King Ranch
King Ranch is the largest ranch in the United States. At some 825,000 acres (3,340 km2; 1,289 sq mi)[3] it is larger than both the land area of Rhode Island and the area of the European country Luxembourg.[4] It is mainly a cattle ranch, but also produced the racehorse Assault, who won the Triple Crown in 1946.
Nearest city
The headquarters of the King Ranch are in an office building in Houston, Texas.[5] The ranch itself is located in South Texas between Corpus Christi and Brownsville, adjacent to Kingsville. It was founded in 1853 by Captain Richard King and Gideon K. Lewis. It includes parts of six Texas counties: most of Kleberg, much of Kenedy, and parts of Brooks, Jim Wells, Nueces, and Willacy counties.
The ranch consists of four divisions of land: Santa Gertrudis, Laureles, Encino, and Norias. The Santa Gertrudis and Laureles divisions share a short length of border, and the Encino and Norias divisions are both entirely separate.[6] The ranch was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961.[2][7] The Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame inducted the ranch in 2019.[8] King Ranch was one of the first ranches to be added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966, because of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 which was signed that same day.
In popular culture[edit]
Edna Ferber's novel Giant, which was turned into a film of the same name, takes place on King Ranch. The film and novel depict several events in the ranch's history, such as the discovery of oil on the property.
Forever Texas, the 2022 historical western novel by bestselling authors William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone, is based on the true story of the founding of King Ranch.[20]
In the James Michener novel Centennial, the Venneford Ranch was said to be patterned after the King Ranch.
The historical fiction novel Lords of the Land by Matt Braun is based on the King Ranch and its founder, although names and some circumstance have been altered.
A cowboy's perspective on the King Ranch subsidiary in Australia, the cattle station Brunette Downs, is captured in the 2012 autobiography by Nick Campbell-Jones Don't Die Wondering. Campbell-Jones was a jackaroo (Australian cowboy) who started at Brunette Downs in 1963 and worked his way up to overseer and assistant manager before leaving in 1975.[21]