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'''The JA Ranch,''' jointly founded by John George Adair and Charles Goodnight, is the oldest privately owned [[cattle]] ranch in the Palo Duro Canyon section of the [Texas Panhandle]] southeast of [[Amarillo]], [[Texas]]. At its peak size in 1883, the JA, still managed by descendants of the Adair family, encompassed some 1,335,000acres of land in six counties and a herd of 100,000 cattle.  The name "JA" is derived from the initials of John Adair, a [[business]]man, originally from  [[Ireland]]. Goodnight managed and expanded the ranch, while Adair provided the working capital. Upon Adair's death, his wife, the former Cornelia Wadsworth Ritchie, took over Adair's interest in the JA. In 1888, Goodnight left the arrangement to establish his own ranch and in time ventured into other [[business]] activities as well. The ranch was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Armstrong County, Texas]] in 1966.<ref>{{cite web|title=JA Ranch|url=http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/viewform.asp?atlas_num=2066000807&site_name=J+A+Ranch&class=2001|publisher=Texas Historical Commission|accessdate=21 November 2011}}</ref>​

'''The JA Ranch,''' jointly founded by John George Adair and Charles Goodnight, is the oldest privately owned [[cattle]] ranch in the Palo Duro Canyon section of the Texas Panhandle]] southeast of [[Amarillo]], [[Texas]]. At its peak size in 1883, the JA, still managed by descendants of the Adair family, encompassed some 1,335,000acres of land in six counties and a herd of 100,000 cattle.  The name "JA" is derived from the initials of John Adair, a [[business]]man, originally from  [[Ireland]]. Goodnight managed and expanded the ranch, while Adair provided the working capital. Upon Adair's death, his wife, the former Cornelia Wadsworth Ritchie, took over Adair's interest in the JA. In 1888, Goodnight left the arrangement to establish his own ranch and in time ventured into other [[business]] activities as well. The ranch was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Armstrong County, Texas in 1966.<ref>{{cite web|title=JA Ranch|url=http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/viewform.asp?atlas_num=2066000807&site_name=J+A+Ranch&class=2001|publisher=Texas Historical Commission|accessdate=21 November 2011}}</ref>​

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==Cornelia Adair==​

==Cornelia Adair==​

Cornelia Wadsworth was born in 1837 in Geneseo in Livingston County in western [[New York]]. In 1857, she married Montgomery Harrison Ritchie (1826–1864) of [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], a descendant of the [[Federalist Party]] leader Harrison Gray Otis (1765–1848).<ref name=PPHM>JA Ranch exhibit, [[Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum]], [[Canyon, Texas]].</ref> During the [[American Civil War]], Ritchie served with the [[New England]] Guard. After the [[Battle of the Wilderness]] in [[Virginia]] in 1864, he crossed  [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] lines to retrieve the body of his fallen father-in-law, [[General]] James Samuel Wadsworth, Sr., (1807–1864), and return it to Geneseo. Cornelia was reared near Geneseo on a [[farm]] that her ancestors had purchased from the [[Seneca Indians|Senecas]].<ref name=JA>[http://www.ranches.org/JAranch.htm JA Ranch]</ref>​

Cornelia Wadsworth was born in 1837 in Geneseo in Livingston County in western [[New York]]. In 1857, she married Montgomery Harrison Ritchie (1826–1864) of [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], a descendant of the [[Federalist Party]] leader Harrison Gray Otis (1765–1848).<ref name=PPHM>JA Ranch exhibit, [[Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum]], [[Canyon, Texas]].</ref> During the [[American Civil War]], Ritchie served with the [[New England]] Guard. After the [[Battle of the Wilderness]] in [[Virginia]] in 1864, he crossed  [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] lines to retrieve the body of his fallen father-in-law, [[General]] James Samuel Wadsworth, Sr., (1807–1864), and return it to Geneseo. Cornelia was reared near Geneseo on a [[farm]] that her ancestors had purchased from the Seneca Indians.<ref name=JA>[http://www.ranches.org/JAranch.htm JA Ranch]</ref>​

 

A few months later, Ritchie, who had fought earlier in the war under [[General]] [[Ambrose E. Burnside]] in [[North Carolina]], died of an illness during the war.<ref name=PPHM/>​

A few months later, Ritchie, who had fought earlier in the war under [[General]] [[Ambrose E. Burnside]] in [[North Carolina]], died of an illness during the war.<ref name=PPHM/>​

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Widowed Cornelia Ritchie took her two sons, Arthur Ritchie and James Wadsworth "Jack" Ritchie (1861–1924), to [[Europe]] for their [[education]]. There she met and married in 1867 the wealthy landowner John Adair (March 3, 1823 – May 4, 1885). The Adairs moved to [[New York City]], where Adair had established a brokerage office. His uneasy temperament led the family west in search of what [[Benjamin Franklin]] had once described as the  "safety valve" of economic prosperity through westward expansion.<ref>http://www.jstor.org/pss/1891816</ref> They reached Sidney, [[Nebraska]], and proceeded to [[Colorado]], where they joined Charles Goodnight's [[buffalo]] hunt. Goodnight told the Adairs about the Palo Duro country of [[Texas]], where cattle could thrive by grazing on the plains in the summer and spending the winter in the shelter of the canyon. The hunting trip ended in misfortune. Adair's gun accidentally discharged and killed his [[horse]], and Adair himself was injured in a fall.<ref name=JA />​

