Halff of Texas: A Merchant Rancher of the Old West

Cowman Mayer Halff rode a long, busy trail that few men could have followed. It carried him from 1850s France to Texas and across 1,500 miles of wild western country waiting to be tamed. Throughout his life, he was at ease whether dining with a U.S. President at a plush metropolitan banquet or squatting across a campfire from a dirt-streaked cowboy in some forsaken cow camp.

Immigrating as a fourteen-year-old, Halff began as a foot peddler. He quickly built the largest dry goods business in th…