L. Roy Houck (January 28, 1905November 2, 1992) was an American rancher and politician from the U.S. state of

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

. A Republican, he served in the

South Dakota State Senate The Senate is the upper house of the South Dakota Legislature. It consists of 35 members, one representing each legislative district; it meets at the South Dakota State Capitol in Pierre. Composition :''92nd Legislature (2019)'' Officers Li ...

from 1948 through 1954 and as lieutenant governor of South Dakota from 1955 through 1959.

Early life

Houck was born on January 28, 1905, on a ranch near Gettysburg, South Dakota. He graduated from Gettysburg High School and began selling life insurance. In 1925, Houck, his father, and his older brother started the Triple U Hereford Ranch, where they raised

Hereford cattle The Hereford is a British breed of beef cattle originally from Herefordshire in the West Midlands of England. It has spread to many countries – there are more than five million purebred Hereford cattle in over fifty nations worldwide. The bre ...

. He was president of the South Dakota State Livestock Council from 1943 through 1945 and president of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association from 1947 through 1949.

Political career

In 1948, Houck decided to run for the

as a Republican. Houck served in the state senate from 1949 through 1954. In 1954, Houck ran for lieutenant governor of South Dakota. He was elected lieutenant governor and was reelected in 1956, defeating John F. Lindley. He ran for governor of South Dakota in 1958. He lost the nomination to

Phil Saunders Phil Saunders (September 10, 1920 – March 15, 1997) was a soldier who fought in World War II, an American attorney and 19th Attorney General of South Dakota from 1955 to 1959. Born in Milbank, South Dakota, he was married to the niece of U.S. S ...

, the Attorney General of South Dakota. In the

1964 Republican Party presidential primaries From March 10 to June 2, 1964, voters of the Republican Party elected 1,308 delegates to the 1964 Republican National Convention through a series of delegate selection primaries and caucuses, for the purpose of determining the party's nominee fo ...

, Houck organized support among South Dakota delegates for

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...

Later life

In 1959, Houck sold the ranch near Gettysburg due to impact from the construction of the Oahe Dam and bought a ranch in Stanley County, South Dakota. A March 1966 blizzard killed Houck's cattle but spared his buffalo. He refocused his efforts on raising buffalo and renamed his ranch the

Triple U Buffalo Ranch The Triple U Buffalo Ranch is a ranch in northern Stanley County, South Dakota. Formerly known as Standing Butte Ranch, it was used for location shooting in the 1990 movie ''Dances With Wolves'' and TNT's 1994 film '' Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded ...

. The ranch grew to and about 3,500 buffalo. The 1990 film '' Dances with Wolves'' used the ranch as a shooting location.; In 1992, Dale Lewis wrote a biography about Houck titled ''Roy Houck Buffalo Man''. Houck married Nellie (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Boehmer) on June 20, 1928. She died in 1988. They had four children. Houck died on November 2, 1992, in

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...

Early life

Political career

Later life

References

Further reading