Widowed Cornelia Ritchie took her two sons, Arthur Ritchie and James Wadsworth "Jack" Ritchie (1861–1924), to [[Europe]] for their [[education]]. There she met and married in 1867 the wealthy landowner John Adair (March 3, 1823 &ndash; May 4, 1885). The Adairs moved to [[New York City]], where Adair had established a brokerage office. His uneasy temperament led the family west in search of what [[Benjamin Franklin]] had once described as the  "safety valve" of economic prosperity through westward expansion.<ref>http://www.jstor.org/pss/1891816</ref> They reached Sidney, [[Nebraska]], and proceeded to [[Colorado]], where they joined Charles Goodnight's [[buffalo]] hunt. Goodnight told the Adairs about the Palo Duro country of [[Texas]], where cattle could thrive by grazing on the plains in the summer and spending the winter in the shelter of the canyon. The hunting trip ended in misfortune. Adair's gun accidentally discharged and killed his [[horse]], and Adair himself was injured in a fall.<ref name=JA />​

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==Palo Duro country==​

==Palo Duro country==​

Goodnight outfitted his men and cattle for the winter and returned to Colorado to bring his first wife, the former Mary Ann “Molly” Dyer, a teacher from Weatherford in Parker County west of [[Fort Worth]], to their new homestead. The Goodnights, the Adairs, and four [[cowboy]]s, arrived at the Old Home Ranch with breeding bulls and ranching provisions. On June 18, 1877, Goodnight and Adair inked their five-year partnership, which stipulated that Adair would supply the capital]and, at Goodnight’s suggestion, the "JA" initials, and Goodnight would provide the daily management of affairs.<ref>http://www.rra.dst.tx.us/c_t/people/Charles_GOODNIGHT.cfm</ref>  The agreement called for Adair to receive two-thirds of the property and profits. Goodnight would receive the other one-third plus an annual salary of $2,500. Goodnight borrowed his third of the investment from Adair at 10 percent interest. The ranch began with a meager 1,500 cattle on 2,500 acres.<ref name=hbook/>​

Goodnight outfitted his men and cattle for the winter and returned to Colorado to bring his first wife, the former Mary Ann “Molly” Dyer, a teacher from Weatherford in Parker County west of [[Fort Worth]], to their new homestead. The Goodnights, the Adairs, and four [[cowboy]]s, arrived at the Old Home Ranch with breeding bulls and ranching provisions. On June 18, 1877, Goodnight and Adair inked their five-year partnership, which stipulated that Adair would supply the capital]and, at Goodnight’s suggestion, the "JA" initials, and Goodnight would provide the daily management of affairs.<ref>http://www.rra.dst.tx.us/c_t/people/Charles_GOODNIGHT.cfm</ref>  The agreement called for Adair to receive two-thirds of the property and profits. Goodnight would receive the other one-third plus an annual salary of $2,500. Goodnight borrowed his third of the investment from Adair at 10 percent interest. The ranch began with a meager 1,500 cattle on 2,500 acres.<ref name=hbook/>​

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==Expanding the JA Ranch==​

==Expanding the ranch==​

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Goodnight then purchased twelve thousand acres from Jot Gunter and William B. Munson, Sr., for seventy-five cents per acre. In the next two years, he continued buying premium pieces of property in a peculiar arrangement around a 75-mile stretch of the Palo Duro, careful to select the best grazing and watered land. In 1878, Goodnight drove the first JA trail herd, led by his ox, Old Blue, north to Dodge City in western [[Kansas]], the nearest railhead. In 1879, he moved the ranch headquarter to the foot of the Caprock, some twenty-five miles east of the Home Ranch. He built a four-room house of cedar logs and supervised construction of a bunkhouse,  a bookkeeper's residence, a wagon boss's house, a [[blacksmith]] shop, a wagonyard, and a [[milk]] and meat cooling shed. Later, the two-story, nineteen-room main house was added. The old Home Ranch house was then used as a line camp until it burned on [[Christmas]] Eve 1904, according to the [[historian]] and archivist H. Allen Anderson of  [[Texas Tech University]] at [[Lubbock, Texas|Lubbock]] in an article in ''The Handbook of Texas''.<ref name=hbook/>​

Goodnight then purchased twelve thousand acres from Jot Gunter and William B. Munson, Sr., for seventy-five cents per acre. In the next two years, he continued buying premium pieces of property in a peculiar arrangement around a 75-mile stretch of the Palo Duro, careful to select the best grazing and watered land. In 1878, Goodnight drove the first JA trail herd, led by his ox, Old Blue, north to Dodge City in western [[Kansas]], the nearest railhead. In 1879, he moved the ranch headquarter to the foot of the Caprock, some twenty-five miles east of the Home Ranch. He built a four-room house of cedar logs and supervised construction of a bunkhouse,  a bookkeeper's residence, a wagon boss's house, a [[blacksmith]] shop, a wagonyard, and a [[milk]] and meat cooling shed. Later, the two-story, nineteen-room main house was added. The old Home Ranch house was then used as a line camp until it burned on [[Christmas]] Eve 1904, according to the [[historian]] and archivist H. Allen Anderson of  [[Texas Tech University]] at [[Lubbock, Texas|Lubbock]] in an article in ''The Handbook of Texas''.<ref name=hbook/>​

Though the JA was not as large or as famous as the XIT Ranch to its west, which included parts of ten counties, it was the largest cattle operation solely in the Panhandle and one still in the hands of the heirs of one of the original founders, John Adair, after the passage of more than 130 years.​

Though the JA was not as large or as famous as the XIT Ranch to its west, which included parts of ten counties, it was the largest cattle operation solely in the Panhandle and one still in the hands of the heirs of one of the original founders, John Adair, after the passage of more than 130 years.​

 

==References==​

==References==

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