The history of the land known for the La Campana (Bell) mesa holds that "early Indians" had what might be called the "original title" to this land. Later Apache, Kiowa and Comanche would claim their hunting territories and Conquistadors would wander through, but, it was a titled gentleman by the name of Pablo Montoya whose rank boasted Captain in His Majesty the King of Spain's Army, an Alcalde of Santa Fe, and a Comanchero who, in 1824, first laid "civilized" entitlement to the 655,000 acres of prairies and canyons. As time brought the death of Pablo Montoya and the recognition of New Mexico as a U.S. Territory, it also brought Attorney John S. Watts to the ranch. For successfully petitioning the U.S. Congress to confirm the Montoya Grant, Watts received half interest in the title. By 1867 the attorney had gained title to the entire grant, but within three years he would sell it all to Wilson Waddingham.

Waddingham was a flamboyant Canadian who preferred to be thought of as an Englishman. One writer would say of him that he "might well have been the original of Get Rich Quick Wallingford". The massive 240-pound man lent much to the stereotype of the cattle barons of the era. Always one step ahead of his creditors, he reorganized the ranch under several different holding companies. To name a few; United States Agricultural Society, Fort Bascom Cattle Company, Red River Land and Cattle and finally Bell Ranch Company, this title first bestowed in 1889. He is also credited with registering the Bell brand in 1874. Waddingham's general manager, Michael Slattery, was a hard riding, hard fighting, ex-pony express rider who consolidated ranch holdings from squatters through force, experimented with irrigation, barbed-wired the ranch perimeter and upgraded the native cows with Durham bulls. On May 16,1899 after a 4 o'clock rise and a 6 o'clock business breakfast Waddingham died of apoplexy as he scurried upstairs for some papers about reorganizing his Bell Ranch holdings, a promoter to the end.

Maybe it's the luck of the Irish that came to Bell Ranch after Waddingham's last futile attempts at reorganizing the Pablo Montoya Grant. That luck came in the form of a man whose size and sharp features would not indicate his cordial manner. Arthur J. Tisdall replaced Michael Slattery as general manager. Tisdall was hired from the JA Ranch in 1894 by John Greenough's holding company. Tisdall is said to have "sparked the eventual revolution in the caliber of the Bell Ranch product", but his luck wouldn't hold as he died of pneumonia in the "White House" of the ranch in 1898. As only the Irish would have it, the next general manager was called Charles M. O'Donel. He also had worked for the JA, and was born in Ireland as well, but this is where the similarities ended. He was a smaller, slender man and his cool aloof was hardly the manner of the warmer Tisdall. The bosses also changed, for by now Ezekiel Stoddard and Edward Bradley were controlling the purse strings of the new Red River Valley Company. One thing the two Irishmen could agree on is reflected in a management statement O'Donel issued, "Through good times and bad alike, two objects were kept steadily in view, the development of the ranch as a grazing property and the improvement of the quality of cattle. With these aims ... no departure was allowed from the high standard adopted." This philosophy allowed O'Donel to be one of the first to sell yearlings directly to Midwestern cattle feeders rather than marketing 4 to 5 year old steers.

In 1923 Stoddard was killed in a fall from a horse and vice president Julius Day moved into the presidency. In 1932 O'Donel was retired, but wouldn't, and soon got his replacement fired. Day sent O'Donel on vacation and hired Albert K. Mitchell as manager in O'Donel's absence.

You might picture dust rising several feet into the air and imagine the pilot gently banking his plane to circle the cattle drive below, Albert K. Mitchell could be squinting through his glasses out the grit caked windshield to sunbaked grasslands. He'd be just 30 years old, fresh from school in California and Cornell, managing not only his family's Tequesquite Ranch, but the Red River Valley Company as well. This would be the fall of 1934, toward the end of his first year as Red River manager. What a year it had been. Only 3" of rain had graced northeastern New Mexico. The country was in the grip of the great depression. 1932 had been a good grass year, encouraging cattlemen to hold out for better prices, but the drought forced sales, flooding an already depressed market. As he circled back to the Bell runway he must have been wondering where he would stick this bunch of cattle. He had already scattered cattle from California to Pennsylvania, Colorado to Iowa. Upon landing he might go to the office. Maybe this day he would close the deal to send 6,000 head of mother cows along with range bulls to Sonora Mexico's Cananea Cattle Company. Or perhaps he made arrangements for 500 head of steer calves to graze on a Hunt Club near Wilmington, Delaware. Whatever the chore, he would work in the office until well after midnight. The next day he would be up before the sun and ride out with the cowboys. After a few days of this routine Mitchell would fly back to Tequesquite where the cycle would start again. By 1935 the moisture and range were getting back to normal. It was then that the U.S. Congress once again heard from the ranch as Mitchell petitioned them for help in getting the cows, bulls, and calves back from Mexico.

Drought, depression and failing health of past manager Charles O'Donel, had all taken their toll on the ranch. So with his characteristic energy and decisiveness Mitchell set about rebuilding. Twelve years of repairs, improvements, and innovations created a sales opportunity which was realized by the fall of 1947. The ranch was broken into 6 parcels, the headquarters and brand sold to the Keeney's of Conneticut. This piece became the Bell Ranch. The farm became the Chappell Spade, the country along the Red River sold as the Clabber Hill ranch, the Mesa Rica country went to the Hoover's of the T 4, Fort Bascom area to the Hill and Sims partnership, and the land west of Conchas Lake became the 4V. These, along with the eastern Atarque country which sold to the Trigg brothers in 1917 pretty much make up the list of today's operations on the Pablo Montoya Grant.

Mrs. Harriett E. Kenney hired Mitchell's assistant, George F. Ellis, to manage the Bell Ranch she'd bought. Ellis, his wife Mattie, and New Mexico State left behind the legacy of inaugurating performance selection measurements. At the time Ellis said, "no one else that he knew of in the ranching business was engaged in such work." While visual appraisal dominated the way cattle were being selected, this group was measuring. They evaluated soundness, temperament, conformation, and more importantly, calf crop percentages and weight gain. The latter lead to what the industry knows today as the 205-day adjusted weight. Furthermore, Ellis was concerned with conservation, developing water and experimenting with cactus control.

Ellis's retirement and the last sale of the Bell came in 1970 when the late William N. Lane of Northbrook, Il's Lane Industries purchased it with the aim to "keep the ranch running just like the past, a working ranch for the production of fine cattle." The Lanes also purchased the Waggoner northern strip that had formerly been owned by the Triggs. Lane hired Don Hofman as manager and upon Hofman's retirement in 1986 the Lane family hired Rusty Tinnin. On March 12, 2006 Assistant Manager, Bert Ancell, found that Rusty Tinnin had passed away of natural causes at the Bell Ranch Headquarter's "White House." Rusty and his wife, Bennie, had made their home in the White House since the fall of 1986. Bennie and daughters, Debora and Tonya, ask that any contributions to Rusty's memory be directed to the Masked Rider Endowment Fund at Texas Tech. University.