Editing Sterling County, Texas (section)

===Ranching===

In the 1870s, the area was dominated by large land and cattle outfits such as the Half Circle S, established by the Peacock brothers; the MS, set up by Schuster, Henry, and Company; and the "U" Ranch, established by J.D. Earnest and W.J. Holland.

In 1880, Colonel William Randolph McEntire purchased the 80,000-acre (325-km<sup>2</sup>) "U" Ranch from M.B. Stephenson. Established in 1876 by J.D. Earnest and W.J. Holland, and later sold to M.B. Stephenson in 1879, the "U" Ranch was the first ranch established west of [[San Angelo, Texas|San Angelo]] in [[Tom Green County, Texas]]. The ranch was located about six miles northwest of [[Sterling City, Texas|Sterling City]] on the [[Concho River|North Concho River]] extending northwestward through [[Glasscock County, Texas|Glasscock County]] to the headwaters of the river in [[Howard County, Texas|Howard County]], the Sterling Creek (headwaters to the mouth of the river) in the east/southeast, the [[Spade Ranch, Texas|Renderbrook Spade Ranch]] in [[Mitchell County, Texas|Mitchell County]] in the northeast and J.B. Slaughter's ranch in the northwest.<ref>Cox, James, “Historical and Biographical Record of the Cattle Industry and the Cattlemen of Texas and Adjacent Territory”, Published by Woodward & Tiernan printing Company, 1895, p 401.</ref><ref>McEntire Family Papers, 1821-2000 and undated, Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas</ref> The ranch itself consisted of three headquarters - one on the Concho, one at the mouth of Sterling Creek and one at the headwaters of Sterling Creek - and were twelve to twenty-five miles apart.

After subsequent land acquisitions, the "U" Ranch was enlarged to include over {{convert|250,000|acre|km2}} and eventually bordered the Seven-D Ranch in [[Pecos County, Texas|Pecos County]] in the south/southwest. During the era of the open range, the alternating "odd-numbered" sections of land retained by the State of Texas were freely accessible to the large cattle outfits that owned the "even-numbered" sections of land; therefore, the "U" Ranch controlled an additional {{convert|250,000|acre|km2}} of rangeland, bringing the total amount of land owned or controlled by W.R. McEntire's "U" Ranch to roughly {{convert|500,000|acre|km2}}. During this time, the "U" Ranch grazed upwards of 50,000 head of cattle across five counties, with the cattle being driven to pasturage outside of Texas or to [[Feedlot|cattle feedlots]] to increase the animals' weight prior to the final drive to cattle markets in Fort Worth, Kansas City, Chicago, and St. Louis.

Large cattle drives to [[Colorado City, Texas|Colorado City]] and [[Fort Worth, Texas|Fort Worth]] routinely occurred between 1875 and the mid-1880s, at a time the region was still open rangeland. The "U" Ranch drove the cattle northward to Colorado City, the nearest railroad, and shipped the cattle to Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Marlow Indian Territory. In 1882, W.R. McEntire, [[Wilson Building (Dallas, Texas)|J.B. Wilson]], and C.C. Slaughter drove 89 carloads of cattle, mostly overland, to rangeland in Orin Junction, Wyoming that was controlled by the Driskill brothers, who also owned a [[Driskill Hotel|hotel]] in Austin, Texas. The cattle weighed 600 to 800 pounds upon arrival and within two years, they weighed almost 1,400 pounds each. By 1888, W.R. McEntire's eldest son, R. Billie McEntire, and his crew were responsible for driving the "U" Ranch cattle to new pasturage outside the state, or often experimenting with various feed types at the feedlots, and subsequently bringing those cattle to the markets as soon as certain market prices were attained. During his last cattle drive in 1893, they began experiencing inclement weather as soon as they left the "U" Ranch towards Colorado City and as they neared the [[Spade Ranch, Texas|Renderbrook Spade Ranch]], a snowy blizzard moved in from the north. R. Billie, knowing the owners, the Snyder brothers, cut the perimeter fence and drove over 1,000 head of cattle southward into the main horse pasture of the Renderbrook Spade Ranch while the McEntire crew weathered the storm at ranch headquarters over several days. With minimal losses after the blizzard, the McEntire crew continued the drive towards Colorado City and the feedlots in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. R. Billie kept the cattle at the feedlots for 10 months waiting for ideal market conditions in Fort Worth. In Arkansas, he married Eudora Fowler and subsequently moved to Dallas to work at American National Bank, which his father, W.R. McEntire, founded and controlled with C.C. Slaughter, the owner of the Lazy S Ranch. R.B. McEntire's younger brother, George, also followed the same path, learning finance at American National Bank in Dallas prior to returning to Sterling County and subsequently either assuming ownership or control of the ranch.

