History of the Ranch

Wildcatter Ranch and Resort is located in the southeast part of historic Young County. Young County was organized in 1856 and very few, if any, counties in the state have such a storied past.

Innumerable books plus several movies have been based on events that happened in and around Young County. The four part made for TV movie, Lonesome Dove, was based largely on the story of Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving whose famous Goodnight-Loving Trail began twenty minutes from the ranch. In fact, several of Loving's descendents live in and around Graham now. A three part made for TV movie released in 1994 was based on the story of Britt Johnson and the Elm Creek Raid of 1864. These three movies were named Black Fox, Blood Horse, and Good Men and Bad. The John Wayne movie Searchers was also based on the Elm Creek Raid, and finally the John Wayne movie Sons of Katie Elder was based on the story of the Marlow Brothers, most of which occurred within ten miles of our ranch. To learn more about the history of Wildcatter Ranch and the history of the area, please click here. To find out more historical information about Young County please go to the Young County TxGenWeb Site.