Empire Ranch is located about 50 miles southwest of Tucson and was one of the largest and most successful cattle ranches in the region during the late 1800s. (Photo courtesy of the UA's Virtual Reality Annex).
Toward the end of the 19th century, southern Arizona’s Empire Ranch had grown to be one of the largest cattle ranches in the state and in the western region.
It had also grown to be quite powerful during the territorial days.
At the time, the Southern Pacific Railroad began charging to transport cattle and continued to increase the rates. But residents of the Empire Ranch refused to pay the charge, said Gabrielle Sykes-Casavant, marketing and public relations director for the UA Libraries.
“The ranch decided to see if it could cattle drive to California,” she said. The drive to San Diego in 1890 included a caravan of Empire Ranch supporters and 900 cattle, she said.
“It became the first to do so and to be successful,” Sykes-Casavant said.
The University of Arizona Libraries Special Collections is currently displaying an exhibit on the history of Empire Ranch, which is located about 50 miles southwest of Tucson.
The exhibit, which was curated by UA graduate students Keri Williams and Deborah Matthews, will be open to the public through Sept. 5 with a reception planned for Sept. 2.
Walter L. Vail, founder of the Empire Land and Cattle Company, purchased the ranch in 1876 at 160 acres. The ranch, which eventually grew to encompass a 1,800 square-mile area from the U.S. Mexico border to an area southeast of Tucson, has since been listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Today, the Bureau of Land Management manages the site, which is operated by the Empire Ranch Foundation, a nonprofit organization.
The exhibit’s focus is on the first years the ranch operated under Walter L. Vail’s ownership and Harry Heffner’s oversight. Vail had been hired in 1893 along with Heffner, who managed the site and eventually became the ranch foreman seven years later.
The showcase features early photographs, territorial maps and other documents that date back to the late 1800s. It also contains the original bill of sale, branding agreements, scrap books and a diary authored by Vail’s brother, Edward L. Vail, who also led the cattle drive to California with a marked map also located at the UA library.
Williams, who is also a master’s student in the UA’s School of Information Resources and Library Science, said the map contains numbered stops along the route from southern Arizona to California.
The cattle drive was so successful that the railroads opted to decrease the fees, Williams said. “Just to be able to look at what life was like back then is really interesting,” she said. “We have some neat materials that help to do that.”
Eventually, the UA Libraries intends to have a collection on display in the Digital Commons, a Web-based source of some of the UA’s collections of works, including photographs, journals and other publications. A number of the collections are quite rare.
“I really enjoyed curating the exhibit and think it’s a fascinating subject,” Williams said. “All the things Walter Vail did helped to influence the cattle industry.”
UA Special Collections maintains collections of rare books and unique archival materials that make possible in-depth research on selected topics. The scope and diversity of Special Collections make it an important resource for the international academic community. Established in 1958 to house materials on Arizona, the Southwest, and the U.S./Mexico Borderlands, Special Collections now includes rare books, manuscript collections, photographs, and other materials in a wide variety of subject areas.
To learn more, call 520-621-2101.
Gabrielle Sykes-Casavant
520-307-0877