DUANE
Duane's take
Now, I'm tellin' this one straight from the official marker — this is the story as the Texas Historical Commission recorded it for Heartland of Old XIT Ranch, right here in Dallam County. Three million acres. Let that sit with you for a moment.
Three. Million. Acres.
It starts, as so many grand Texas stories do, with a deal. The year is 1882, and the state of Texas needs a capitol building — not just any capitol, mind you, but the largest state capitol in North America. The problem, as it tends to be with grand ambitions, was how to pay for it.
Texas had land. Oceans of it. So a contract was struck: build us a granite capitol in Austin, and we will pay you in ground.
The contractors who took that deal were led by John V. Farwell and his brother, Senator C.B. Farwell — wealthy Chicago merchants, out-of-state investors who apparently looked at three million acres of Texas Panhandle and said yes, that'll do fine.
They built the capitol. Texas made good on the promise. And just like that, a ranch was born that would stretch two hundred miles long, with varying widths, enclosed eventually by six thousand miles of barbed wire fence.
It ran from near the site of present-day Lubbock all the way up to the Oklahoma line, forty miles north of here, sprawling across ten counties — Bailey, Castro, Cochran, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Hartley, Hockley, Lamb, Oldham, and Parmer. Now, a ranch that size needs a brand. And this is where the story gets the kind of detail that you just cannot make up.
In 1885, Trail Boss Abner Blocker delivered the first herd to Buffalo Springs. And right there, in the corral dust, he crouched down and scratched out a mark with his boot heel. That scratch became the XIT — the brand that would make this ranch of international fame.
The land was parcelled and sold over time, as land tends to be. But the XIT never left Texas memories, and it certainly never left this part of the Panhandle. You're sitting thirty-two miles south of the old Buffalo Springs headquarters right now.
Over in Dalhart, they hold an annual XIT reunion every year — a rodeo and parade, and somewhere in that parade rides a horse with an empty saddle. It's not a theatrical flourish. It's an honor, deliberate and solemn, for the range riders of the past.
That image moved western artist Bobby Dycke enough that he designed a permanent monument to XIT cowboys — an empty saddle — and it was dedicated in 1940. Three million acres, paid for a capitol. A brand scratched in the dust.
And a riderless horse still making its way down the main street of Dalhart, keeping faith with the men who rode this land. That's a trade that's held up pretty well, if you ask me.
What the marker says
Great Texas ranch of international fame. Payment made in an 1882 contract for the construction of granite capitol building in Austin. As contractors, some out-of-state investors (headed by the wealthy Chicago merchants, John V. and Senator C.B. Farwell) built the largest state capitol in North America and received in payment 3,000,000-acres of land. The grant, 200 miles long and of varying widths (enclosed later by a 6,000-mile barbed wire fence), extended from near site of present Lubbock to the Oklahoma line 40 miles north of here. It included land in counties of Bailey, Castro, Cochran, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Hartley, Hockley, Lamb, Oldham, and Parmer. Trail Boss Abner Blocker delivered first herd to Buffalo Springs in 1885 and scratched the "XIT" in corral dust with boot heel to design famous brand. Although its land was parcelled and sold, the XIT lives in Texas memories -especially here, 32 miles south of its Buffalo Springs headquarters. Dalhart holds an annual XIT reunion with rodeo and parade featuring a horse with an empty saddle, in honor of range riders of the past. Permanent tribute to XIT cowboys is this "empty saddle" monument, designed by western artist Bobby Dycke, dedicated in 1940. (1968)