The SMS Ranches are a famous group of cattle ranches located in West Texas. [1]
West Texas is a loosely defined part of the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the arid and semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Del Rio.
Swante M. Swenson migrated to America from Sweden during 1836. In 1850 Swenson moved to Austin, Texas and established a mercantile business with his uncle Swante Palm. While running the business, Swenson continued to buy railroad land and then bought school scripts to acquire additional property. In 1854 Svenson invested in the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway, which gained him acres of land in northwestern and western Texas. [2]
Swante M. Swenson was the founder of the SMS Ranches in West Texas. It was through his efforts that Swedish immigration to Texas was begun in 1848.
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 18 megadiverse countries.
Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north and Finland to the east, and is connected to Denmark in the southwest by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund, a strait at the Swedish-Danish border. At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the largest country in Northern Europe, the third-largest country in the European Union and the fifth largest country in Europe by area. Sweden has a total population of 10.2 million of which 2.4 million has a foreign background. It has a low population density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre (57/sq mi). The highest concentration is in the southern half of the country.
SMS Ranches eventually became one of the largest landowners in Texas. At their peak, the SMS Ranches occupy considerable portions of twelve counties in the lower plains area of West Texas and comprise more than 300,000 acres (1,200 km2). The ranches were named for the initials of the founder, Swante M. Swenson. The SMS brand, consisting of an extended M sandwiched between two reversed S's, was registered by the Swensons in the spring of 1882. At one time most, if not all, foremen of the SMS Ranches were immigrant Swedes. Swenson leased his holdings to his sons, who operated them under the name of Swenson Brothers Cattle Company from headquarters in Stamford, Texas. [3] [4]
Stamford is a city located on the border of Jones and Haskell counties in west-central Texas. The population was 3,124 at the 2010 census, down from 3,636 at the 2000 census. Henry McHarg, president of the Texas Central Railroad, named the site in 1900 for his hometown of Stamford, Connecticut. The city is home to the Texas Cowboy Reunion.
Throckmorton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 1,641. Its county seat is Throckmorton. The county was created in 1858 and later organized in 1879. It is named for William Throckmorton, an early Collin County settler. Throckmorton County is one of six prohibition, or entirely dry, counties in the state of Texas.
Jones County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 20,202. Its county seat is Anson. The county was created in 1858 and organized in 1881. Both the county and its county seat are named for Anson Jones, the fifth president of the Republic of Texas.
Stonewall County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 1,490. Its county seat is Aspermont. The county was created in 1876 and organized in 1888. It is named for Stonewall Jackson, a general of the Confederate States Army.
Sterling County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 1,143, making it the ninth-least populous county in Texas. Its county seat is Sterling City. The county is named for W. S. Sterling, an early settler in the area. Sterling County was one of 30 prohibition, or entirely dry, counties in the state of Texas, but is now a moist county.
Reeves County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 13,783. Its county seat is Pecos. The county was created in 1883 and organized the next year. It is named for George R. Reeves, a Texas state legislator and colonel in the Confederate Army. It is one of the nine counties that comprise the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas.
The XIT Ranch was a cattle ranch in the Texas Panhandle which operated from 1885 to 1912. Comprising over 3,000,000 acres (12,000 km²) of land, it ran for 200 miles (300 km) along the border with New Mexico, varying in width from 20 to 30 miles. The massive ranch stretched through ten counties in Texas, and at its peak regularly handled 150,000 head of cattle.
King Ranch, located in South Texas between Corpus Christi and Brownsville near Kingsville, is the largest ranch in Texas. The King Ranch comprises 825,000 acres and was founded in 1853 by Captain Richard King and Gideon K. Lewis. It includes portions of six Texas counties, including most of Kleberg County and much of Kenedy County, with portions extending into Brooks, Jim Wells, Nueces, and Willacy Counties. The ranch does not consist of one single contiguous plot of land, but rather four large sections called divisions. The divisions are the Santa Gertrudis, the Laureles, the Encino and the Norias. Only the first two of the four divisions border each other, and that border is relatively short. The ranch was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961.
