Page 28 - Amarillo Senior Link Magazine Summer 2021 - Online Magazine

Local
History

THE FOUR SIXES

A WEST TEXAS

RANCHING

EMPIRE by Sue Hancock Jones

amuel Burk Burnett went into in 2020, and the terms of
business for himself at the her will dictate that all her
Sage of 19 with the purchase of ranching operations should
100 head of cattle wearing the 6666 be sold. The original 6666 barn stood for decades near the
brand. The historic and massive imposing home of Burk Burnett but was moved to the
Four Sixes Ranch was never won While the Four Sixes Ranch at National Ranching Heritage Center in 1981 to be used
as an event center at the request of the family.
in a poker game, and no one Guthrie is the crown jewel of
knows the origin of the brand, but Marion’s ranching operations, Missouri and settled alongside
every rancher in America knows the sale also consists of the 6666 Denton Creek in Denton County,
the brand. It’s a brand with a Dixon Creek Ranch Division and the Texas. Within the next nine years,
background. 6666 Frisco Creek Ranch Division, a Burk’s father had a growing cattle
total of 266,254 acres. And that’s just operation and sent his 19-year-old
Four generations of the same counting acres, not cattle and horses son north as trail boss for a herd of
family have put their mark on this and structures, all of which flowed 1,700 Longhorns.
Texas ranch and on the business of from the legacy of a 19-year-old
ranching in America, but the family cowboy who started with 100 cows. Everything went well until the
legacy is coming to an end. Owner Indians hit the camp one night and
Anne Marion, great-granddaughter Burk Burnett was 10 years old when drove off all the horses but those
of founder Burk Burnett, died the Burnett family moved from being ridden by the night wranglers
and those hobbled close to a
cowpuncher’s bedroll. With half his
men on horseback and the other half
walking, Burk continued to move
the herd until they could procure
more horses.

When Burk returned from Kansas
with money from the cattle sale, his
father made him a partner in the
stock running on Denton Creek.
Burk saved his money and, in 1871,
The Four Sixes Ranch at Guthrie encompasses almost 225 square bought 100 head of cattle from
miles of land and has historically been operated as a cow/calf ranch. another Denton County rancher. The
In more recent years, a separate horse division has become a major
component of the overall ranching operation. cattle were already wearing a 6666

28 Amarillo Senior Link