Question: What rancher was known as the “Cattle King of Texas”?
Answer: Christopher Columbus Slaughter. Born in 1837 in Sabine County, he worked cattle as a boy and became a Texas Ranger, serving in the Frontier Regiment during the Civil War. In the 1870s, he started a cattle-breeding venture and established a large ranch in West Texas, where his Hereford herd became extremely profitable. His land holdings grew to over one million acres, and for many years he was the largest individual taxpayer in Texas. He helped establish what would become the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, and he donated large sums to Baptist institutions like First Baptist Church in Dallas and Baylor University.
