TURKEY TRACK RANCH
Texas Panhandle
Hutchinson County
80,000± acres under one fence
It is with careful consideration and great emotion that we announce that, after 120 years of stewardship by our family, we have decided to sell our historic Turkey Track Ranch in the Texas Panhandle. For over a century this American landmark has been an integral element of our heritage. Generations of Cobles and Whittenburgs have created lifetimes of memories on the Turkey Track.
Due to our family’s increasing numbers and geographical distances, we recognize that it is time to find a new steward for this historic holding. The ranch has and will forever hold not only the monuments, memories, and legacies of our now multigenerational families but, significantly, maintains a very important place within the well-chronicled chapters of early Texas and US history.”
- The Coble & Whittenburg Family
Introduction
Bernard Uechtritz, owner of Icon Global stated, “I have had the privilege of marketing many great ranches, and this is one of the greatest. It sets a high bar in terms of value and is incomparable among its peers. This ranch is not famous for being famous, but for being private. It has never been marketed or commercialized as a brand, nor has it been controversial. It is simply revered and respected for being good, diverse, stout, and solid. It is both beautiful and productive and has been well managed at every level, evidenced by its cattle carrying capacity and abundance of wildlife. Its natural resources and position in history are unparalleled by anything recently sold or on the market and it’s truly a One of One. It is without question not only the ‘Prize of the Panhandle’, but one of the last and great dynastic, legacy ranches of its kind.
The Ranch
The Turkey Track Ranch was pioneered in the era of legendary WT Waggoner, 6666 and Goodnight Ranches. Boasting almost 80,000 acres under one fence and some 26 miles of Canadian River frontage, the ranch is a rare confluence of natural resources; containing an abundance of water, productive fertile grasslands, and diverse wildlife -set within rolling and rugged topography of mesas, draws, valleys and vistas interposed with open rangeland -epitomizing the western ranch lifestyle and famed fertile buffalo plains of yesteryear.
For the first time in over a century, this rare combination of history, heritage, and natural resources will change hands.
Location
Located in the Panhandle of Texas, the 80,000± acre Turkey Track Ranch is in Hutchinson County. (Final Acreage to be determined by survey)
Facts
The headquarters is located 27 miles NE of Stinnett, Tx.
The Hutchinson County Airport with a 6,299’ X 100’ runway is located 38 miles SE of the ranch headquarters.
Elevation, Topography, Soils, Foliage
The elevation ranges from 3,260’ above sea level, on top of the Caprock to 2,650’ along the Canadian River. There are numerous mesas and hills on the ranch which offer stunning views of the Canadian River Valley. Most of the ranch is located between the top of the Caprock and the Canadian River. This difference in elevation offers majestic elevation changes, multiple drainage areas, varying soils, and shelter from Winter winds.
The soils on the ranch vary from caliche/gravely soils along the caprock escarpment, to deep sand rolling dunes, as well as sandy and loamy bottomland soils along the numerous creeks and the Canadian River bottom. The deep sand rolling dunes are covered by a mixture of tall to mid grasses and forbs. The grasses include little bluestem, big bluestem, sand bluestem, switchgrass, silver bluestem, side oats gramma, hairy gramma, blue gramma, buffalo grass, shin oak, sand plum, and sagebrush.
The sandy and loamy bottomland soils in the creek bottoms and the Canadian River are sub irrigated, with the water table within 2 to 5 feet of the surface. These soils are also covered by tall to mid grasses and forbs which include little bluestem, bluestem, switchgrass, sand bluestem, silver bluestem, gramma grasses, Canada ryegrass, western wheatgrass, numerous cottonwood trees and willows.
History
WT (Tom) Coble and later James (Jimmie) A. Whittenburg III, were two of the stewards. Each was a past president of The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. Each considered a visionary as well as community and business leaders.
Tom Coble was a contemporary of Dan and Tom Waggoner of the Waggoner Ranch, Samuel “Burk” Burnett of the Four Sixes Ranch, and Charles Goodnight of the JA and Goodnight Ranch. Coble recognized the infinite resources of the Southern Great Plains. Like Waggoner, Burnett, and Goodnight, he created a cattle kingdom that was sustained by thousands of acres of grass.
Later, Whittenburg was the larger-than-life Texas Icon and entrepreneurial modern-day rancher who led the management of the Turkey Track for several decades. An early trendsetter of flying between properties and business interests, he operated several significant ranching interests in Texas and New Mexico, along with other business interests which included Aviation, Oil & Gas, Banking, Cattle Feed Yards; he was also a Special Texas Ranger.
LOOKING AT THIS LAND YOU CAN TELL IT IS BEAUTIFUL, BUT IT IS THE HISTORY AND THE MEMORIES THAT WERE MADE ON THESE GROUNDS THAT I WANT TO TALK ABOUT.”
Native American History
The property is also the site of the two famed battles of the Adobe Walls of 1864 and 1874, and this hallowed ground —just north of the Canadian River — is revered by descendants of all combatants. In June of 1924, a sixacre site was given to the Panhandle Plains Historical Society commemorating that month the 50th anniversary of the second battle of the Adobe Walls. In 1941 a monument dedicated to the Native Americans who fought and died in the Battle of 1874 was also erected. Both Monuments stand within the ranch today.
Water
The abbundance of water and natural resources in this region is what sets the Turkey Track Ranch apart from any other ranch of its kind.
Water resources on the ranch can be described in one word…Prolific! Turkey Track Ranch has 7 separate creeks on the ranch. These creeks along with numerous springs, provide yearlong water for several lakes with the largest being 35 acres in size. The ranch has an extensive network of soil conservation dams along the upper portions of these creeks that capture rainfall runoff. These dams control erosion as well as allowing the water to slowly absorb into the soil subsurface and then reappear downstream as springs which provide water for wildlife, livestock, ponds, and the lakes.
There are 5 - Ogallala aquifer wells which provide water for irrigation pivots. There are 830 acres that are covered by irrigation.
The ranch has approximately 64 wind and solar powered wells which provide water to an extensive system of water troughs scattered throughout the ranch providing water to wildlife and livestock. The ranch houses are also served by wells located at the different locations. There are also several pit tanks and smaller ponds built over the years. Yearly average rainfall is 20”.
The Canadian River country has a special aura to it, a lot of ranches don’t have the great surface water and the springs, where as this ranch does. That’s what really intrigued me because everywhere you went there was water... and that’s pretty rare.”
...WE
BUILT MORE THAN 50 SIGNIFICANT DAMS ON THE PROPERTY AND MORE THAN 250 SMALLER ONES.”
