The Empire Ranch

We are camped on what was part of the original Empire Ranch but is now designated the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area.  It is located on the eastern slope of the Santa Rita Mountains in Cienega Valley, fifty-two miles southeast of Tucson and about ten miles north of Sonoita. The property overlooks a shallow depression called Empire Gulch, through which a spring-fed rivlet bordered by cottonwoods courses eastward to Cienega Creek. The surrounding meadows are "thickly covered" with sacaton and salt grass.  The ranch was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. In its heyday, Empire Ranch was one of the largest in Arizona, with a range spanning over 180 miles, and its owner, Walter L. Vail, was an important figure in the establishment of southern Arizona's cattle industry.

The ranch's isolation and its herd of workhorses made it a likely target for attack by local Indian tribes. The horses had to be constantly guarded. During the day, the riding stock grazed in a large fenced-in pasture 600 feet from the ranch house. At night they corralled their stock in an adobe enclosure attached to the house. The Indian activity prompted the United States Army to take action. Writing to his brother, Walter reported that "this last outbreak has made so much talk that the Government is going to establish a fort 25 miles south of our place, which I hope will put a stop to Indian trouble in this part of the country." As anticipated, the army established Camp Huachuca in 1877. However, the camp was too distant to provide protection for the Cienega Valley. Vail and his partners refused to be terrorized by the Apaches. They instructed their cowboys to ride the range well-armed and never alone. Even when renegades were reported in the vicinity the cattlemen would not curtail ranch activities. The youthful cattlemen did not suffer greatly from the Apaches. They struck repeatedly in the vicinity but made off with only two horses of the Empire Ranch.

While Walter and his partners were readying their first cattle for market, a silver discovery was made near Empire Ranch which vitally affected its destiny. In January 1879, an itinerant prospector named John T. Dillon, located three mining claims on the boulder-strewn eastern slope of the Empire Mountains. "The whole damned hill is a total wreck," Dillon remarked to co-claimants Walter L. Vail and John A. Harvey. Vail and Harvey liked the description and christened one of the three sites the "Total Wreck Mine."

By 1951, Frank Boice and his family assumed full control of the property. Around the same time, the ranch was featured in several Western films starring many of Hollywood's most famous actors.  John Wayne, Barbara Stanwick, Charlton Heston, Paul Newman, Lee Marvin, Kirk Douglas, William Holden, Burt Lancaster, Shelley Winters, Jennifer Jones, Steve McQueen, Gregory Peck, Spencer Tracy, Jimmy Stewart and others have made such classic films as “Red River,” “Duel in the Sun,” “Hombre,” “Winchester 73,” “The Big Country” and many others on or near the Empire Ranch.

In 1969, Empire Ranch was sold to the Gulf American Corporation for a proposed real estate development and later resold to the Anamax Mining Company for mining and water potential. None of these developments materialized, and the ranch continued to work with cattle. In the 1980s, the owners began to restore the buildings to their original state and in 1988 the ranch became public land administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The Empire Ranch Foundation was established as a private non-profit organization in 1997 to work with the BLM to develop private support to preserve the buildings and enhance the educational and recreational opportunities it offers to the public. In 2000, Congress combined Empire Ranch and the surrounding ranchland with the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area.

The main ranch headquarters, which was the residence of the Walter Vail family and those of subsequent owners, as well as housing for cowboys and ranch hands, is in the process of restoration. We decided to drop over and take a look.

The ranchhouse was built in stages from 1870 until 1886.  In its final form, it included the main family quarters, cowboy and ranch hand quarters, a kitchen and cook's quarters, a ranch manager's residence, and corrals for the precious livestock:

As noted above, the ranch owners kept their livestock close to protect them from thieves.  In the original design of the house, livestock could only enter or leave the corral through the breezeway that ran the length of the original house, giving the owners the best chance to hear and stop intruders.

The family quarters, one of the later additions, became the formal entrance for guests, but is situated at the back of the complex:

Here, David examines the breezeway, or zaguan, that ran the length of the main house.  The complex had two or three breezeways.  Doors to individual rooms opened directly onto the breezeways.  This allowed the maximum circulation of cool breezes and, with the very high ceilings of the rooms, and many windows, created maximum ventilation and cooling.

Here is a view of the corral that was originally only accessible through the main breezeway:

The family's living room was dramatic, with a huge bay window looking across to one of the other ranch owner's houses:

The family living space also boasted a large screened-in porch just outside the children's quarters, giving children a large, shaded, protected area for their activities:

We were fortunate to have a chance to tour the complex, because local newspapers advised us that it is about to be closed indefinitely for structural and other renovations.  We're glad we had a chance to complete our understanding of this historic site with a tour of the ranch structure itself.