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Ranching

Eaton Ranch – Towner
2001 Hall of Fame Ranching Inductee

  The Eaton Ranch was established in 1890 in the Mouse River Valley southwest of Towner. The operation’s principle brand, the 7E, was first registered in 1899. Founder James Briggs “J.B.” Eaton was born in 1858 and raised in Illinois. He came to North Dakota to seek his fortune.

  Arriving at Devils Lake in 1882, J.B. started an insurance and real estate business. He traveled west in 1890 and began acquiring valley lands from early homesteaders, first near Velva, then at the present Towner sandhills location.

 Early on, the Eaton Ranch raised draft horses, including Percherons, for the drayage market in the East. Once the gasoline engine put workhorses out of business, the ranch switched to commercial and purebred Herefords.

  J.B. was one of the first livestock operators to run his place as a cow/calf outfit, rather than marketing older steers. In 1916, he and his son, John, bought top heifer calves to build a first-class cowherd.

  He was the first rancher to propose the local flood irrigation system. The Eaton Dam Project was named in his honor. He died in 1930, and son John assumed ownership/management of the ranch. He established a small herd of purebred Herefords and expanded the commercial herd and played a role in the Eaton Flood Irrigation Project, organized the Mouse River Cattlemen’s Association, served as North Dakota Stockmen’s Association president, and later as American National Cattlemen’s Association second vice-president.

 Upon John’s death, ranch ownership passed to his eldest son, Jock. Following an interval of lease arrangements, Jock’s daughter, Mary, and her husband, Scott Mueller, began operating the ranch in 1978. Today, it consists of about 7,500 acres southeast of Denbigh where the Muellers raise commercial cattle.