The XIT Ranch headquarters at Channing functioned as the administrative center of one of the largest fenced cattle ranches in the world. The ranch itself covered more than three million acres across ten Texas Panhandle counties, stretching roughly 200 miles along the New Mexico border, and was created in 1882 when the Texas Legislature granted the land to Chicago financiers Charles and John Farwell in exchange for building the new Texas State Capitol in Austin. Cattle operations began in 1885, first with Texas Longhorns and later with Hereford and Aberdeen Angus stock introduced to improve the herd, all branded with the distinctive XIT mark. The operation was organized into eight division headquarters, each with its own residences, barns, and corrals, and the main headquarters moved to Channing in 1890. To manage such vast holdings the ranch strung as many as 1,500 miles of barbed-wire fencing and eventually operated some 335 windmills to draw water for livestock across the dry plains. Financial pressure from company bonds led to land sales beginning in 1901, and the ranch wound down entirely by November 1912, when the last XIT cattle were sold. Today the headquarters site itself is largely gone, marked by historical markers in and around Channing, while the broader story of the ranch is preserved at the XIT Museum in nearby Dalhart, which also hosts the annual XIT Rodeo and Reunion commemorating the ranch's history.