DUANE
Duane's take
Well, the marker tells it this way, and I'm just here to pass it along. Out on the South Plains, tucked into a small, shallow valley where the North Fork of the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River bends just so, there sits a piece of land that has outlasted empires — cattle empires, banking empires, and more than a few broken dreams. Fifteen hundred acres called the V-8 Ranch.
And friend, the story of how it came to carry that name is something else entirely. But let's go back. Way back.
Because before there was a V-8 Ranch, there was the IOA — a fourteen by thirty-mile contiguous block of land covering most of the southern half of Lubbock County. Now that is not a ranch. That is a kingdom.
The IOA was established between 1884 and 1886, right at the exact moment the free-range cattle industry was starting to buckle under drought and hard economic conditions. Some folks have a talent for buyin' in just as the bottom starts fallin' out, and the IOA had that talent in spades. By 1893, they were already tryin' to sell the cattle off.
And a man named Frank Wheelock — great nephew of principal stockholder Stillman Wheelock, and a fellow who would later become Lubbock's very first mayor — started selling off the land itself. Now, selling land is one thing. Selling it clean is another.
What followed was a series of lawsuits that dragged on until the whole matter ended up in a Sheriff's sale. That's the kind of punctuation that closes a chapter hard. In 1901, a man named H.L.
Kokernot walked away with the acquisition. Thirteen years later, in 1914, a well-known South Plains rancher by the name of George Boles bought five thousand acres from the Kokernots. And George Boles held on to that property — held on through seasons good and bad — right up until 1935, when foreclosure came and took it out of his hands.
The land does not care who's been faithful to it. It just waits. Four years later, in 1939, a three-thousand-four-hundred-acre portion of the old Boles property found new owners: Sam C.
Arnett, Sr., and George Benson. Now these two were not strangers to a deal. They were business partners in a whole constellation of ventures — Citizen's National Bank, insurance, real estate, and a Ford dealership.
When they bought this particular stretch of South Plains ground, they reached for a name. And they found one in the thing they both understood: the Ford V-8 engine. They called it the V-8 Ranch, and it stuck.
As of 2017, when this marker was placed, the remaining acreage still belongs to the Arnett family. And the buildings standing on that property — including the stucco residence — are some of the oldest ranch structures in all of Lubbock County. Who built them first is one of those questions history leaves tantalizingly open.
It may have been a sheep herder named Zach Williams, back in 1877. It may have been the IOA company in the 1880s. Or it may have been George Boles himself, somewhere between 1914 and 1935.
The land is keeping that secret. What it isn't keeping secret is this: the V-8 Ranch sits close to the city of Lubbock — close enough that you might not expect what you find out there. But step into that shallow river valley, and the South Plains' vibrant ranching history comes right up to meet you.
Named for an engine, built on the bones of a kingdom, survived by a family. That's the V-8 Ranch.
What the marker says
Nestled into a small, shallow valley created by a bend in the North Fork of the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River, the 1,500-acre V-8 Ranch contains the headquarters of the vast IOA ranch, which was a 14 by 30-mile contiguous block of land covering most of the southern half of Lubbock County. The IOA was established in 1884-1886, just as the free-range cattle industry collapsed due to drought and economic conditions. Beginning in 1893, the process to sell the ranch's cattle began. Frank Wheelock, great nephew of principal stockholder Stillman Wheelock and later Lubbock's first mayor, also started selling the ranch's land, resulting in a series of lawsuits that culminated in a Sheriff's sale and acquisition by H.L. Kokernot in 1901. In 1914, George Boles, a well-known South Plains rancher, bought 5,000 acres from the Kokernots. Boles owned the property until it was lost to foreclosure in 1935. A 3,400-acre portion of the Boles property was acquired by Sam C. Arnett, Sr., and George Benson in 1939. Benson and Arnett were business partners in many ventures, including Citizen's National Bank, insurance and real estate investments, and a Ford dealership. When they purchased this property, they renamed it V-8 Ranch, in honor of the Ford V-8 engine. As of 2017, the remaining acreage is owned by the Arnett family. Numerous buildings on the property, including the stucco residence, are some of the oldest ranch structures in Lubbock County. They may have been built by sheep herder Zach Williams in 1877, the IOA company in the 1880s, or George Boles between 1914 and 1935. In spite of the ranch's close proximity to the city of Lubbock, the V-8 Ranch still reflects the South Plains' vibrant ranching history. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2017