Peter Lebeck Chapter #1866

Rankin Ranch rests in the high country of Kern County. Established in 1863 by Walker Rankin, who as a young man came to California to pursue his dreams of gold, Walker found love and life in a mountain valley at the southern tip of the Sierras where he established the "Quarter Circle U" but which is best remembered as the Rankin Ranch. Situated in Walker Basin, at an elevation of 3,300 feet and spanning 31,000 acres, even we have to admit to being smitten by the romance of the Rankin Ranch. It has history. It has great views, and it has great early fall weather, making it a perfect fit for our 2013 Fall Clampout.

From the time of its founding by family patriarch Walker Rankin, Rankin ranch has been a family endeavor and has remained in continuous operation for 150 years. Today it is both a working cattle ranch and a guest ranch, and it hosts people from all over the world seeking that "western experience."

In the spring we were fortunate to be asked by Bill and Glenda Rankin to plaque the ranch for its 150th Anniversary, and in appreciation for our work they have offered us a meadow with trees where we can carry on our usual Peter Lebeck shenanigans. If you see Bill and Glenda make sure to say "Hi!" because these are really nice people. Bill is the great grandson of Walker Rankin, and a graduate of the UC Davis Agricultural Business Program. Glenda is herself an accomplished businesswoman having been recognized in 2008 as Kern County Cattle Woman of the Year. The two were married in 1971 and have been together for 42 years. Alongside their children and grandchildren Bill and Glenda have persevered in the family business and shown the kind of civic pride and involvement that has made them such valuable members of the Kern County community.

You can read more about the ranch and Rankin Family History by going to the Rankin Ranch website, but before you venture off, we'd like to leave you with a little taste of the historical intersection that the Rankin Quarter Circle U Ranch represents.

The California Gold Rush of 1849 is well known, but the thirst for gold also caused a rush to the Kern River Valley in 1853 with the discovery of Gold on Greenhorn Mountain. Those two events would eventually meet and merge at the Quarter Circle U Ranch. In 1854, at the age of 22, young Walker Rankin left his home in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and headed for the northern California gold fields by way of Panama and San Francisco. It took almost ten years, but by 1863, Walker had amassed a big enough stake to head south and purchase both the land and stock that would become the beginnings of the Quarter Circle U.

Now a cowboy gets lonely, and Walker wasn't any different from any other guy who gets tired of looking into those big brown coweyes. He had the land and the cows, but he didn't have a wife; but it just so happened that there was a girl next door; and that was Lavinia Lightner.

Now Lavinia's dad, Abiah Lightner, had also caught the gold bug, and in 1849 he moved the family by covered wagon from Missouri to California. Lavinia's childhood experiences would help her grow into a strong and resourceful woman, but the family's move to California was just the beginning of her life on the frontier. To follow the 1853 Greenhorn Mountain strike, Abiah moved his family to present day Kern County. He tried his luck in Keysville, just west of present day Lake Isabella, and made enough to establish his own ranch in Walker Basin in 1858, when Lavinia was about ten. Five years later, Walker moved in next door, and five years after that Walker married Lavinia.

While Walker was himself a remarkable man, Lavinina - also known as Nana Rankin - is a local legend and proved to be a person of incredible courage. Walker died in 1918, at the age of 86, but Lavinia was "only" 70. Following her husband's passing, Lavinia carried on the family business and survived Walker by thirty years, living past her 100th Birthday. She died in 1948.

In fact the Rankin's have been blessed and guided by the virtues of strong women like Bill's own mother Helen, and his wife, Glenda. A lesson about respect and about what every Clamper should regard as the best thing that can ever happen to a Brother in a red shirt.

So won't you come on up and join the Brothers of Peter Lebeck as we Clamp the Rankin Ranch? We'd be honored to have you join us, and you'll be glad you did. To find out more, just go to our Fall 2013 Doin's Page where you can get a copy of our infallible fillable flyer, sign-up electronically for our doin's, get directions, and find a link to Google Maps.

To read about Clamping with Peter Lebeck in Kern County, just read on.