The Flat Top Ranch has changed appearance many times over.  Prior to the ranch's establishment in 1879, the vast grasslands or prairie had become small farms and pastures for settlers and their livestock.  The barbed wire fences confined and later condemned the grazing ability of the pronghorn antelope.  The elk was pressured off the prairie and into the mountains, and the white tailed deer population diminished drastically to the point where the sighting of a deer was rare.  The grassland was over grazed and soon weeds, and even worse brush, covered the landscape.

In 1938 Charles Pettit purchased the ranch and began enlarging the boundaries, but more importantly, he began a restoration program to restore the grasslands to their native condition.  He was a pioneer in grassland conservation and his techniques have been admired and duplicated by many.  Even though Mr. Pettit's intentions were to create improved habitat for his livestock, the wildlife flourished as well. Improved soil provided more forage, and water wells and dams built for erosion control created an abundant  supply of water.  

Restocking of the ranch with indigenous wildlife was another of Mr. Pettit's remarkable acts. The lakes were stocked with black bass, catfish, and perch.  The pronghorn antelope was re-introduced, and white-tailed deer from south Texas were brought in during the mid-1940s. While the pronghorn are an ongoing project, the white-tailed deer have flourished and carry on the genetics so coveted by admirers of the species.