While cowboys may feel like the stuff of childhood games and dude ranches may seem like a particularly mid-century throwback, the American Old West is still a vibrant and thriving community. Ranging from working ranches to family resorts, to protected landmarks, these six historic ranches can all still be visited today and date as far back as the 1800s.

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King Ranch was established in 1853 by Richard King, a former riverboat captain, Confederate and cotton merchant. The largest ranch in the US, it now spans 825,000 acres – an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. Situated in South Texas between Corpus Christi and Brownsville, the ranch includes portions of six Texas counties and comprises four large sections called divisions.

King was born far away from the ranching life in New York City to poor Irish immigrants and at nine years old was already indentured to a Manhattan jeweller.

However, desperate for a life of adventure, he escaped his indenture by stowing away on a ship bound for Mobile, Alabama. After being discovered, King was adopted and trained by the ship’s crew, enabling him to become a riverboat captain by the age of 16.

King soon became a shipping tycoon in the riverboat industry and by 1852 was able to invest some of his profits in his first tract of Texas land near Santa Gertrudis Creek. He continued to build on these acquisitions in 1853 and 54, establishing the core of what would become King Ranch.

When the Civil War broke out, King became involved in the Cotton Road trade route, using his riverboat shipping connections to transport and sell Confederate cotton, using the ranch as a stopover to replenish supplies.

King continued to expand the ranch until his death in 1885, by which time the land comprised 614,000 acres. The ranch remained largely under family management for many years, though various contractors were hired to manage its expansion and development.

Over the past 170 years, the ranch led some of the very first cattle drives and has been instrumental in the Santa Gertrudis and Santa Cruz breeds of cattle, according to its website.

King Ranch is and has always been, first and foremost, a cattle ranch. However, it has also bred Quarter Horses and champion Thoroughbreds and cultivated a thriving agricultural business, with produce including citrus, cotton, grain, sugar cane and turfgrass. Today, the ranch also offers a range of luxury retail goods and recreational hunting opportunities.

While King Ranch may hold the record for the largest ranch in the US, the W.T. Waggoner Ranch is able to boast that it is the largest ranch contained within one fence. Located 13 miles south of Vernon, Texas, the ranch was established in 1849 by Dan Waggoner, an early American settler and owner of five banks, three cottonseed oil mills and a coal company.

Waggoner began buying land in 1870, clearing it for settlement as he continued to move west and ultimately settling along Beaver Creek near Electra, Texas. He continued to expand his holdings until his death in 1902, at which point his son Tom took over the enterprise. In 1923, Tom established the W.T. Waggoner Estate for which he served as the trustee, with his three children comprising the board of directors.

Under Tom’s supervision, the ranch expanded to its current size of approximately 535,000 acres and has remained under Waggoner family ownership until 2016. Today, Waggoner Ranch also boasts recreational facilities along Lake Kemp, a popular North Texas fishing and watering hole and is currently developing hunting opportunities for wild hog, quail and deer, according to their website.

Waggoner’s primary industries, however, are its 26,000 cultivated acres, approximately 1,100 oil wells and, of course, ranching itself. Home to approximately 10,000 head of cattle and a stable of American Quarter Horses, Waggoner is still an old-school ranching operation at its core and a five-time winner of the Texas Ranch Roundup award.

The United States Department of Agriculture has surveyed the ranch for preservation purposes, employing thirty cowboys and around 120 individuals. It boasts diverse assets including a huge wind farm with around 130 turbines and one of its lakes serves as a water source for the nearby city of Wichita Falls.

In August 2014, the ranch hit the real estate market with Sotheby's International Realty with an initial asking price of $725 million. Following negotiations, it was acquired in February 2016 by billionaire Stan Kroenke, the husband of Wal-Mart heiress Ann Walton Kroenke, known for his ownership of the Los Angeles Rams and Arsenal Football Club.

 

The Medano-Zapata Ranch originated back in the 1870s, originally two separate ranches which were consolidated in 1882 by pioneers Neil Adee and William Durkee. The consolidated land became a major cattle ranch in the San Luis Valley and its history reflects the wider themes which dominated the ranching industry: the introduction of Texas cattle to the area in the 1870s, the entrance of Eastern investors to the industry, the use of intimidation to drive other settlers from the area to acquire vast land tracts and the struggles during periods of economic difficulty.

The ranch’s wide range of buildings represented the diversity of materials and construction styles used throughout the course of late 19^th and early 20th-century ranching history. Most of the buildings are also representative of the common ranching practice of recycling materials, repurposing existing structures and combining smaller buildings to create larger ones.

Like most major cattle operations in the San Luis Valley, the ranch’s headquarters is made up of many smaller holdings, consolidated over the years into one substantial cattle ranch. However, by the late 20^th century, the Medano-Zapata Ranch had been divided into two separate entities and the former was abandoned.

Both ranches are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the majority of the buildings which comprised the original Medano Ranch are still standing, including the main ranch house, bunkhouse, cook’s house, meat house, cottonseed cake house, harness shed, barn and an extensive corral complex. The Zapata Ranch, meanwhile, was renovated in 1989 after its purchase by the Japanese investment group Rocky Mountain Bison Inc.

