"In Texas Cattle Barons, Their Families, Land and Legacy thirteen families discuss the reality of owning and working some of the largest land holdings in the state of Texas. Most have owned some or all of their land for generations, others bought into their properties over time, all have risen to the challenge of taking the cattle industry into the next millennium." "Learn firsthand from ranchers like Al and Mike Micailef, Jim and James McAllen, and Jon and Jackie Means about the hard work, discipline, and faith required to make a cattle ranch work in this age of big business. Join the owners of the Broseco, Moorhouse, and Williams ranches as they discuss breeding programs, grazing patterns, and the pursuit of the ultimate "beef animal." Listen as the Gibsons and the Ryans reveal their passion for the land and their hope for the future."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

A story of the fight for the cattle-ranges of the West. Intense interest is aroused by its pictures of life in the cattle country at that critical moment of transition when the great tracts of land used for grazing were taken up by the incoming homesteaders, with the inevitable result of fierce contest, of passionate emotion on both sides, and of final triumph of the inevitable tendency of the times.

Much as men rushed to the California gold fields, a small group of proud and visionary cattlemen heard of the boundless open and free range land of Central and Southeastern Oregon in the mid-1800s and brought their herds there. Sometimes called “Cattle Kings,” or “Cattle Barons,” they ruled with painstaking vigor, occasional cruelty, and tenacity the untitled land. Thousands of their cattle and horses grazed on the boundless prairies. Four men who built cattle empires were John Devine, Peter French, Bill Hanley, and Henry Miller. One of these four barons eventually owned it all. Smaller ranchers were tolerated but bun-carrying vaqueros discouraged intruders, particularly sheep men and homesteaders. Their empires lasted until the mid-1900s, but during their time they made the era legendary in the history of the region.