J. Leslie "Les" Davis: The Philadelphia Native Who Ran New Mexico's CS Ranch

Who was Les Davis?

J. Leslie Davis, known as Les, lived from 1919 to 2001. He grew up in Philadelphia and attended Dartmouth College, which makes him an unlikely rancher on paper. His path west began with family: he was the grandson of Frank Springer, the lawyer who founded the CS Ranch near Cimarron, New Mexico, as told in a Los Alamos Daily Post profile.

Springer had no children and urged his grandson to come west. Les came, and he stayed.

What is the CS Ranch?

The CS Ranch was founded in 1873 by Frank Springer, a lawyer for the Maxwell Land Grant Company, near Cimarron. He named it for his brother Charles Springer. In 1881 Frank bought Hereford cattle as the ranch's foundation stock.

Over time the ranch ran cow-calf and yearling cattle, grew hay, sold hunting licenses, kept quarter horses and racehorses and leased fishing on Eagle Nest Lake, which the Springer brothers had built. The family sold the lake to the state in 2002. Deeded and leased lands ran from Springer to Raton, though the article does not give an acreage. A separate biography describes Charles Springer's career in Cimarron.

The records used here do not state the ranch's total acreage or herd size today, so those figures are left blank rather than estimated.

Marriage to Linda Mitchell Davis

Les married Linda Mitchell in 1953. She was born on July 11, 1930, to Albert and Julia Mitchell and was the fourth generation on the Tequesquite Ranch near Mosquero in Harding County. Her father managed the Bell Ranch in San Miguel County starting in 1931. She worked on the ranch alongside the men until 1947, then studied agricultural science at Cornell University.

Together they raised six children, all of whom worked on the ranch. Linda later became an EMT at 70 and served with the Cimarron Volunteer Ambulance. She died at home at age 93.

Her background shaped the partnership. Her father's management of the Bell Ranch gave her a close look at large-scale cattle operations from childhood, which made her a working partner on the CS Ranch rather than only a spouse.

Honors: the Hall of Great Westerners, 2000

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum lists J. Leslie Davis (1919 to 2001) of New Mexico as a Hall of Great Westerners inductee in 2000, in the same class as Linda Mitchell Davis, according to the museum's class page.

Linda's own honors, listed in the Albuquerque Journal obituary and the Daily Post, included New Mexico Cattleman of the Year in 1990, the National Golden Spur Award in 1992, the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1995 and a place as the first New Mexico representative on the National Beef Board.

The same class page lists several other 1998 to 2000 honorees from across the West, which places the Davises in a group that included ranchers, a pioneering trail figure and a western explorer. Their induction as a married couple is noted on the museum page and in the Daily Post profile.

Learn more

For more on New Mexico ranching families, browse the ranching section on farm.FM or read a farm.FM story about the CS Ranch and the Davis family.