Heartland of Old XIT Ranch

Building the Capitol cost $3,744,630.60, of which the Capitol Syndicate spent $3,224,593.45 and the state assumed about $500,000. John V. Farwell went to England and late in 1884 formed the Capitol Freehold Land and Investment Company of London, raising about $5 million from investors who included the Earl of Aberdeen. The Handbook of Texas says the ranch operated largely without profit through most of its life. The British bonds were redeemed in 1909, the last XIT cattle were sold on November 1, 1912, and the last parcel of land went in 1963.

What the plaque says

Great Texas ranch of international fame. Payment made in an 1882 contract for the construction of granite capitol building in Austin. As contractors, some out-of-state investors (headed by the wealthy Chicago merchants, John V. and Senator C.B. Farwell) built the largest state capitol in North America and received in payment 3,000,000-acres of land. The grant, 200 miles long and of varying widths (enclosed later by a 6,000-mile barbed wire fence), extended from near site of present Lubbock to the Oklahoma line 40 miles north of here. It included land in counties of Bailey, Castro, Cochran, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Hartley, Hockley, Lamb, Oldham, and Parmer. Trail Boss Abner Blocker delivered first herd to Buffalo Springs in 1885 and scratched the "XIT" in corral dust with boot heel to design famous brand. Although its land was parcelled and sold, the XIT lives in Texas memories -especially here, 32 miles south of its Buffalo Springs headquarters. Dalhart holds an annual XIT reunion with rodeo and parade featuring a horse with an empty saddle, in honor of range riders of the past. Permanent tribute to XIT cowboys is this "empty saddle" monument, designed by western artist Bobby Dycke, dedicated in 1940. (1968)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• XIT Museum — 0.4 mi
  Dalhart's museum of the three-million-acre ranch Texas traded for its capitol, in a 1929 Chrysler dealership that once housed a USO club for Black soldiers.
• Rita Blanca National Grassland — 29 mi
  Scattered tracts of shortgrass on old XIT range, failed Dust Bowl farms the government bought back and regrassed, with two picnic sites in the open country near Texline.

More markers nearby

• Mrs. Cordia Sloan Duke — steps away
• Dalhart Army Air Field — 0.6 mi
• Dallam County — 2.2 mi
• Hartley County — 13 mi