XIT Ranch

BRINGING THE XIT BRAND TO TEXAS. Some stories you file and forget. This one stayed with me. A few years back, I caught up with Drew Knowles at the NRCHA Celebration of Champions in Fort Worth. Drew was watching his 7-year-old mare, Smart Ladies Sparkle, compete in the Open Two Rein World Finals. A folded paper sign stood on the center of his table. Three letters: XIT. If you know Texas history, you know the brand. In 1882, the State of Texas traded 3 million acres of Panhandle ranchland for the construction of a new state capitol. The XIT Ranch became the largest cattle operation in American history: eight divisions with 150 cowboys, 1,000 horses, and 150,000 head of cattle at its peak. But by 1963, the last acre had been sold. The brand went dark. Almost three decades later, an 11-year-old Knowles found a first edition of J. Evetts Haley’s The XIT Ranch of Texas on his grandmother's bookshelf. It was Thanksgiving Day 1992. She sat him down and told him the story of his great-great-great-grandfather, John V. Farwell, the Chicago entrepreneur who fast-forwarded the Capitol Syndicate by raising $5 million in London and launching the great ranch. “Everything you need to learn is in this book,” she said. And learn he did. He brought that heritage and a lot of boots-on-the-ground experience to the Return to the Remuda Sale at the Four Sixes Ranch in 2021. When the auctioneer called out, “Sold to the XIT,” Taylor Sheridan made a point of introducing himself to Knowles. The two struck up a friendship. Months later, Sheridan texted Knowles a link to a Hall and Hall listing in the Panhandle — 11,520 acres on the Rita Blanca Division of the XIT. There's a windmill on the property that the Farwells installed. Still running. When Drew and Abby Knowles bought the Rita Blanca, the XIT was back in Texas after a 60-year hiatus, cattle on the ground, brand on the gate, same Panhandle dirt it always called home. Said Drew, "My job is to take care of the land so it can take care of my family and me, to honor the past and bring it into the future." XIT. The brand too big to die. @XITRanch