The ranch was started by Jesse Applegate and purchased by Jesse Carr in 1871.

The original ranch is where Clear Lake in Modoc County is today. It was initially 20,000 acres with water rights to 100,000 acres. It was stocked with 5,000 head of cattle and 500 horses.

William C. Dalton was born in Hartville, TN in 1874 and moved to Merced, CA in 1896.

In 1900 WC Dalton moved to Klamath County at the request of his uncle, Jesse Carr, to manage the ranch. At that time, Carr owned all the land from Adam’s
Point in Merrill, OR to the southeast side of Tule Lake. WC Dalton became one of the founding fathers of the town of Malin, OR.

Jesse Carr died in 1903 and the ranch was left in equal parts to his daughter Jessie Seale, WC Dalton and JC Franks. By 1920 WC Dalton had purchased the other partners out and renamed the ranch as the Klamath Land and Livestock Company.

In 1905 the ranch at Clear Lake was condemned by the Bureau of Reclamation for the Klamath Irrigation project. With the money received from the Bureau, WC Dalton was able to purchase Steele Swamp and Inges Swamp on the Devil’s Garden in Modoc County. This purchase in 1911 came with 2,500 head of cattle and 500 horses.

William Dalton married Elizabeth Sullivan in April of 1925. They had two children: Elizabeth (Betty Lou) Dalton in 1926 and William C. Dalton Jr. in 1931. WC Dalton was eventually the biggest cattle, hay, and grain operator in the Tulelake Basin. He passed away in 1958.

Betty Lou married Robert A. Byrne on August 21, 1946. Bob had contracted jungle diseases while serving in WWII and had been sent to the dry climate of the Klamath Basin to recuperate. After Bob’s retirement from the US Marines, he went to work for his father-in-law, WC Dalton.

Bob and Betty Lou had 5 children: Elizabeth, Robert, Michael, Patricia, and Daniel. In 1961, Bob and Betty Lou purchased the ranch from Betty Lou’s mother and started Robert A. Byrne Co. Betty Lou and Bob managed the ranch together until Bob’s passing in 1988.

After graduating from college, Mike (UC Davis) and Dan (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo) came back to join the family business. In 1983 Mike and Dan purchased a piece of the ranch and started Byrne Brothers. Mike and Dan managed the ranch together until Dan’s passing in 2008.

Mike and his wife Bev have two children, Matt and Brianna. At Dan’s passing, Matt and Brianna became partners in the ranch.

Over the last 145 years the ranch has produced top quality cattle for the beef industry. Byrne cattle graze on the over 100,000 acre forest service permit on the Modoc National Forest known as the Devil’s Garden and over 20,000 deeded acres. The Byrne family started one of the first rotational grazing permits with the USFS under which cattle are grazed in 14 different pastures for 30-45 days during the summer and fall. The majority of the herd winters in Tehama, Glenn, Yolo and Tulare Counties.

The Byrne family has been producing natural and hormone-free cattle for many years. In more recent years, they have also developed an organic herd, selling their organic calves to Sunfed Beef, a company founded and run by Matt Byrne, and other organic operations. Through the years the Byrne family has been involved in many conservation projects to help improve the land and habitat for all species of wildlife including sage grouse, deer, and antelope. The Byrne family has also been very active in fighting for our private property and water rights and know that conservation is the key to survival.

Mike and Bev were pleased to invite the sixth generation to the ranching business with grandsons Luke and Colin Byrne (Matt and Megan) and Declan and Sean Randles (Brianna and Zac) and looks forward to the continued success of the Byrne ranching business for another 145 years.