By Joe Hilliard
Originally published 01:13 p.m., November 16, 2010
Updated 02:02 p.m., November 16, 2010
CORPUS CHRISTI �In 1835 the 9-year-old indentured servant of a Manhattan jeweler stowed away on a ship headed to Mobile, Ala.
The boy was discovered onboard, adopted by the crew and became a steamboat pilot by age 16. He operated steamboats in three wars, serving under Gen. Zachary Taylor during one of them, and eventually found his way to South Texas.
Legend says that on an 1852 horseback trip from Brownsville to Corpus Christi he took one glance at the shady mesquite trees of the cooling Santa Gertrudis Creek and crafted an immediate vision for a large cattle ranch.
Within a few years he amassed 1.2 million acres and became one of the most famous, successful ranchers of all time.
You may own a purse, billfold or truck with his ranch’s brand embossed on it.
The gentleman, as you’ve already figured out, is Richard King, and his King Ranch is larger than Rhode Island. Reminiscent of a Faulkner or Twain storyline, this is one of those it-could-only-happen-in-Texas tales that makes our state so great. And it all went down 38 miles from my front door.
Large-scale ranching and farming still reign supreme at King Ranch. Once a year the cattle gates are flung wide for an open house as big as Texas. Anyone who moseys on over to the King Ranch Annual Ranch Hand Breakfast on Saturday is promised a genuine taste of the cowboy life.
Heaping plates of eggs, refried beans, biscuits and gravy, sausage and tortillas are just the warm up for team roping, horseshoeing, rawhide braiding and old-time cow camp cooking demonstrations along with cowboy poetry, storytelling and musical entertainment. I’ve briefed my kids on this weekend’s adventure and they’re counting down the days.
My knowledge of Corpus Christi and the surrounding area’s history is limited to the study of Murphy Givens’s fascinating local history books. While the Ranch Hand Breakfast has been on my list since January, the research for this column has sparked a larger interest in learning more about our city’s history. How can something be yours if you don’t know where it came from?
The Ranch Hand Breakfast serves to remind us that Corpus Christi is part of a region, and within a short drive from our home base, true adventures and unbelievable histories are waiting to be rediscovered.
IF YOU GO
What: The King Ranch Annual Ranch Hand Breakfast
When: 7 to 11 a.m. Saturday
Where: The King Ranch main entrance is located on State Highway 141 at Santa Gertrudis Street in Kingsville
Cost: $6, ages 4 and up; free, ages 3 and under
Information: http://www.king-ranch.com/special_events.html
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