Do you have a famous person in your fan club? If so, did you recognize their name when you added them to your FAN club?
When I first found George Miller listed in the census with George’s grandfather, I did not recognize him as someone who played a major role in cowboy history. It was only an Ancestry story referencing the 101 ranch that led me to dig further into his life and uncover his impact on the cattle industry and Oklahoma.
While his obituary was published in multiple papers, I found several long obituaries. Besides offering a slightly different view of his life, they provide a glimpse into the magnitude of his 101 ranch. The first is from The Ponca City Daily Courier published near the ranch in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
Death of Geo W. Miller
George W. Miller, manager of the 101 ranch near this city, died at his home on the ranch at 2:30 o’clock on Saturday, April 25, 1903, of pneumonia, aged 61 years and 20 days. Short funeral services were held at the house on Sunday at 9 0’clock a.m. conducted by Rev. Sims, Methodist missionary at the Ponca Agency, and the body was shipped to Crab Orchard, Kentucky, the old home of the family for burial. Mr. Miller leaves a wife and four children, two sons and two daughters grown to manhood and womanhood.
“Death of Geo. W. Miller,” The Ponca City Daily Courier (Ponca City, Oklahoma), 27 April 1903, page 1; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 4 January 2024).
The officer of every immense corporation comes in for his share of the world’s fame, but there are unknown captains of industry in the west who are doing things in the world of work and finance that are equally as worthy as the trust magnates. The management of a 50,000 acre farm, the largest under fence in the United States, is a fact that becomes appalling in its immensity when one comes to consider all details.
Geo W. Miller, a man over 60 years of age, had taken up the task of running the famous 101 ranch in northern Oklahoma. Indeed, he has been operating it quite successfully the past four years, but under increased pressure.
Mr. Miller paid the Ponca and Otoe tribes of Indians $32,500 annual rental for his 50,000 acres farm; other running expenses amount to $75,000 annually. Last year 13,000 acres were sown in wheat, 3,000 in corn and 3,000 in forage crops.
The income of the ranch is from $400,000 to $500,000 annually. The profits on wheat are from $40,000 to $50,000 annually. The income on steers is even more.
Two hundred men find employment on this vast ranch, and $33,000 worth of tools and machinery are used in caring for the grain harvests. Four hundred head of mules are used in the fields and in herding steers.
Mr. Miller has mastered economies of farming to such a degree of perfection as is making the 101 ranch noted as the most profitable farming property in the west. HE had a system of double planting corn field that gives double use of the land. By the time the corn had been harvested the cow peas have grown high enough to make good pasturage. Also, after the cutting of wheat in June and July the fields are plowed and sown in kafir corn. This is ready for the pasture in October, but the field is first drilled in wheat and the cattle are allowed to tramp in the wheat and nibble off the blades of corn. During the winter, after the corn has been eaten away, the wheat grows up and is pastured until spring. This system of getting two returns from a single field was an idea originated by Mr. Miller. It was his most successful plan of making money out of farming.
The second is from another Oklahoma paper, The El Reno Daily American, published in El Reno, Oklahoma which is a little over 100 miles to the southwest of the ranch.
Big Rancher Dead
Head of 101 Ranch Died Last
Saturday Near Ponca CityGeorge W. MIller, manager of the 101 ranch near Ponca City, died at his home on the ranch at 2:30 o’clock on Saturday, April 25, 1903, of pneumonia; aged 61 years and 20 days. Short funeral services were held at the home on Sunday morning at 9 o’clock, conducted by Rev. Sims, Methodist missionary at Ponca agency, and the body was shipped to Crab Orchard, Kentucky, the old home of the family, for burial. Mr. Miller leaves a wife and four children, two sons and two daughters, grown to manhood and womanhood.
“Big Rancher Dead,” The El Reno Daily American (El Reno, OK), 5 May 1903, page 4; digitial images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 1 January 2024).
The officer of every immense corporation comes in for his share of the world’s fame, but there are unknown captains of industry in the West who are doing things in the world of work and finance that are equally as worthy as trust magnates. The management of a 50,00 acre farm, the largest under fence in the United States, is a fact that becomes appalling in its immensity when it comes to considering all details.
