King Ranch History Photos Pictures Images and Website
King Ranch, located in south Texas between Corpus Christi and Brownsville, is one of the world’s largest ranches (85% as large as Rhode Island, but only 15% as large as Anna Creek station in South Australia). It is the largest ranch in the United States.[citation needed] The 825,000 acres (3,340 km2; 1,289 sq mi) ranch, founded in 1853 by Captain Richard King and Gideon K. Lewis, 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. Only two of the four divisions border each other, and that border is relatively short.[4] The ranch was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961.
Content of King Ranch Website: http://www.king-ranch.com/index.html
Captain Richard Kinghe legendary King Ranch, founded by the intrepid Captain Richard King in the early 1850s, is an iconic institution of almost mythic stature. Captain King’s business plan included taming what was, at the time, known as the Wild Horse Desert and starting a first class beef cattle operation. The stellar success of that early entrepreneurial venture on the range has assumed its rightful place as a major chapter the ranching annals of the American West, and Captain King’s original 12,500 acre spread on the Rincon de Santa Gertrudis now includes over 825,000 acres on four divisions in South Texas.
Before Richard King could consider the viability of his envisioned cattle operation, he had to concern himself with what the cattle would eat. Cattle need water and grass to live on the range.
King Ranch Now!!
The last member of the King family to have control of the ranch and its operations was Stephen "Tio" Kleberg, great-great grandson of the founder, who was CEO from 1977 until he was dismissed in April, 1997, by Jack Hunt, the Houston-based president of King Ranch Inc.Some kineño families feel that their traditional relationship to the ranch’s management is no longer what it was in the days when the family was in charge.
In addition to cattle, King Ranch raises quarter horses, cutting horses and thoroughbreds and produced the 1946 U.S. Triple Crown winner Assault and 1950 Kentucky Derby winner, Middleground. They also owned a share of La Troienne, the greatest broodmare of the twentieth century. The King Ranch had the honor of raising the first quarter horse registered with the American Quarter Horse Association. The stallion’s name was Wimpy P-1 and he was given registration number one. In addition, the King Ranch company operates a local museum, maintains other property concerns and works with Texas A&M University to perform agricultural research and development.
The corporation has extensive holdings in other states (Florida, California) and countries (for example, Brazil) with agricultural interests including truck farming and citrus. In 1958 King Ranch paid more than $1m for Brunette Downs in the Northern Territory. They also owned Risdon near Warwick, Queensland and several other Queensland properties.[8]
In 1997, Ford Motor Company added a King Ranch edition to their F-series Super Duty truck line (and for a while to their now-discontinued Excursion mega-SUV), complete with the King Ranch cattle brand logo. Eventually, Ford added King Ranch packages to its F-150 Lineup, as well as the Expedition Full Size SUV.
An unusual animal seen in the King Ranch is the Nilgai, which were imported from India. As they usually are born in twins, eventually the nilgai started competing with the ranch’s cows, and the ranch allowed hunters to come in and harvest the animals. They would gather several (somewhere around 30) each night. This no longer occurs, but the rapidity of this process caused the Texas nilgai to become extremely wary of humans, and they bolt at the sight of vehicles, running nearly as fast as horses.
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