Historic Midland

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Top: Cowboys for the “C” Ranch sit on
their horses at the ranch headquarters
near Andrews, northwest of Midland.
Many of the cowboys on the “C” Ranch
were well-known around Midland.
Bottom, left: W.F. Scarborough Frying
Pan Ranch. Mr. Scarborough moved
his family to Midland and built his
home on S. Main Street in 1908 and
established this ranch in Winkler
County.
Bottom, right: Bob Preston, one of the
well-known Preston brothers, sits atop
a thoroughbred Hereford in this 1909
photograph.
brands of the original owners, as in the case of
the Scharbauer ranches, started by John
Scharbauer.
Other long-term Midland area ranches
included the Texas Ten Ranch Ltd., which was
the descendant of a ranch started in Midland
County in 1905 by William Bryant; the Lazy Z
Ranch, a 28-section ranch in Martin County
which was established in 1928 by George W.
Glass family; the Powell Ranch, started in 1891
by A.B. Powell, who came to Sterling County;
the Long X Ranch, part of the holdings of
Reynolds Cattle Co., which was incorporated
in 1884.
Shortly before and after the turn of the century,
another wave of migration brought more new
settlers to the Midland Country—Thomas Oscar
Midkiff in 1895, the John M. King family in 1897,
John Alva Haley and family in 1906, and Symeon
and Florence Castellaw in 1914. Midland was a
growing community and was fast becoming headquarters
for a vast ranching empire.
Charlie Quinn built the first stock tank in
this country and Frank Divers the next tank on
Midland: Land of Cowboys | 11