 with about six serious potential buyers. In The American Quarter Horse Journal, Jim Jennings writes, The Waggoner contribution to the Quarter Horse industry has long been recognized. Originally, Dan Waggoner burned the Reversed 3Ds into the right hip, thigh or rib of his cattle; however, as the price of hides increased, it made economic sense to only use one Reversed D in order to save more of the hide. After a time everyone seemed in agreement on all except one pointmaintenance of the dam at Santa Rosa Lake. But for how much longer? 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. Bucky Wharton didnt think of the ranch as his heritage until he was in high school at Culver Military Academy, in Indiana. [4] It was acquired by Stan Kroenke, who is married to Ann Walton (niece of Sam Walton), in February 2016. Santa Rosa Lake covers approximately 1,400 surface acres when full. The cowboys sided with Bucky, who felt that hunters left litter, cut fences, and left gates open. [3] It spans six counties[3][6] and is half as large as Rhode Island. This is your chance to purchase the W.T. As land was cleared for settlement, he gradually moved west and by the late 1870s settled along Beaver Creek near Electra Texas. After a hard rain, this endless maze of graded red clay becomes a network of quagmires. For several years there were no further attempts to settle. I ask him what he thinks of the family feud that threatens to end the way of life that he knew. One of the most interesting properties at Zacaweista is the gothic stone barn where Buster Wharton bred his polo ponies. Approximately 160,000 acres of the 560,000 acres areproven prolific oilproperties. The Waggoner Ranch Store is located in the Waggoner Estate building in Vernon Texas. [9] In 1902, W.T. In early 1963 Buster filed a lawsuit, seeking a dispensation to sell shares, but he died before the matter was litigated. Things were working smoothly at that moment, but neither side believed the harmony would last. The horse operation, known as the Whiteface Division, is a state-of-the-art training/breeding facility located in the northeastern portion of the Waggoner Ranch. She finally pulled up in front of the Vernon drugstore, pieces of gate and fence hanging off the car, Bucky tells me. The Waggoner Ranch Reversed D Brand is burned on the right hip of calves, and dates back to June 11, 1849. They are already being augmented by Kroenke Ranches' world-class commercial Angus herd. But we are so far from the lights of townany townthat half an hour before daylight its still pitch black. [6][12], When Guy Waggoner died in 1950, his sons sold their share of the estate to members of the family.