XIT Ranch
Encyclopedia
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
ranch in the Texas Panhandle
Texas Panhandle
The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a rectangular area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east...
which operated from 1885 to 1912. Comprising over 3,000,000 acres (12,000 km²) of land, it ran for two hundred miles (300 km) along the border with New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, varying in width from 20 to 30 miles (30 to 50 km). The ranch stretched across all or portions of Dallam, Hartley, Oldham, Deaf Smith, Parmer, Castro, Bailey, Lamb, Cochran, and Hockley counties.
History
In 1879, the Sixteenth Texas LegislatureTexas Legislature
The Legislature of the state of Texas is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Texas. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The Legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin...
appropriated 3,000,000 acres (12,000 km²) of land to finance a new state capitol. In 1882 in a special legislative session, the Seventeenth Texas Legislature struck a bargain with Charles B.
Charles B. Farwell
Charles Benjamin Farwell was a U.S. Representative and Senator from Illinois.Farwell was born in Painted Post, New York and attended Elmira Academy before moving to Illinois in 1838. He first tried his hand at surveying and farming before moving to Chicago in 1844, when he went into banking. ...
and John V. Farwell of Chicago, Illinois, under which a syndicate led by the Farwells, with mostly British investors, agreed to build a new $3,000,000.00 Texas State Capitol
Texas State Capitol
The Texas State Capitol is located in Austin, Texas, and is the fourth building to be the house of Texas government in Austin. It houses the chambers of the Texas Legislature and the office of the governor of Texas. It was designed originally during 1881 by architect Elijah E. Myers, and was...
and accept the 3,000,000 acres (12,000 km²) of Panhandle land in payment.
The ranch started operations in 1885 and at its peak averaged handling 150,000 head of cattle within its 1,500 miles (2,400 km) of fencing
Agricultural fencing
In agriculture, fences are used to keep animals in or out of an area. They can be made from a wide variety of materials, depending on terrain, location and animals to be confined...
. The ranch also erected 325 windmill
Windmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...
s and 100 dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
s across its land.
According to the XIT Ranch museum website, it covered portions of ten counties which apparently helped perpetuate the misbelief that the brand -XIT- stands for "Ten In Texas". The brand, in fact, was originated to thwart rustlers.
However timing was bad for the XIT as cattle prices crashed in 1886 and 1887. By the fall of 1888, the ranch was unable to sell its cattle and break even. The cattle on the ranch were constantly plagued by cattle rustlers and predators, especially wolves leading to further losses for the syndicate.
Rufus Jack Bradley was a wagon boss on the XIT in the 1870s. His grandson and granddaughter-in-law, Minnie Lou Bradley
Minnie Lou Bradley
Minnie Lou Ottinger Bradley is the matriarch of the Bradley 3 Ranch in Childress County in the Texas Panhandle. An inductee of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, she is a trailblazer for women in the field of livestock breeding and ranch management. She is the first woman...
, went on to establish the Bradley 3 Ranch in Childress County east of Amarillo
Amarillo, Texas
Amarillo is the 14th-largest city, by population, in the state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 190,695 at the 2010 census...
. Much of the XIT surveying was done prior to 1900 by W. D. Twitchell, then based in Amarillo.
In 1901, the syndicate that owned the ranch began selling off the land to pay off foreign investors as the bonds became due. By 1905, most of the land was subdivided, with large tracts being sold to other cattlemen and small amounts of land being sold to farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
s. The last of the XIT cattle were sold on November 1, 1912, and land sales subsequently increased.
Charles B. Farwell died in 1903 and John V. Farwell died in 1908.
Though the XIT was the largest and one of the best known of the cattle ranches, the JA Ranch
JA Ranch
The JA Ranch, jointly founded by John George Adair and Charles Goodnight, is the oldest privately owned cattle ranch in the Palo Duro Canyon section of the Texas Panhandle southeast of Amarillo. At its peak size in 1883, the JA, still run by descendants of the Adair family, encompassed some of...
to its east covered portions of six counties, and more than 130 years after its founding by Charles Goodnight
Charles Goodnight
Charles Goodnight, also known as Charlie Goodnight , was a cattle rancher in the American West, perhaps the best known rancher in Texas. He is sometimes known as the "father of the Texas Panhandle." Essayist and historian J...
and John George Adair
John George Adair
John George Adair , sometimes known as Jack Adair, was a Scotch-Irish American businessman and landowner who provided the seed capital for the large JA Ranch in the Palo Duro Canyon of the Texas Panhandle, a region of Texas...
, the JA remains a working ranch owned by the Adair heirs.
Legacy
In remembrance of the massive ranch, the City of DalhartDalhart, Texas
Dalhart is a city in Dallam and Hartley counties in the U.S. state of Texas, and the county seat of Dallam County. The population was 7,237 at the 2000 census. Founded in 1901, Dalhart is named for its location on the border of Dallam and Hartley counties. Dalhart sits at the intersection of U.S....
hosts the XIT Museum
XIT Museum
The XIT Museum in Dalhart, Texas, seeks to preserve the history and culture of one of the best-known ranches of the American West, the legendary XIT, which at its peak encompassed parts of ten Texas counties along a stretch of acreage in the late 19th century. The ranch operated from...
and the annual XIT Rodeo & Reunion held the first Thursday through Sunday of August. The celebration includes three days of junior and professional (PRCA
Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association
The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association is an organization whose members compete in rodeos throughout North America, primarily in the United States. The PRCA sanctions rodeo venues and events through the PRCA Circuit System. Its championship event is the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo...
) rodeo
Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...
events, the world’s largest free barbecue
Barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...
, three nights of live music, a mud bog competition, an antique tractor-pull
Tractor pulling
Truck and Tractor pulling, also known as power pulling, is a motorsport competition, popular in America, Europe , Australia and Brazil, which requires modified tractors to pull a heavy sledge along a 35ft. wide and length of 100 metre or 300ft+ track, with the winner being the tractor that pulls...
, and many other activities.
Several businesses in the Dalhart, Texas area use "XIT" in their name and style.
The XIT in popular culture
The XIT is mentioned in the Charles IvesCharles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
song, "Charlie Rutlage," about a poor ranch hand who gets killed.