wTexans likes things big, and they don’t make things much bigger then the King Ranch. Currently covering 825,000 acres of south Texas cow country covering much of six county’s between Corpus Christie and Brownsville. The King Ranch was founded in 1853 by Captain Richard King a river boat Captain and Gideon Lewis, a Captain with the Texas Rangers.
According to Wikipedia, in 1855 Lewis was gunned down by an irate husband while attempting to retrieve letters received by the man’s wife. The court sale of his holding were purchased by Mr. King, his partner at the time of his death.
Over the past +150 years, the ranch grew to a maximum size of 1.2 million acres. By the 1870’s the ranch was well stocked with Texas Longhorns, some Brahman bulls, Beef Shorthorns and Herefords. In later years, crossing the Brahmans with the Beef Shorthorns gave the ranch it’s own trademark brand the Santa Gertrudis breed, which was recognized in 1940 as the first true American Breed of beef cattle.
Life for Richard King started in New York City, born to Irish immigrants. He was indentured to a jeweler at the age of eleven, as his own family was extremely poor. It was a hard life, one he escaped by stowing away on a south bound ship. With a spirit that drove him to succeed, he rose quickly through the ranks becoming a Captain. Moving to South Texas after the Mexican-American war he purchased a war surplus steam boat the Colonel Cross and started his own steam boat company.
Through the Civil War his steam boat business did very well, by running the Union Blockades. Earnings to go toward his primary goal of building and expanding his cattle ranch. Mr. King married the daughter of a Presbyterian Minister, Henrietta Maria Morse Chamberlain in 1854. Henrietta, being from a refined family back East, brought much of her upper class ways with her.
The small ranch house would become their home, as well as a place of hospitality and good will in an otherwise wild and untamed west. Richard King died in 1885, but his wife continued on with the ranch. Henrietta out lived all but one of her off spring, dieing in 1925, daughter Alice Gertrudis King, Kleberg carried on running the ranch with her husband Bob Kleberg Sr.
With a heavy tax burden resulting from Henrietta death and the stock market crash in 1929 left the ranch in debt to the tune of $3,000,000. In 1933 Bob Kleberg Jr. signed Oil leases with the Humble Oil Co. of Houston TX. Striking both oil and gas in 1939, the future of the ranch was well secured. Of course it was during this period that the cattle breeding program was in full swing.
The ranch also became famous for its quarter horse breeding program. Producing ASSAULT, the 1946 triple crown winner, and MIDDLE GROUND the 1950 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner.
In 1934 the ranch was consolidated into a corporation with Alice’s children as the stock holders. The famous “Running W” can be found on everything from cattle to leather goods, even a 1997 version of the Ford Super Duty pickup truck carries the well know brand on it’s flanks.
To this day the ranch continues to grow and expand, making use of the newest technology and innovations in cattle ranching. The heirs of Richard King continue to work hard to carry on the traditions of dedication put in place over 150 years ago by the founder of the King Ranch, the largest cattle ranch in the United States, and on of the largest in the whole world.
More detailed information about the King Ranch can be found at the King Ranch Web Site and at Wikipedia.
