Great Ranches of the West

The West produced by Gibson This is a stereo mix. This is the Live Journal and this is the right. Oh. And. This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through a grant from the Pacific mountain network program thing and additional funding is provided by a grant from Northern life insurance company Seattle Washington. And by the subscribers of KC TS Seattle. Mike Wilder was a man out of the sun. Oh no no. No. Then again land I.

Really Am. Me. Me doing. This and. Just. Being. Me. Salt. Salt. That's one. Thing. I'm Michel Martin Murphy.

That song vanishing breed is about being independent and living off the land. Not many people can do that anymore. One place that still happens is on family owned ranches and that's what this program is about. You know people think of a ranch as just a place where you raise livestock but a ranch is really about the men and women who work the land to grow their crops and care for the animals ranching is a way of life with its own values and traditions even its own style of dress the American cowboy is known all over the world. His methods and machines have to be done the same way as cowboys and ranching started in this country and. Ranching was and still is. Nothing is for sure. A rancher is always the weather the water the livestock and the prices. A few families got rich beyond their wildest dreams. Others most others scratch out a living working sun up to sundown seven days

a lot more ranches. Will visit with four of the survivors the families on some of the oldest largest and most famous ranches in the West. It's a lie for folks who are tough and independent. That spirit of independence has been handed down from generation to generation on some of the great ranches of the West. It's fall on the grassy plain of New Mexico

just outside of Cimarron New Mexico is the city asprin. It was started in 1873 by Frank Springer who came out from Iowa and bought a small piece of land where the CSA headquarters is still located. The CSA stands for Charles Sprecher the founder. Today the CSA zone by Les Davis the founder's grandson and his wife lived a. Little. Miniature. Well these cows go back. To a little bunch of her fridge my grandfather brought here in 1881. We've never bought any. Heifer since. The CSA has about 3000 cattle spread out on 200 20000 acres of prairie grass. Ranches account calf operation. They keep a herd of cows that have a calf every heater. Then sell the calves to feed line for the ranch.

The CBS trances unit. It's a family ranch if there ever was one. The Daviss have six grown children who have all chosen to come home. They were and were on the road. Today most of the families on horse. It's all round. I think our situation is unusual I don't know of another ranch that of this size that's being operated just almost totally by the family. It's a very it's a great feeling of satisfaction to me to see them all having different jobs on the ranch with their own responsibilities and enjoying it. And growing up they all like the ride to help with ranch jobs and when we branded move cattle. Children are all right. They're helping by from the start and so there's a good run by yourself my wife Linda

who is a fine cowgirl and. They're all a tremendous help. Les Davis seems a kind of renaissance Ranger. He grew up in the east went to college at Dartmouth and was a World War to artillery. He went west to resample ranch fairly late in life but he came to stay. He has a passion for acquired in Europe during the war and raises resources as a hobby. Some horses that you know you get really attached to and like that big brown mare on the right she's a champion and. No telling how valuable she'd be back in Kentucky that we're going to keep right here.

I am delighted the way it's turned out now with all six of the children involved they're all owners of the ranch I'm a very minor stockholder Now Linda and the six children are. Our kids and with their children coming on it's hard to for Jack just what will happen love that. Whether they'll have the same feeling that I did one of you know the historical challenge of keeping it going but who knows maybe we'll be celebrating the 200 that a version of the CSK will come. One of the children working to keep the C.S. going his war. Old. Dad always instilled in us kids. The sense of tradition to keep the ranch going and I don't know if I wanted to come back one thing but then I figured also that if I didn't come back maybe drilling wouldn't you know I'd start a chain reaction to where none of us would come back so I figured if I come back every one of us back and I

made my own decision that way. Everything is different. One day I might be hauling hay the next day working cattle next day fixing fancy it's all just kind of what needs to be done. It's no set routine is kind of the. Thing that I enjoy about it it's always kind of kind of an eventual. Second son Randy is a highly and operates 100 outfitting service. So yes mine. Did On need to come to the left of the mother were sort of the big target right now or in the coming season have four hunts in the month of October. The child last five days. So far we know eight people and we've shot seven bull elk. Really. Oh yeah. Live on your little that's good enough. Bring.

