Cow Creek Chronicles

A boom-to-bust generational saga ofa pioneer family and their cattle empire

Cattleranching has long been a major force in Florida, covering over 12 percent ofthe state's lands. In Cow Creek Chronicles, journalist Gregory Ennsexplores this history through the century-long saga of the Raulerson family, whobuilt a cattle empire at Cow Creek Ranch between Fort Pierce and Okeechobee.

The Raulersons were a family ofpioneers that moved south to Florida during the nineteenth century. Familypatriarch Frank Raulerson established the ranch in 1923. As the cattle herdgrew and fences were built, Seminole communities that had lived near the creek inthatched huts called chickees were forced off the land to nearby towns and reservations,and this book includes their stories. At its height in the 1960s, the 23,000-acreCow Creek Ranch, operated by Frank's granddaughter and heir Jo Ann RaulersonSloan, boomed under the supervision of a core group of cowboys using modernagricultural methods. As the years went by, Jo Ann's husband, TL Sloan, mismanagedexpenses and mired the ranch in debt, and the family sold off the land inparcels?many of which are now conservation areas.

Inthis narrative, readers will gain insight into how ranches were first establishedin Florida, including how cattle were managed and breeds developed. Enns opensa window into the lives of ranch hands and cowboys, highlighting traditionssuch as roundups, cattle drives, parades, and rodeos, as well as folkways suchas cooking and handcrafts. He also draws attention to the history of theCow Creek band of Florida Seminoles, including their legendary heroine Cow CreekChronicles weaves together many strands in a unique history of the modernsettlement of Florida.