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Everything is Bigger in Texas: A Series on Historical Texas Ranches

Aug. 21 2019 Travel By ___

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THE KING RANCH

School is back in session and it’s time to sharpen your Texas history over this next school year. Traveling across Texas is a real treat, but it has more meaning when you understand what exactly you are looking at. Hook up your travel trailer and hop in your Ford King Ranch Edition truck, we have some traveling to do! Can you name any historic Texas ranches off the top of your head? If you said King Ranch, you are correct. Now this might be the most well-known ranch in Texas, but we can guarantee you haven’t heard all the crazy stories about the ranch in our backyard! 



The King Ranch resides on 825,000 acres and is Texas’ largest ranch, stretching from Jim Wells to Willacy County. With all this land to graze, 35,000 head of cattle and over 200 horses call this land home. In addition to this land in Texas, the King Ranch also owns farming land in Florida.



Why is the King Ranch brand a “W”? 

I have never thought about this before, but why in the world did the King Ranch not decide to use a the letter “K” in their internationally-known brand? Now no one truly knows why the letter “W” was decided on, but we have a few guesses. The Running W could have represented a diamondback rattlesnake, the Santa Gertrudis Creek or the horns of a Texas Longhorn bull. This brand was registered in 1869 and is now seen on top-quality cattle and leather goods.



Who was involved in the making of the King Ranch? 

Irish immigrant, Captain Richard King and Texas Ranger, Gideon Lewis met and decided to start a cattle business together in 1853. The two began to set up a cow camp southwest of Corpus Christi and prepared to purchase land for their growing cattle business. In the summer of 1853, King bought 15,000 acres for $300 and sold Lewis an undivided half-interest for $2,000. Lewis then bought additional land and sold King half-interest. This was the beginning of a fabulous era for Corpus Christi, the Santa Gertrudis Ranch was born.

It didn’t take long for all of that to change though. Gideon Lewis was a helpless lover and fell madly in love with the wife of a Corpus Christi doctor. Doctor J. T. Yarrington sought revenge and shot Lewis for having an affair with his wife. Now at the time, Lewis was a candidate for Congress, but had no one to leave his growing estate to. The state of Texas auctioned off his massive pieces of land at the Nueces County Courthouse. Being the smart man King was, he successfully bid on the land and became the owner of this massive land and the Santa Gertrudis Ranch was quickly renamed to the King Ranch. 



What was on the King Ranch?

Richard King loaded his ranch with wild longhorn, but after his death in 1885, Ranch manager, Robert Kleberg began crossbreeding Shorthorns and Brahmas. This resulted in the development of a different breed of cattle, Santa Gertrudis. The Santa Gertrudis cattle quickly grew popular and was the first American breed of beef cattle recognized by the USDA. Alongside America’s first cattle breed, the King Ranch also bred Thoroughbred and Quarter horses. This endeavor led to creating the #1 registration in the American Quarter Horse Association Stud Book and Registry for it’s amazing stallion, Wimpy. This beautiful and prized stallion was far from the only champion the King Ranch produced. In 1946, the Thoroughbred horse, Assault, became the only Texas horse to win the Triple Crown and shortly after, another Thoroughbred won the 1950 Kentucky Derby.



What is the King Ranch doing now?

Today, the King Ranch stands stronger than ever with it’s diversified agribusiness corporation. The King Ranch is not only invested in cattle ranching or farming, but they also have feedlot operations, citrus groves, pecan processing, commodity marketing and recreational hunting. Alongside the businesses run on the actual ranch, the King Ranch is also tied into the retail business with leather goods, farm equipment, it’s own Ford truck and ecotourism.



The King Ranch is clearly more than just a ranch, it is Texas History through and through. If you have never had to opportunity to visit or you are wanting to make an action-packed trip to South Texas, here are a few things you can do at the King Ranch!

  • King Ranch Daily Tour
  • King Ranch Special Interest Tour
  • Nature Tours 
  • Motor Coach Tours
  • King Ranch Cowboy Camphouse Barbecue 
  • Annual Ranch Hand Breakfast
  • King Ranch Museum
  • King Ranch Saddle Shop
  • Book a hunt 



In concluding our first Historic Texas Ranch blog, Howdy RV can't wait to hear about all the new facts you learned about the King Ranch. Make sure to join us as we travel across the great state of Texas, exploring other historic ranches. Our hope is that we inspire your next vacation in your fifth wheel and sharpen your Texas history, just a tad. If you are looking for an RV, visit our dealership in Mathis to see our full inventory of new and used travel trailers for sale. Howdy RV is located off of I-37 and welcomes all our southern Texas customers coming from Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Rockport, Laredo and Victoria.