DALHART, Texas (AP) - The C.D. Shamburger Ranch, a 37,000-acre spread that extends into three states and once was part of the famed XIT Ranch, is being auctioned off Wednesday.

Beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the Rita Blanca Coliseum in Dalhart, interested buyers can purchase as little as 160 acres or the entire 37,256 acres offered in 45 different tracts.

Shamburger began amassing the large ranch in 1933, and the working ranch has been in the hands of family members since then.

The XIT ranch was created in 1882 when the state sold 3 million acres of land to finance the construction of a new capitol in Austin.

According to the auction brochure, the Shamburger Ranch has approximately 32,703 acres of grassland, 2,780 acres of irrigated farmland, 1,296 acres of conservation reserve program land and 477 acres of New Mexico state lease land.

The ranch has 29 windmills, 15 irrigation wells and four residences, including the ranch headquarters.

Most of the ranch is in Dallam County in the northwestern corner of the Panhandle; part is in Cimarron County, Okla., and part is in Union County, N.M..

In 1881, the old state capitol building in Austin burned, and in rebuilding it Texans decided they needed the finest, showiest capital building ever bult. The Legislature decreed that it must be one foot taller than the national capitol building in Washington, D.C.,

This would cost millions of dollars. Texans did not have millions of dollars to spare at that time, but did have millions of acres of land to spare.

So in 1882, the Texas Legislature advertised that it would accept bids from anyone who would build an enormous state capital building in exchange for 3 million acres of public lands located in the Texas Panhandle.

A company of four Chicago businessmen was awarded the 3 million "worthless" acres that stretched for 200 miles along along the Texas-New Mexico border in exchange for providing the funds to build the capitol in Austin. So the largest fenced ranch in the nation -- bigger than the state of Connecticut -- was established in the Panhandle.

Legend persists that the XIT Ranch took its name from the fact that the 3 million acres of ranch land touched into 10 counties -- covering all or parts of Dallam, Hartley, Oldham, Deaf Smith, Parmer, Castro, Bailey, Lamb, Cochran and Hockley counties, the interpretation being "Ten In Texas."

Nick Olson, curator of the XIT Museum in Dalhart, disputes that. At the time the ranch was established, 10 counties hadn't been established yet in the area, he said. Olson said the XIT brand was designed to be difficult for rustlers to alter.