It on now Gregory don't last pieces of. Jaeger culture call the steak down there were doing their pork did more. And more. Flying than anything than working for. A swimming pool besides coming back around the world so. I don't really desire to going. Over there. From the air the New Mexico landscape can look pretty dry. But with irrigation water it's very productive for my. THIRD SON. Kirk takes care of his amusement. In the air itself whereas water is water. Real important. We just couldn't dry land or anywhere near the water in the rain or precipitation isn't very reliable. And now. Pretty much all the farming is is security. There's a reservoir Eagle Nest reservoirs located about. 30 miles from here. In the lives

up river in the mountains. The dam was built by my great grandfather and it's a privately owned dams. And reservoirs. Owned by C.S. Gallagher. I feel real fortunate I. Know the. History of family businesses are good. But they. They don't last very long. But ours has been going for a hundred fourteen years and I feel it was. Once again that he did. They all. Sort of live up to their standard. With water rights land titles and cattle tracks ranches a lot of little. So it's nice to have a lawyer. The city has an office in town run by the oldest daughter. Attorney Julia with. Linda show up for. Work. Which should be playing well. Also I think that for me.

Probably the question of whether I'm going to be practicing full time. Is one that comes up a lot because I'm right now involved a lot more with the day to day ranch work with the business of the ranch and actually just the horse and cattle work a lot. I'm a lot more about that than any sort of legal work which I miss. I miss trial work and I miss having a street practice but when I was practicing full time I really missed the ranch. And so it's kind of a damned if you do damned if you don't. Mind. Be hard to leave the ranch. There's a lot of 1867 I threw G all consigned by the C S range. With slick video presentations and satellite catalogs you can see selling cows just isn't what it used to be. Bruce Davis is the youngest son. His job is marketing the CSK. Our basic goal is to. It's pretty fundamental business to sort of cut

cost increase income and get our debt liquidated in we're we've done a pretty decent job of that. Ranching is. A long term business. Our responsibility is to to make this ground more productive as we go along and hopefully more effective you know when are. Our children. Come on. The youngest of the Davis children is Kim. She studied Mary medicine and does everything in the city from training horses. I'm not one to be inside and I've always kind of like to

be with the animals might involve love. It seems like there is I was a tiny I was a dog and all the older being the youngest all the rest of the kids were involved already and so I was help them with their steers. My folks just really been helpful and they've been an inspiration I think all of us you know what they've done for us six kids and they're they're amazing. Linda Davis grew up on a ranch herself whether it's working cattle or doctoring horses. She just knows what to do. Linda is a cow to get it right at the bottom here you see this the swelling was all up in here. And when we opened him up Lee gathered at the bottom you if you opened it at the top it wouldn't drain out if

you hit it at the bottom it drains down and you whenever you doctor an abscess on any animal you want to be sure. It's able to. Carry. And unfortunately it occurred right when you need the horses the most one of the times a year that we really need our horses and we're getting the homework done. Well we love the land I guess that's one reason that we've always stayed with it. I wouldn't trade it for anywhere else. Less is always said that northeastern New Mexico is the best kept secret in the world. Perhaps it is we can grow everything from the starch to cotton to. Very good cattle. How you fry you do you know all hot and bothered right.

We have five grandchildren. Well it's a wonderful. Place to raise a family because they learn responsibilities from the animals. I think I told all of you that each of the children took a horse to high school with them and then on to college and always gave the horse half the credit for the diploma. It's a satisfying way of life and one that we all like. It's a challenge to me to. Think. The landin used to prove everything we can both live cattle and horses and run on it. The farming we're doing and I just hope that it doesn't boil down to just a few big corporations right running the ranchers now. We see right here neighbors of ours the big companies that own them and there's not the feeling of on those ranches that

