Beno's grandmother was Louzora Neal, whose family of women came from Texas and settled in Globe, Pleasant Valley and the Tonto Basin. She had several husbands, and Bud Jones was one of them. Bud Jones also a Texan, came driving a large herd of cattle with the Ellisons and Hazelwood. Bud and Lou married in Globe and Beno's father Roland was born in a tent in 1896 about where Cobre Valley Motors is now. Lou homesteaded Russell Gulch from the old Joseph Mast Homestead to the DeMarios. Their forest permit extended to the top of the Pinals. The VF Bar Ranch was later split between Beno's grandmother and his father Roland. The western half became the and it became the RJ Ranch. Roland's family moved off the Russell Gulch ranch to Arkansas Gulch, a mile from Miami. Beno talks about his father Roland, who at age 9 was struck by lightening while riding a horse, was left for dead, but miraculously survived. The lightening killed his horse, burned the seat of his saddle and a hole through his hat and down his back, leaving him hard of hearing but not slowed down. Roland also had spinal meningitis or polio as a child, that crippled his left arm. Roland met Beno's mother, Claudia Scarlett, in 1920. Beno was born on the ranch in Russell Gulch. Roland supplemented his income gathering wild cattle for ranches and during the Depression, worked for the W.P.A. Later Beno worked with his father on the RJ Ranch in Arkansas Gulch and his brother Elton work on another. Elton eventually became the Sheriff. After Roland died, Beno took over and operated the RJ Ranch. After he sold it. he moved to Oklahoma to start another ranch, lived there about 20 years and then returned. Beno talks about the ranch, and tells of the challenges of ranching under the constraints of the U.S. Forest Service and encroaching civilization.
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Jones Family History
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Sheppard Family History, Part 1
Lynn tells of his family's fleeing Texas with a posse chasing them, and coming to Pleasant Valley. They then moved to Roosevelt to work on the construction of the dam. Lynn grew up, his father punching cows and breaking horses for Zee Hayes and other ranches. He remembers his nurse horse that babysat him while his parents were riding, and his first day at school. He was in the Army during WWII stationed in Japan, the first to enter after the atomic bomb had been dropped. After returning home his older brother pointed him toward his rodeo career that led him to be a champion roper and bulldogger. He also wrangled horses for western movies. After retiring from the rodeos he went back to ranching and mining silver. He was a County Commissioner in the 1970's for 8 years, then was appointed to the Arizona Dept. of Transportation Board of Directors. Lynn was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2003
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Sheppard Family History, Part 2
Nancy tells her own story of being a trick rider in rodeos that earned her a place in the Rodeo Hall of Fame. Her grandfather, Gus Kelly, had a ranch and her father, Cleve, was a Texas cowboy, a trick roper and a calf roper. Nancy's mother's father was a prominent horse and mule dealer from Canada, and Nancy's mother showed horses in the Fort Worth Collesium. Cleve and Margaret were neighbors when they met and married. Nancy started riding horses at age 4, was trick riding professionally in 1939, at the age of 9. By the time she was 11, she was performing in the Pendleton Roundup, and at 17 she was trick riding in Madison Square Garden. She still trick ropes! She grew up riding the rodeo circuits. Her schooling being scattered across the western states, she claims her education came from an insatiable desire to read. Nancy met Lynn when she was 16 at a rodeo and was just 18 when they married. They've been married 60+ years. Nancy explains how she rode, and her 22 year career in the rodeo life balancing their marriage and motherhood. Unlike Lynn, she worked strictly contract for Christenson Brothers Rodeos trick riding and trick roping. When Lynn stopped rodeoing, Nancy stopped as well, but she still remembers and misses her horse, Candy.
