click to enlargeComprising 55,374 acres, the Rockpile Ranch is named for the massive geologic formations located at the entrance to the ranch. Once a major portion of the historic 380,000-acre X Ranch in Jeff Davis County, it is located along the scenic loop in the Davis Mountains and is just a conversation away from the McDonald Observatory and Fort Davis. The Rockpile Ranch is located in one of the true ecological sky islands of Texas, being isolated from similar mountain ranges by vast distances and terrain, preserving plants and animals that occur nowhere else on earth.
click to enlargeThe historic Rockpile and Sawtooth Mountain, have drawn people to this area for a millennia and have been identified as two of the most famous geologic features of the Davis Mountains. Throughout the ranch lie remnants of Pre-Columbian habitation including numerous bedrock mortars and surface metates, used for grinding grains in these cultures.
click to enlargeFrom the headquarters of the ranch, the Rockpile itself is a few steps away, providing a labyrinth of incredible boulder structures unlike any in the region. The headquarters of the ranch provides a clear view of the morning and evening play of light across the majestically weathered face of 7,686-foot-high Sawtooth Mountain that juts out of the landscape just a mile away on the neighboring ranch. The Rockpile Ranch offers elevations from 4,500 feet in the canyons to Geronimo Mountain that rises to 6,907 feet and provides stunning views of Mount Livermore and the surrounding mountains and valleys all the way to the Eagles and Guadalupe mountains to the west and northwest.
click to enlargeThe climate of this Texas sky island is cooler, wetter and more biologically diverse than the lower Chihuahuan desert which surrounds it, receiving twice the annual rainfall of the terrain below. This anomaly gives the ranch an average annual rainfall of 18 inches providing the ranch with lush pastures as well as year-round and ephemeral live water sources. This well-watered working cattle ranch includes some of the most spectacular scenery in West Texas, ranging from rugged interior mountain crags and slopes to expansive rolling grasslands between strikingly beautiful high peaks within the Rockpile's boundaries. In addition, a very large and majestic spring fed canyon nurtures some of the most remarkable old-growth wild black cherry and rare Texas madrone groves in the State of Texas.
click to enlargeThis uniquely situated ranch lies on the edge of two great North American migratory avian flyways. The exceptional canyon microclimes of the Rockpile Ranch combined with mature pinyon pine, alligator juniper, and large native oak woodlands create an exceptional habitat for wildlife. This provides an oasis for not only a diverse resident bird population but also for a rainbow of migratory bird species during the spring and fall seasons.
Chihuahuan Desert plants as well as dense grasslands provide excellent habitat for an extensive wildlife population. Texas mule deer, pronghorn, white tail deer, blue-scaled quail, wild turkey, hogs, grey fox, bobcats, javelina, and mountain lions make the Rockpile Ranch a sportsman's and naturalist's paradise. A remarkable feature of the Rockpile is a resident elk herd which in recent years has numbered as many as 80 animals. During the fall rut, the elk tend to congregate and bugle near the pinyon-juniper-oak woodlands adjacent to the ranch headquarters.
click to enlargeThe diverse forage of gramma and bluestem pastures and grazing lands has been carefully managed over the past ten years using a structured forage assessment and grazing management system providing exceptional rangeland health and species diversity for both wildlife habitat and cattle production. This historic ranching operation represents some of the best cow/calf range in the West Texas cow country. Cattle handling is facilitated by numerous working and widely dispersed branding pens combined with a well-positioned water distribution system, which includes both year around spring box detention, three solar-driven wells and adequate conventional windmill supply points. The well-designed all-weather interior road system is in excellent condition providing easy and fast access to all portions of the Rockpile Ranch, including several loading pens and the scale house at the Buffalo pens which adjoin the Long X Ranch to the East.
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The Rockpile Ranch cattle operation is divided into the Rincon Camp and the Rockpile Camp with each working to optimize production of both cattle and wildlife on the ranch. The more centrally located Rincon Camp is comprised of a residence, combined bunk house, and cook house as well as a rail depot building. Many years ago it served as the rail depot at the terminus of the cattle shipping rail spur at the X Ranch near Kent, Texas. Historians claim that the large red structure was hauled by mules through Adobe Draw from Kent to its current location at the Rincon Camp some 30 miles from the original railhead.
click to enlargeThe Rockpile Camp is comprised of two very old rock dwellings still used today as the camp manager's residence, as well as the easily upgradable Rockpile Ranch headquarters structure. Both are nestled up against the Rockpile providing a dramatic backdrop to this very unique residence area of the ranch. In addition, the Rockpile Camp still uses the hand hewn log tack room and feed storage structure that local lore contends was built soon after the American Civil War. This red painted structure is one of the more iconic features of this unique area of the ranch and the region.
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This is only the third time in its 115-year titled history that this Ranch has been offered for sale. All Seller owned mineral classified and fee minerals will be included.
