Henry H. Campbell

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm passing it straight along to you. Henry Harrison Campbell (born 1840, died 1911) and if you want a man who helped shape this stretch of West Texas from the ground up, well, you just found him. He came into the world in North Carolina, but Texas got hold of him early.

He arrived here with his family in 1854, just a boy, and this land would spend the rest of his life getting acquainted with him. He served in the Confederate army, and when that was over, he did what a lot of men did: he took to the trail, working as a cattle drover. Moving cattle, reading land, learning what this country could hold.

And what it could hold turned out to be considerable. In 1879, Campbell and four other investors founded the Matador Ranch, planted right there at Ballard Springs, ten miles southeast of where you might be standing. Now, the frontier being what it was, a man might be expected to burrow in; live in a dugout, low and close to the earth.

But when Campbell's wife, Elizabeth Bundy, joined him at the ranch in 1880, she had something to say about that. She refused to live underground. Refused flat out.

Instead, she camped in a tent (a tent, mind you) until lumber could be hauled in for a proper two-room house. She wasn't just enduring the frontier; she was setting terms with it. And she didn't stop there.

She served as hostess and nurse at the ranch, and later became post-mistress at Matador. The woman held the place together from more than one direction. Meanwhile, the ranch itself was doing something remarkable.

In its first three years, the Matador Ranch grew to 40,000 head of cattle, 100,000 acres of land, and an additional one and a half million acres of free range rights. Read that again if you need to. One and a half million acres of free range.

By 1882, that kind of operation had drawn attention from across an ocean: a Scottish syndicate called The Matador Land and Cattle Company, Limited, bought the ranch outright. Campbell, to his credit, didn't walk away. He stayed on as ranch superintendent all the way through 1890.

When he finally stepped back from that role, he didn't slow down much. He led the efforts to create Motley County in 1891, then served two terms as county judge. After that, he retired (and I use that word loosely) to concentrate on his ranch interests on Dutchman Creek.

Henry H. Campbell died in Matador on May 23, 1911. He'd come to Texas as a boy with his family, and he left it with a county, a legendary ranch, and a wife who once refused a dugout and won.

Not a bad accounting.

What the marker says

(1840-1911) A native of North Carolina, Henry Harrison Campbell arrived in Texas with his family in 1854. Following his service in the Confederate army, he worked as a cattle drover. In 1879, with four other investors, he founded the Matador Ranch at Ballard Springs (ten miles southeast). Campbell's wife, Elizabeth Bundy, joined him at the ranch in 1880. Refusing to live underground in a dugout, she insisted on camping in a tent until lumber could be hauled in for a two-room house. She served as hostess and nurse at the ranch, and later was post-mistress at Matador. In its first three years, the Matador Ranch holdings grew to include 40,000 head of cattle on 100,000 acres of land, with an additional 1.5 million acres of free range rights. In 1882 the ranch was bought by a Scottish syndicate, The Matador Land & Cattle Company, LTD. Campbell continued his association with the ranch, serving as ranch superintendent until 1890. Henry H. Campbell led efforts to create Motley County in 1891. After serving two terms as county judge, he retired to concentrate on his ranch interests on Dutchman Creek. He died in Matador on May 23, 1911. (1964, 1988)