Rocking Chair "Ranche" (1883-1893)

The British owners' bookkeeper was Archibald John Marjoribanks, Lord Tweedmouth's youngest brother, known to the hands as "Archie" or "Old Marshie," who drank and gambled in Mobeetie saloons and never rode with the cowboys. Resentful hands and rustlers mavericked the ranch's calves, and when Lord Aberdeen and Baron Tweedmouth arrived unannounced to count the herd, manager John Drew drove the same cattle around a hill so they were tallied again and again. The owners later sued Drew, but no jury would rule in their favor. The Rocking Chair brand was revived by others in 1914.

What the plaque says

Rocking Chair "Ranche" (1883-1893) Owned by Scottish Earls of Aberdeen and Tweedmouth. The headquarters were at Aberdeen (about 7 miles northeast). Starting with 14,745 cattle, the Rocking Chair made profits for a few years, then failed. In north part of county are hills bearing its name. Also, town of Wellington was given that name at wish of rocking chair owners, who had a kinsman die at Waterloo where he was aide to the Duke of Wellington. W.E. Hughes in 1893 bought the land and added it to Mill Iron Ranch. Later the 235 sections were sold to others, to convert to farms and smaller ranches. (1970)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tower Station and U-Drop Inn — 19 mi
  Shamrock's 1936 Conoco station and cafe at the corner of Route 66 and US-83, sketched in the dirt with a nail, named by a schoolboy and saved by the town.
• Devil's Rope and Old Route 66 Museum — 28 mi
  Barbed wire and the Texas road in McLean's old brassiere factory: the fence that closed the open range, from the salesmen who sold it to the Panhandle ranches it divided.
• Phillips 66 Station, McLean — 29 mi
  A 1929 cottage-style Phillips 66 station on First Street in McLean, the town I-40 went around last and whose Route 66 business district stayed much as it was.

More markers nearby

• The Red River Plunge of Bonnie and Clyde — steps away
• Site of Lutie School — 4.4 mi
• Collingsworth County — 4.7 mi
• Methodism in Collingsworth — 7.2 mi