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Cattle Barons and Land Owners

John B. Kendrick: The Texas Orphan Who Built a Cattle Empire and Won the Senate

An orphaned trail hand who bought into the OW Ranch, grew it past 210,000 acres and carried Wyoming ranching into the Senate.

Who Was John B. Kendrick?

John Benjamin Kendrick was a cowboy, ranch manager, cattle owner, banker, governor and U.S. senator, and one of the few western stockmen to hold all those jobs. The Wyoming State Historical Society's encyclopedia calls him cowboy, cattle king, governor and senator. He was born in 1857 in Cherokee County, Texas. His father drowned fording a river in 1860, his mother died of fever around 1863, and the family estate was lost in the Civil War. He had little schooling, finishing around the fifth or sixth grade.

Driving 3,000 Texas Cattle to Wyoming in 1879

At 22 Kendrick signed with the Snyder-Wulfjen Brothers of Round Rock, Texas, to drive cattle from Matagorda Bay to Wyoming. The route ran through Indian Territory, past Dodge City, across the North Platte in Nebraska and into eastern Wyoming. The herd was about 3,000 head and averaged roughly 18 miles a day over about five months, from early April to late August.

He returned to Wyoming in 1884 as foreman of a Wulfjen outfit, then worked on the Charles Wulfjen ranch north of Cheyenne and at the Converse Cattle Company near Lusk.

The OW Ranch and the Converse Cattle Company

The winter of 1886 and 1887 devastated Wyoming's livestock industry, and the Converse Cattle Company went bankrupt. Its absentee owners hired Kendrick to run the OW Ranch on Old Woman Creek. In 1889 he moved the operation to the Hanging Woman Creek drainage in Big Horn County, Montana.

In January 1897 he bought majority ownership of the Converse Cattle Company, including the OW, for $38,000. The deal included cattle at $17 a head, 213 horses and a 75 percent interest in the ranch and equipment.

The Key to Kendrick's Success

Kendrick began with no capital. The record shows a worker who gained trust from owners, bought in during a collapse and then spread into banking and newspapers.

His rise came in a disaster year for the industry, which the sources present as opportunity for those who stayed.

  • He proved himself on the trail. His 1879 drive of about 3,000 head led to foreman jobs.
  • He married into his first employer's family: Eula Wulfjen was the daughter of Charles Wulfjen.
  • He stayed after the 1886 and 1887 winter, when absentee owners needed a manager.
  • He bought on terms. The 1897 purchase of the Converse company cost $38,000, with cattle priced at $17 a head.
  • He grew the ranch to more than 210,000 acres of deeded and leased land.
  • He diversified into the First National Bank of Sheridan and the Sheridan Enterprise and Cheyenne State Leader newspapers.

Sheridan, Banking and Trail End

Kendrick served as president of the First National Bank of Sheridan and bought controlling interests in the Sheridan Enterprise and the Cheyenne State Leader. On July 28, 1913, he moved his family into Trail End, his Sheridan mansion, now a state historic site described by the Wyoming encyclopedia's Trail End entry.

He was active in the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, serving as vice president and then president.

Governor and U.S. Senator

Kendrick was elected to the Wyoming State Senate in 1910, lost the 1912 U.S. Senate vote in the legislature to Republican incumbent Francis E. Warren and won the governorship in 1914. Under his administration the state created a workmen's compensation system and a public utilities commission.

In 1916 he defeated Senator Clarence D. Clark by about 3,000 votes and went on to serve 17 years in the Senate, winning re-election in 1922 and 1928. He chaired the Committee on Public Lands and worked on irrigation projects including Alcova, Seminoe and Pathfinder. The federal Kendrick Project bears his name. He also helped uncover illegal leasing of Wyoming's oil reserves in the early 1920s.

Death, Honors and Learning More

Kendrick collapsed in his Sheridan office on November 1, 1933, and died November 3 of a cerebral hemorrhage at 76. He is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Sheridan. The Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame inductee page confirms his 2009 induction there, and the Hall of Great Westerners lists him for 1958.

For more northern plains cattle history, browse the ranching section on farm.FM, or a farm.FM story about Sheridan cattle country.

Timeline

  1. 1857Born in Cherokee County, Texas
  2. 1879Drives about 3,000 cattle from Matagorda Bay to Wyoming
  3. 1884Returns to Wyoming as a foreman
  4. 1889Moves the OW operation to Hanging Woman Creek, Montana
  5. 1897Buys majority ownership of the Converse Cattle Company for $38,000
  6. 1913Moves into Trail End in Sheridan on July 28
  7. 1914Elected governor of Wyoming
  8. 1916Elected U.S. senator
  9. 1933Dies November 3 in Sheridan

Frequently asked questions

Who was John B. Kendrick?

John B. Kendrick was a Texas-born cowboy who became a Wyoming cattle owner, banker, governor and U.S. senator, building the Kendrick Cattle Company from the OW Ranch.

How big was the Kendrick Cattle Company?

It grew into more than 210,000 acres of deeded and leased land in southern Montana and northeastern Wyoming, according to the Wyoming State Historical Society.

What is Trail End?

Trail End is Kendrick's mansion in Sheridan, Wyoming, which his family moved into on July 28, 1913. It is now a Wyoming state historic site.

What did Kendrick do in the Senate?

He served 17 years, chaired the Committee on Public Lands, worked on irrigation projects such as Pathfinder and Seminoe, and helped uncover illegal oil reserve leasing.

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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