A History of the Ninety-Six Ranch

  • The Founding Years, 1864-1910 Fredrick William Stock, who was born near Exten, Hessen-Kassel, Germany, in 1837, founded what is now called the Ninety-Six Ranch. His name in German was Friedrich Wilhelm; the family's records variously spell it Friedrick or Fredrick. He was apprenticed to a cobbler at fourteen but abandoned the pursuit after two years and came to America. He arrived in New York in 1853 and proceeded…
  • The Ranch after 1910 Three children inherited the ranch; Elizabeth had died in 1904, and the property passed to William F., Edith, and Minnie. William F. was paralyzed by a runaway horse accident in the early thirties and died in 1936, vesting ownership in his two sisters and their families. Minnie married and moved to Sacramento, leaving the actual operation in the hands of Edith and her husband,…
  • The Sagebrush Rebellion, 1960-1982 During the 1960s and 1970s, the impact of the environmental movement was felt in the West, particularly in areas with extensive public lands. In Nevada, nearly 90 percent of the state's land is overseen by a variety of federal agencies, including the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the U.S. Forest Service. Most Nevada ranchers lease public grazing lands…