Changes

==Palo Duro country==

==Palo Duro country==

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In 1876, a year after the Kiowa and Comanche Indians had been forced onto a reservation, Goodnight became the first cattleman to bring herds onto the Llano Estacado, or the South Plains of  West Texas. He drove 1,600 head of longhorns to the Palo Duro from Pueblo, Colorado.<ref>http://www.rra.dst.tx.us/c_t/people/maryanndyerGOODNIGHT.cfm</ref> to establish the "Old Home Ranch" near the Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River in southwestern Armstrong County near the site where [[United States Army]] [[Colonel]] Ranald S. Mackenzie (1840–1889) had fought the Indians in 1874.<ref>http://www.rra.dst.tx.us/virtual_red_river_tour/pdtf/page_13.cfm</ref>  Goodnight's ranch consisted of [[corral]]s and picket houses built from [[timber]] cut in the canyon.<ref name=hbook>H. Allen Anderson, "JA Ranch," ''The Handbook of Texas.''</ref>​

In 1876, a year after the Kiowa and Comanche Indians had been forced onto a reservation, Goodnight became the first cattleman to bring herds onto the Llano Estacado, or the South Plains of  West Texas. He drove 1,600 head of longhorns to the Palo Duro from Pueblo, Colorado.<ref>http://www.rra.dst.tx.us/c_t/people/maryanndyerGOODNIGHT.cfm</ref> to establish the "Old Home Ranch" near the Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River in southwestern Armstrong County near the site where [[United States Army]] [[Colonel]] Ranald S. Mackenzie (1840–1889) had fought the Indians in 1874.<ref>http://www.rra.dst.tx.us/virtual_red_river_tour/pdtf/page_13.cfm</ref>  Goodnight's ranch consisted of corrals and picket houses built from [[timber]] cut in the canyon.<ref name=hbook>H. Allen Anderson, "JA Ranch," ''The Handbook of Texas.''</ref>

 

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 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 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/>​

 

==Expanding the ranch==​

==Expanding the ranch==​

 

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]] 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]] in an article in ''The Handbook of Texas''.<ref name=hbook/>​

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==Troubles with Timothy Hobart==​

==Troubles with Timothy Hobart==​

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Upon Wadsworth’s popular-vote election to the Senate under the new [[Seventeenth Amendment]] to the [[Constitution of the United States]], [[Timothy Dwight Hobart]], a [[Vermont]] native living in Pampa in Gray County in the eastern Panhandle, became the new JA manager.<ref>http://www.rra.dst.tx.us/c_t/people/tdHOBART.cfm</ref> Hobart discouraged Cornelia’s young grandson, Montgomery Harrison Wadsworth "Montie" Ritchie (1910–1999), from remaining at the ranch, perhaps because Hobart’s son wanted to become the manager. Montie Ritchie, who held dual British and American citizenship, was hence given all the toughest horses to ride, and he was once abandoned by the hands after a bronco bucked him.<ref>[http://www.ranches.org/snooks_sparks.htm Snooks Sparks<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>​

Upon Wadsworth’s popular-vote election to the Senate under the new [[Seventeenth Amendment]] to the [[Constitution of the United States]], [[Timothy D. Hobart]], a [[Vermont]] native living in Pampa in Gray County in the eastern Panhandle, became the new JA manager.<ref>http://www.rra.dst.tx.us/c_t/people/tdHOBART.cfm</ref> Hobart discouraged Cornelia’s young grandson, Montgomery Harrison Wadsworth "Montie" Ritchie (1910–1999), from remaining at the ranch, perhaps because Hobart’s son wanted to become the manager. Montie Ritchie, who held dual British and American citizenship, was hence given all the toughest horses to ride, and he was once abandoned by the hands after a bronco bucked him.<ref>[http://www.ranches.org/snooks_sparks.htm Snooks Sparks<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>​

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Cornelia Adair designated Hobart and [[Dallas]] [[attorney]] Henry C. Coke as executors of her estate. She died in [[England]] in December 1921. Earlier in the year, Cornelia had been at the JA and posed for a picture with the ranch hands on the celebration of her 84th and last birthday. In her will, Cornelia left most JA properties to son Jack Ritchie, and his heirs, including Jack’s sons. Her estate also put a financial burden on the JA for payment of her other debts. Not until 1948 was the Adair estate, with its accompanying debts and inheritances, finally resolved.<ref name=hbook/>​

Cornelia Adair designated Hobart and [[Dallas]] [[attorney]] Henry C. Coke as executors of her estate. She died in [[England]] in December 1921. Earlier in the year, Cornelia had been at the JA and posed for a picture with the ranch hands on the celebration of her 84th and last birthday. In her will, Cornelia left most JA properties to son Jack Ritchie, and his heirs, including Jack’s sons. Her estate also put a financial burden on the JA for payment of her other debts. Not until 1948 was the Adair estate, with its accompanying debts and inheritances, finally resolved.<ref name=hbook/>​