Between 1880 and 1900, W.R. McEntire acquired additional rangeland throughout Glasscock, Howard, Mitchell, Nolan, Sterling, Tom Green, and Reagan Counties, enlarging the "U" Ranch operations to include over {{convert|250,000|acre|km2}} with approximately {{convert|105,000|acre|km2}} located in [[Glasscock County, Texas|Glasscock]] and [[Reagan County, Texas|Reagan]] Counties. The "U" Ranch now extended from 12 miles west of [[Garden City, Texas|Garden City]] to [[Grierson Spring, TX|Grierson's Spring]] in Reagan County, included the section of the [[Goodnight-Loving Trail]] between the [[Concho River|Concho]] and [[Pecos River|Pecos]] Rivers and bordered the Seven-D Ranch in the southwest. Grierson's Spring is located between the head of the Concho River and the Pecos River, about 15 miles southwest of [[Big Lake, Texas|Big Lake]] in Reagan County and 30 miles east of the Pecos River, while the Seven-D Ranch headquarters was located on Comanche Creek four miles east of Fort Stockton in central [[Pecos County, Texas|Pecos County]].

Under the new homestead law, settlers began purchasing the “even-numbered” sections from the state for the benefit of the Common School Fund in 1883. In conjunction with the introduction of the fence, these settlers began owning land that was previously controlled by the large cattle outfits, and this eventually led to the Fence Cutting Wars. This acreage was sold by the state on a first-come, first-served basis with the county advertising the availability of land, which resulted in extremely long lines at the county clerks' offices and increased the likelihood that the desired acreage would not be available. As a result of Common School Fund process, W.R. McEntire, while in Dallas, sent representatives from Tom Green County to acquire as much land as possible and to keep others out of the line until the desired acreage was obtained. North Carolinian James Jefferson Lafayott Glass came to the county in 1883 and signed on with the Sterling Brothers’ Half Circle S outfit. He later homesteaded acreage along the Lacy Creek.<ref>{{cite news|last=Lackey|first=Jerry|title=HOMESTEAD: A cowboy's life was too good to pass up |newspaper=San Angelo Standard Times|date=September 5, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Texas Constitutions Subject Index|url=http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/constitutions/subject_index/h/|publisher=Tarlton Law Library|access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Constitution of the State of Texas (1876)|url=http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/constitutions/texas1876 |publisher=Tarlton Law Library|access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref>

As the era of the open range began to conclude, W.R. McEntire realized that contiguous acreage would be increasingly important to the success of any cattle outfit, and he began quickly purchasing any available acreage with the prospect of establishing a buffer around the "U" Ranch, or selling or bartering that acquisition for adjoining acreage to his primary operation, either under a single operation and single fence line, or perhaps having access to large, disparate ranches that could provide the ability to easily move livestock between operations. As a reaction to the continued encroachment of squatters and homesteaders from the growing settlement of Sterling City, W.R. McEntire purchased 10,000 acres west of Sterling City in 1884, near the intersection of the Lacy Creek and Concho River.

In 1890, W.R. McEntire sold the {{convert|105,000|acre|km2}} in Glasscock and Reagan Counties, including 3,000 head of cattle and 100 horses, to J.B. Slaughter, which subsequently became the first U Lazy S Ranch.<ref>H. Allen Anderson, "SLAUGHTER, JOHN BUNYAN," Handbook of Texas Online (https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fsl03), accessed April 17, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.</ref><ref>“Westex Rancher Since ’79 Dead.” The Abilene Reporter News August 19, 1937. Print.</ref> In 1898, J.B. Slaughter sold the acreage and moved his cattle and operations to his new U Lazy S Ranch in Borden and Garza Counties.

In 1896, R. Billie McEntire returned to Sterling County and purchased about 10,000 acres which adjoined the "U" Ranch headquarters and included portions of the Kennedy Ranch, Half Circle S Ranch, and the Peacock-Kellogg Horse Ranch.

The era of the large open-range cattle kings had come to a close by 1890, with the MS Ranch and Half Circle S Ranch being bankrupted, and the "U" Ranch in the process of being consolidated into contiguous acreage.