The Allen Ranch, or Sam Allen Ranch, was one of the first and longest running ranches in the history of the state of Texas in the United States. The ranch was started a few years after the Texas Revolution in what is now southeast Houston and Pasadena. The ranch itself extended from Clear Lake to Harrisburg. The cattle range covered much of southeast Harris County and Galveston County covering many of the modern communities around Galveston Bay.
Edward Burleson "E. B." Raymond was a rancher, politician, banker, and founder of Raymondville, Texas.
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 1,335,000 acres (5,400 km2) of land in six counties and a herd of 100,000 cattle. The name "JA" is derived from the initials of John Adair, a businessman from Ireland. Goodnight managed and expanded the ranch, while Adair provided the working capital. Upon Adair's death, his wife, the former Cornelia Wadsworth Ritchie, took over Adair's interest in the JA. In 1888, Goodnight left the arrangement to establish his own ranch and in time ventured into other business activities, as well. The ranch was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Armstrong County, Texas in 1966.
Cornelia Wadsworth Ritchie Adair was the American born matriarch of Glenveagh Castle in County Donegal, Ireland, now an Irish national park. Cornelia Adair was born to privilege in the United States, became a British subject, lived much of her life in Ireland, but also maintained residence on the JA Ranch of Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle, a still-active cattle ranch, and in Clarendon, the seat of Donley County, Texas. She is also remembered for having become a naturalised British subject and as a published diarist.
The Pitchfork Ranch, established in 1883, encompasses some 181,000 acres (73,000 ha) in Dickens and King counties in West Texas, in the United States, with an annex in Jefferson County in southern Oklahoma. Previous properties in Kansas and Wyoming have been since sold.
James Marion West Sr. was a wealthy Houston, Texas businessman who substantially influenced the city's development during the early 20th century.
John Wesley Snyder was a pioneer rancher, farmer, as well as a businessman from principally Georgetown in Williamson County near Austin, Texas.
The Matador Ranch is a historic cattle ranch in Motley County, Texas, on the South Plains. Established in 1882, the Matador is located some ninety miles east of Lubbock. According to its website, the current mission of the ranch is improvement of the health and productivity of its livestock, wildlife, and renewable natural resources.
Aztec Land and Cattle Company, Limited ("Aztec") is a land company with a historic presence in Arizona. It was formed in 1884 and incorporated in early 1885 as a cattle ranching operation that purchased 1,000,000 acres in northern Arizona from the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad. It then imported approximately 32,000 head of cattle from Texas and commenced ranching operations in Arizona. Because Aztec's brand was the Hashknife, a saddler's knife used on early day ranches, the company was known more famously as The Hashknife Outfit. The company has been in continuous existence since 1884.
Christopher Columbus Slaughter (1837–1919) was an American rancher, cattle drover and breeder, banker and philanthropist in the Old West. After serving in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War of 1861-1865, he came to own 40,000 cattle and over one million acres of ranch land in West Texas. He became the largest taxpayer in Texas, and used his wealth to endow Baptist institutions. He was known as the "Cattle King of Texas."
The 6666 Ranch is a historic ranch in King County, Texas as well as Carson County and Hutchinson County, Texas.
The Moline Swedish Lutheran Cemetery was established in Elroy, Texas in 1897. It was originally an annex to the Gethsemane Lutheran Church of Austin, Texas. The Swedish population began to move away from the area in the 1930s, and by the 1950s, the congregation was too small to sustain the church. The church was dismantled after closing in 1955. The remaining congregation became the charter members of the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas and many of its members became stewards of the site.
Henry B. Sanborn was an American businessman, rancher, hotelier, horse breeder and philanthropist. He was known as the "Father of Amarillo, Texas."
John M. Shelton (1853–1923) was an American rancher and banker. Born in Kentucky in the Antebellum South, he became a large landowner and banker in Texas in the postbellum era. He founded a bank and loan company. He established the Bravo Ranch in Hartley County, Texas. By 1915, he was the owner of 28,000 head of cattle and 500,000 acres in the Texas Panhandle.