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Cattle Barons and Land Owners

Bartlett Richards: The Spade Ranch Baron Who Fenced the Sandhills

A Vermont-born rancher who ran the Spade and built a vast fenced empire in northwest Nebraska until Theodore Roosevelt's land crackdown caught up with him.

Who was Bartlett Richards?

Bartlett Richards ran one of the largest cattle operations in Nebraska and became the best-known target of the federal crackdown on illegal fencing. His record is a mix of real ranching skill and a documented conviction, and any fair profile has to hold both. The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum inducted him into the Hall of Great Westerners in 1970, and the museum's biography of Richards calls him a cattle baron and banker in Wyoming and Nebraska.

A Vermont boy goes west for his health

Richards was born January 6, 1862, in Weathersfield, Vermont, the son of a minister. According to the museum he moved to Wyoming in 1879 for his health. That year he bought 1,000 head of cattle and established the Ship Wheel Ranch on the Belle Fourche River in northeast Wyoming, according to Wikipedia's biography of Richards. He managed several ranches in the early 1880s.

Building the Spade empire in Nebraska

In 1883 Richards took over the Bronson Ranch in Sioux County, Nebraska, renamed the Lower 33, on behalf of eastern owner Abram Hewitt. He also ran the Ox Yoke Ranch and the Spade Ranch. As president of the Nebraska Land and Feeding Company, with Will G. Comstock as vice-president, he ran the Spade, Bar C and Overton ranches on more than half a million acres in Cherry, Sheridan and Box Butte counties, according to a Nebraska Studies account. He was also president of the First National Bank of Chadron until he traded the controlling interest to Charles F. Coffee in 1900, as Alliance Times and museum accounts of Coffee's career record.

Fences on federal land

An 1885 federal law banned enclosing public land, but it went largely unenforced until Theodore Roosevelt became president. The museum says Richards and his brothers fenced large areas of federal land anyway, and Wikipedia says that by 1899 he had nearly 300 miles of fencing enclosing about another 500,000 acres of government land. Wikipedia reports that in February 1902 he stated that more than 6 million acres of federal land were fenced with 350,000 cattle inside. Treat that figure as his own claim rather than a surveyed total.

Roosevelt ordered the fences removed. Richards and other large ranchers got one-year extensions, but the fences were still up when the year ended, according to the Nebraska Studies account of cattle barons and grangers.

Trials and prison

In November 1905 Richards and Comstock pleaded guilty to fencing charges and were fined and sentenced to six hours in the U.S. marshal's custody. A rumor said they served it over dinner at the Omaha Club, and Roosevelt reportedly replaced the U.S. Attorney. In 1906 a federal grand jury indicted 26 men for conspiring to obtain title to government land fraudulently. Nebraska Studies says some ranchers used Civil War widows or their orphans to file homestead claims.

The trial began November 20, 1906, and lasted about a month. Richards and Comstock were convicted, fined $1,500 each and sentenced to a year in jail. After about three years of appeals the convictions stood. Wikipedia says he died on September 5, 1911, in a Hastings, Nebraska, hospital, about a month before his sentence would have ended. Its text also places him in Adams County jail, so details of his final months are unclear.

The Key to Richards' Success

Richards succeeded as an operator by combining ranching, banking and large-scale land control. The same approach led to his downfall, because the land control rested on fencing and claims that the government judged illegal.

The cost is central to the record: a federal conviction, a prison sentence and a case that changed how the government policed the range.

  • He moved west as a teenager, started with 1,000 head in Wyoming and learned ranching by managing several ranches in the early 1880s.
  • He managed the Lower 33 for an eastern investor, which gave him access to large capital.
  • He built the Nebraska Land and Feeding Company into a multi-ranch operation with more than half a million acres.
  • He added banking as president of the First National Bank of Chadron.
  • He fenced federal land despite the 1885 law, a strategy that worked for years until enforcement started.
  • He and his partner relied on homestead filings that the government later called fraudulent, which led to the 1906 convictions.

Legacy of the Spade Ranch case

The case became a landmark in federal land enforcement and a symbol of the end of the open-range era in the Sandhills. The museum honors his place in Nebraska ranching history while the court record shows the limits of that story. For related ranching history, visit the ranching section of farm.FM and see a farm.FM story on Sandhills ranches.

Timeline

  1. 1862Born January 6 in Weathersfield, Vermont.
  2. 1879Moves to Wyoming and founds the Ship Wheel Ranch with 1,000 head.
  3. 1883Takes over the Bronson Ranch in Sioux County, Nebraska, renamed the Lower 33.
  4. 1899Reportedly has nearly 300 miles of fence on government land.
  5. 1900Trades the Chadron bank's controlling interest to Charles F. Coffee.
  6. 1905Pleads guilty with William G. Comstock to fencing charges.
  7. 1906Convicted of land fraud conspiracy after a trial that began November 20.
  8. 1911Dies September 5 in Hastings, Nebraska, before serving out his sentence.
  9. 1970Inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners.

Frequently asked questions

Who was Bartlett Richards?

Bartlett Richards (1862-1911) was a Vermont-born cattleman and banker who ran the Spade Ranch and the Nebraska Land and Feeding Company and was convicted in 1906 of land fraud.

What was the Spade Ranch?

The Spade was one of the ranches of the Nebraska Land and Feeding Company, which ran the Spade, Bar C and Overton ranches on more than half a million acres in northwest Nebraska.

Why was Bartlett Richards convicted?

He and William G. Comstock were convicted in 1906 of conspiring to deprive the government of public land, after the prosecution said homestead claims were filed fraudulently. Each was fined $1,500 and sentenced to a year in jail.

When was Richards inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners?

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum inducted Bartlett Richards in 1970 as a Nebraska cattle baron and banker.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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