The story of Alfred Rowe, his exploits in building the famed RO Ranch, and his demise on the Titanic in 1912, reads like an old west fiction novel. Few writers could devise a plot that twists, turns, and weaves its way through history better than the actual life of Alfred Rowe. Ironically, our "TITANIC CONNECTION" takes place mostly in the Texas Panhandle, about as far away from the Atlantic Ocean as you can get.
Alfred Rowe, born to successful British subjects in Lima, Peru could trace his origins to a fore-bearer that came to England with William the Conqueror. As the fourth son in his family, he was well aware of the old European tradition of the eldest son inheriting the family business, so he prepared to seek his fortune elsewhere. He acquired a good education, became an experienced world traveler, and with the backing of his family made his way to America in 1878.
He set his sights on the vast, newly opened lands of the Texas Panhandle. Though schooled in agriculture practices in England, he started as a lowly cowboy on the JA Ranch, owned by fellow Englishman John Adair and pioneer rancher Charles Goodnight to learn the ropes of Texas ranching.
Within the year, Alfred began purchasing trail herds from South Texas, along with the complete outfits of the owners, and started ranching on the open rangelands in today's eastern Donley County. Using an abandoned dugout as a ranch headquarters, his herds accumulated requiring trail drives to Dodge City, Kansas to sell the largest steers to the feedlots of the Corn Belt.
Alfred possessed a sharp mind for business, began a sound program of buying land script at discount, financing the purchases in England, leasing all grass available, and building a profitable cattle enterprise second to none. He eventually became one of the most successful ranchers in the Texas Panhandle and one of the very few foreign investors who actually made a profit from their American investments during "The Big Ranch Era."
Called "eccentric and notional" by his peers, Alfred's driving ambition kept him on the move almost day and night in a time when there were few roads and only horse-drawn transportation. Trying to conduct business with poor mail delivery, few profession services, and no railroads closer than Kansas, Alfred overcame tremendous obstacles to achieve his goals.
He was relentless in his search for new lands, livestock, and business opportunities. Alfred embraced progress by surveying his purchases, proving up on the titles, and fencing the boundaries with the new barbed wire invention. A program of improving the quality of his ranch herds was instituted long before many of his peers began.
By 1895, the RO Ranch encompassed over 200,000 acres of owned and leased acreage and Alfred married and started his family. With homes both here on the ranch and in England he and his family traveled extensively until the children reached school age. At that time, Mrs. Rowe stayed in England most of the time with Alfred traveling to and from America at least twice a year.
In 1897 the railroads reached Pampa, Texas some 30 miles north of the RO Ranch. Another railroad passed through the southern parts of the ranch at Hedley, Texas a year later and the Rock Island Railroad passed through the northern edge of Rowe ranges in 1900 and l90l. Settlers began descending on suitable farmlands soon after and Rowe started selling small farms and town lots where the land was suitable.
Alfred donated land for a cattle-loading facility at a site beside the Rock Island Railroad in southern Gray County. On December 3rd, 1902, a plat for the town of McLean was recorded in the Gray County courthouse by Alfred Rowe. He named the site for William Pinkney McLean, a Texas independence hero and the first Texas Railroad Commissioner.
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Circumstances leading to and causing the death of Alfred Rowe appear ironic in nature as the man was an experienced, renown world traveler with an estimated 100 oceanic excursions to his credit. At 59 years of age, he had been to visit his family in England where Mrs. Rowe was expecting their fifth child.
Alfred's body was recovered the next morning after the disaster and taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia the nearest port to where the Titanic sank. Recorded as Body No. 109, Folder 109, in the Coroner's Titanic Files in the Public Archives of Nova Scotia, the remains were shipped to England for final burial.
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Bernard Rowe, brother of Alfred, filed an application for probate of the last will and testament in Donley County on July 8, 1912. Strangely, it took until November 12, 1918 to settle the estate when a deed of trust was transferred to William J. Lewis in final settlement. The delay was attributed to complications in travel to and from England caused by World War I.
The life and accomplishments of Alfred Rowe are chronicled in a book by author Delbert Trew, published in October 2001. "THE R O BRAND" contains 48 pages with photos and maps telling the RO story. Please check the MUSEUM MERCANTILE site for details of how to order. Largest repository of Alfred Rowe artifacts known is located at the McLean/Alanreed Area Museum in McLean, Texas. Items are available for in-house research during regular museum hours.