we have I mean a personal pride in the drive to improve them. I just hope that things work out for the fine young people interested in farming and ranching can get a toehold and get started and they want to do it. And I I just hope that economics will allow them to. When it snows and temperatures drop below zero on a ranch it's hard to know who suffers more the animals or the Cowboys. Everything takes twice as long. Same twice as hard and things just break. There's a lot of physical abuse that goes along with ranching especially in the winter. The weathered skin and calloused hands are earned but you rarely hear a complaint. It's just not the cowboy way. On the Spanish train just north of Tuscarora Nevada a minus 20 degree

temperature on a January morning means you can't account can survive just about any cold weather if it has enough to eat and water to drink. Spanish ranch is one of the few ridges left where they still use horse teams to pull hay wagon loaded with viable winter fruit. We still use a lot of teams especially for feeding and here gating one thing about a team as you is you'll notice they always start. Horses are neat. You know it's. It's almost just in the past to find a good set of. Workers just. A team calls with their mouth. If you just go loose line there they don't know what to do but if you take a hole and put all the pressure on them they'll really variegata. The Lloyd Satterthwaite manages the Spanish ranch and six other ranches all

alone by the hells of the range. Lloyd's father in law Stanley of us and then the ranches for over 50 years before him. The Lloyd's wife on one of Stanley's three daughters grew up on the Spanish mages are all connected. Cover over a million acres stretching 300 miles south from the Iowa border making it one of the largest operation in the way. Just like you and I we like to eat every day and these guys like to do the same. We kind. You might say as a cow is going to eat about 20 times a day. But on the other hand the colder it is the more she's going to eat that's how she generates her energy is by by consuming this hay so what I like to do is come down and check this group of cattle. This afternoon at three o'clock. I want to see some hay left on the ground. I would rather waste a little haze and I would rather.

Have them cut these cattle short. Talents not to lick snow but. They can't get water from snow and not maintain itself for free. Usually wherever you see the willows there's a crick. The Cowboys will come through there Scott some time before they make sure that the water's open because it'll freeze and it's just me but you open that water daily so that these cattle get a drink. I've been here right around twenty six years. And. It doesn't seem to change the only thing that changes is. More snow less colder warmer the cows change a little bit but. The system is basically the same. It. Was seven just to manage. Below is a kind of modern day circuit rider traveling from ranch to

ranch dealing with problems delivering supplies and just keeping an eye on. Everything OK. I think gals OK. I'd like to get to these ranches just to make sure that everything goes the way that we like the cows are getting fed the water holes are getting chopped up the sick ones are getting doctored that we're getting the hay up in the summer that the irrigators get completed. And unless you check these things you know you just never know. Whenever I go somewhere I want to take what's necessary for those branches to keep up. With as much machinery and moving equipment that we've got well you know there's always a breakdown there's always parked. Pickup for groceries to take care of personal. Supplies for police. So we never going to were empty. Since most of the cowboys work is done in the sample just about every working day starts

to try to catch a horse. The same there's always more and the Cowboys say I just don't want to be rowed. That. Little bit. Town boy has to love his work. Why else work six and a half days a week for $400 a month and room and board. He's supposed to be tough but his job really is caring for Mama cows and their babies. There's a lot of stress on these camps. They're weaned off their mothers it's 20 below. They don't like to drink the water and the stress that they go through

is is enough to make them sick. The cows will make it you know. But these calves they need some care. This is the difference right here between profit and loss. Every Catholic you lose is something he can market this fall. The Spanish range is also a sheep operation. They might have a thousand sheep at any one time constantly moving. The range contracts with Peruvian shepherds to watch their flocks. You've probably heard the saying that you have sheep for money and cattle for respectability sheep have been at. Our family's always had she. It's just a way that we felt was a good way to diversify this

country that we sell a lot of this country. You can't run cows on it because you have no water. It's not hardly profitable to haul water to cattle sheep you can haul water to the sheep will only have to drink every other day and she has this kind of a scavenger and. You know they can pick out a living where you wouldn't think that they could that they can pick out a living on these hillsides. You'll notice that we run some black sheep. We use them as markers. Cmon Well I'm sure daily you'll get in a position where he can count these black sheep and he'll also count the sheep with the bells on Quantas companion. If he's got all the black sheep. And he's got all the belts chances are he's got all the sheep. To be in the sheep deafness I think it takes a different special type of an individual not that I'm special or anything but there's not everybody that can be in the sheep business and get along with sheep.