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Wheeler Family History, Part 1
Terry Wheeler talks about the history of his great gandparents, Irish emigrants, who came to Arizona working on the railroad in the late 1800s. Terry's mother told him stories about Pancho Villa and of seeing Geronimo, captured and waiting for transport on the railroad. The family lines eventually settled and merged in Tucson. Terry grew up during the Depression in Tucson and briefly in California during WWII. Terry graduated from the University of Arizone in Tucson, and went to work in the emerging cattle industry of the San Carlos Indian Reservation for the B.I.A. and for the University Extention Dept. He explains the history of the cattle industry on the San Carlos Reservation and talks about the men who influenced it.
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Wheeler Family History, Part 2
Terry continues giving the history of the cattle industry and ranching in the San Carlos and Navajo Indian reservations. He explains the Apache culture, trends of politics and economy on the Reservation. He also talks about farming on the reservations, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the University of Arizona Extension service. Terry introduced cattle and grass on the local tailings to reduce air pollution and erosion of the tailings. Terry Wheeler is now a Gila County Supervisor.
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Holder, Mitch, Part 1
Mitch Holder, is the adopted son of Kendrick Holder and the son of Frank and Laura Mae Clark Haught. Frank Haught died of horse accident when Mitch was a baby and when he was 4 years old Kendrick and Laura Mae married. Great grandparents and grandfather Sam Haught came from Texas to Gila County in the 1880s. Grandfather Clark first came from Texas to Pleasant Valley a single man in 1903 went back for a bride and returned to Arizona again in 1913. They bought the Bar X on Haigler Creek and that was where his parents, Frank and Laura Mae Haught were living when Mitch was born on the road to Miami Inspiration Hospital. After Frank Haught died, Laura Mae went to Goodyear to work in the War Industry as a "Rosie the Riveter" constructing B26, and met Kendrick Holder there.
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Holder, Mitch, Part 2
Mitch Holder continues talking about his childhood and of his parents and grandparents, the Haughts in the context of historical Arizona. Kendrick and Laura Mae bought and operated the first store in Payson until 1947, when they moved to and operated the Flying A Ranch on Cherry Creek until the late 50's. When Mitch was school age, the family moved to Globe. After he graduated from Globe High, he attended ASU and was in his first year of Law school, in 1962, when he was both drafted and married on the same day. While serving 6 years in the US Navy, he had the chance to buy the old Mounce Ranch, then owned by Joe Shoe. When he returned from the Navy he ran the ranch and also worked as the Assistant Personnel Manager for the mines. While he continues to own that ranch, he now lives on and works the Hat Ranch north of Roosevelt Lake. Mitch is a knowledgeable historian and shares interesting insight into the legal issues of homesteading prior to Statehood, including the Armer-Bacon War and the Pleasant Valley War. Mitch is also active in the Gila County Cattlegrowers Association and is a prior Outstanding Rancher of the Year.
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Griffin, John, Part 1
John Griffin was Gila County Rancher of the Year in 2006. His family's earliest ancestors, the Romeros, came to America in the 1700s, settling on a Spanish Land Grant. They brought some of the first sheep into Arizona Territory. Maria Concepcion Romero married John Clark, a soldier stationed in San Carlos. Her home was the first wood frame structure in Globe in the 1870s. Their daughter Emma Beech was the mother of Molly who married John's grandfather, John Griffin. John and his brother Fred came from Texas in 1906, and started the Pringle Ranch on the Salt River. After Fred returned to Texas, John moved his family across the river to start the current Griffin Ranch, a 70 section spread that spans from Timber Camp to Seven-Mile Wash, north of Globe. John names the early ranchers that bordered them and how they helped each other get established. John's father, James Griffin, was about 12 years old when his father was killed in a horse accident, and so he grew up ranching with the help of cowhands from other ranches and from the nearby Apache reservations. Minnie was from Boston, MA, and was in the WAC when she and Jim Griffin, a weatherman, met in England during WWII. They married there, and after the war, returned to run the remote Griffin Family Ranch. John continues describing the ranching culture and of his own generation, John the only boy. John's former wife, Jackie, had a degree in Ranch Management and Environmental Resources. He assumed control of the ranch after his father and took over responsibility of working with the U.S. Forest Service. At Mitch Holder's prompt, he became an officer in the Gila County Cattle Grower's Assoc. When the Forest Service destocked the ranches in 2002, John and the other officers went to the Public Lands Council in Washington DC to meet and taskforce with others to lobby and educate lawmakers and bureau heads on Arizona's issues. Other ranching problems such as drought-overgrazing, wildfires and other environmental topics are discussed. John and Therese also discuss their incorporation of holistic science into ranch management.
