“More loss has come from the depressed wool and lamb market now that cheaper, imported wool has gained such a foothold. Jeff and Cindy Siddoway have been forced to diversify their operation in ways never dreamed of by their ancestors. Inspired by an episode of Little House on the Prairie, the family was determined to make something good rise out of a hopeless situation, and made a bold move into the world of quality wool blankets. Siddoway blankets Read More …
“Decades later, several days’ ride north of Widow Smith’s place, 14-year-old Wayne Hage was fed up with mandatory church attendance enforced by his mother. One night he finally spelled out his good-byes on a piece of paper and ran away from home, dreaming of an adventurous cowboy life. He didn’t run too far, however, and soon signed on as a cowhand at his uncle’s ranch. Within a few years Wayne became a buckaroo at the PX Ranch, the Read More …
“Craig and wife, Jody; sons Sage and Cord, and Craig’s mother, Bel, host the auction, where this year 343 quarter horses sell to registered buyers from across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The Haythorns run Longhorn, Black Angus, and Hereford cattle on their 75,000 deeded and leased acres, yet the horses are what the Haythorns are famous for. This ranch is one of the largest breeders of registered quarter horses in the U.S. The 500 horses branded with Read More …
“When Lewis and Clark explored the Great Falls Plains southeast of the Salmond Ranch, they expounded on the vast herds of majestic buffalo. Short of the buffalo’s decline, this land must look much the same as it did when President Jefferson’s Corps of Discover made their way through the Northwest. I can almost hear the splashes from Meriwether Lewis’ panicked escape into the Missouri River with a grizzly at his back. How awed those travelers must have been Read More …
“As the group rides away from me, the rich history of the ranch echoes under the staccato of horse hooves life far-off gunfire. The tale of the Warren Ranch begins miles and years away in Port Hudson, Louisiana, as a nineteen-year-old corporal, eager to speak to his commander, threaded his way through medics tending fallen men. The rumble of cannon fire faded as darkness fell. Francis Emory Warren of Company C intended to volunteer for a dangerous mission Read More …
“It all comes back as I drive up into the high country of the eastern Sierras. Much has changed since my first trip to this area but the land is the same : stark, rough and beautiful. Snowcapped Mount Whitney rises to more than 14,000 feet just to the west, with other “fourteeners” peaking along the Sierra Nevada ridgeline. To the east lie the dry Inyo Mountains. Beyond them, stretching across into Nevada, is the infamous Death Valley Read More …
“That evening Sam takes me up to Jack’s Point, the highest spot on the ranch, to compose a panoramic photograph of an approaching bank of clouds. I can almost see the big stone ranch house miles away — originally an overnight stage stop on the old Tascosa-Taos Trail. I can imagine how difficult it was for travelers along this early route west.” – Jim Keen, Great Ranches of the West Author & Photographer Please note that only 13 Read More …
“The century-old tale has been passed down through six generations of ranchers, undiluted by time. In 1893 – fifteen years before Oklahoma would become a state, Oscar Chain traded $50 and a shotgun for 160 dusty acres situated between the North and South Canadian Rivers in Dewey, County. Looking over the ranch today, it seems to me that the founder of the Chain Land and Cattle Company got a fabulous bargain. With 60,000 acres spread over seven different Read More …