George W. Miller, a man over 60 years of age, had taken up the task of running the famous 101 ranch in Northern, Oklahoma. Indeed, he has been operating it quite successfully for the past four years, but under increased pressure.
Mr. Miller paid the Ponca and Otoe tribes of Indians $32,500 annual rental for his 50,000 acre farm; other running expenses amounted to $75,000 annually. Last year 13,000 acres were sown in wheat, 3,000 in corn and 3,000 in forage crops.
The income of the ranch is from $400,000 to $500,000 annually. The profits on wheat are from $40,000 to $50,000 annually. The income on steers is even more.
Two hundred men find employment on this vast ranch, and $33,000 worth of tools and machinery are used in caring or the grain harvest. Four hundred head of mules are used in the field and in herding steers.
Mr. Miller has mastered economies of farming to such a degree of perfection as to make the 101 ranch noted as the most profitable farming property in the West. He had a system of double planting corn field that gives double use of the land. By the time the corn had been harvested the cow peas have grown high enough to make good pasturage. Also, after the cutting of the wheat in June and July, the fields are plowed and sown in kafir corn. This is ready for the pasture in October, but the field is first drilled in wheat and the cattle are allowed to tramp in the wheat and nibble off the blades of corn. During the winter, after the corn has been eaten away, the wheat crows up and is pastured until spring. This system of getting two returns from a single field was an idea originated by Mr. Miller. It was his most successful plan of making money out of farming.
The family maintained a home in Winfield, Kansas where his children were raised and where his wife resided. Thus, The Winfield Tribune, also published a long obituary.
The Passing of George W. Miller
The President of 101 Ranch Died Last Saturday after Only One Week’s Illness
George W. Miller, president of 101 Ranch and the largest stock raiser in this part of the country, died at the ranch home near Bliss, Oklahoma, last Saturday afternoon at three o’clock, after scarcely a week’s illness.
“The Passing of George W. Miller,” The Winfield Tribune (Winfield, Kansas), 1 May 1903, page 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 3 January 2024).
He was taken sick with a heavy cold Sunday which quickly settled on his lungs and developed into pneumonia causing his death almost before the family realized his sickness. His wife and daughter, Alma, who were in Winfield, hastened to his bedside the middle of the week and together with the remainder of his family, his only brother, Wm. F. Miller, and his three sons, Joseph C., Zachery T., and George L., were with him during his last days.
In the death of Mr. Miller there passes into history a character known all over Kansas and Oklahoma. He was born in Danville, Kentucky, on February 22nd, 1842, of southern parents and during his sixty-one years of life he retained a strongly marked southern personality. In 1849 he went to Crab Orchard, Kentucky, and lived there twenty-one years, long enough to become sufficiently attached to the place to call it “home.” He was married to Miss Millie A. Carson, of Louisville, Kentucky, on January 10th, 1866, and returned with his bride to Crab Orchard. In 1869 they moved to Newtonea, Missouri, and drifted across the Kansas border in 1880 locating for a year at Baxter Springs, and then coming to Winfield.
Headquartered here he dealt in cattle and was one of the first white men to drive cattle from Texas to the Indian territory. He established a large ranch near the present site of Bliss, Oklahoma and organized a company which now has under its control about 50,000 acres of land. From one hundred to one hundred and fifty men are employed on this immense ranch where everything is done on a gigantic scale. Immense wheat crops, huge water melons, and wide stretches of pasture populous with numerous herds of cattle, have made their place famous, the subject of many newspaper and magazine articles. It is known throughout Kansas and Oklahoma as “101 Ranch,” a colony of cattle men and cow boys devoted to the interests of George Miller, In addition to the ranch Mr Miller maintained a large family home in tis city which was reputed for its elegance and hospitality.
He was a man peculiarly constituted in many ways; of a strong character, and absolutely fearless. He had both friends and foes, the former as loyal and true as steel, who never tire of recounting his chivalry and devotion to his wife and family, his benevolence to the poor, his kindness to friends and his hospitality to “the stranger within his gate” Few there are who ever heard him speak ill of anyone; none there are who sought his hospitality or charity and were turned away empty handed.
