Cow Creek Chronicles: The Rise and Fall of an Early Florida Cattle Ranch

Cattle ranching has long been a major force in Florida, covering over 12 percent of the state’s lands. In Cow Creek Chronicles, journalist Gregory Enns explores this history through the century-long saga of the Raulerson family, who built a cattle empire at Cow Creek Ranch between Fort Pierce and Okeechobee.

The Raulersons were a family of pioneers that moved south to Florida during the nineteenth century. Family patriarch Frank Raulerson established the ranch in 1923. As the cattle herd grew and fences were built, Seminole communities that had lived near the creek in thatched huts called chickees were forced off the land to nearby towns and reservations, and this book includes their stories. At its height in the 1960s, the 23,000-acre Cow Creek Ranch, operated by Frank’s granddaughter and heir Jo Ann Raulerson Sloan, boomed under the supervision of a core group of cowboys using modern agricultural methods. As the years went by, Jo Ann’s husband, TL Sloan, mismanaged expenses and mired the ranch in debt, and the family sold off the land in parcels—many of which are now conservation areas.

In this narrative, readers will gain insight into how ranches were first established in Florida, including how cattle were managed and breeds developed. Enns opens a window into the lives of ranch hands and cowboys, highlighting traditions such as roundups, cattle drives, parades, and rodeos, as well as folkways such as cooking and handcrafts. He also draws attention to the history of the Cow Creek band of Florida Seminoles, including their legendary heroine Emateloye Estenletkvte (Polly Parker). Cow Creek Chronicles weaves together many strands in a unique history of the modern settlement of Florida.