I call our ranch the Smith Harris Century Ranch. It is recognized in the Texas Family Ranch Heritage program as the Betty Smith Harris Ranch. That means the state of Texas has officially recognized our ranch for being operated by the same family for 100 years or more.
We were established in 1886. My grandfather and three of his brothers raised corn here for the Corn Club, which became the first 4-H club in Texas circa 1908. My grandfather's uncle, whose family land was adjacent to ours, was a charter member of the group that eventually became the Texas and Southwest Cattle Raisers Association in Graham, Texas, 20 miles west of us. My family's original ranch in Jack County was established in 1859 but was lost to carpetbaggers during martial law in Reconstruction. The ranch was part of a headright grant to my third great-grandfather. He operated holding pens and a railhead for cattle along the ChisholmTrail.