Caprock Chronicles: Ranchers were the Door
Editor's Note: Caprock Chronicles are edited by Jack Becker, Librarian Emeritus, Texas Tech University Libraries. He can be reached at jack.becker@ttu.edu. Today’s essay is by Dolores Mosser, a frequent contributor to this column. Her essay “Ranchers were the Door” is the eighth first Sunday Ranch history of the year.
Ranching was the door, and water was the key that ushered civilization into Texas’ Llano Estacado in the 1880s. Encompassing 30,000 square miles of flatlands with 22,000 playas, certain areas of the Llano featured draws, sand hills, and “salt” lakes. Draws are the abandoned headwater channels of the Brazos and Colorado Rivers. Ancient river sands are the source of the sand hills. Salt lakes are catchment basins for seasonal rains and serve as outlets for springs from the Ogallala Aquifer.
Counties with freshwater sites attracted the interest of cattle organizations such as the Farwell Brothers-Capital Syndicate of Chicago/London that exchanged construction of the Texas State Capital in Austin for grasslands across ten Panhandle-South Plains counties. Surveyors utilized the draws, lakes, springs, playas, and sand hills to map out the seven division headquarters/camps/pastures that made up the 3 million-acre XIT Ranch (1885).
Bailey County has an interesting mix of the land forms mentioned above. A 12-mile wide band of sand hills actually divides the County whereby locals use “North of the Sand” or “South of the Sands” to pinpoint Bailey County’s people, places, and things. For example, the XIT ranchlands and Blackwater Draw are “North of the Sands” and Yellow House Draw is “South.”
In addition, springs were found at six salt lakes. Coyote, Baileyboro, and Monument lakes are located “within” the sandhills. Paul’s, White, and Goose Lakes are located “South of the sand,” in the Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge. Numerous ranches were established within this unique topography of the county.
Early ranches are featured in "Trails and Tales of Bailey County", a county history published in 1988. New Mexico cattleman Tom Lynch brought the first longhorns into Bailey County in 1882. The cattle made their way along Blackwater Draw to a site called Spring Lake east of Muleshoe. Spring Lake would become a Division Headquarters for the XIT.
Spring waters were utilized until windmills became standard. Blackwater Draw was known to hold as many as twelve spring-fed, or seasonal lakes, along its course. Draws and playa basins also provided shelter from fierce winds, and scrub oak bushes from the sand hills served as an alternative food source for cattle and horses.
The Snyder Brothers Ranch was the largest Bailey County cattle operation during the 1880s. Early county resident, Lester Howard, recalled exploring the remains of the ranch located on the trail from Lubbock to Portales, New Mexico. A rock stable, dugout ruins, and an old well depression marked the camp in Yellow House Draw.
“West of the old gate and down on the floor of the canyon near the north bank was the first headquarters of the Snyder Brothers White Lake Ranch…the Snyder Brothers were using all of Bailey County south of the XIT fence three miles south of Muleshoe.” The Snyders also leased school-lands from the east county line to Coyote and Monument Lake. In 1892, the Snyder Ranch was sold to the Ellwoods of Colorado City and their famous Spade Ranch.
W. E. Halsell owned grasslands in central and southern Bailey County. In 1901, he purchased 184,155 acres of the XIT’s Spring Lake division for his “Mashed O” Ranch (flattened O brand). Numerous ranch buildings were built in a grove of trees near the lake. Will Rogers was a frequent “guest” cattle wrangler.
A year later, W.D. Johnson organized his Muleshoe Ranch, with a “Mule Shoe” brand (U), and a town-site from XIT land. Johnson’s property was then acquired by E.K. Warren of Michigan, with ranches in New Mexico, Colorado and Mexico. Warren’s U Bar Ranch headquarters, west of Muleshoe, covered 84,000 acres. His holdings doubled after purchasing the YL Ranch from T.L. Clack, a land speculator from Tennessee.
Prairieland along the New Mexico state-line, first owned by the Hunt Estate, changed hands often. Ross Sloan created the VVN Ranch in 1900, then sold to the Van Netta Brothers in 1911. Amarillo businessman, W. H Fuqua bought the VVN in 1915. Fuqua’s VVN covered 70,000 acres when purchased in 1948 by John L. Birdwell from Lubbock.
Other historic ranches included: the YL, Janes, Triangle, Rocking Chair, Figure 2 and Figure 4. Buildings from these ranches are preserved at the Muleshoe Heritage Center. Bad weather and bad financial markets hampered the profitability of the county’s ranches and the majority were sub-divided or sold to land speculators. Homesteaders began to arrive in the early 1900s.
South of the sands, developers made room for settlements, schools and cemeteries. The I.C. Enochs Land Co. of Mississippi, laid out a town called Enochs. Maple Wilson and his ranch had the town of Maple named for him, as did the Stegall Brother Ranch with the Stegall community.
In 1924, W.B. Newsome subdivided his ranch in the southeast corner of the County into 177.7 acres farms. The town was to be called Newsome but that name was already registered as a Texas community, so Bula was chosen, honoring the daughter of a local minister.
Large scale ranching, both “North and South of the Sands,” had a short but glorious history in Bailey County.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Caprock Chronicles: Ranchers were the Door
