Linda Mitchell Davis, 1930-2024: Cimarron rancher made her mark in the cattle industry in New Mexico and beyond

Feb. 25—Linda Mitchell Davis was shaped by one of New Mexico's most storied ranches and left her indelible mark on another.

While still a young child, she accompanied her father, Albert K. Mitchell, on his rounds as manager of Tucumcari's Bell Ranch, which traces its origins back to an 1824 Mexican land grant.

"The first year I went out with the (Bell) wagon and brought my favorite book, 'Peter Rabbit,'" Davis told the late cowboy/writer Stephen Zimmer during an interview for a 2007 Western Horseman magazine article. "When we rode back in the evening, the cowboys would sit and read it with me, but pretty soon they got tired of it, so they started reading to me from their copies of 'Ranch Romances.'"

After marrying Les Davis in 1953, Davis moved to Cimarron's CS Ranch, which had been founded in 1873 by Les' maternal grandfather, Frank Springer.

For the rest of her days, she lived and worked at the CS — with Les, until his death in 2001, and with their children and grandchildren. Along the way, she became not only one of the most respected ranchers in New Mexico but also in the American West and more distant places.

Davis died on Feb. 18 at her home on the CS Ranch. She was 93.

Survivors include four sons, two daughters and their families. Services will be announced later.

"Linda was known throughout the United States and other parts of the world," said Jeff Witte, director/secretary of the New Mexico Department of Agriculture. "The things she did for agriculture went well beyond (New Mexico's) borders and her fence line. She was really dedicated to making sure there was a good future in ranching."

High class, hardworking

In 1990, the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association named Linda Davis state Cattleman of the Year. In 1995, she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, and in 2000, she and Les were inducted into Oklahoma City's National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum's Hall of Great Westerners. The latter institution honored Linda with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.

But despite her ranching success and many accolades, Linda Davis never forgot the workaday cowboys she grew up among, punchers who read stories to her when she was little and, as she grew up, helped her learn the way of life she would follow most of her days.

Cimarron's Rod Taylor, who worked more than 34 years as a cowboy at the Philmont Scout Ranch, recalls seeing Davis and Virginia Phillips, daughter-in-law of oilman and rancher Waite Phillips, at a funeral for a ranch hand.

"It was at Philmont, 20, 25 years ago. Maybe more," Taylor said. "(The deceased) was a dollar-a-day cowboy, basically nothing more. I was just impressed personally that the two most powerful women in Colfax County showed up at his funeral."

Davis' first ranch was the Mitchell family Tequesquite Ranch, northeast of Mosquero, in Harding County. Her mother died when she was 4, and even though her father hired a couple to look after her and her younger brothers, she spent a lot of her growing-up time with her dad, cowboys, cattle and horses.

Born in 1930, the first year of the Dust Bowl era, she passed her earliest days witnessing that worst of times for ranchers and farmers, a fact, she confided to writer Zimmer, that taught her the need to care for the land or lose it and a livelihood with it.

Davis studied agriculture at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., but returned to New Mexico in the early 1950s and married Les soon afterward.

"She and Les were a good team. Nothing but first class," said Witte, who grew up on a ranch between Moriarty and Las Vegas and had known Linda Davis for 50 years or more. "Linda was one of the progressive ranchers in the state, always looking for genetics and (practicing) good stewardship of the land, someone who always strived to be better.

"She was high class, humble, hardworking and dedicated, the epitome of all that was good. Every time I saw Linda, it was always a hug and 'How's the family?' It was always about other people, not herself."

'One of a kind'

Caren Cowan, the publisher of New Mexico Stockman Magazine, served as executive director of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association from 1997-2020. She said she spent a lot of time with Davis after taking the helm of the Cattle Growers.

"Often we talk about someone being a cowboy or a cattleman," Cowan said. "Linda was both. She could go out and work cows. I never saw her at the ranch when she didn't have her gloves in her belt. But she was also a leader in the cattle industry, a member of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, very active in the association, serving in its foundation."

Cowan said Davis was a great mentor to her and a true statesman.

"She was always a lady, first and foremost," she said. "But she knew how to deal with everybody in every situation."

Cowan recalled a trip she took to Washington, D.C., about 10 years ago with Davis and other ranchers from New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and "maybe Arizona."

"We did not have an agenda," she said. "We weren't there to talk about a particular bill. We were just visiting senators from the states we were from and as many representatives as we could and talking about ranching in the West.

"There was this Western painting in one senator's office. Linda looked at it and named the cowboy in the painting and the pastures he was in. She would always amaze me with things like that."

Cowan said Davis was one of a kind.

"There will never be anyone who will replace Linda in the livestock world," she said. "This is a loss for the state of New Mexico and the cattle industry."