XIT Ranch

http://www.xitmuseum.com/history.shtml

Dalhart still has a XIT Reunion and rodeo every August.
The XIT brand was used to thwart rustlers and could be made with a simple straight running iron but some rustlers tried making it into a giant star that would really stand out and get them caught at it. There was a Star Ranch later also but it wasn't near as big. XIT meant 10 in Texas because the ranch encompassed part of if not all of 10 counties in the Texas panhandle. The 3 million acres was sold off to finance building of the $3 million red granite Texas State Capitol building.

• XIT Ranch

Grub

"The Worst Hard Time" is a great book. I spent the first 25 years of my life in or near dust bowl country, but nobody talked about it much. My own parents both grew up in during the Dust Bowl, but they never talked about it at all, even though they would often talk about their childhood. After reading that book, I have to believe it was just too painful for them to recall.

They cook the bar-b-que in a trench by lighting a huge wood fire and letting it burn down some, then putting the meat in sacks on the wood and then burying all of it for a day or so. It is really, really great!!

They used to have a few of the original cowboys attend - I remember some in wheel chairs when I went a few years ago - not sure if any are still alive now.

It was originally created when the Texas legislature sold the block of land to some Chicago investors in the late 1800's to finance the new capitol building in Austin.

Howard

John

It is only about 250,000 acres - so it isn't nearly as big as the XIT.

The asking price is $115 million...

Howard