You have to like sheep. You have to learn to work with them. You have to enjoy and enjoy sheep in order to be a good sheep. Driving many many miles to see 15 minutes of basketball we follow our children were involved in 4-H were involved in the church. Anything that that our family is involved in I'm involved in. That's what's important. Connie and I think in our recreation I think is kind of based around our family interests. There has been while we've had children at home now right now it is sometimes he'll say how about a weekend $20 will you take the big truck in yellow to green and all the parts of his day or night he give you one good meal and it's gone that's it. But it's fun. I like it.

In the West they say that a rancher's daughter makes the best ranch report in the Lloyd have two children of the range shot on a high school student. And Scott. Spanish French for me. I have a lot of pride that our family's been involved in this. Ranch in operation for. A lot of years. Like what's been your. Teen years. My grandfather and his father before him were involved. And. I'm proud. To be part of it now. Proud that my. Children are interested in and involved in it. And. When Nelson wretched Kemi name is mentioned I'm I'm proud to be. An elephant and part of it. I would hope that the Spanish French would always continue. In the family. I would hope that if if my children desire this is their way of life that they have the opportunity to follow my footsteps.

It doesn't come easy. I was here for 20 years before. I got into management positions. It takes a lot of hard work and. Lots of sweat but. The rewards are there. Somewhere toward the end of winter the rancher starts asking himself why am I doing this. Well it's sure not the money. But then he remembers probably his greatest fear is having to give it all up and take a job in town. Along about April when the weather starts to lead the grass is growing the calves are on the ground and everybody feels great about being outside again. A rancher just can't imagine doing anything else. Cowboys in Hawaii sounds about as likely as servers and shii.

But in fact the winds have been racing horses since the early. There are some 400 cattle ranches on the islands including two hundred twenty five thousand acre Parker ranch the largest range of United States owned by one individual. Breaking horses for a camera work is still the same dusty bone jarring time consuming work it's always been this is Eric Lane's working a three year old that's only been ridden twice. Parker ranch raises all their own work horses a combination of thoroughbred Morgan cross. Eric is a fourth generation pony on the Hawaiian word for Cowboy derived from the word Aspen you know. Many of the first Hawaiian Cowboys were of

Spanish descent. I'm proud to be a bundled up but the rank is you know a study back from my great grandfather my grandfather my my dad my uncle. Even down to my brother we all worked on the bunker and I don't like to ask you something good inside you know working on bunker ranch nine did. I. You know. My dad my grandfather you know down the line. Working on the bunker right. If you go to fear mongering. John Homer Parker the ranch founder arrived in Hawaii for Massachusetts 18 0 9. Legend says he became friends with the Hawaiian King Kamehameha. And then married a Hawaiian Prince. Parker began to tame the wild offspring of cattle left on the island in 1793 by Captain George Van Kirk from a small 2 acre

plot of land. Parker began the great range and a lasting history. Today Parker ranch is owned by the great great great grandson John Homer Parker. Richard smart. I hope. That I've succeeded in keeping it going because it was a going thing when I first inherited it and I hope it will be a going thing when I move on to the next world. Richard smart is not a hands on manager. His parents died when he was a child and he was raised by his grandmother on the make. The ranch was run by trustees for many years while smart pursued a career in the theater. He inherited the ranch in 1943. I don't think of myself as. As a rancher completely. And I don't think of myself as a theater person completely. I enjoy both and I'm interested in both. Richard smart is an avid collector of art which is displayed in the family home

and is open to the public. I feel very honored and very fortunate very lucky to have this type of of of a heritage. Much of the Parker ranch is open for visitors. There's a shopping center restaurant a museum in Main Street. But despite all of the tourism part or branch is still a huge working camp they have over 50000 cattle on the ranch and produce over 10 million pounds a year. One third of Hawaii's total production. We're trying to get more efficient more cost conscious. Here in Hawaii our costs are you know three four times what they are on the mainland. More cattle prices are. Almost a third less than what the mainland is. So it really puts you in a real economically