Today, the Zapata Ranch operates as a luxury resort, aiming to preserve the values and lifestyle of the American West. Open from March to October, the ranch has been incorporated into the family-run Ranchlands business for the past 18 years. The ranch offers horseback riding in the Great Sand Dunes National Park, hiking in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, cattle-roping lessons and gourmet dining options.

The C Lazy U Ranch, which bills itself as “Colorado’s premier guest ranch since 1919”, has been a family affair since the very beginning. The ranch originates from two different pioneer families, the Dexters and the Smillies, both of whom owned and operated separate but adjacent ranches in Granby, Colorado.

In 1919, Jack Smillie married Gertrude Dexter and together they took over what was then known as the F Slash Ranch, the Smillie family property. It was not until 1925 when two women arrived from Massachusetts and fell in love with the ranch after a short stay, that the couple considered turning the enterprise into a guest lodge.

By the following year, Jack and Gertrude had converted the property into a working guest ranch, which they continued to operate with great success up until the end of the Second World War, when they finally sold it to a pair of high-flying New York design firm executives.

While these new owners may not have had ranching in their blood, Dick and Katie Schoenberger brought with them a level of big-city business savvy and sophistication which catapulted the ranch into new echelons of success.

In 1947, they began construction of a whole new lodge building, constructed in the traditional log cabin style. The ranch became such a popular country retreat that in 1948 the Schoenbergers were forced to expand further, building additional east and west wings.

Throughout the 1950s, the lodge continued to grow in both popularity and size and several additions were made in the form of a new skeet range, patio house, swimming pool and skiing facilities. 

Today, the ranch is comprised of 8,500 acres and offers year-round horseback programming, a spa, fly fishing, and a wide variety of other seasonal activities.

C Lazy U offers a range of packages for adults and children alike and markets itself as an ideal location for weddings, family reunions, or corporate retreats, all while promising a “commitment to preserving and revitalizing one of the last great American western experiences.”

One of the oldest dude ranches in America, Eatons’ was originally a cattle ranch established by three brothers – Howard, Willis and Alden Eaton – near Medora, North Dakota in 1879. Friends and family came flocking from the Eastern US to visit the Eaton boys, frequently holing up at the ranch for months at a time.

Eventually, one friend, acknowledging the expense of these prolonged visits for their hosts, suggested that the brothers begin charging room and board. The result was a commercial dude ranch, which the brothers operated successfully out of North Dakota until 1904, at which point they decided it was time for a change.

Desirous of more suitable and varied riding terrain to accommodate their ever-increasing guest list, the Eatons decided to pack up shop and relocate the ranch to its current home in Wolf Creek in Wyoming. Over a century later, the ranch remains in the hands of the Eaton family and is currently being operated by fourth and fifth generations of descendants.

Of course, horseback riding is the primary attraction on the ranch and with 7,000 private acres to explore, plus access to the adjacent Big Horn National Forest, there is certainly plenty of scope for exploring the beauties of the West in traditional cowboy style.

Today, the ranch is open from June to September and offers a range of activities including horseback riding, fishing, swimming in both the site pool and several nearby lakes, shooting and archery. Guests are accommodated in an assortment of rustic cabins, which offer all the amenities required for a comfortable stay including open fires and cosy couches to relax after a hard day's ride.

Lonely Dell Ranch was established in 1872 by John D. Lee, a Mormon pioneer who had arrived in Arizona with the hope of setting up a permanent ferry service across the Colorado River for other settlers heading west. Lee, who was a prominent early member of the Latter Day Saint Movement in Utah and practising polygamist, built the homesite to accommodate two of his (eventual) nineteen wives and their children.

One of Lee’s wives, Emma, named the ranch ‘Lonely Dell’ because of its remote location. Despite the supposed loneliness, tensions soon arose with neighbouring Navajo Native Americans necessitating the construction of Lee’s Ferry Fort at the site of the crossing. In January of 1873, the ferry was formally established with its first boat, the Colorado and with minimal ensuing conflict, the fort soon evolved into a trading post and later a private residence.

In 1874, Lee was arrested and tried for leading the Mountain Meadows massacre in which 120 American western emigrants from Arkansas were killed after surrendering their weapons to sieging Morman militia. He denied personally killing anyone but his complicity was enough to deliver a guilty verdict and he faced the firing squad in 1877.

After Lee's death, his wife Emma continued to operate the ferry for another two years, living in the stone homestead. Lees Ferry became a vital route for prospectors in 1889, following the discovery of gold in the nearby Glen Canyon.

Prospectors came flocking to the ferry for the next 20 years and the head of the American Placer Company, Charles H. Spencer, even went so far as to invest in a full-scale mining operation, which was an abysmal failure. The ferry continued to operate until 1928 and was instrumental in transporting materials for the construction of the original Navajo bridge across the Colorado River, which rendered the ferry obsolete.

Today, both the remains of the homesite and the fort are on the National Register of Historic Places and have been incorporated into the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. While there is no longer an official ferry available for river crossing, Lees Ferry is now the primary starting point for whitewater rafting trips through the Grand Canyon.  

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