Frank S. Boice: The Engineer Who Became an Arizona Cattle Leader

Who was Frank Seymour Boice?

Frank Seymour Boice was an Arizona rancher who rose to lead the national cattle industry. He served as president of both the Arizona Cattlemen's Association and the American National Cattlemen's Association, and he is remembered for his work on the tax rules that govern how ranchers count their herds.

He is an unusual figure in the history of western ranching because he did not start as a cowboy. He was a trained engineer. The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, which inducted him into its Hall of Great Westerners in 1958, two years after his death, describes a career that moved from laboratory work to the range.

From engineer to rancher

According to the museum, Boice graduated from Occidental College and then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As a trained engineer he joined the laboratories of Western Electric, where he helped with a submarine detection device. The museum says he perfected a submarine detector during World War I.

When the war ended, he turned to ranching in Arizona and became one of the state's most prominent cattlemen. The sources reviewed for this profile do not name his ranch, the size of his herd or the breeds he ran, so none of those details are given here. His family link to cattle breeding is documented, though: the museum notes that his grandfather, Charles Gudgel, imported the bull Anxiety 4th from England, which started a major Hereford bloodline in the United States.

Leader of the American National Cattlemen's Association

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association, which keeps a list of the national group's past presidents, includes Boice. Its list gives his term as 1942 to 1943 and his hometown as Sonoita, Arizona.

The museum adds that he also headed the Arizona association and that he opposed government controls on the livestock industry. His national term fell during World War II.

The tax rules Boice helped change

Boice sat on the tax committee of the national association. The museum credits him as largely responsible for revisions to the tax law that created the Constant Unit Value method for inventories and allowed capital gains treatment on sales of breeding stock.

These are accounting rules, but they matter on a ranch. Cattle held for breeding are the working capital of the business, and how their value is counted each year affects the tax bill. That a Hall of Fame entry singles out this work shows how much the industry valued it.

Honors and how he is remembered

The Hall of Great Westerners entry is the main honor on record, and it is listed under Arizona with the years 1894 to 1956 on the museum's Great Westerners page. The museum's inductee record repeats the details. The University of Arizona's Arizona Historical Indexes list an article about him in the Arizona Cattlelog from February 1958, but they give his years as 1895 to 1956, so sources differ on the year of his birth.

The list of past leaders on the cattlemen's association site confirms his national term.

Learn more about cattle leaders

Boice's story is one of many in the cattle industry where people from outside ranching shaped the rules for everyone else. For more on the people and policies of the range, see the ranching section of farm.FM or read a farm.FM story about Arizona ranching. The University of Arizona's subject index entry points researchers to the 1958 tribute for a fuller account.