J A Ranch

Set in a wide stretch of Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle, the J A Ranch headquarters is a complex of nine major buildings built over several periods. The centerpiece is the ranch house, which joins an early log cabin to a larger stone section with a frame second story. Nearby are a bunk house dating from about 1878, a former post office, stone corrals and stables, and ranch hands' houses. Some later twentieth-century buildings, such as a garage and a trail bosses' house, are not considered contributing. The ranch matters because of Charles Goodnight, a pioneer cattleman who blazed major cattle trails and became an authority on the industry. He managed the J A from 1879 to 1889 for investor John G. Adair, and during those years the ranch grew to 700,000 acres and 40,000 cattle. The headquarters remains an active working ranch.