b'o u rh i s t o r ylease was signed that paid the Klebergs $127,824empire that improved the lives of millions, and the peryear($3milliontoday),plusa1/8royalty.destinies of millions more.During the worst year of the Great Depression, itStephenTioKlebergwasthegrandsonofRep. was a deal that financially secured the ranch. Dick Kleberg, and son of Dick, Jr., who worked cattle In 1945, the Borregas oil field was discovered, andand horses on the ranch with the vaqueros. Tio was going into the post-war boom, Humble stepped upas talented at cattle cutting on a $4 million Quarter explorationanddiscovery.In1947,390activeHorse as he was managing the herd in drought. He wells on the ranch generated $3.25 million ($44thus earned the nickname Tio, Uncle in Spanish, million today), with 650 productive oil and gasfrom the vaqueros, for his resemblance as a skilled wells in 1953. By the end of the 1960s, the Kingrancher to his Grand-uncle, Bob Kleberg. By 1980 at Ranch fields were generating $20 million per year. age 34, Tio Kleberg was the last of his generation Klebergputthosefundstoworkmarketingthestill on the ranch. Under the weight of satisfying Santa Gertrudis breed where ranching was as dif- over 80 heirs, virtually none of whom were involved ficultasinSouthTexasSouthAmerica,Northin the ranchtheir only stake being in its annual in-Africa, and Australia, where he purchased eightcomeTio was forced out by a Harvard-educated million acres, at one time expanding King RanchCEO with whom he frequently clashed.ownership to over 12.5 million acres worldwide. WiththeousterofTioKlebergin1998, the The New York Times obituary of Robert Kleberg, IIIdeeplyAmericanstoryendedthatofhowthe (Jr.), read, The holdings that Mr. Kleberg direct- Kings and the Klebergs survived the longest odds ed were so vast as to beggar the imagination[he]in building not just an empire of wealth, but in de-climbed on a horse and pitched inat mealtime, heveloping and improving an entire world industry was at the chuck wagon eating cowboy fare. that employs millions and feeds billions; in bring-ing Mexican and American cultures together that When he died in 1974, aged 78, after leading theare, today, a new culture unto itself, and; in giv-ranch since age 22 through perils to its survivaling thousands of Texans over many generations as fatal as the Comanches, Mexican raiders, andthe opportunity to meet their God-given potential.Stephen Tio Kleberg, the last family the Union Army were to his grandfather, CaptainWhen the King Ranch lost Tio Kleberg, that storymember to manage the King Ranch.Richard King, Bob Kleberg had built a worldwideended, and so too shall this one.TheCoastalBend.com THE COASTAL BEND GUIDE93'