6000 Miles of Fence

By Cordia Sloan Duke and Joe B. Frantz

Book Overview

The fabulous XIT Ranch has been celebrated in song, story, and serious history. This book of reminiscences of old XIT cowmen puts on record the everyday life of the individuals who made the ranch run. Their forthright, yet picturesque, discussion of ranching hardships and dangers dissipates Hollywood and TV glamorizing. They relate in honest cowboy language what actually happened inside the XIT's 6,000 miles of fence.

Cordia Sloan Duke, wife of an XIT division manager, Robert L. Duke, many years ago realized that only those who had experienced ranch life could depict it with deep understanding. As the young wife of a rising young ranch hand, she kept in her apron pocket a notebook and pencil, recording all manner of interesting details as they caught her attention. This diary was the nucleus for the present book. Conceiving of an account of life on the XIT as presented by XIT cowboys, Mrs. Duke set about drawing from reticent, sometimes reluctant, ranch hands the impressions of the XIT (occasionally written down by their more literate wives or daughters) which they had retained through the years. Cordia Sloan Duke and Joe B. Frantz have organized the reminiscences around key aspects of ranch life, retaining the language of the cow hands.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0007EH04S
• ISBN13: 9780292775640
• Release Date: January 1961
• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Length: 285 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

The Big, Big Ranch

At the time, the XIT was the world's largest ranch. It stretched for two hundred miles from the top of the Panhandle to Lubbock. It averaged 27 miles in width. Its greatest width was fifty miles. For comparison, the ranch was about twice as large as the state of Rhode Island. This book tells of life on the XIT Ranch as recorded on an almost daily basis by Mrs. Cordia Sloan Duke, wife of an XIT division manager, Robert L. Duke. It is illustrated with photographs, and a map.