[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 142 (Tuesday, September 20, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1316]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TUESDAY'S IN TEXAS: RICHARD KING

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 20, 2016

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Richard King is one of the many faces 
who shaped the ethics of hard work and endurance that define Texan 
values. He is the founder of King Ranch, but started his career as a 
river man, steamboat businessman, and later a livestock capitalist. He 
was born in New York City in 1824 to a poor Irish family. At only nine 
years old, Richard was indentured to a jeweler. However, he soon 
escaped as a stowaway on the Desdemona, a massive ship headed to 
Alabama. Once arriving, he spent the majority of his on the Alabama 
river learning from other boaters, and by the time he was 16 years old, 
he was a steamboat pilot.
  Richard joined the army in 1842 to fight the Seminole War in Florida, 
and it is there that he met Mifflin Kenedy, who eventually became a 
longtime business partner. During the war, Richard King started and 
commanded the ``Colonel Cross'' to transport troops and supplies down 
the river. When peace was made, Richard became a partner of M. Kenedy 
and Company, Mr. Mifflin Kennedy's steamboat company.
  But he didn't stop there. Richard began to expand his property, and 
after years scattered with trials, failures, and finally success, he 
became a master businessman. This aspiring gentleman's purchases and 
income grew greater and greater by the day. In several partnerships, he 
bought land in the Nueces Strip in 1853, when he purchased the 15,500-
acre Rincon de Santa Gertrudis grant from the heirs of Juan Mendiola, 
then 53,000-acre Santa Gertrudis de la Garza grant from Jose Perez Rey. 
These pieces of at first barren land became the birthplace of King 
Ranch.
  With expansions and renovations, this land increased, and by the time 
of his death in 1885, King had made over sixty major purchases of land 
and amassed some 614,000 acres. Every good Texan knows of the trails to 
northern markets and Ft. Worth stock market. Richard sent more than 
100,000 livestock up these trails, taking it upon himself to expand the 
Texas ranching industry.
  Richard King was not only a rancher, river man, and businessman, but 
a man of generosity and service to his country, using his resources as 
he could in every battle. He symbolizes the heart of the American 
dream, rising from an indentured servant and runaway boy, to one of the 
wealthiest and most powerful men of the West.
  He died at the Menger Hotel in San Antonio. His last instruction to 
his lawyer was, ``Not to let a foot of dear old Santa Gertrudis get 
away''.
  And that is just the way it is.

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