| |
| |
|
|
R E S O L U T I O N
|
|
|
WHEREAS, The legendary JA Ranch in the Panhandle received the |
|
|
Lone Star Land Steward Award from the Texas Parks and Wildlife |
|
|
Department at a ceremony in Austin on May 21, 2013; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Now in its 18th year, this prestigious award |
|
|
recognizes private landowners in Texas for excellence in habitat |
|
|
management and wildlife conservation and for promoting the health |
|
|
of their local ecosystems; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Situated along the breathtaking cliffs, canyons, |
|
|
and bottomlands of the Caprock Escarpment, the JA Ranch is the |
|
|
oldest continuously operated family cattle ranch in the Panhandle; |
|
|
it was founded in 1877 as a partnership between famed cattleman |
|
|
Charles Goodnight, who provided the cattle and the expertise, and |
|
|
Irish investor J. A. Adair, who provided the capital; at Mr. |
|
|
Goodnight's suggestion, Mr. Adair's initials were adopted as the |
|
|
ranch's brand; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, The ranch grew as the owners bought land in and |
|
|
around Palo Duro Canyon, and in 1878, Mr. Goodnight drove the JA's |
|
|
first herd to the nearest railhead in Dodge City, Kansas; in 1879, |
|
|
he began construction of a ranch house of cedar logs, along with a |
|
|
bunkhouse, a bookkeeper's house, a wagon boss house, and a |
|
|
blacksmith shop; by 1883, the ranch had grown to 1,335,000 acres and |
|
|
100,000 head of cattle, and when Mr. Adair died in 1885, his widow, |
|
|
Cornelia Wadsworth Ritchie Adair, continued the partnership; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, In 1887, Mr. Goodnight sold his share of the ranch |
|
|
and kept 140,000 acres of it, while Mrs. Adair lived in considerable |
|
|
style in Ireland and England off the property's proceeds; her son |
|
|
from a previous marriage, Jack Ritchie, worked on the ranch for a |
|
|
time as a young man, and when Mrs. Ritchie's aristocratic friends |
|
|
inquired after him, she told them, with all the hauteur of the |
|
|
dowager on Downton Abbey, that "My son is punching cows in Texas"; |
|
|
and |
|
|
WHEREAS, The ranch was managed until 1910 by Richard Walsh, |
|
|
an Irish immigrant, who improved the stock through crossbreeding |
|
|
and created one of the highest quality herds in the nation; as more |
|
|
settlers moved into the Panhandle, large parts of the JA were sold |
|
|
off to longtime employees, who started their own ranches; when Mrs. |
|
|
Adair died in 1921, she left the JA to Jack Ritchie and his heirs; |
|
|
and |
|
|
WHEREAS, In 1935, Jack's son, Montgomery H. W. Ritchie, took |
|
|
over the management of the ranch at a time when it was suffering the |
|
|
effects of debt, drought, and the Great Depression; over the next |
|
|
decade or so, "Montie" Ritchie paid off the debts, bought out the |
|
|
other heirs, and put the ranch on a solid foundation; he ran the |
|
|
ranch until he retired in 1993, paying particular attention to |
|
|
repairing the rangeland and restoring the native grasses; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Today, this historic 158,000-acre ranch is run by |
|
|
Montie Ritchie's daughter, Cornelia "Ninia" Wadsworth Ritchie, and |
|
|
her son, Andrew Montgomery Bivins; Ms. Ritchie still lives in the |
|
|
main house, which includes the original cedar cabin from 1879, and |
|
|
she and her son have preserved the ranch's sustainability through |
|
|
rotational grazing, conservative stocking rates, prescribed |
|
|
burning, and brush management, thus increasing the diversity of |
|
|
plant species while maintaining a profitable cattle operation; |
|
|
their success has been celebrated in Texas Monthly; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Owned and operated by the same family for five |
|
|
generations, the JA Ranch is a living piece of Lone Star history, |
|
|
and Ms. Ritchie and Mr. Bivins may indeed take pride in their |
|
|
skilled and loving stewardship of this Texas treasure; now, |
|
|
therefore, be it |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 83rd Texas |
|
|
Legislature hereby congratulate the JA Ranch for receiving the Lone |
|
|
Star Land Steward Award and extend to Ninia Ritchie and Andrew |
|
|
Bivins and their staff sincere best wishes for continued success; |
|
|
and, be it further |
|
|
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
|
|
prepared for the JA Ranch as an expression of high regard by the |
|
|
Texas House of Representatives. |