"PREMONT, Texas — Rep. Lamar Smith's cattle brand is shaped like the number 2, with a check mark in the top right corner. It's supposed to be burned in the right hip of an animal.
The Texas Republican registered it in 1977, shortly after his grandmother, Harriet Frances Seeligson Wells, left him rights to a sprawling family ranch near this town of 3,000 people. It features a Dairy Queen, a down-and-out hardware store and dozens of derelict houses.
"My grandson shall have the full power and authority during his lifetime," she wrote in her last will and testament, "to drill, develop and operate the mineral estate." The document gave Smith the "power to lease for oil, gas or other minerals" on the 14-square-mile property. That's about the size of 9,000 football fields."
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