Day Trips
The XIT Ranch was to Texas ranches what Dell Inc. is to computer manufacturers
By Gerald E. McLeod, Fri., Aug. 4, 2006
The XIT Ranch was to Texas ranches what Dell Inc. is to computer manufacturers. In the 1880s, the Panhandle ranch was the largest fenced range in the world and, for a time, was the leader in breeding stock and agriculture innovations.
In 1879, the state was land-rich and cash-poor, but the need for a larger Capitol gave birth to the idea of trading real estate for a new building in Austin. When the state house burned down in 1881, the need for a new building became urgent.
The pink-granite building completed in 1888 that we see today at the end of Congress was traded for 3 million acres of uninhabited land in the northwest corner of the Texas Panhandle. The $3 million construction project was financed by the Chicago company organized as the Capitol Syndicate.
From the beginning, the business plan was to run cattle on the land until it could be divided and sold for a profit. The ranch extended nearly 220 miles long and 30 miles wide in a jigsaw-puzzle-piece shape along the New Mexican border from Oklahoma to Lubbock. Urban myth says the XIT brand meant "10 in Texas" because the ranch covered all or part of 10 counties. Several of the counties were not organized when the brand first appeared. More likely, the mark was easy to burn on an animal's hide and difficult to alter by rustlers.
In order to meet the expenses of building and maintaining such a large cattle operation, the Capitol Syndicate borrowed $5 million from Capitol Freehold Land and Investment Company of London. Early investors included the Earl of Aberdeen and members of the British Parliament.
The first cattle herd reached the Texas plains in 1885, and by the turn of the century, ranch hands had erected more than 325 windmills and 100 dams to provide water to the parched pastures. Divided into eight divisions, the ranch had more than 1,500 miles of fencing. At its peak, 150 cowboys worked for $25 to $30 a month, plus room and board.
In a land where the winters can be bitterly cold and the summers frightfully hot, ranch employees had few options for entertainment. Failure to abide by the rules of no gambling or alcohol consumption could mean immediate dismissal that was often enforced by a six-gun.
Even though the ranch often delivered more than 12,000 head of cattle a year to market, it rarely made a profit. Droughts, blizzards, rustlers, wolves, and market prices kept the ranch washed in red ink. By the 1890s, large sections were sold to other ranches. By 1905, a land rush of small farmers began gobbling up what was left of the undivided pastures to pay off the British investors. The last XIT-branded cattle were sold off in 1912. The last parcel of XIT land was sold in 1963.
Besides watering the land with windmills and bringing settlers to the remote corner of the state, the XIT Ranch left us with a rich legacy. The town of Farwell was named for the original investors. Texline was once a cattle shipping point for the ranch. What is now the Rita Blanca National Grassland was once a part of the division of the ranch that produced beef cattle. And buildings that were part of the headquarters can still be seen in Channing.
Across the street from the county courthouse in Dalhart, the XIT Museum houses relics from the ranch, as well as life in Dallam and Hartley counties. The collection is an interesting assortment of ranching tools, wildlife specimens, and everyday household items.
Since 1925, Dalhart has hosted the XIT Rodeo and Reunion on the first continuous Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in August (this year, Aug. 3-5). It has been years since a cowboy who actually worked on the XIT attended the celebration, but the town still provides free watermelon on Thursday, a pork-chop supper on Friday, and the World's Largest Free Barbecue on Saturday, along with live music, rodeos, and family fun. For information, contact the Dalhart Chamber of Commerce at 806/244-5646 or www.dalhart.org.
789th in a series. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of Day Trips 101-200, is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.
