George Swiggart arrived in Grant County in the spring of 1885. He was one of the people who organized Grant County. His eldest son, Ralph Swiggart, started the ranching business in 1887. This was an era when you used your horses for everything. The horse was always the first one fed and saddled and the last one done at the end of a day. Some of the tasks included putting up hay, feeding hay, working cattle, riding over many hills to help the neighbors; everything done included a horse at some point. In the mid- 1940’s Ralph sold his ranch to his son-in-law, Hop Vinton. Ralph remained active in the horse business until his death in 1959.

About 1950 Hop Vinton sold the ranch to two of his sons, John and Ralph. John was Chris’s father and Ralph was Dan’s father, making Dan and Chris the 5^th generation on the ranch. That leaves Justin, Dan’s son, as the 6^th generation on the ranch. The 7^th generation is just starting to tromp around the place as well. The ranching business has been in the same family since the beginning of homesteads, after the Indians left the country, in the Nebraska Sandhills. Cattle have always been the primary business, but horses have always played a big part.