William Gould Busk came to Texas in the 1880's, and in 1884, bought from H. R. and Frank Starkweather some 20,000 acres of land in Coleman County.  For some twenty years, he operated a ranch with this land as a center.  The ranch was in the south part of the county, fertile prairie land, watered by Bull and Panther Creeks, both of which emptied into the Colorado River.  The land was sold to Busk after the fence-cutting war, to help the Starkweather Brothers out of financial trouble.  The land was fenced and headquarters established on Panther Creek.  Corrals and branding pens were built on Bull Creek, a few miles east of headquarters.  Gradually the ranch was added to, both by purchase and lease, until the ranch was several times its original size.  Ranches adjoining were the Adam T. Brown and Gann Ranch on the north; the Fred Turner, Harper, and Stewardson ranches on the east; Starkweather, John W. Cox, and Crane ranches on the south along the Colorado River; and the Day ranch on the west.

 

The Busk ranch was a model, both in improvements and management. Busk kept personal supervision of the ranch, even when he was in England.  He employed foremen who were experienced stockmen.  The first manager was Uncle Allen Holt.  He and Busk had the ranch fenced, bought cattle and horses, hired the necessary men, and thus established the Busk ranch.  Work on the ranch had just started when Uncle Allen's horse stepped in a prairie dog hole and fell on the rider, breaking his thigh. After a long time, he was able to walk again.  Uncle Allen's son, John Holt, took over the management of the ranch, but was a victim of an accident, also.  He was found unconscious, after having left the ranch riding a horse that sometimes pitched. He was unconscious for nineteen days and his neck was broken.  He never remembered what happened.  The next foreman was John Hardin, who was there from 1888 to his death in 1899 of pneumonia.  His wife was a niece of Uncle Allen Holt.  After his death, she married R. L. Conner, and they soon began improving the ranch land on the Colorado near Stacy which John Hardin had bought before his death.  Conner also was made foreman of the Busk ranch, followed by Bill Chaffin, W. D. Lidderdale, and H. R Starkweather.

 

The ranch was first stocked with about 1200 common cows.  Busk began to improve his herd, first using Durham bulls and then mixing the Hereford blood, and finally going entirely to Hereford breeding.  The first purebred Herefords were purchased from C. D. Foote, south of San Angelo, in the late 1880's.  Papers were carefully kept by Busk.  He later bought registered herds from Dodge in McCulloch County and bought bulls in Kansas City and in the late fall of 1898, brought 21 bulls directly from Hereford, England.  When the Busk Ranch was broken up, J. E. Boog-Scott bought the top animals to add to his herd.  The cattle on the ranch varied from 3000 to 7000 head.

 

Busk also owned some very fine horses, keeping some 500 to 1000 on the ranch.  There were seven or eight regular hands employed on the ranch, and during the rush season, this number was increased to fifteen or more.  Some of them were Ben, Bud, Neil, and Wink Hardin, Charles, Will and Jeff Holt, Frank Wright, Dixon Baird, John Kitchens, Ritchie Baukman (cook), Charlie Beasley (Negro cook), Jose Hosea (Mexican cook), Charley Haynes, Claud Lewis, Thomas Lewis, Jim Brannan, Jim Bramlet, Bus Hammonds, Claud Snodgrass, Jim McArthur, Jess Bowen, Dave Bowen, Will Bowen, Forman Fowler, John Fowler, Earl Delaney, Stonewall Brown, Bob Johnson, John Cox, Jack Bassett, Anthony Hudson, Bob Bassett, John Burrow, Gus Mueller, Buddie Donophan, Henry Dunman, Ol Gann, Bob Hall, Fred Taylor, Edgar Simons, Tom Pauley, Perfect Brown, Shorty Dodson and Ed Crockett.  Bird Lewis was in the commission business and did much buying and selling for the ranch.  Busk was well liked and respected, although he was wealthy and held a high social position in England.  He never lorded it over his Texan employees.  He did his full share of work and did not wish to be waited upon.  He was strong, active, and always busy.  He was democratic and ate with the Hardin family and all the hands at the enormous table at which seventeen places could be set.

 

After he built the larger house, he lived more at ease and had his own cook and his own food ordered.  A small house was at first set aside for his own use.  He furnished his house with cots, not beds.  His clothes worn on the ranch amounted to uniforms: the Stetson hat, the bluish-gray wool Scotch plaid shirt, the riding trousers, and the English boots never varied.  His laundry was done in Coleman by Chinaman John.  Sometimes he remained on the ranch as long as six months at a time, but usually his visits were only a few weeks.  Busk was essentially a businessman and work on his ranch moved like clockwork.  He insisted that all the children on the ranch have the chance to attend school and he helped to provide both the teacher and the buildings for the first school in the area.  In the later days of the ranch, Busk entertained many guests.  Among these were many English and Scotch ranchmen, as the McCalls from Eden, A. Cresswell from Albany, and the Savages and Conovers from Brady.  Among his Coleman County friends were Adam T. Brown, Geo. Cleveland, J. E. Boog-Scott, the Hazzard Brothers, and Billy, Frank and Claud Anson.

When Busk finally divided his ranch and sold the land to farmers, his policy was to sell on long-time payments with low interest rates. A little town soon sprang up near the old branding pens on Bull Creek, and this came to be called Gouldbusk. W. G. Busk died in England on December 8, 1922, at the age of 62.