Email Museum

White Deer Land Museum

116 S. Cuyler

Pampa, TX 79065

Before McLean, there was the RO Ranch

Real Audio by Eloise Lane

The RO Ranch has significance in the history of Gray County because the city of McLean is situated on land that was a part of that ranch. The ranch was established in 1880 by Alfred Rowe, an Englishman who succeeded at Panhandle ranching while others of his countrymen failed. He was one of the few who actually settled on northwest Texas property.

The Rowe family, traced back to the Norman Conquest (1066), was a middleclass English family consisting mainly of parsons, lawyers and men of letters.  From 1730 onward to about 1930, the family engaged in trading and shipping originally between the West Indies and Liverpool and then between Peru and Liverpool. At the time Alfred was born in 1853, his parents, John James Rowe (born in Jamaica) and Alice (Graham) Rowe of Liverpool, were living in Peru.  Alfred's three older brothers were John, Charles and Herbert. His younger siblings were Agnes, Vincent, Bernard and Lydia.

Although Alfred was reared with all the advantages of wealth, education and travel, he found upon reaching manhood that he was deprived of both a livelihood and an occupation because of the British custom of bequeathing the family fortune and business to the eldest son.

Posessed of a lively sense of adventure, Alfred was intrigued by reports of American ranches "opening up." Ranching appeared to be a gentleman's way of working coupled with the opportunities of a sporting life. In 1876 Alfred entered The Royal Agricultural College, Gloucester, England. After graduation he set sail for America in 1878 with a capital of 500 pounds. At age 26, he arrived in Donley County in 1879, the year following the establishment of Old Clarendon by Lewis Henry Carhart. Alfred came from Colorado and lived at first in a dugout on Glenwood Creek. Some think that he was influenced to come to the Panhandle by countrymen already here - possibly James Hughes, son of a British author and one of Goodnight's top men on the JA Ranch.

Alfred trained himself by working for other ranchers for several months to "learn the ropes." Then he began his ranch to the north of Skillet Creek through the purchase of script. He secured a loan from the family business which he repaid over the years.

His first headquarters was a two-room sod house covered with shingles freighted in from Dodge City. His first foreman was Green McCollum, one of Goodnight's men, loaned to him as a favor. His first herd consisted of longhorns trailed up from South Texas by Ed Hughes, Joe Horn and McCormick.

Alfred's personal notes and diary show his initial outlay: Cattle, 1818 head @ $14 - $11,452; Horses, 26 head @ $30 - $780; wagon, harness, etc. $70; saddle $20; pistol $25; grub bill, etc. - Total $12, 376.25. Wages: McCormick $25 per month.

The RO was located below the Caprock on rolling prairie land, well watered by the Salt Fork of the Red River and its tributaries. It was protected from severe northern winds by the Caprock escarpment.

Alfred negotiated with Carhart and Sully for the purchase of their land in the Whitefish country. (Later Sully, Carhart's brother-in-law, bought cattle from White Deer Lands).

On the hot day when Carhart and Sully took Alfred to inspect the rangeland, Alfred was struck by its barrenness in comparison to his original holding.  He remarked, "This appears to be hard country to me." Carhart had a ready answer, "True, my friend, true. But just think of the scope."

Alfred thought of the scope and caught a vision of the vast broad land dotted with thriving cattle. He made the deal and his fortune was begun.

In those days when ranchers had use of public domain and access to leases, the RO was enlarged to a range about 30 miles square. In 1900 the range extended from east of the Rockledge switch in southern Gray County, through present McLean, to Lela on the north, from there to the present town of Quail and to within five miles of Clarendon. The ranch covered 100,000 acres (200 square miles) and ran 10,000 head of cattle.

Alfred's 1881 diary relates that on September 19, his brother Vincent arrived in Clarendon from England. Vincent was stiff and sore for several days because of his horseback ride from Reynolds Panhandle Stage Stop at Fort Elliott. The two brothers hunted antelope and wild turkey, both plentiful on the ranch. The men helped to plow a fire guard to protect the ranch against the ever present danger of prairie fires.

Later Bernard, the youngest brother, came to the RO and the three brothers formed a ranching partnership with Vincent and Bernard holding one third interest. Although the three brothers had their heritage of name and blood in common, they differed greatly in manner and character.

Vincent liked the ranch and the West, but his real interest lay in things of another nature. His lifelong ambition was to occupy a seat in the British Parliament which he would probably achieved had he lived longer. He often , used the oratory he hoped to employ in later years --- this habit caused several amusing incidents. It is interesting that Vincent owned a sheriff's badge although he never took American citizenship.

Bernard, a meticulous master of detail, added greatly to the work of the manager because all other operations ceased when the figures did not balance or when one item was posted in error. He was known to work for three days at a time over a discrepancy of no more than five cents.

The Rowe brothers dissolved partnership about 1898. Vincent sold outright and started in business for himself. Bernard sold his interest in the land but kept his part of the cattle until they were sold on the range or shipped to market. He became secretary of the Kansas City Chemical Company.

