Famous Ranches, Stations and Estancias
The great ranches of the world, from the King Ranch to Australia's cattle stations, with the people who ran them.
48 profiles
Australia
- est. 1883Austral DownsTaken up in 1883, the station has survived floods, quarantine and drought and now runs a Santa Gertrudis, Angus and…Australia
- est. 1863Anna Creek StationA dry-country lease that started with sheep in 1863 grew into the biggest working cattle station on the planet by area.Australia
- est. 1880sArgyle Downs StationThe Duracks drove 7,250 breeders across northern Australia, and decades later their homestead was moved to make way…Australia
- est. 1886Auvergne StationA pastoral lease south of the Victoria River, Auvergne was taken up in 1886 and today sits within native title country…Australia
- est. 1862Bowen Downs StationFounded by explorers Landsborough and Buchanan, Bowen Downs grew in under a decade into one of Australia's finest…Australia
- est. 1881Brunette Downs StationFrom a 2,000 square mile lease in 1881 to the second-largest station in the Northern Territory, owned today by AACo.Australia
- est. 1960Bullo River StationA Victoria River cattle run near the Western Australian border, Bullo became widely known through the autobiography of…Australia
- est. 1876Clifton Hills StationEstablished in 1876 on the Diamantina and Georgina floodplains, Clifton Hills became the largest holding on the…Australia
- est. 1875Cordillo Downs StationOnce billed as Australia's largest sheep station, Cordillo Downs switched to cattle in 1942 and still stands out for…Australia
- est. 1881Elsey StationA 2,000-mile overland drive founded it, a 1908 book made it famous, and the Mangarrayi people own it today.Australia
- est. 1886Fossil Downs StationA record overland drive in 1886 founded the station, and one family held it for more than a century before its 2015…Australia
- est. 1855Gracemere StationBegun in 1855 on the Fitzroy River by Norwegian-Scottish brothers, Gracemere shaped both central Queensland cattle and…Australia
- est. 1872Innamincka StationFounded in 1872 on the Cooper Creek, Innamincka grew into one of South Australia's most remote cattle runs, in country…Australia
- est. 1841Jimbour StationJimbour began in the early 1840s as one of the first fully stocked runs on the Darling Downs and is still worked by…Australia
- est. 1879Lake Nash StationA station that began with a 700-head mob in 1879 now runs three leases as one, with a wagyu focus.Australia
- Mount Riddock StationOff the Plenty Highway in the shadow of the Harts Range, Mount Riddock is a showcase Poll Hereford station in central…Australia
- est. 1880sNewcastle Waters StationFrom John McDouall Stuart's camp to a 45,000-head Brahman operation, a station at the heart of the Territory's droving…Australia
- est. 1883Victoria River Downs StationFounded as a 20,000-head overland venture, the station passed from pastoral partners to Kidman, Bovril, Hooker and…Australia
- est. 1883Wave Hill StationA Vestey-owned cattle empire became the starting point of a nine-year strike that changed Aboriginal land rights in…Australia
Texas
- est. 1900Four Sixes RanchSamuel Burk Burnett built the 6666 on Herefords and quarter horses, and oil paid for the rest of the family's century.Texas
- est. 1881Frying Pan RanchJoseph Glidden and Henry Sanborn used a Potter County cattle ranch to prove that barbed wire could work on the open…Texas
- est. 1876-1877JA RanchFounded by a Texas cattleman and an English investor, the JA grew to more than a million acres and is still working…Texas
- est. 1882Kenedy RanchMifflin Kenedy, a steamboat man turned rancher, assembled La Parra on the Texas coast, and three generations of his…Texas
- est. 1853King RanchFounded in 1853 on cheap, contested South Texas land, King Ranch grew into one of the largest ranching operations in…Texas
- est. 1849-1852Waggoner RanchStarted with a few hundred Longhorns near Vernon, the Waggoner grew to about 520,000 acres and still raises cattle,…Texas
- 1885-1912XIT RanchThe XIT covered ten Texas counties and, at its peak, ran about 150,000 cattle on land the state paid out for its new…Texas
- 1883-1896Rocking Chair RancheA Scottish and English aristocratic investment in Collingsworth County, managed from afar, shows how foreign money met…Texas
- est. 1880sSMS RanchesNamed for Swedish immigrant S. M. Swenson, the SMS ranches grew from railroad and scrip land into a long-running…Texas
California
- est. 1790sRancho Los AlamitosAbel Stearns's cattle made this rancho the headquarters of the largest cattle ranch in the United States in the early…California
- est. 1853Rancho CamulosCarved from a Mexican land grant in 1853, Camulos ran cattle first, then grapes, brandy and the first commercial…California
- est. 1858Miller & LuxStarting as San Francisco butchers in 1858, Henry Miller and Charles Lux built the largest cattle operation in…California
- est. 1784Rancho San PedroA retired soldier's 75,000-acre grant became the Dominguez family's rancho and still shapes land ownership around Los…California
- est. 1865Hearst RanchGeorge Hearst's 1865 land purchase became a working coastal cattle ranch that now sells grass-fed beef and sits under…California
- est. 1864Irvine RanchJames Irvine and his partners assembled the ranch in 1864, and a company that chose not to sell its land ended up…California
- est. 1843Tejon RanchFour Mexican land grants, a military fort and a 2008 conservation pact explain how one ranch kept 270,000 acres in…California
New Mexico
- est. 1841Maxwell Land GrantFrom a 1841 Mexican grant to Lucien Maxwell's beef contracts and a company-versus-settlers war, one tract shaped…New Mexico
- est. 1850sBell RanchRoughly 290,000 deeded acres near Tucumcari, descended from a Mexican land grant and still run as a working cattle…New Mexico
- est. 1848UU Bar RanchNext door to Philmont Scout Ranch, the UU Bar occupies part of the old Maxwell Land Grant and claims cattle on the…New Mexico
- est. 1902Vermejo Park RanchOnce a private hunting club and a Pennzoil cattle ranch, the old Vermejo Park Ranch is now a conservation reserve of…New Mexico
Canada
- est. 1881-1882Bar U RanchFounded in the early 1880s, the Bar U ran for seventy years under three owners and now stands as Canada's ranching…Canada
- est. 1880sDouglas Lake RanchFrom John Douglas's 320-acre homestead in 1872 to a holding of more than 200,000 hectares, Douglas Lake grew with each…Canada
- est. 1860sGang RanchStarted by the Harper brothers on the Fraser River, the Gang Ranch fed gold miners, passed to English owners and later…Canada