Bennett and West Ranch

The ranch gave its name to the town nearby, three times over. Bennett and the Wests shipped their cattle from Inez in Victoria County until 1909, when the Missouri Pacific crossed their land; they called the new station Benwest, after themselves. When the Wests withdrew, it became Bennview in 1922. In 1924 boosters surveyed a townsite, and Bennett's land sale drew Polish and Czech settlers. In 1937 the community renamed itself La Salle, apparently for the French explorer, and opened a post office, a store and a school of five pupils.

What the plaque says

Bennett and West Ranch Cattlemen John M. Bennett (1831-1920) and George W. West (1851-196) began buying ranch land here in Jackson County in 1875. Bennett was born in Alabama, moved to Texas in 1837, and earned his capital by driving cattle herds up the Chisholm Trail to Kansas. West was also from Alabama and settled in the Sweet Home area of Lavaca County (about 50 miles NW) near Bennett's family. The partners acquired 35,375 acres between the Garcitas and Lavaca rivers, rich with prairie grasses before the invasion of brush thickets. In 1882 West sold his half interest to his brothers Ike and Sol. By 1902 the ranch was running 7,000 head of cattle, bred from longhorns and herefords. That year Ike withdrew from the partnership and sold off his one-fourth interest in the land and cattle herd. Neither Bennett nor the Wests lived at the ranch. The nearby frame house dates from 1902 as the ranch headquarters and foreman's residence. When Bennett and Sol West died in 1920, the land was divided between the Bennetts on the Garcitas River, and the Wests on the Lavaca River. From 1924 to 1978, three generations of the James family, beginning with Daniel Arthur James (1886-1943), served as foremen of the Bennett Ranch. (1986)

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Don Martin De Leon — 8.3 mi
• Six Mile Presbyterian Church — 9.0 mi
• Six Mile Cemetery — 9.0 mi
• Six Mile-Royal Community — 9.2 mi