Welcome to Bluff Creek Ranch. A scenic, rolling 4328 acres of Southwest Texas Brush Country near Del Rio, Texas. This ranch is an outdoorsmans dream with quick, easy access to all of the modern conveniences of Del Rio, yet end of the road privacy and untouched wilderness reminiscent of the old West. The scenic rolling hills and deep arroyos along the Bluff Creek drainage make this ranch very unique for this area. The ranch is well watered with unlimited potential for groundwater production due to its location on top of the Edwards/Trinity Aquifer. All of the water rights are intact and hold serious potential. The ranch has multiple water wells and has a good network of roads throughout the ranch. The ranch is accessible by a strip of fee land extending to F.M. 2528, as well as an easement through neighboring lands. The historic headquarters includes a three bedroom stucco home, carport and guest quarters, large barn with stalls and tack room, and a well appointed set of pens for livestock. The ranch is cross fenced and well watered as a working cattle ranch. Wildlife on the ranch includes a solid herd of native whitetails, Javelina, Feral Hogs, Rio Grande Turkey, dove, quail, and a nice herd of free-ranging Axis deer.

 

Traveling Northeast out of Del Rio on F.M. 2523, the inconspicuous little sign wired to the metal gate on your left reading “Rust Pens” does little to stir the imagination. That little sign however, is something far greater than your basic gate sign, it is more like the front cover to a beautiful book full of Texas history, colorful characters, cowboys with their livestock and working quarter horses, iconic businessmen and more than 100 years of family history. Welcome to the Bluff Creek Ranch and her rich history.

 

Llewellyn Rust came to Del Rio in 1898 after having been involved in the development of telephone lines in Philadelphia, Wilmington, Del Trenton and Camden, N.J. with Bell Telephone Co.. By 1905, Llewellyn and his two brothers organized the Del Rio and Western Co. and together they pioneered a telephone network tying together commerce throughout 25 South and West Texas counties. Lew was not only a pioneer of telephone networks, but along the way he also established himself as a civic leader holding such titles as Director and President of Del Rio National Bank, VP and GM of Del Rio and Western Telephone Co., Laredo and Southwestern Telephone Co., and Del Rio and Wintergarden Exchange Co. Lew Rust also became Director and VP of Producers Wool and Mohair Co., President of First Federal Savings and Loan Assn., President of Del Rio Chamber of Commerce, and a Mason and trustee of the Episcopal Church.  During his impressive years of accomplishments in the business world, Lew Rust began to acquire ranch lands starting in 1914 with the acquisition of the 23,000 acre Bluff Creek Ranch. It was then that he realized his true passion. Ranching.

 

As father of four children, Lew instilled the love of ranching, rodeo, horse breeding and training which has defined the Rust family throughout the generations. Sparks Rust Sr. raised and registered the ranch’s first registered Quarter Horse ,“Rusty R” , in 1941, the year AQHA was formed. The Rusts raised registered Quarter Horses from that time on. The ranch became well known for its working Quarter Horses. Sparks Rust went on to raise and train world renowned “Bones”, a dogging horse that won the National High School Rodeo Finals, Collegiate National Finals, and the PRCA National Finals, all in the same year. Sparks Jr. went on to become director of the Independent Cattleman’s Association, President of the American Quarter Horse Association, and was appointed by the Governor of Texas to serve as a director of the Texas Animal Health Commission. The “Rust Pens” is the Headquarters pasture of what was once the 23,000 acres Bluff Creek Ranch, and one only has to walk the shearing shed, cattle pens, horse pens and stalls, and training facilities, and step into the beautifully preserved tack room to experience the full gravity of one of the most historically significant ranches in Southwest Texas.

 

Mark Hubbard Ranch Properties is honored to offer the 4328.508 acre ranch called Bluff Creek Ranch. The great granddaughters of Llewellyn Rust, also the granddaughters of Henry Sparks Rust, “Sparks Rust Sr.”, have entrusted us with the marketing of their beloved piece of history. We know you will be impressed with this historic headquarters pasture, the last remaining piece of the Bluff Creek Ranch.

 

Bluff Creek Ranch is turn-key and ready to go!  This ranch is exclusively marketed by Mark Hubbard Ranch Properties, and can only be shown by scheduled appointment.

PRICE:$4,306,360 PRICE PER ACRE:$995