Charles & Mary Anne Goodnight

Charles Goodnight was a Texas Ranger, rancher, and co-founder of the Goodnight-Loving Trail. He also helped save the Southern Plains buffalo. He began his captive bison herd at the Elm Creek Ranch by capturing 6 free-ranging calves in 1866. This early effort to save the bison developed further in the 1870s, with his wife Mary Anne. By the 1920s, the herd had grown to over 200, and contributed to the foundation of herds in Yellowstone National Park, the National Bison Range, as well as in Canadian national parks. The core herd was subsequently harbored at the JA Ranch, and ultimately settled at Caprock Canyons State Park.