When the Texas State Capitol burned to the ground in 1881, Texas was land rich but cash poor. The state advertised 3,000,000 acres of land in the Panhandle of Texas for the price of a new state house. John Farwell, a merchant from Chicago, seized the opportunity and made the deal; three million dollars for three million acres of West Texas, where only stray cattle and Indians occupied the land. Farwell's Folly is the story of the development of that land into the XIT Ranch, the largest cattle ranch in the world, stretching across ten counties and requiring 6,000 miles of fencing. It has been...
When the Texas State Capitol burned to the ground in 1881, Texas was land rich but cash poor. The state advertised 3,000,000 acres of land in the Panh...
