King Ranch, Kingsville , Texas

The King Ranch owns around 850,000 acres between the Rio Grande River and Corpus Christi, Texas. It is larger than the state of Rhode Island. It was called the Wild Horse Desert. The first 15,500 acres were purchased in about 1860 by Captain King.
The King Ranch has been very influential in many things. The land on which the city of Kingville is located, was donated by Mrs. King, after Mr. King's death. She also donated money to build churches and schools.
The Texas A & M University in Kingsville, sits where the old King Ranch race horse track was located.
The King family bought Thoroughbred horses and raced many of them. Out of those , they developed the Quarter Horse. Their horse Wimpy , was the first registered American Quarter Horse. They raised and owned the 1946 Triple Crown winner , Assault. I met the man who was the first person to ride Assult. The man is about 78 years old and very proud of his accomplishment. They also had 2 National Cutting Horse Champions in the 1970's.
They have a store that makes saddles and saddles blankets. It also sells clothes, leather items and furniture. Almost everything carries the Running W brand.
The King Ranch developed the Santa Gertrudis red beef cattle and the more recent Santa Cruz.

In Texas , the 60,000 acres of farmland produces cotton and milo. The about 40,000 acres in Florida grows oranges, sugar cane and sod.

They also own a pecan company, a John Deere equipment shop, and have wild game hunting land.

They struck oil and are involved with Exon.

They currently employ about 250 full time people. They also have many part time workers. Ranch hands can either live for free in the King Ranch housing  or live off the ranch. Many of todays employees are decendants of the original 150 families Captain King brought from Mexico. He offered them a job, food and place to live. They were very happy to work for Captain King .