Born in 1837 in Sabine County, Texas, Christopher Columbus (C. C.) established frontier ranch in Palo Pinto County, Texas, in 1857 with his father, George Webb Slaughter, and his brothers. During the Civil War, C. C. served in the frontier militia and in the Texas Rangers. Afterwards, he drove cattle over Chisholm Trail and later moved operations to West Texas where, by 1905, he owned 40,000 cattle and controlled over one million acres.
C. C. Slaughter and Company, a cattle breeding venture, was established in 1873. Around 1877, C. C.'s ranch, the Long S, was one of the largest ranches in West Texas. His large holdings helped earn C. C. the title, Cattle King of Texas .
C. C. married twice, first to Cynthia Anna Jowell in 1861, with whom he had five children, and then to Carrie Averill in 1877, with whom he had four children. Before his death in 1919, he had founded the American National Bank of Dallas (1884), and cofounded the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (1877), the Texas Baptist Education Commission (1897) and the Baylor Hospital of Dallas, Texas (1904).
From the guide to the Slaughter Land and Cattle Company Records, S 926. 1., 1909-1916 and undated, (Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University)
