LIVING HISTORY
ranch. Over the years, he builds three new block houses and
a bunkhouse for the ranch hands.
He also modernizes equipment for vaccinating and dipping
in the national ABC television show Discovery; and becomes
president of the Florida Beef Council and the Florida Cattlemen’s
After reaching such heights in the cattle industry, he begins
a spending spree virtually unmatched on the Treasure Coast:
planes, a yacht, a city block in Fort Pierce and a farm in North
Carolina, along with various other investments in aviation
and real estate.
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contracting swamp that bisects the ranch from east to west, a
waterway sacred to the Seminoles who lived along it.
When Raulerson dies in 1954, he leaves his entire estate to
Jo Ann. Her father, Alfred Raulerson, had died in 1938 in a
drowning accident when Jo Ann was 8. Her grandfather and
grandmother, Annie Louise, had wrested custody of Jo Ann
from her mother. Mother Lou and Granddad, as she calls
them, raise her, with Mother Lou tutoring her in the Victorian
principles of being a lady while Granddad teaches her the
ways of cattle ranching and the Florida backwoods.
In 1952, Jo Ann marries TL, a clothing salesman who grew
up poor. After a brief stint in the Army, he returns to run the
cattle against diseases; is featured as a model rancher
Association.
This entry into the old Cow Creek Ranch headquarters shows the house Frank Raulerson built for his stays at the ranch at left.
GREGORY ENNS PHOTOS
Cow Creek swamp bisected Cow Creek Ranch from north and south. The
swamp had special meaning for the Seminoles in the area.
GREGORY ENNS
Sandy Lane was a main off-road thoroughfare at the Cow Creek Ranch,
which TL and Jo Ann Sloan sold in 1976.
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