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→Cornelia Adair
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 – 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 />
==Palo Duro country==
==Palo Duro country==
==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, 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/>
==Goodnight as JA manager==
==Goodnight as JA manager==
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==