stressful situation than we used to have at one point in the ranches history about 400 employees and that's when people were working for a dollar a day. Robbie Hearn is the lifestyle I mean injured Parker right. He's responsible for everything related to raising cattle breeding the horses and the employee. Today we've got 73 employees that are related strictly with the cattle operations secretaries and all and we begin to work more as a team every day. Every day we have to gently separate like we used to be. We've got some some employees here that are sons of fathers who've worked on the ranch and they still have to produce Still if if the grandson is not producing he's not going to work for us. You know I don't care. He said for generations here. But. We try to give the local people first crack at work. I really enjoyed the cowboy humor of the city and their character. It makes my day to go out and. Work with

these guys and really is there a special group of people. The ones that you have separate from the cameras spring time at the Parker ranch mean the brain. Has 17000 calves to brand here Mark castrating and I feel like it's pretty intense. Cowboy work is so tough. Not many can do for life. But if Parker brings any old tradition dies hard Jiro Yamaguchi is about to retire after 50 years as I know

from the heart of the problem here. I don't know why the piece Barry's King but I'm not a from Jeff and they just seen him for life. She doesn't like the 64. Bit creature regeneration on your. Part of myself and my son was out there for not. Telling me last Christmas and I thought of that. Killed by. Reading. In the kitchen like sheep. I just fronted up here that's the only thing the pressure she. Has daycare and he's there for the one. I keep on working why don't we have a rule that 65 you have to retire you want to retain your keep on going that direction for good though. In the old days Carol were trailed down to the beach and then towed out to mortgages were transported to Honolulu feed lines.

Boys and cattle still follow some of the same trail today. But the transportation methods have changed a lot. The. Parker ranch has such a history. It's great to be. Part of that history and be part of making that history I believe ranching will be here for a long time. We'll have our own problems like everybody else but I think with with the attitude of management today it has to be one of. Change and open mindedness and I think that'll. Reverentially. Survive for a long time to come.

There are places in the West where you can stand and just feel the history where the voices and gunshots and have dates of yesterday can still be heard you know without being told. The land is rich with bones of Buffalo and Indians and cowboys. If you've ever been on a horse or loved around a barn or had a cowboy for a friend. One way to get a taste of the West is a summer vacation on a ranch. With a rope by. The side. Rather. Than. Better. This is our where For why. I might come on the beat.

Never by I could be right. With. You. I want to be and I mean. You know you're you're right you're doing just based on sharing the pleasures of the Western way of life. Even Israel is the original dude. It's 7000 acres is located on the eastern slopes of the Big Horn Mountains in northern Wyoming just outside of Syria. The story of Eaton's goes back to 1879 when Howard eat unleavened Pittsburgh with west of the Dakota to. His two brothers Alden and Willis join they struggle to make a go of. But even so they wrote glowing letters to their friends in the east including Roseville. They had more visitors the negative and found they were paying out more than they were taking him. One of the friends told him I didn't want to go home.

He had some money and would consider it a real favor if they let him pay a little each hour to eat and said they felt like robbers when they first took the money. But it was fair and became the custom of managing with both brothers moved their operations to Wyoming in the night you know for where it's been ever since. Every morning at 8:00 news begins with rain the wranglers and maybe a lucky dude or two right out at sunrise together horses turned out the night before the mountain canyon pastures. For the Cowboys it's just the start of another day. But for the doods who get to come along it's a lifetime they've.

Had. This the beginning of a new week if he's right that means a new group of guests. Frank Eaton and Bill Ferguson are the fourth generation running the race. They know every one of their 200 horses. And match them up with a dude driving skill. Some dude's are expert right. Others are just great. I can get right here now you're right. My. Point when I was a pretty good church. Going anywhere new guests arrive they get a saddle for being from one rank the Wranglers usually are college students. They saddle horses. The trail rides just tell the dude it's a great summer job.

