Cowboys, Sodbusters Fight Over Cheap Land

The Borden County courthouse was the scene of a no-holds-barred wrestling match on Feb. 27, 1904, as cowboys and sodbusters fought over cheap land in a once-in-a-lifetime sale.

A favorite subject of motion pictures and television has long been the “range war,” violent clashes between ranchers and homesteaders for the wide-open spaces. While the West Texas real-estate row in the opening decade of the twentieth century featured plenty of bumps, bruises and bloody noses, the fact that fists were the weapon of choice prevented the loss of a single life.

By 1880 Texas had set aside an area the size of North Carolina for public education and given away the equivalent of Maine to the railroads. Ranchers bought up the iron-horse sections that came onto the market and later doubled the grazing range for their huge herds by leasing school land for as little as eight cents an acre.

A farmer friendly legislature tried in April 1901 to loosen the cattlemen