In 1894 Alfred bought the R.B. Edgell place and enlarged the two-room house there into a rambling, comfortable cottage of nine rooms. Within five miles of Clarendon, he built another nine-room ranch house overlooking the Salt Fork. He set up the latter as the RO headquarters, calling it "The River Ranch." It was furnished in the English manner: good, solid furniture, fine old timepieces and hunting prints. Corrals, sheds, barns and a bunkhouse were added to the headquarters where the English cowman and his cowboys lived.

When Alfred first began ranching, he would sometimes ride out to where his cowboys were working like one of His Majesty's Lancers. The tremendous amount of noise and Alfred's actions would undo all the work the cowboys had done and they hated to see him come. Alfred, who was said to be the only Englishman with a sense of humor, once commented: "You know, it's a funny thing when I'm in England, I'm Lord Rowe; when I'm in New York, I'm Mr. Rowe; but when I come out here, I'm that_______ Rowe."

Alfred had a way of appearing unexpectedly from somewhere and then disappearing just as suddenly.  One hot summer night he got up to prepare a claretade and found no claret. He had a horse saddled and rode twenty-odd miles to Clarendon, got the wine, returned and made his drink. W.J. Lewis, a top hand on the RO, came in at two that morning and helped to enjoy the concoction.

Once Alfred disappeared on the first of April and did not come back to the ranch until Christmas. No message came from him during his absence.

One year he left after the spring work was done, was heard of in England and then in New York, and not again until he drove up after dark one night. He had come by the Santa Fe to Miami and hired a driver to bring him to the ranch, apparently expecting to stay some time. The next morning as the driver was leaving, Alfred called for him to wait. Disappearing into the house for his traveling bags, he soon came.

One time he was practicing anthems for the Easter service at the Episcopal church in Clarendon and was apparently eager to help in the impressive ceremonies. At two o'clock in the morning he left the home of friends where the choir had practiced, and it was supposed that he caught the southbound train that passed through Clarendon about five in the morning.  Several weeks later friends received cards mailed from Gibralter.

Alfred once told "Bones" Hooks, the famous black cowboy, that he did not amount to much in England. "Well, Sir Alfred," returned Bones, the only person on the ranch who so addressed the owner, "why don't you stay on here? You're a big man here." Alfred answered, "Well, I'm English. I suppose that is the only reason."

Alfred loved the ranching life although he said later that his first twenty years in America had been hard and that he hoped his children would not have to go through such hardships. He won the affection of all, cowboy and stockman alike.  The people on the plains liked his willingness to work and his enjoyment of living.  He had dignity, a sense of responsibility, business principles and a genuine interest in the community.

He expressed appreciation for the opportunity to contribute to the fund for the Watkins school in the Whitefish community. Although he opposed squatters or nesters on the open range where his cattle fed, he was never nasty about it and there were no fence-cutting episodes on Whitefish and McClellan creeks. The people of Clarendon claimed him as their own, and more than one single girl or widow loaked on him as "quite a catch."

Alfred was 47 years old when he married Constance Ethel Kingsley whose father was a cousin of Charles Kingsley, the famous British author. (Rowe and Kingsley Streets in McLean were named for the Rowe and Kingsley families.)

Constance Rowe was a happy-natured woman, always smiling, always merry, always agreeable to Alfred's whims. If he decided to rush off to England just as she had settled down for a long stay at the ranch, she packed for the journey without protest, and was equally glad to return.  She entertained many guests, friends and relatives from England, New York and Kansas City.

In 1902 Constance, age 37, traveled by train to Kansas City for the birth of her first child, a girl who died a few months later.  She returned to England for the birth of a son, Kingsley, who thrived as a toddler on the ranch. The third child, Harry, was born in Kansas City in December, 1905. A fourth child was born while the Rowes lived on the ranch.

In 1910 Alfred moved his wife and children permanently to England. Leaving the ranch with a manager, he returned at least twice a year to check on the RO.  He had a small hand satchel that he took with him wherever he went. The ranch people wondered what was in it and why he kept it always at hand.

While preparing to return from England to Texas in April, 1912, the still adventurous rancher booked passage on the maiden voyage of the widely-heralded but ill-fated oceanliner,The Titanic. While the ship was sinking in the North Atlantic, Alfred, a strong swimmer, refused to enter a boat until others were saved. He was found frozen to death on an iceberg with his satchel firmly clutched in his hand and his watch still ticking. His body was taken to Halifax and then shipped to England for burial. His fifth child, Alfred Rowe, Jr., was born in England five months afterward.

Bernard, administer of the estate, sold the RO off as fast as he could, closing out to W.J. Lewis on July 1, 1918. The 72,000 acres sold for $595,113.26 and the deed required $565.60 worth of revenue stamps. The Lewis family carried on the Rowe brand and preserved the Rowe attitudes. Since the death of Mrs. W.J. (Vera Nolan) Lewis, Jr., the ranch belongs (1990) to her nephews, Jenks and Bob Boston of Clarendon.

Two Panhandle towns had their beginning within the fence of the vast RO ranch. After the Fort Worth and Denver was constructed across Donley County in 1887, the hamlet of Rowe, Texas where early settlers received their mail, was moved to the railroad and renamed Hedley.

In 1901, the Rock Island (Choctaw) established a switch three miles inside Gray County. Around this switch in 1902, Alfred Rowe deeded over a 640 acre townsite which he named for W.P. McLean, secretary of the Texas Railroad Commission..