I've done some. Regular childhood stuff and it's not near as glamorous as this. The enthusiasm level is so high the doods are current here and they're ready to get Western people out here. Mostly it's just a kind of a chuckle. When you see a show but if you're on the right side of their heads or something like that. Paints and paint Oh blacks and whites. Appaloosas and tell me. The horses and Eaton's are all Arabs cowhorse. They travelled many a mile with a cowboy. Bill Ferguson handles the horse. The perfect good horse with a big pile of old ranch horses. That's Janel but still has a left wing. Respond. With a working ranch your main they trying to make. Your money on either cattle or sheep or whatever your star crops or whatever it is that you're trying to raise while here we

are trying to please the people that are OUR do gooders coming. To us. There is quite a difference. Frank Eaton heads even his range. He has to be a good rancher and a gracious host. I really feel that. A lot of the people here are family they've been coming so many years that it's just like. Family to you. I think the main reason. That they come is that they enjoy the outdoors and they enjoy doing the riding and we have an awful lot of nice people. Another reason people keep coming to this is because it hasn't changed much since the golden days of dude racing in the night. Electricity and indoor plumbing a banana. Otherwise it's pretty much the same as it's always. Fun. To see. THE COUNT. As I watch the show. And I just. I like to be scared. It's

just. There are so many activities going on. Even if you can be as busy as noisy as you are. No one forces your tears away. But with so much to do it's hard not to feel your day or night. For. Me. I don't mind I don't mind it. All the extracurricular. Place.

In American life one of the unique things I think is the age spread that's represented here from 80 year olds down to 8 months old and everybody kids all say hello how are you. And it's a nice feeling to be with the young people. Where were starters were out again it's Connecticut Pennsylvania Oklahoma Minnesota and just Imperial. And I've been coming since 1936. My father started coming in 1920. Now my children and now my grandchildren come. So we're fourth generation. We're going to come back and bring our family and their families and started traditions and be part of it. We want to say that we're going to bring our five next five generations here. This is here on the NG. Keep going. I store around town mansion home and then I come on here two months in the summer and. Get ready for the next year.

Highlight of every summer day care for boys and neighboring rancher's together should really go here get a little money go lucky. For the family that runs Eaton's sharing the Western ways with visitors and riches their own lives. I wouldn't trade my life for any I like the idea of giving people a. Good vacation we've made a lot of friends over the years for lolo. While we had people this summer that were here when they were 12 years old. And

so that changed a bit. So it's like that that would stay that way forever. The. Feeling that you are part of it that you have a real bearing on what is going to happen that you can control. Great aspects of your life that perhaps other people don't have that feeling it's your own you know your own mind and not. You know. Not have to be so programmed to A. 9:00 to 5:00 job. And also being able in this part of the country it's a real privilege. Feels like you your own boss you're out riding your out no one's telling you what to do. You feel with one with the country. But I would say is what I like about. That. There's nothing. Nicer than seeing the sunrise come out of the now moving the horses just out on your own. When. You have this beautiful a country to live and in the end it really makes you appreciate it.

Whether it's due to my own sheep and a van or cattle in New Mexico or Hawaii. Ranching today is a living breathing legacy. Century dust and sweat. There is no other character in American history is firmly fixed in our imagination as the cowboy. Today. He's just as likely to wear a baseball cap business debts and might spend more time in a pickup truck on a horse. But our strong belief in doing what's right. Helping your neighbor keeping your word are all routing code of the West. Ranchers today or preserving that boy life as well as producing a product helps to feed us all. In a world where most of our lives are spent in the rat race of traffic jams and office

politics life on a ranch a still a place where only the basics matter. Family hard work respect for the land and nature are just everyday things. Those values won't completely disappear as long as the family ranch can survive. Let's hope there will always be great riches in the West. I'm Michel Martin Murphy. So long partners. This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through a grant

from the Pacific mountain network program fund. Additional funding is provided by a grant from Northern life insurance company Seattle Washington and by the subscribers of KC TS Seattle and.