Browse Items (308 total)

Wild horses on the range.

No buck on him.

Old house at Gardner's Ranch.

The Total Wreck silver mine 10 miles from Ranch.

A small round up of cattle.

Dinner. Perry. Tommy.

A good throw.

Two big horses of the Ranch.

Girl on tricycle at Empire Ranch.

4 in hand mules.

Rancher and cow in pen at Empire Ranch.

Cowboys on horseback in pen at Empire Ranch.

Harry Landon Heffner 1893 Empire Ranch.

The sketch Following the Trail of the Apaches written by Edward L. Vail. He describes an incident that occurred on June 5, 1886. A band of Apaches attacked Happy Valley ranch and stole some horses. He describes tracking the Apaches for over fifty…

One of the original grazing permits issued to the Empire Land and Cattle Company in 1911, allowing their cattle to graze in the National Forest on government land. Note the brands and earmarks for the horses and cattle.

Harry Heffner on a horse with a lasso at the Empire Ranch. Harry Heffner was the Foreman from 1893 to 1905. He started with Empire Ranch in April of 1893 helping to gather the cattle on Catalina Island to be shipped to Kansas.

Harry Heffner branding a steer at the Empire Ranch. The Empire Ranch used several brands including the heart, the letter V, and the initials VH. 200 to 250 calves branded in a day was considered a big branding day's work.

Three men posing for a picture in 1879 after Edward L. Vail (the tenderfoot's) arrival at Empire Ranch. Walter L. Vail and Herbert R. Hislop bought the Empire Ranch on August 22, 1876 from E.N. Fish and Silverberg. John H. Harvey was brought on as…

A letter dated July 11, 1876 from Walter Vail to his uncle, Nathan Vail, describing his journey with Herbert R. Hislop to Tucson, the Tucson area climate and noting that the Fish Ranch will be for sale.

Letter from Herbert R. Hislop dated July 18, 1876 to Edward L. Vail describing the physical details of the Fish Ranch, the proposed purchase price, and the heat in Tucson. Documents in other repositories indicate that the actual purchase price turned…