Mabel Doss Day Lea (1856-1906) was a rancher, politician, and businesswoman. She owned and ran a large cattle ranch in Texas, the Day Cattle Ranch Company, and helped establish the

New Mexico Military Institute New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI) is a public military junior college and high school in Roswell, New Mexico. Founded in 1891, NMMI operates under the auspices of the State of New Mexico, under a dedicated Board of Regents that reports to the G ...

with her husband. Lea served as the lady commissioner of the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis and worked to encourage more people to move to Texas. She was inducted into the

Texas Women's Hall of Fame The Texas Women's Hall of Fame was established in 1984 by the Governor's Commission on Women. The honorees are selected biennially from submissions from the public. The honorees must be either native Texans, or a resident of Texas at the time of th ...

. The Day Cattle Ranch Company had the largest fenced ranch in Texas upon the outbreak of the 1883

Fence Cutting War The Fence Cutting Wars occurred near the end of the 19th century in the American Old West, and were a series of disputes between farmers and cattlemen with larger land holdings. As newcomers came to the American West to farm, established cattlemen ...

and she lobbied for a law to make fence cutting illegal, which was passed the following year.

References

1856 births 1906 deaths Ranchers from Texas Women in Texas politics American women in business {{Texas-bio-stub