The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1901-02-01
A RANCH THAT IS A RANCH.
Iore Than Three Million Acres in Area, Of
Value Ten Million Dollars.

M l@
uore Than Three Million Acres in Area, of
Value Ten Million Dollars.
Chicago Record: The largest ranch
n the world is to be found in Texas.
This immense domain is known as the
x. /. T. ranch, and is owned by Chi
.ago capitalists.
This anc IS so extensive hat some
states could not contain it. Connecti-
cut, for example, could not hold it by
;everal thousand acres. The two states
If Rhode Island and Delaware COM
Dined could not contain this great
,anch. which consists of more than
1000 geo acres, or almost 5000 square
niles.
About twelve years ago, when Texas
needed n new state capitol, the legis-
allure adopted a, novel plan to get 1t.
A promise was held forth that a vast
.ract of unappropriated land would be
given in exchange for a suitable gran
te building at Austin. Among those
.ennpted by this offer We're ex-senator
Charles b. Farwell and his brother
John, who ultimately formed a syndi-
cate in Chicago and took upon them
selves the responsibility OF erecting the
proposed capitol. In due time they
II into the possession of this domain
Known as the X. i. I. ranch.
The ranch is situated in the extreme
northwest corner OF the panhandle OF
Texas, and overs or touches nine diff
::erent counties. It's northern boundary
IS mo Mans Land" now a part of the
territory Of Oklahoma. and Its western
limit is the line between Texas and
New Mexico. In width (from S to
WesD it averages about twenty-five
miles. In length it is about 200 miles.
The and lies in what is known as the
,Stalscd plains, a high plateau. The soil
IS mostly of a black or chocolate color
very fertile-nnd covered with a thick
coat of buffalo or mesquite, grama and
other grasses, which cure on the
ground and furnish winter as we'll as
summer pasture for stock of all kinds.
AT the southern end of the tract the
altitude is about 1900 feet and at the
northern end about 400. The climate
is pronounced to be very delightful, the
air being bracing, though dry. !.
When the Farwells obtained the and
they inclosed it with a substantial
barbed wire fence. There are many
cross fences upon 1T, separating the ter
:itory into from twenty to thirty large
divisions, besides many small ones. To
make these fences 1t required 1900
miles of barbed wire. The syndicate.
also built ranch houses, bored and dug
Meiis, OF which there are O $50, aver
aging 100 feet in depth, and having
carthen or wooden reservoirs and
drinking attachments. erected wind
tnills over the wells; built dams across
irroyos to conserve the rainfall. and in
various other ways made the place
suitable for a successful ranch on a.
large scale. They placed cattle upon
it as fast as it could be put in safe on
iltion to receive them, n haye since
continued to add to the herd from time
to time by purchase and breeding until
they have at present about 125, 900 cat
tie, besides 1,600 horses. The calf crop
branded in. 1899 exceeded $4,000 head.
The whole property is valued at S10,-
700, 900.
Mir. Boyce has supervision over the
whole property, being assisted by seven
foremen, each one Of whom is repspon-
sible for one of the principal divisions.
Each Of these divisions of itself would
form a large ranch.
When cattle have reached such a
size as to become marketable they are
sent to Chicago. Not al are slaugh-
tered there. however, as many go still
farther east INC are eventually shipped
to distributing points in Europe.
One of the surprising things in con-
nection with this huge enterprise is the
fact that all the duties are performed
by a force of about LIS men, or, on an
average, only n man for every "a, 1000
acres. There are houses, barns, etc, at
the seven divisions, as well as line
ramps, where there are small buildings.
The men assigned to the camps repair
the fences. oil the hundreds of wind
mills and busy themselves in other
work Of his sort. Some of the squada
have no house in which to sta,, but
gre provided with a chuck wagon to
carry their food inc beds as they move
from place'to place. All are fed by the
company, eac division having freight
wagons to haul supplies from points on
the railroad where they are bought.
One might naturally imagine that tho
yearly loss of cattle would be enormous
on such a ranch. AS a matter Of fact
1t is not, being claimed in his instance,
only from . to s per cent. This loss
Is chiefly due, not to disease, but to the
occasional severe weather in winter.