Antonio Gomez left his wealthy family's Valencia cattle ranch in 1799 to settle his family in the New World. He possessed the confidence bred of wealth and status that he would readily be awarded a Spanish Land Grant. Antonio became discouraged as there was very little land available, but he got lucky. Antonio was awarded a 520,000-acre ranch between the Nueces and Rio Grande Rivers, resulting from a heroic act for the Crown. He came to realize that the hardscrabble ranch life was not what he wanted and took the opportunity to settle a gambling debt by initiating a lease deal with Lee Caldwell, newly arrived with his wife from Tennessee and seeking land. Antonio met with ill fate, but Lee continued to herd and market cattle and pay his taxes. He and his family survived Indians, violence, drought, and hard times, and experienced the events that led to the Republic of Texas joining the United States. The family made a comfortable life cattle ranching, but the subsequent discovery of oil on the ranch by Lee's great-granddaughter sealed the fate of an empire that had lasted more than 130 years.