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Griffin, John, Part 2
John Griffin continues to discuss ranching and managing the Griffin Ranch from 1993 to the present incorporating modern day science technology, of grant writing and of working with the U.S. Forest Service.
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Lewis Family History in Ranching.mp3
Ray Lewis tells of his grandfather, James Lewis, coming to America from Wales, working in mines and finally arriving in the Arizona Territory in the 1870's or '80's. While working in the Stonewall Jackson Mine in McMinnville, north of Globe, he and a partner started a horse ranch on the Horseshoe Bend of Salt River. The mining company he worked for sent him to Claiborne County, Alabama to work on a placer mine for a while, and he met and married there Arletha. They had 3 or 4 children there before returning to homestead at Quartzite, a little community north of Globe, Arizona. Ray's father was just a baby when James Lewis died of Miner's Consumption in 1910. Arletha later married a man named Buren Scarborough and the ranch became known as the LS Ranch. Ray tells the history of each of his aunts and uncles and their families, how they lived in Gila County as ranchers, miners, cooks, etc., through the Great Depression and later. He also shares his memories of other colorful local residents and neighbors of the Lewis family in and around Kellner Canyon.
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Armer and Griffin Family History, Part 1
Part 1: Edgar Armer tells the story of his ancestor, Charles Clifford Griffin, a proper Easterner who was deaf, coming alone as a young man by train and stage coach to Globe, Arizona. We are fortunate that Mr. Griffin kept a journal of his life as it gives us his unique impressions of Arizona in the mid to late 1880's. After learning the cattle business working for the Aztec Cattle Company a few years, he returned to the Salt River Basin and established a ranch. After a horse accident in the river, he was rescued by his neighbor and consequently met young Laura Belle Hawker. She had another suitor, Frank Armer, but her father ran him off. Laura Belle and Clifford Griffin were married at the Hawker ranch in 1888, their 2-day wedding celebration being the largest in the Territory with many honored guests, including the governor of Arizona Territory, neighbor George Hunt. The Griffins developed a large herd of cattle on their Bar B Bar Ranch, and also bought a livery stable and a mercantile store in Livingston. Clifford Griffin bought the store in Pinto Creek as well. They also sold produce and pigs from their large cultivated farmland to the workers building the Roosevelt Dam and to the mining town of Globe and Miami, AZ. In 1906, when the dam was completed and the water started to fill, the US government bought their land and businesses. Clifford traded the Pinto Creek store for the ZT's in Young, and moved his young family to that ranch. As their daughters completed high school, Clifford and Laura Belle sold the ranch and moved to Tempe so the younger ones could attend Tempe Normal School. Clifford returned to Roosevelt, bought land and built another house, the moved again to Gisela. In 1910 he and a partner, Frank Cline, bought the 76 Quarter Circle Ranch at Rye and Tonto Creek. Clifford Griffin stayed on that ranch until 1937 when he became ill and needed to move into Globe. He kept the ranch, so after he died in 1943, Grandma Griffin lived there until she died in 1958. Ed Armer describes fondly the unique attributes of his grandfather who courageously overcame physical handicap and lived a very successful and affluent personal life. Two of their daughters married the younger Armer brothers of Laura Belle's suitor, Frank Armer. So the Armers and the Griffins are forever together.
