Glide Ranch

Photo of Glide Ranch in duo-tone, mid-1990s? This photo in in question... see comments in entry

Thornton ("Tawny") S. Glide, Jr. and his wife, Katrina ("Scatter") Dangberg Glide owned and operated the T.S. Glide Ranch. Though both are now deceased, they established a charitable foundation to protect animals, wildlife, agriculture and the environment of Yolo County. The Glide Foundation operates out of the Pierce Ranch, the sister ranch to the Glide Ranch. Both are located in the Outskirts of Davis, off Russell Boulevard past Cactus Corner. Fairfield School is across the street.

The Glide Foundation rents office space to nonprofits that work in line with their mission. Currently housed at the Glide Ranch are:

• State headquarters of Community Alliance with Family Farmers
• Field office of ATTRA, the National Center for Appropriate Technology
• Field office of CCOF, California Certified Organic Farmers

Ranch Features

• Lease land to grass-fed cattle rancher
• House & care for some 30-odd rescue horses
• Is a historical building, built some 100 years ago
• Located on Putah Creek
• Looks like an oasis of palm trees from the road
• Gardener cares for many rose varieties in Scatter's garden
• It is off-limits to walk about the ranch or lands
• but you may visit the nonprofits inside of Glide Ranch or rent part of the space via GlideRanchEvents.com
• Glide has a magnificent board room, can be occasionally used by outside groups
• There are a few rental properties on the Glide/Pierce land. Great for vet grad students.

Glide Ranch, by Timothy Rice

Rumors and Questions

The Glides are practically historical figures in Davis. But before history, comes gossip. What all is true? Maybe the wiki can help gather the facts from those who know...

• The Glides were well-known in the Davis community and beyond. Do any old-timers out there know how she got the nickname 'Scatter'?
• They say that Pierce Ranch was built so close to Glide Ranch because of some story about a visiting sister. Does anyone know the whole story?
• It's also said that the Glide Family owned a huge amount of land in this area because they were buying up land around the would-be train tracks. But tracks went through the mountains instead, so they ended up with land that could be used for ag.
• One final bit - I heard that the Glides felt that the UC was pressuring Davis landholders to sell their land, and that this was partly why the Glides wanted their lands put into a trust. Can anyone verify this?

2007-05-13 03:28:52   My father leased the entire Glide ranch from Putah Creek north for many years from the '60s until the 90's. I can not place the house you show. The only thing close is the old Chapman house, which is directly east of the Chapman's property, which borders the north end of the Glides'. Or maybe it is the house at the bend in the road from Winters to Putah Creek. I new Joe and Marnell Glide quite well. He was very reserved and she was a real character. She used to speak about when she grew up adjacent to an indian reservation. She said the indian kids would try to get her to eat bananas with the skin on, while she tried to get them to eat them with the skin off. I spent the majority of my childhood on that ranch, along with the Chapman and Scott Ranches. We had 'em all.

Source: Me —Ernie

• Hi Ernie. Both the photo and the drawing are of the same place, 36355 Russell Blvd. I only know it as the Glide Ranch House, but maybe it has another name. It's still at this address. The last Glide to live there was 'Scatter', while the Glide Foundation operates out of nearby Pierce Ranch House. You should stop by and have a look around.—JoRo

2007-05-13 21:37:09   Joe(J.H.) Glide told us that when he was 10 years old (turn of the century)he had a CA driver's license signed by the governor. He also had a private zoo and chauferred limosine. The family had seven fully stocked and wardrobed ranches at the time, so all they had to do was travel from one to the other, as desired. —Ernie

2008-02-22 13:04:22   The Pierce ranch was owned by Scatter Glide. There was never a sister who lived there. Scatter's sisters all resided at their "home ranch" in Minden, NV. The picture of the house above is the back of the "glide home ranch" and was drawn after their deaths in July of 1995, since the back of the house had been altered to remove the "bird porch". The limosine belonged to Mr. Glide's father and he personally never used it. It was stored in the barn until it was sold after his death. His car was a 1950 black cadillac that also was stored there and sold after his death. Mr. Glide inherited the ranch from his father. He purchased the Pierce ranch (for the Mrs.) and the Russell ranch directly to the west of the home ranch. The rumor of seven fully stocked and wardrobed ranches is not true, Scatter kept her home ranch in Minden, NV stocked and visited often. The Glide's always believed in preserving ranch land and animal husbandry. They had no heirs and left their estate to provide for preservation of land and animals. Mr. Glide had one sister who has since passed away; Scatter's sister's preceded her in death. I worked for the Glide's for many years and found their love of the land and animals a very heartfelt and wonderful thing. —Goose

2010-09-21 15:56:55   Scatter told me on more than one occasion that her nickname was earned when, on one of her early dating experiences an amorous young man got "fresh" and she told him to "scatter on out of here." It sounds like her and is probably true. Linda Hughes —LindaHughes

2010-09-21 16:20:12   Tawny told me that their original wealth came from a lucky purchase of Kettleman Hill land for 25 cents an acre. That became a huge oil producing area and made the Glides very wealthy. According to Tawny either his father or grandfather, I don't recall which, was on a train trip that passed through the Kettleman Hill area. His co-traveler (who I think owned the land) said he'd sell the land for the price noted and Mr. Glide bought it then and there. The only think I ever heard Tawny say about the RR is that he didn't like the fact that land they owned (below what is now the "causeway" between Davis and Sacramento) was condemned for use as a railroad and that the land taken up included much more than the RR needed to operate. He didn't like the idea that anyones land could be condemned for "public purposes." If he wanted to donate, that was a different matter. Scatter was in full agreement and perhaps had stronger feelings about it. The Vic Fazio bird refuge below the causeway came from Glide ranch land though both Scatter and Tawny were strong Republicans. To me its interesting because it fit with some of their conservation interests but they didn't like to be told that they had to "sell" their land for any reason. Linda Hughes —LindaHughes

2010-09-22 13:16:07   Re. University pressure on land owners...Actually, Scatter was angry at the campus for years because as owner of the Pierce Ranch she'd wanted to develop a parcel of that land and the campus blocked her goals by influencing city/county government. Many years later, the University purchased the Russell Ranch and the chancellor at the time tried to talk Tawny and Scatter into letting the campus acquire their land as well. While the Russell Ranch owners were delighted to have the university, rather than developers, get their property, the Glides had no inheritors to satisfy and had no intention of leaving their land to the campus. —LindaHughes

2010-09-22 21:04:33   FWIW Scatter and her sisters were the daughters of the early 1900s Minden, NV ranching mogul HF Dangberg. The Dangberg Home Ranch is now a NV State Park. http://parks.nv.gov/hr.htm

Some neat youtube videos about the Home Ranch and the family:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svVnkOViP1E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnUdVVUZOq http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBXINDnEugw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6ThCznZzg4

—ARWENNHOLD