The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-29
THE GREAT KING CATTLE Rancho
II Is the Largest I'm the World and
Owned by woman.
From the St. Louis Republic.

From the st. Louis Republic.
A wandering Texan, speaking of the inn
mensity of his state, had the following to
say regarding the great King ranch:
zone representative in the next congress
will be nominated and elected by woman.
She is the widow of Capt. Richard King,
and owns a principally In Southern Tex
as. Her lands consist of about 100000
acres nearly 1000 square miles. For taxi
ing care of this a small army is required.
Their votes are controlled by Mrs. King,
who is practically queen.
THE records at Washington reveal some
extraordinary facts with regard to that
part Of Texas. which seems on the map to
intrude into Mexico, terminating In point
a the mouth of the Rio Grande. This re-
gion, nearly as big a S New England, com
prises four great counties and Is owned by
four familes-the Kings. the Kennedys,
the Collinses and the Armstrong;. Much
the largest of the four shares belongs in
fee simple to Mrs. King. The ancient road
from San Antonio to Brownsville has been
closed by Mrs. Kings fences, and there
are no gates. There is no road law there.
The only way to get from Brownsville to
Alice is by a stage route of forty hours.
The stage carries mail for a large part Of
Mexico. In the entire distance there is not
a single settlement, because the territory
belongs to Mrs. King. The region is who'll
~ wild, being used for cattle grazing.
1.-The owner IS a generous and liberal
minded woman about 60 years of age. She
does much good and takes care of her
people. To each laborer on her estates
she gives a COW. Her ranch of Santa
Gertrude is the largest in the world. 1t
is bounded by Corpus Christi Bay for forty
miles, and by barbed wire fences for 800
miles more.
From her front door to the front gate
is thirteen miles, and she can drive in her
carriage sixty-five miles on straight line
without going off her own premises. Her
house looks like a castle on the Rhine. It
is situated on a slight eminence, surround
ed by the modest dwellings of her depend
ents and by fields Of waving corn. Be
yond on every side is a green wilderness
of mesquite and cactus.
THE house is completely furnished and
as handsomely equipped as any mansion
on Fifth avenue in New York No lux
ury is lacking. Mrs. King Is the daught-
er Of the first Presbyterian missionary TO
the Rio Grande Corpus Christi is tho
terminus of a railway, and from that
point a stream of wagons, carrying ice
and other necessaries, goes to the ranch.
Mrs. King lives for several months each
year in a palace at Corpus Christi. Her
son-in-law Robert J. Kleberg, is general
900 cattle of improved breeds. Long trains
Of freight cars are made up at Corpus
Christi to carry Mrs. Kings cattle to the
east.
ITO run this estate costs about 100000
a year. For every twenty miles OF barbe l
wire fence there is a man to make re-
pairs and see that no break occurs. In
the old days 10 cut a fence was an Of
Tense likely to result in the death of the
perpetrators of the act. Three hundred
cowboys are regularly employed, LOO
ponies being set aside for their use. E,v-
cry spring all Of the calves are rounded
up for branding. They are driven into
pen through a wooden chute and as they
leave It each one is caught by the leg
and thrown upon its side. Then one OF
a dozen irons that are kept hot in an
open fire is pressed upon the animals
nose. All brands are registered, and
sometimes each member of a family has
one Nobody can get water in that coun-
try. save by the good will OF the owners
OF the great estates, and no one can trav-
81 without their permission, inasmuch as
there are no public roads. Thus IL comes
about that the region f. entirely shut up
and unused 20 any extent for agriculture,
though II IS extraordinary fertile