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Armer and Griffin Family History, Part 2
Part 2: Ed Armer tells of his patriarchal Armer ancestors migrating to America, and specifically of his grandfather Henry Armer, born 1843. Henry Armer married Lucinda Hebard in 1861 and came west during the Civil War. They had four children in Oregon before moving to California, where they both worked for the railroad being built. In 1875, they moved to Arizona Territory, and in 1878, crossed the Reno Pass into the Salt River Basin. Their son Press Armer was the first white child born in the area, born in 1878 in Livingston, Arizona. He was also the first for 6 children, mostly boys, who were born in Arizona. Henry Armer was illiterate, but his wife Lucinda Armer was well educated and in fact, was the only postmaster of the Livingston post office, from its inception until the Roosevelt flood covered the area in 1906. Henry Armer ranched and farmed, sold cattle, vegetables and pork to the dam workers. He died there after only a few years. Lucinda Armer was the matriarch and after Henry died, she and her sons successfully ran the ranch and also bought several more ranches to add land. At one time the Armer family ran over 2,000 head of cattle. Ed lists many of the brands of the family. He also lists many of the neighboring ranches that encircled the Roosevelt Dam, and remembers the Bacons, and the Armer-Bacon feud. Eventually the Armer boys branched out to other occupations, but except for Frank Armer, who robbed a train in Maricopa and spent his life trying to escape Yuma Prison, the rest tended to go into law enforcement, as constables, sheriffs and County Supervisors. Ed's grandfather Fred Armer ranched in Young, owned a couple ranches in Gisela and finally the R Bar C Ranch in Christopher Creek. When he started to have heart problems, Ed's parents moved there to run the ranch. Ed was born in Globe just after his grandfather died. Lucinda Armer, her parents and her youngest son then moved to Globe where she bought Vance's Store. The Armers sold the ranch to the Boy Scouts when Ed was a year old and followed her into Globe so they could help her with the store. Lucinda Armer then sold the store and bought the Dominion Beauty Shop. Ed's cousin, Sheriff John Armer, has property in Workman Creek but because he is the sheriff, lives in Globe. The large Armer family now only gathers near their old ranches for reunions. Ed is planning on writing more about the Armers soon.
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Armer and Griffin Family History, Part 3
Part 3: Edgar A. Armer now tells us about his mother's side of the family before sharing his own life. Frank Greer was Ed's mother, Cynthia Day's grandfather. He came from Texas in 1937 and bought all the ranches in Gisela from the Mormons living there. Brigham Young had ordered all the Mormons out of the area, telling them there was going to be a plague. Cynthia was born in Blue Water, New Mexico, the daughter of Grandfather O'Day. When she was 10 years old, they moved to Gisela, Arizona and the "O'" was dropped. Ed was born in Globe in 1944, while his parents were running the then FA Ranch that was later sold to the Boy Scouts and became the R Bar C Ranch. When he was a year old the family followed Grandma Lucinda Armer to Globe, where they worked at her store and Ed's younger sister was born. Next, they moved to Young briefly, before settling in Payson. Ed has always considered Payson home, and says the happiest years of his life were those 10 years they lived there. But in 1957, the family moved back to Globe, behind what was then the Apache Land Cafe, where his mother worked. His father got a job working for Hagan Construction. Ed hated living in Globe, and spent all the time he could at the stockyards with Buster Mounce. When he was 15 he decided to quit school and join the Navy. Once they discovered his age, he was promptly discharged and he returned to work for Hagan Construction. He also worked on a dude ranch in Young when times were lean. In 1965, Ed married Shirley Pace, and shortly thereafter, was assigned to the Christmas Mine to teach new employees how to run the equipment. A year later their daughter was born dead, and another year to the date after that, they had a son that they named Cliff after Grandfather Clifford Griffin. Dick Lewis caught Ed drag racing one night and sentenced him ride with him for awhile. They were called to an accident where a beautiful little girl had been killed. Ed went home, held his baby son, and decided to become a Highway Patrol officer. After graduating from the Academy, he was assigned Interstate 40 and U.S. 66 from Kingman to Needles, and from Laughlin, NV to Bill Williams River. His marriage split up at this point and so he was transferred to Phoenix to be an undercover cop. He met his wife, now of 38 years, in 1972 and worked in law enforcement until he was injured and had to retire. They moved to Payson, and he served as constable for about 14 years before having a stroke. Now retired again, Ed keeps busy writing lyrics, playing music in his band called the "Rowdy Bunch," recording music, serving on the Fire Board, and being active in the Elks Club and the American Legion. He's dedicated his life to writing and helping his neighbors and living comfortably in spite of his disabilities. Ed is a "people person" who loves history because, he says, it tells him who he is.
