“Geese, ducks, and other birds fill the streams and small ponds that we drive by. Passing a wheat field, we startle some pheasants on one side of the trail and sage grouse on the other. Richard prefers to use this ‘mule’ on many parts of the ranch since it is gentler on the land than […]
“Likely, California, population 200. The town may be small, but it’s even smaller from my airplane window, where miniature buildings and ant-sized vehicles continue to shrink with each dizzying foot we climb. I try to relax a white-knuckled grip on the arm of the passenger seat of John Flournoy’s vintage 1952 light plane. I laughed […]
“Dean established the ranch’s horse-breeding standards with ten athletic quarter horses that were gifts from his father. In 2000, the American Quarter Horse Association recognized Dean with a unique award for his 50 years of champion quality quarter horse breeding. The patience and perseverance of the Reeves family is seen in their son Tom, who […]
“John Hardison Redd freed his slaves in 1850 and moved from his Tennessee plantation to the Salt Lake Valley in Utah. His son, Lemuel, married two wives and eventually had twenty children. He left both families in the town of New Harmoney and joined a Mormon mission group traveling to establish a community called Bluff. […]
“The ranch was established just over a half-century ago when Charlie and Della Van Norman bought a small homestead called “The Smith Place” near Tuscarora. Charlie had just returned from duty in Europe during World War II, where he served as a decorated captain under the famous General George Patton. Charlie and Della bought two […]
“When I meet Matt, he shows me one of their new hay barns. The old one caught fire earlier this year. The school bus driver saw the fire and radioed for the fire department. But by the time Matt got there, he was only able to save a few pieces of equipment. The barn and […]
“The ranch holdings that the Grosetas have acquired over the years are beautiful, with miles of the Verde River and meandering streams, rocky foothills, and elevations up to 6,000 feet. And yet the W Dart is just an hour-and-a-half drive from Phoenix. This proximity to the burgeoning population of northern Arizona has brought unsettling problems […]
“December 20, 1896. Running for his life, the cowboy slipped on frozen mud in the corral. Scrambling to his feet, he sprinted into the barn and shimmied up a latter into the loft. Ernest Hurd’s breath turned to puffs of white in the frigid air as he squinted through gaps between hay bales, gun drawn. […]
“When James, his dad and grandfather acquired land, they were always careful to include water rights. As James says, ‘Beside cattle, you need just a few things to be a successful cattleman – water and good grass.’ In 1902, the Big Timber Creek Water Right and Diversion project was established, and today provides water rights […]
