page_title: Empire Ranch
section_title: Apaches
hierarchical_section_title: Empire Ranch / History / Apaches
caption_attribution_description: English: Owners of the Empire Ranch in Arizona in 1879: John H. Harvey (left), Edward L. Vail "The Tenderfoot" (center), and Walter L. Vail (right).
context_page_description: Empire Ranch is a working cattle ranch in southeastern Pima County, Arizona, that was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. In its heyday, Empire Ranch was one of the largest in Arizona, with a range spanning over 180 square miles, and its owner, Walter L. Vail, was an important figure in the establishment of southern Arizona's cattle industry.
context_section_description: Indian raids were an ever-present threat, and nearby ranches stopped operation. The Empire, however, remained to fight for their land and their horses (which were considered the prize to the Indians). In the earliest years, hostile Apaches were an ever-present threat to the ranching operations. The Chiricahua Apaches, who had been moved to the San Carlos Indian Reservation in June 1876, became restless and fled south to their old haunts in the Whetstone and Chiricahua Mountains. Roving bands raided ranches throughout the Cienega Valley, escaping to the nearby hills with a prized booty of horses. Ranchers who sought to retrieve their stack often came back empty-handed, or failed to return at all. In the face of increasing raids, several ranchers near the Empire abandoned their holdings and moved to Tucson. Vail and Hislop, however, were willing to "shoot the renegades on sight."
  The ranch's isolation and its herd of workhorses made it a likely target for attack. The ranch lay a full day's ride by horseback from Tucson. The only major ranch in the vicinity was Don Sanford's Stock Valley Ranch, located five miles northeast. Vail and Hislop knew that help would not be forthcoming in the event of a raid. The horses had to be constantly guarded. During the day, the riding stock, which numbered nine saddle horses, twenty brood mares, and twelve colts, grazed in a large fenced-in pasture 600 feet from the ranch house. At night they corralled their stock in an adobe enclosure attached to the house. The possibility of a devastating loss of riding stock remained foremost in their thoughts, as Hislop reflected: "How long we shall keep them out of Apaches' hands I do not know, as I suspect we being the only owners of any number of horses around here, that they will pay us a visit."
  The Indian activity prompted the United States Army to take action. Writing to his brother, Edward Vail, on January 20, 1876, Walter reported that "this last outbreak has made so much talk that the Government is going to establish a fort 25 miles south of our place, which I hope will put a stop to Indian trouble in this part of the country." As anticipated, the army established Camp Huachuca on March 3, 1877. However, the camp was too distant to provide protection for the Cienega Valley. Vail and his partners refused to be terrorized by the Apaches. They instructed their cowboys to ride the range well-armed and never alone. Even when renegades were reported in the vicinity the cattlemen would not curtail ranch activities. As Edward Vail related: "... the Indians were supposed to be out, but we never stayed home on that account, as it was necessary to keep working."
  The youthful cattlemen did not suffer greatly from the Apaches. They struck repeatedly in the vicinity but made off with only two horses of the "VH" brand. In a series of raids between August 1876 and February 1877, they stole several herds of livestock and killed three cowboys immediately south of the ranch, but each time skirted around the property. Yet not until Geronimo's renegades surrendered to General Nelson A. Miles on September 4, 1886, did the owners of Empire Ranch completely relax.
  An opportunity to build the Empire herd came in January 1877. The three cattlemen, hoping to avoid the expense and trouble of driving herds from distant ranges, had made inquiries about other cattle in southern Arizona. In the latter part of January, they learned that S. S. "Yankee" Miller, foreman for John Chisum's ranch on the San Pedro River near St. David, had driven a large herd of Durhams, Herefords, and longhorns from New Mexico to the vicinity of Benson. Vail visited Miller at his Benson encampment and purchased 793 cattle at fourteen dollars per head. In the same exchange, Vail disposed of 620 sheep that he had previously bought from his neighbor, Henry M. Kemp. The flock had been a constant nuisance; and Vail gladly parted with them, even at a loss of forty cents per head.
  The transaction was not without incident, though. Before Vail could remove the herd, a band of Chiricahua Apaches silently ap
caption: John H. Harvey (left), Edward L. Vail (center), and Walter L. Vail (right) in 1879.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "600", "Image YResolution": "600", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2008:11:03 06:59:04", "Image ExifOffset": "162", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "300", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5772", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "958"}