Empire Ranch Foundation

09/08/2026

Mahlon Vail is born—November 1890

Mahlon Vail, who was named after Walter Vail’s father, was born in Tucson on November 30, 1890. Mahlon was the only Vail child not born in New Jersey or Los Angeles. Maybe Margaret wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving at the Empire Ranch and did not make it to Los Angeles in time for the birth. The family now consisted of four boys and one girl.

Photo caption/credit: Mahlon Vail at 10 mos., 1891. ERF archives, A405-2

09/07/2026

Last day at the Sonoita Labor Day Rodeo!

Buy your Raffle Tickets for one of our custom-made Belt Buckles when you stop at our tent to say hello.

09/07/2026

We're wrapping up the Cattle Drive story. Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Gila Monster Bite—May 1890

Edward Vail wrote to his father on May 4th: “I was afraid you may have heard reports in the papers about Walter having been bitten by a Gila monster. It happened at the Happy Valley where they were branding last Friday. I am glad to say he is alright and will go home to the Empire today. Walter found the reptile while riding and wishing to show it to Mr. Gates who was in camp killed it as he supposed and tied it to the back of his saddle. When he put his hand back to get off the brute seized the middle finger of his right hand and he had to call for help to get its mouth open. Walter tied the finger tight about the wound and then cut it open and put it in carbolic acid and started alone for Pantano. Dr. Handy met him there and we came in at once to Tucson on a locomotive. Walter was in great pain and at 6 o’clock that evening his tongue and throat were so swollen that he could scarcely speak—he suffered great agony at times but after 9 p.m. began to improve and slept well the balance of the night. Dr. Handy is greatly interested in the case as in previous cases the bite of a Gila monster has proven fatal. Maggie and I came in with Walter and were of course very anxious, but he now feels all right.”

Photo caption/credit: Gila Monster. Courtesy of National Park Service.

09/06/2026

Day two at the Sonoita Labor Day Rodeo. Stop by to say hello and ask us about the Empire Ranch's 150 years of history!

09/06/2026

09/06/2026

Drought—1890

Fred Paine, a California cattle buyer, wrote about his experience in Arizona in the 1890’s when he found the area in the grip of a drought. He arrived at the railway shipping point of Pantano, about twenty miles east of Tucson, and found an ordinary station house and a small wooden shack about a hundred yards away, about 10’ x 12’. These were the "shipping yards" from which most of the Empire cattle were loaded out. Jim Brady was the proprietor of the shack, which was connected by telephone with the Empire Ranch. He served coffee and a shot or two of very raw whiskey for breakfast but was cordial to the new arrival. Bradly was a soldier who had served in Arizona and elected to stay there when his service was finished. Paine left this establishment for the Empire Ranch to meet with Tom Turner, the foreman, whom he knew. The road led through a gap in a small mountain range, and then down a gently sloping and rolling country, past several deserted houses, and to the ranch house which was about twenty miles from the railroad.

From the ranch house, Paine left for the round-up camp, but first climbed a nearby hill to size up the surroundings. ''The mountains were most too far away to call this a valley, the ranges being fifteen or twenty miles apart. Between were gently rolling hills with a little oak brush here and there. It looked like a big country." He noted that the cattle were in very poor condition, understandable since there was no grass in sight. Many starved to death and died, but on the vast acreage of the ranch, many survived until the rains fell again. " Scattered over an immense range they browsed on the oak bushes, gnawed on the grass roots and I saw, later, twelve thousand head rounded up in one bunch after they got enough strength to stand handling. After dying by the thousands and shipping out train load after train load, we still found about twenty thousand head after grass came."

Photo caption/credit: Carleton Watkins photograph of Pantano Station, Arizona, 1880. Courtesy of Pima County.

09/05/2026

Come on down to the Sonoita labor Day Rodeo! Plus....help us out! We are 400 people away from 10,000 likes on Facebook!

09/05/2026

Stop by and say hello! We're at the Sonoita Labor Day Rodeo Saturday, Sunday and Monday. There's lots to do.

09/05/2026

The S.P. Capitulates—1890

A short time after our return, a meeting of cattlemen was called at the Palace Hotel (now the Occidental) then owned by Maish & Driscoll who were at that time among the largest cattle owners in Arizona. The object of the meeting was to consider the matter of establishing a safe trail from here to California for cattle. From our experience I was able to make some suggestions, viz: To build a flat boat to ferry cattle across the Colorado River. To clear out the wells at the old stage stations on the Colorado Desert and put in tanks and watering troughs at each of them and if necessary to dig or drill more wells. Without delay all the money necessary for this work was subscribed.

The Southern Pacific Railroad Company when they heard of the proposed meeting asked permission to send a representative and the cattle association notified the company that the cattlemen would be pleased to have them do so. Therefore the S.P. agent at Tucson was present. Soon after our cattle meeting, we received an official letter from the S. P. Company at the Empire Ranch saying that if we would make no more drives, the old freight rate would be restored on stock cattle. The company kept its promise and it held for many years. Therefore the trail improvements were never made.

Photo caption/credit: Map of the cattle drive route. Empire Ranch Foundation.

09/04/2026

Some Well-Deserved R&R—April 1890

We had to hold the herd for a few days until they were counted and received. Most of our men were at liberty and we all went to the Warner Hot Springs and took baths which all enjoyed. The Indian women seemed to be always washing clothes and our men would join the group and wash their own and sometimes borrow the soap from the Indian girls. There was a good deal of laughing and joking in Spanish during the performance. The water was as it comes out of the ground is hot enough to cook an egg. Close and by running parallel to it is a stream of clear cold water.

Very soon all the cowboys were sent to Los Angeles where they remained for a few days to see the sights of the largest city they had ever visited, but after a short time they said their legs and feet were sore from walking and that they were all right on horseback but no good on foot, so we shipped them back to Tucson and the ranch.

Photo caption/credit: Spring Street in Los Angeles, 1897. Courtesy of Library of Congress.