The town and the land.
One shared story.

The THC marker records Joseph Cotulla’s BAR JF brand in 1863 and the establishment of his own ranch in 1874. His 1881 donation of 120 acres for a railroad townsite connected a ranching enterprise to a new community. The ranch is private property.

TSHA identifies La Mota as a ranch established by William and Amanda Burks during the 1870s. The Amanda Burks School marker dates their move to the county to 1876. After William died in 1877, Amanda managed the ranch for more than fifty years. Cotulla’s school was renamed for her shortly before her death in 1931.

About fifteen miles northeast of Cotulla, William Waugh’s headquarters became a stopping place on the San Antonio–Laredo road. A store and the Waugh’s Rancho post office followed. The Dull brothers later assembled a large ranching enterprise there; the post office became Dull’s Ranch in 1889. Their holdings were sold in 1901, and parts were subsequently developed into towns, including Los Angeles and Fowlerton.

J. Frank Dobie left teaching in 1920 to manage his uncle Jim’s ranch. TSHA describes that year with the vaqueros, livestock, and land at Rancho de Los Olmos as a turning point in his decision to write about regional life and culture. Great Horizon Ranch identifies its own property as part of that earlier ranch landscape.

In a 2019 Texas Co-op Power essay, grandson Lee Gaddis describes Florence and John Terry Maltsberger’s ranching life in La Salle County. He recalls Florence’s advocacy for Mexican American children, support for Welhausen School, and friendship with Johnson.

The Texas Beef Council’s profile of Leslie Kinsel describes a ranch enterprise headquartered near Cotulla, with cattle work, horses, business management, and family responsibilities sharing the same working day. It traces family agricultural ties near the Nueces River to the 1920s. The Women’s Professional Rodeo Association records Hailey Kinsel’s four world titles: 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022. Her roots are in the family’s commercial beef cattle ranch in South Texas.