With all this he had many troubles and bitter enemies. From their judgment he has gone to answer in a higher court to the Judge of All Men, and it is well for them to draw the mantle of charity over his faults, and remember only his great hospitality, good deeds, and acts of charity.
Undertaker Axtell, of this city, went to the ranch Sunday and embalmed the body for shipment to Kentucky. At the deceased request he was interred in the family burying ground at Crab Orchard. The remains were accompanied to their final resting place by Mrs. Miller, Miss Alma Miller and Joseph Miller.
Mr Miller carried a heavy life insurance and is estimated to have amassed a fortune of three hundred thousand dollars which will go to the surviving members of the family.
While I expected to find obituaries in the Oklahoma papers and in the Winfield paper, I was somewhat surprised to find a lengthy obituary in the Kansas City newspaper.
An Old-Time Cattleman
The Death of George W. Miller in Oklahoma
Was First to Bring a Trail Herd from Mexico
His Big Ranch “101” Is Known All over the United StatesPonca City, Ok., April 28 — George W. Miller, president of teh 101 Ranch company at Bliss, int eh Ponca Indian reservation, who died last Saturday, was a characteristic type of the old time cattleman. He was one of teh first to bring a trail herd from Mexico to the interior of the United States. His herds ranged in number from 3,000 to 6,000 cattle One year he handled 25,000 head of trail cattle, many of which were loaded at Hunnewell, Kas., for shipment to market. The cattle were paid for in gold which was hauled to the Mexican border by wagon. The owners refused currency and did not know the meaning of a bank draft.
“An Old-Time Cattleman,” The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Missouri), 28 April 1903, page 9; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 3 January 2023).
Mr. Miller’s judgment of the value of cattle on the hoof was remarkable few persons being better able than he to tell what the worth of a loan turned loose on the range in the spring would be at shipping time. He was engaged in the cattle business in Oklahoma for thirty-one years, and in all that time used brand “101.” Eleven years ago he started ranch “101,” which is known throughout the united States as a successful live stock and agricultural enterprise. The wheat fields alone aggregate 8,000 acres.
Was a Kentuckian
Mr. Miller was born near Danville, Ky., February 22, 1842, and spent his boyhood on a farm near Crab Orchard. His Kentucky blood was shown in his unique personality. He made strong friends and bitter enemies; to one he was steadfast, and to the other defiant. His hospitality was unbounded, and on his ranch and at his city home in Winfield, Kas., he gave his guests the best his table and his cellar could produce. Three hours before his death he insisted that friends who had come to bid him farewell should sit down to dinner, and regretted that his health was not such as to permit him to join them. He gave freely to the poor, and his compassion for their distress was such that on Thanksgiving day he always gave a steer to those in greatest need.
Mr. Miller’s death was due to pneumonia which began a week ago last Sunday. He had always been vigorous in body, but he felt his vitality slipping from him and said that he would not recover. He called his family to his bedside and made known his final wishes in the management of his 50,000 acre ranch which will be operated as it was during his life. TO his widow he left $30,000 in life insurance. He said that the approach of death did not alarm him, and watched its coming without distress. He played with his grandchildren almost to the end, his mind remaining clear and active.
Buried on the Old Farm
The body was taken Sunday to the family burial ground on the farm in Kentucky where he lived when a boy. An escort of cowboys rode beside the hearse as it passed alongside on of the ranch’s great wheat fields, across a broad pasture where thousands of cattle grazed in sight of the trail road, and thence to the railroad station at Bliss. Many Ponca Indians, from whom most of the ranch lands are leased accompanied the body. Chief White Eagle, together with several of his head men, viewed the body at the ranch house, but refused to go to the railroad station. White Eagle is a proud man, and said: “I wold not weep where men and women could see. I must retire alone.”
Mr. Miller married Miss Mollie A. Carson in Louisville, Ky., January 10, 1866. They located at Newton, MO., in 1869, went to Baxter Springs, Kas, in 1880, and a year later moved to Winfield, Kas., which was their home at the time of his death. He left a widow, a daughter, Miss Alma Miller, and three sons, Joseph C. Miller, “Zack” Miller and George Miller.