Slaughter Ranch

All the years we have been coming to Arizona we have promised ourselves a visit to the Slaughter Ranch—today was the day. 

In 1884 John Slaughter acquired a 73, 420 acre ranch near Douglas, AZ with two thirds of the land being in Mexico and the remaining one third in the US.  He bought and sold many more acres building a huge cattle empire.  He was the third sheriff of Cochise county and although very short of stature he was not short on bravery.  He is credited with cleaning the county of riffraff and never showed fear always stating he would die of old age in his own bed not by the hands of a criminal which is exactly what happened.  Mr. Slaughter would never say how many people he had killed while sheriff but the number could be as many as 20.  After serving two terms as sheriff he and his young wife Viola moved out to the ranch, 16 miles from Douglas. 

The Slaughter Ranch was an oasis in the desert.  There are artesian wells and springs, a huge pond fed by an artesian spring, green grass and trees.  The ranch house and buildings have been restored and are maintained by a full time caretaker.  The tour is a self guided walking tour although the caretaker who met us and explained the ranch was a wealth of information.  Dogs are welcome even in the buildings so Emmi girl was a happy camper! 

Above the ranch grounds high on a hill are the remains of a Army garrison established in 1911 and housing as many as 600 soldiers at times!  Old rock foundations and walls are still visible as well as the ruins of the horse corral.  The Slaughter ranch provided beef, water and garden grown vegetables to feed the soldiers.  The caretaker told us Mr. Slaughter would go up and play poker with the soldiers trying to win their money.

We had such an enjoyable day visiting this place out of history!  After our ranch tour we decided to see if we could find the Bayfield Bunch.  You just can’t hide out here in AZ.  We had a general idea of where they were—last March we took a drive to look at property for sale—in one of Al’s photos we had noticed a street sign for the exact road where we had viewed the property.  Can’t be that many Canadian motorhomes out there in the desert—sure enough, we found them.  Hugs, lots of conversation, doggy pats and laughs then it was time to head back over to Tombstone.  And for some strange reason you will have to check out Al’s blog tonight for photos, I left my camera in the Jeep!!! 

Linda had promised us homemade chili with brownies for dessert so back to Tombstone we went.  Spent an enjoyable evening visiting with Jim and Linda.

Another great day in the southwest!

Army post horse corral ruins The Mexican border fence today.  The building far out in the distance are in Mexico.

I liked this quilt and the sewing machine but wouldn’t want to have to use that little pot beside the bed during the night!!

This bedroom had a beautiful view!