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King Ranch

King ranch started in 1853, by a Captain Richard King. He was born in 1824, and died in 1885. The first location of the ranch was in Texas, it was 825,000 acres. That is about 1,300 square miles.

Richard King started out on his adventure as an 11-year-old boy as a stowaway on a schooner. He started out learning how to captain a steamboat. He then formed a small boating enterprise and by 1847 he had made it a thriving business. This business hauled freight up and down the Rio Grande River for General Zachary Taylor. He found his next venture while riding through the desert where he found a creek feed oasis, and started to make plans for a cattle operation. There was an abundance of water and land, so with a partner, he bought a ranch that covered 15,500 acres in Texas. This was a place where no man wanted to be, because of the Indians, bandits, and outlaws.

King got married to Henrietta and moved to the ranch on the Santa Gertrudis Creek. Richard was stubborn and really only liked to do things his way. After the Civil War, King's ranch had grown from 15,500 acres to 146,600 acres and had thousands of heads of cattle. The first cattle drive was started so King could sell his beef and make some money in the market. He did that by taking domesticated longhorns and having non-domesticated cattle follow them all of the way. The domesticated cattle were referred to as "lead cattle".

The Chester County operation also used "lead cattle" to move the herds from the railroad siding fields where they were unloaded to the fields around Doe Run, PA where they were going to graze for the summer. More than 100,000 head of cattle had gone to slaughter or "seed stock " to start other herds in the developing country. At the time of his death in 1885, King Ranch had become recognized as the birthplace of the American ranching industry. After his death the ranch was managed by Robert Kleberg. Kleberg was a lawyer who had worked for King and had become acquainted with King's daughter who he later married.

In 1886 Robert Kleberg designed a new breeding program, that would make better beef animals. They would be able to gain more weight and fill out in a shorter time. He designed the first cattle dipping vaps to help kill the Texas fever ticks that would over run cattle. He helped cross breed horses to make them better and stronger. Richard King had raised a Kentucky Derby winner around 1850. Then Robert Kleberg started the biggest cattle operation.

To create this breed of beef cattle, the ranch crossed a Brahma, and a British Shorthorn Stock. This was the first American breed of beef cattle and first to be recognized in the world in more than a century. This breed of cattle continues to be recognized throughout the world today, because of is fine beef products. The cattle are able to withstand arid climates, therefore can be raised in many places. There were other types of animals for sale, around the world.

By the 1970's King Ranch held about 11.5 million acres worldwide. The operations were spread around all over. They were Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, West Texas, Florida, Argentina, Cuba, Brazil, Astralia, Venezuela, Spain, and Morocco. They would ship animals from the ranches to the markets to get the best prices.

The King Ranch in Pennsylvania is no longer in operation. The property is spilt up into parcels and rented out. Some of the ground has been sold to people that the rent it back out to other people to harvest hay, graze animals or crop. It's located on West on Rt 82 in Doe Run. The holding pens are still up and being used. The fences that were built back when the ranch was in operation are being used and still good.