The ranch is still owned and managed by descendants of the original founding Kokernot family, Chris and Dawn Lacy. other goodies. Barney was a photographer, an author, and a graduate of Sul Ross; she still worked full time in the universitys department of range animal science. bed for a while, then ventured only a little ways up each hillside. That old pessimism was creeping back into his eyes. But the cutback seemed vital; it would allow the range to recover. The 06 Cienega ranch house, as it was called, was on the northmost part of the ranch, a particularly rugged area of peaks, canyons, and tumbled arrays of lava and limestone boulders. Aaron Thomas and Jean Larremore are leading hunts in the Big Bend region this Fall and winter. The grass had an intrinsic value too, beyond its traditional purpose of fattening cattle. The tiny airport outside Alpine was wingtip to wingtip with corporate aircraft, ranging from single-engine Cessnas to large jets outfitted to carry two dozen or more passengers. It was still dark, but he could see the flicker of ropes in the remuda. Polks Peak was off to our left. Williams had asked for and received permission from Kokernot to erect a huge American flag on Polks Peak for his annual August party. A veteran of the War of 1812, David had also served in the south as a ships pilot for the United States Revenue Cutter Service around 1830. couple of nice red moss pieces, and my trip rock: a long, narrow nodule Because the terrain was so rugged, the cowboys did most of their work on horseback. What's more Texas than cowboys, beef, and billionaires? The buckets of Singleton material are $125 each, since I Last Spring, I mailed more than 150 boxes of Mary Ann was born in Alpine, Texas, on the Kokernot 06 Ranch, to the late. Halfway through the month of October it had rained almost every night. Youre seeing this country in its Sunday best, Lacy said. Saturdays, October through December. A giant antelope buck (imported apparently from the 06) galloped parallel to the Bronco for a few hundred yards, then shifted gears and raced across our path and out of sight. Some years I have only two thousand. "Fossil Hunting" by Ted Gray, Santa Lucia Rockhounds (CFMS) From: Rockenteur, 10/21 3. We could miss some cattle. We stopped for a time and sat astride our mounts, listening to the wind. Just real cowboys and cowgirls showing the skills they use in their day jobs. The colors are usually amzn_assoc_region = "US"; Ranching is getting to be a business where people have less faith in experience than in new, untried methods. Agate, Misc. and Garnett Street in Alpine. I actually wrote an entire article about how and where to find it, which Id suggest you check out: In Texas, blue topaz is only found in centrally located Mason County, particularly the towns of Mason and Grit. deposited there in prehistory when the Rio Grande was many miles wide. Their neighbor on the next ranch over was one of the newcomers. Or, worse, what if he turned out to be in ranching only for the short haul, to get what he could now and bail out at the first sign of trouble? I remembered the family name from being on the Baylor campus in Waco. should find better material. I stayed in the creek Adobe Lodge Location: San Angelo, Texas Species: Whitetail Deer, Turkey Website. At the sight of the waves of rich grasses growing, Folks in fort davis didnt need invitations. Sprawling between Alpine and Fort Davis at 108,000 acres, the ranch spans some of the most beautiful high desert country in Texas. The 06 paid what were standard cowboy wages: $50 a day plus tobacco and chuck. Because this ranch is now closed to rockhunting, the buckets are The best rockhounding locations in Texas are the gravel beds of the Rio Grande, the area around Big Bend, Mason County in central Texas, and a wide stretch of land stretching from south Texas to the Louisiana border. wish to attend, and make sure to include the phone number for a cell phone Aaron and James and the other guys that were there The gravels of the Rio Grande and its tributaries, as well as the surrounding washes and hillsides are all prime locations for agates. sometime near the end of August or beginning of September. finding good stuff and having it carried back to the car for you, you The floors at Sutlers rang this particular morning with the jingle of spur rowels and the stump of boot heels. amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; We turned right into a dirt road, and drove east on dirt roads for about half an hour. some really neat stuff that they call crayola. You want me to buy a thousand head of light calves while youre gone on vacation? Joel asked the boss of the 06. one hillside I found several large nodules (the size of one of Johnnys that I cant begin to describe. creekbed for Calamity Creek, which is the creek that goes through the former A great addition to any collection. It was going to be a long day, the day they moved the bulk of the herd from the top country down to the holding pens at headquarters. And we have no clue to what the long-term aftereffects of even a mild case may be. dont take much time to high grade. Clayton Williams, like his neighbor Herbert Kokernot, Jr., was a graduate of Texas A&M, an Aggie right down to his boots, which on special occasions displayed the emblem of his alma mater, as did the swimming pool at his ranch in Alpine and many of his other earthly possessions. . I bought a lot of heifers and some steers and sent them north, where a heavy snowfall had made grass plentiful. Grande, from Southern Colorado through New Mexico and the Big Bend of The Out here your values change, she said. . Its important we dont get behind or ahead of them, he told me. By the time we returned to camp, riding at full gallop, I had blisters on my hand from gripping the saddle horn, and I could barely walk. youll have with you. They also have a Facebook buy and sell group But first and foremost he was the grandson of a Kokernot. Walker, Singleton and other ranches. The It has gravel piles At the floor of the valley, near a tank, the cowboys circled the herd and held it while Chris and Diane Lacy and Joel Nelson cut out the steer calves and their mamas, separating them from the cows with heifer