The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 32, July 1928 - April, 1929 Page: 44

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

and is the room in which the annual dance is held. Next is the
large dining room with a table sufficiently long to accommodate
about forty people at one time. The kitchen is equipped with all
modern conveniences, and has a Frigidaire system for manufactur-
ing the ice used by the ranch and for keeping the fresh beef cool.
The reading room has a large coal heater around which the cow-
boys swap yarns during the winter months. It has a reading
table on which may be found a number of daily newspapers and
magazines of all kinds. A domino table occupies a place of honor
in this room during the winter months. There is a bathroom
which is modernly equipped. The living quarters for the cook
are also in this house.
The Headquarters' office consists of the main office which is
well equipped and has a splendid library in it. There is a large
vault on the north side of the office in which the records are kept.
The southwest corner of the office is partitioned off to give space to
the Paloduro Post Office. The Headquarters has its own Delco
lighting system, keeps its own gasoline, oil and air for the cars
and has a small commissary in the basement of the bunkhouse for
the convenience of the cowboys.
Perhaps the ranch today can best be summed up in the words
of Honorable James Wadsworth, Jr., who says:
I can't pretend to be familiar with all of the great ranches in
the country, but I feel perfectly certain that the J A Ranch (now
reduced to about four hundred thousand acres I believe) is the best
equipped and the most favorably situated of all the great ranches
in the Southwest. Its winter range in the Palo Duro Canyon is
well nigh perfect, affording as it does the maximum of protection
in the rough winter months and its summer range, lying on the
higher ground, is singularly free from waste land . . . the
headquarters buildings are far above the average. The branch
camps are well located and well built. The whole ranch is fenced
and cross fenced in the most substantial manner.4
PART II
PERSONNEL OF THE RANCH
Mr. T. D. Hobart, Mr. J. W. Kent, Mr. Clinton Henry, and
thirty-six other hands constitute the present payroll of the J A
'James Wadsworth, Jr., "A Short Sketch of the J A Ranch," to H. T.
Burton, Clarendon, Texas, March 25, 1926.