Page 77 - SPEEDHORSE April 2018

RANCH
boy would work his way up to become Captain King, a riverboat pilot and captain on the Rio Grande on the border of Texas and Mexico.
Captain King arrived in Brownsville, Texas in 1847, two years after Texas joined the United States. When Texas joined the union, it provoked a war with Mexico. This is when Richard King and Mifflin Kenedy started a shipping company. The partnership would thrive using the river to move supplies in support of the Army in the war with Mexico.
A new adventure for Captain King came in 1852 while traveling with associates to the Lone Star Fair, an event that was intended to promote the town of Corpus Christi. They traveled through what was known as the “Wild Horse
Desert,” located between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. The desolate area was known as the home of wild horses. The Wild Horse Desert was also the home of marauding Indians that made it a very dangerous place to live. The area was considered uninhabitable at this point.
Captain King and his traveling companions made a night stop at the Santa Gertrudis Creek. This creek was the first real source of fresh water they had come across in the 124 miles they had traveled. The Santa Gertrudis Creek was an oasis in the desert that had a supply of clean, fresh water and was a place that would make a great home base for the headquarters of a cow camp.
Captain King moved forward again, forming a partnership with a Texas Ranger named
photo © King Ranch
Richard King married Henrietta Chamberlain in 1854 and they settled on the Santa Gertrudis Creek in December of that year. Together,
they raised five children. After her husband passed away in 1885, Henrietta continued the responsibilities of running King Ranch until her death in 1925.
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