calves and the young calves that had been born since spring branding. We drove north of Alpine on 118 for a ways, out onto the flat valley. agate ($200 per bucket). Specimens may become depleted from other collectors, the location may have been built on or altered, locality information in literature may be inaccurate, and property ownership may have changed hands. Roundup was always the major event in the life of any ranch it was the accounting, the grand finale of the yearly cycle. so the material looks great if you cut diagonally across the bands for your But the great highland ranches like the 06 or the Lykes 02, owned by the family that owned the steamship line, or the Reynolds X or the Paisano seemed to thrive almost in spite of themselves. Chris Lacy was the fourth generation of his family to manage the 06 brand. reduced the price on the Ritchie Ranch buckets to $100 each, through the end of He could play by his own rules because he could afford to. Every mile or so there was an oasis elaborately constructed Hollywood facades with cute names like Margaritaville, Fort ClayDesta, and Clayties Chicken Ranch where neatly groomed young people in Western costumes dispensed beverages and tough-looking, heavily armed, off-duty lawmen checked credentials. Clayton plows the ground and raises tumbleweeds. The present Kokernot inherited his. His pastures were pens, huge pens, which meant, among other things, that there wasnt much rounding up to do. Aaron explained a bit of Diane touched each one and called it by name. In the great old tradition of neighboring, Saunders had promised to lend Joel one of his registered Hereford bulls to put with the cows Joel ran on the leased land near Fort Davis. lake, and they have some incredible agate in them. said he didnt care. yellow/gold/brown moss in a background of cream, white, or blue The story is this: in 1946 Herbert Kokernot Jr., the owner and operator of the massive Kokernot 06 Ranch, which spans Brewster, Jeff Davis, and Pecos counties, took over a local semipro. Some of the prettiest colors were lavender, maroon Besides, its good advertising. Were in good shape for winter, he said. I hope to make several more sorted Singleton buckets and Walker Ranch buckets out of the things I have left. Chip Gaines Bought Larry McMurtrys Historic Texas Bookstore. Clayton Williams had also hired country singing stars, but as entertainers, not cowboys. Here in California theres a mask mandate, and the rate of COVID infection is 25 people per 100k. From the flat, grassy crown of Number Nine a cowboy could see for sixty or seventy miles. Levi had been born in 1836 in Louisiana and lived most of his adult life in Gonzales County where he was a cattle rancher. AOUDAD! Ill still be leading hunts to the Ritchie Ranch, the South Larremore Ranch, and East Needle Peak. They broke camp the following morning. leave you with a bunch of specimen material you dont want. In a normal year Id be attaching a schedule of my field trips to this email. there. Active Fort Davis, TX President for Kokernot 06 Ranch, Inc. Overview 9 Companies 308 Connections 6 Locations Contribute Follow Chris Lacy Overview Chris Lacy has been associated with nine companies, according to public records. changes in how things are done, we are fortunate to still have three great My total adventure cost $213: $60 entrance fee and $153 for rocks. If you have any questions about the hunts, Im not holding out any cutting material that It didnt make sense to. Old cows and bulls that had outlived their reproductive usefulness were sold along with the calves, the best heifers were reserved to restock the herd, and the cycle continued. Both the Singleton and piece of gold moss that was covered on one side with quartz crystals. The combination of the elevation, the dryness, and the heat with This year I estimate Ill make twenty dollars an acre. I have written entire articles which cover the rockhounding laws and regulations for nearly every type of public land you can think of. some reason. The hunt at the 06 was amazing. Willow Springs was one of the oldest camps on the 06, a throwback to the days when cowboys lived year-round in line camps on remote sections of the ranch. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. But when COVID recedes and we can gather in groups again without concern, the rocks will still be out there, waiting to be discovered. The land had been in the families for years, long ago bought and paid for, and so had the breed stock. When the squall had passed, the cowboys examined the tepees, which were their individual shelters. called Circle T Rock shop, https://www.facebook.com/groups/2555173857901636/, The annual cattle auction alone brought in several million dollars a year, and while no one knew how much his commercial cattle operation brought, everyone knew it was plenty. should find better material. called the Circle T Rock Shop in honor of Aarons familys ranch. hot weather. The Ranch currently has sold over 20 tracts of land and has 8 custom built homes. Ive included all the hunts I know about in the Big Bend, including those led by Aaron Thomas and Jean Larremore, through April 30. You can get the landowners name and address by visiting the county records office. Hotels and motels in There was a sense among the old-style ranchers that Williams was using his party to rub their noses in his success. yellow/gold/brown moss in a background of cream, white, or blue The new claves were branded in the spring, then rounded up and sold in the fall, usually to large feedlots that would fatten them for another year or so before sending them to slaughter. In Texas, its 56 people per 100k. Everyone had prayed for rain, but this was ridiculous. the Walker Ranch agate, and I now have 2 buckets of Walker Ranch agate to Having women at roundup went against the grain of tradition, and some of the cowboys no doubt resented the intrusion, but Chris had decided that that was how it would be done at the 06 and Chris was the boss. I like to make money., Clayton Williams grew up in hardscrabble, catclaw country. But if Williams didnt talk much about the millions hed made in oil, other ranchers were more than happy to. 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