The Lazy S Ranch, one of the last major ranches to be established in
Texas, came into being at a time when most of the other great ranches
were disappearing. Founded in 1898 by Dallas banker and rancher Colonel
Christopher Columbus Slaughter, the Lazy S grew to comprise nearly
250,000 acres of the western High Plains in Cochran and Hockley
counties, much of which lay in a single contiguous pasture of more than
180,000 acres.
Even with careful investment and management, C. C. Slaughter faced many
challenges putting together an extensive ranch amid the development of
the farmers' frontier on the high plains. Within a decade, he crafted
the Lazy S to become a showplace for well-bred cattle, effective range
management, and efficient utilization of limited water resources. He
created a working ranch that would serve as a long-lasting legacy for
his wife and nine children, to remain "undivided and indivisible." But
shortly after his death in 1919, the family drained its resources, drove
it into debt, then divided the land ten ways. In the 1930s, good fortune
returned to some of the Slaughter heirs with the discovery of oil on the
family lands.
Though the Lazy S Ranch was soon forgotten, the breakup of the ranch
spurred a new era for the western Llano Estacado and led to the
establishment of a county, growth of four new towns, and a railroad
across the heart of the ranch, fostered for the most part by the land
development projects of Slaughter's descendants. Here, David J. Murrah
covers the entire, fascinating history in The Rise and Fall of the Lazy
S Ranch.
