The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-05-02
BIG CREEK RANCH

A representative of the Farmer and
Stockman, a weekly paper published
at Kansas City, in the interest of
the farmers of Western Missouri and
Kansas IN its issue of April 18th has
an extended Write-up of Alex Phil
ip and Sons Big Creek ranch. The
story covers nearly two pages of the
paper, including photographs of their
new ten room modern dwelling re-
Gently built, and an excellent picture
of a herd of White-face cattle. We
quote the following from the article:
Forty-four years ago this spring
there journeyed from the hills of
Scotland to Western Kansas, Ellis
County, a young man, bare-handed
but aglow with the enthusiasm of
youth and fired with the ambition to
conquer and build home for himself
in the great free land of America.
He made good, for straightway he
began to turn Natures stores into
pense for his trift an dindustry, he is
er of close to 5000 acres of
Ellis and Trego County land, upon
which he has raised thousands of
good cattle, and grown many more
thousands of bushels of wheat and
other grains. This young man was
Alexander ('fAlex") Philip, who to-
day is known to practically every
stockman in Kansas and half a dozen
other western states.
As we rode with Mr.. Philip and his
son, William D. ("Bill'') over the
broad undulating acres of this fam
Gus Western Kansas farm-known as
Big Greek Stock Farm-the other
day, we were reminded of the words
of the late Joseph E. Wing, when; in
discussing pastures, he said: There
is something that comes from living
amid pastures that makes men sane,
patient, enduring, imbued with deep
love for their land and their country"
How true that is! But perhaps it
is not so much the pastures that have
his broadening effect upon those who
know them best as it is the herds they
support or possibly it is the combined
effect of the two. True 1t is that the
real stockman, the man who raises
cattle, horses, sheep or hogs because
he loves the business for its own sake
rather than for the money it brings,
is not only sane, patient and endur-
ing, but also truthful, honest and
kind We believe that these great at
tributes of character are IN some way
absorbed and developed from close
contact with Nature and Gods dumb
creatures. Be that as it may, the
true stockman invariably has them
and the better you get to know him
the more you appreciate his broad
sympathies and his big heart. It is
among the old pioneers that one finds
true hospitality-the kind that is pure
and unadulterated and springs from
the heart, yea, from the very soul.
Such is the hospitality Of ''Alex" Phil
ip and son, whom we had the pleasure
of visiting a short time ago.
Big Greek Stock Farm, founded by
"Alex" Philip in 1875,-is the only
large stock farm in Ellis County, we
believe, that is still owned and oper-
ated by the man who founded it and
who came into that section in an ear
~ day. It comprises an acreage of
AGO acres, but is supplemented by
1,76O acres in Trego County, direct
ly west of Ellis. Thus Big Greek
Stock Farm may be considered as a
farm of $500 acres. There are hun
dreds of thrilling incidents connected
with the building of this great west
ern stock farm that might serve the
novelist as a foundation for an inter
esting book on western life in pio-
neer days. There were Indians to
fight in early times, and there have
been hailstorms, cyclones, severe
drouths and insects to contend with
ever since, but in spite of drawbacks,
and discouragements a great ranch
has been established that for score