Brown Canyon Ranch

 Brown Canyon Ranch was built a century ago by a local pioneer family and includes their ranch house, storeroom, corrals, water system, and a pond that is the habitat of an endangered frog species. The property in Brown Canyon was first permanently occupied by John Thomas Brown and his family who settled there around 1800. It passed through the hands of other users during the latter part of the 19th century until the house was built by James and Tom Haverty between 1905 and 1907. James and his wife, Lessie, homesteaded the ranch in 1912 and owned the property until 1921, when they sold it to William and Margaret Carmichael. The Carmichaels were major land owners and significant philanthropists in early Sierra Vista. During their ownership, Harvey James, the owner of several mining claims up Brown Canyon, and who lived way up in the canyon in the summer, sometimes rented the house in the winter. He and his wife would often invite friends to the ranch for a social potluck and dance in the living room. Also during the time of the Carmichaels, a Yaqui Indian named Chico Romero lived there with his wife and daughters. In 1946, the Carmichaels sold the ranch to Roy and Stella Rambo, who operated it as a cattle ranch. They in turn sold the property to Samuel and Cecile Barchas in 1957, together with their additional ranch holdings across South Highway 92 (OY Ranch). The Barchas family did not live at Brown Canyon, but in a stone house at OY Ranch. Sarah Barchas obtained Brown Canyon Ranch through gift deeds from her parents in 1960 and 1961 and she owned the site until 1997. Brown Canyon Ranch is also known as the Barchas Ranch and was acquired by the USDA Forest Service in a land exchange in 1998. The Ranch is currently under renovation, but is open to walk around the property.(http://www.browncanyonranch.org/)

A pic of the main entrance of the ranch house.

Inside, this is the fire place, there is also a kitchen and two other rooms, bedrooms.  all of them have some photos and furniture, it is amazing how nicely preserved this place is.

An old no longer in use water tank.

The house from the southwest.  I love the porches this place has.

Windmill, watertank, outhouse and storage area...

Another older building on the site, this one is falling in on itself, and is to the right of the entrance in the parking area when you are pulling into the place.

This is the house from the parking area, the first view you get really.  

Brown Canyon Ranch is situated south of Sierra Vista off of Ramsey Canyon Road, it has been preserved by the Friends of the Brown Canyon Ranch Foundation.  It is a special place really close to the city, yet while you are there you feel as if you are in the middle of nowhere.  There are hiking trails and once a year they do an open house that is really amazing to go to.  They have speakers and presentations through out the whole day, so it gives you a chance to learn a lot and participate in hands on activities. 

Fort Huachuca Boy Scout Cabin

On Fort Huachuca there used to be a cabin, it was way up in Garden Canyon, over a not so fun road, and the last time we went up there was in October of 2009, I took a bunch of pictures then, only two of which have survived.

This is the back of the cabin, inside there was a stove and 2 bunks.

This shows what looks to me like an addition that was added on later.

Now all that is left is part of the foundations...

And misc other debris in the clearing.

Even though I had heard that the cabin was torn down it was still sad to see the reality of it.  It would have been nice if they could have preserved it.  Though it was called the boyscout cabin it had not been used as such for years, it was just sitting up there minding its own business, housing some spiders, barely on Fort Huachuca, it is not to far from the post boundaries...

I guess they tore it down last year after the fires started, they were worried it was being used by drug runners, or others whom are not supposed to be here but are, unfortunately it looks like tearing down this wonderful piece of history is not going to stop that, not 50 yards from here on the other side of the clearing there was evidence of campfires, and trash left out and about, so the space s still being used, getting rid of the cabin has not stopped the issues or even slowed them down...

Next week we are going to see if the Girl Scout Cabin is still standing, it has been in use within the last 10 years or so, I know I have spent many a night there, so it will be interesting to see if they have gotten rid of that one as well...

I would love to see any photos people might have of this cabin, from before they tore it down to when it was still in use, please share!

Dragoon Springs

Dragoon Springs is a stop along the Butter field Stage Route.  The thing that makes this stop unique is that there are four confederate soldiers buried right next to it. 

This is the building you have to turn at to get to the site.  

You keep going down the road, through gates, until you get to this sign.

Then you keep going down the road until you reach this sign, you will need a high clearance vehicle, and four wheel drive if it has been raining, you go through another gate.

You go over the little path, over the culvert, then you keep going until you reach a gate, then you keep going some more, you will see the building first, then to the left, you will see the graves.

The first view of the stage stop.

The sign at the stage stop.

A close up of the distances between the stops.

A close up of the map.

This was taken in the ruins.

The sign at the grave site.

Confederate States of American.

A close up of one of the crosses.

The graves.

A view from the ridge.

There are lots of ocotillos along the way and around the site...

This is a site that we have been looking for many years, ever since an article ran in the local paper, finally thanks to Facebook I found someone who had directions and here are the results. 

Sierra Vista Historical Plauques part 1

Here are the photos for the Historical Plaques in Sierra Vista, I know, not ghost towns, but some of these have been around for a while.  The reason it is part one is twofold, first I did not find all of the plaques, second, I want to go back and take photos of the handful of original buildings, the boys were not cooperating as much as I would have liked which is why I do not have those photos yet!  Anyways, enjoy this step back in time...

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This is the chicken coop/shed, all that is left of the original Fry homestead.

Fry Cemetery

Yuma Territorial Prison

So the Yuma Territorial Prison is a State Park in Yuma Arizona, It is a prison that was literally built by the prisoners who were housed there. 

These are the dunes that are in and around Yuma.

This is the guard tower and water tower of the prison.

The Prison was built on a bluff overlooking the Colorado River.

This Mission is right across the river from the prison.

This is the original entrance to the prison.

The back of the prison.

This building is not original to the site, though it does have a long history, it sits on site of the mess hall among other things and now houses the museum.

This is a model of the prison grounds, sadly most of these buildings are no longer there.

Entering the cell block

Through the cells out the other side.

The metal bunks that were built to replace the old wooden ones because of a bed bug infestation.

A closer look at the metal doors.

The back gate out of the cell block.

The prison annex built to try and help the overcrowded that would eventually cause the prison to close.

Wooden bunks in this cell...

The dark cell, also known as solitary confinement.

An old barber chair.

The front of the cell block.

Foundations of the five cells that were used to house the trouble makers...

Part of the outer wall.

The prison operated from 1876 and closed 33 years later.  The buildings were then used by the local high school, as a hospital, a VFW, and by homeless families and squatters during the Great Depression. 

The railroads demolished part of the prison to expand their tracks a build a new bridge, however it is to be noted that the citizens have Yuma fought for preservation of the prison for many years, finally achieving it for certain when it became a state park in 1961, and that they again stepped up to the plate when the state was looking at closing it down in 2010 due to budget issues.