Matador Office

The 400,000-acre Matador Ranch was one of several huge spreads owned or backed by foreign investors. Unlike some ranches that were bought to ultimately be sold again as farm and ranch development property, the Matador was bought for the long haul. From the beginning, it was managed to be a profit-making, productive ranch. Because of close supervision by its Scottish owners of everything from cowboy etiquette to the financial books, the business was profitable far into the 20th century.

The Matador Ranch was established in 1879 by Alfred Markham Britton, Henry H. “Barbecue” Campbell and several other associates. They ran the operation from a half-dugout headquarters in Ballard Springs, Texas. With finances in limited supply, Britton and Campbell sought foreign capital. All across Texas, land was available for sale, but money was in short supply. A company scout contacted investors before purchase, calling the Matador the “best watered, sheltered and healthiest ranch in Texas.”

In 1882, the outfit was purchased and became the Matador Land and Cattle Co., Ltd. Its headquarters were transferred from Ballard Springs to Dundee, Scotland. Britton was to serve as manager for five years and occupy a place on the board of directors. Campbell was retained as a supervisor until Texas laws required that an on-site foreign manager run all foreign investments.

Only in times of severe drought was the company unable to pay large dividends to its stockholders. The board sent a Scottish bookkeeper to America to oversee the records, and directors audited the books themselves. In 1890, when Scottish-born Murdo Mackenzie became manager, he brought experience from the Colorado-based Prairie Cattle Co. He extended the ranch’s boundaries through leased grazing land, improving its herds and cut costs.

When the foreign owners visited the Matador, they stayed in a guesthouse built in 1880 called “Scotsmen’s Dive” by the cowboys. As the operation grew and increased in herd size and acreage, the record-keeping requirements expanded. A bigger guesthouse was built, and “The Dive” was converted to an office for the Matador in 1923. Management of the operations was directed from this building, which is now preserved at the NRHC.