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Bixby Family History, Part 1
In Part 1, Steve Bixby tells the story of his great grandfather, Jotham Bixby, and two brothers coming to the California Gold Rush by ship around the Horn from Massachusetts around 1850. The Bixby brothers quickly amassed enough wealth to purchase a few Spanish Land Grants and started cattle businesses supplying the miners. When the cattle market subsided, they went back to Iowa, purchased a large flock of sheep and drove them back to California. Jotham returned to Massachusetts to marry Margaret Hathaway, and each of his brothers likewise married Margaret's sisters. Jotham Bixby made his fortune not from cattle or sheep, but from oil that was discovered on his land. Their son, George Bixby was born in Long Beach and grew up in his father's cattle business. George met and married Amelia Andrews, the daughter of a blacksmith. Jotham had purchased the Diamond 2 Ranch in the Bradshaw Mountains near Prescott, Arizona Territory. So when the cattle industry waned in California in the 1870s, Jotham Bixby's family and George Bixby's family relocated to co-operate the Diamond 2 permanently, but still kept other business interests in California. George's cousin, Fred Bixby bought the 3 Bar Ranch just north of the Salt River in Arizona. Then in 1906, the U.S. Government built the Roosevelt Dam nearby and required a large portion of his land for the subsequent flood. Feeling nudged off his land, Fred Bixby moved up on the Rim, and operated a 400,000 acre ranch there. George and Amelia's son, Steve Sr, grew up on the Diamond 2 in the summers, but resided in California during school. His mother planned that he would eventually take over running the operation of the Diamond 2 at some point. He attended college in California and there he met his bride, the daughter of a German carpenter by the name of Hecker, building homes in Santa Ana. They returned to Arizona as planned, but Steve wanted to breed purebred Herefords instead. Someone looking at the Diamond 2 told him about a better place in Wheatfields. Steve purchased this ranch homesteaded by the Horrells from Max Bonney and the newly-weds moved there in 1928. Her father, a carpenter, built the headquarters for them. This township sized spread located in Wheatfields, adjoined the Hicks Ranch to the west, encompassed the Apache Mountains to the old Lewis-Scarborough/Jones ranch, Zee Hayes and the Mounce Ranch to the south. Radium, the stockyards where cattle was shipped by train was on the eastern fence, and the Bohme Ranch was on the north. Ranchers would drive their cattle from as far away as the Tonto across the Roosevelt to hold up at Radium, and Steve Jr. remembers when the yards were full, the stockmen would hold their overflow in canyons. Invariably the train conductor would blow the whistle and spook the cattle into stampeding and mixing. He also remembered ditching school in order to help the Cline herds cross the Roosevelt. Other ranchers on the north side of the lake were the Ewings, Mick Holder, Fred Bixby, John Armer, Frank Chapman, and Levi Grantham. On the south side of the lake was Ed Horrell and the Cooper Ranch, and Leroy Tucker. Steve Bixby, Sr. bought his ranch just before the stock market crashed and the economic downturn of the Great Depression hit. He rounded up the wild cattle and horses on the ranch and traded them to R.M. Grantham in Young for some Indian rugs and blankets because there was not enough feed on the drought-stricken land to sustain them.
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Bixby Family History, Part 2
In Part 2, Steve Bixby Jr. talks about his life, his childhood and of partnering with his dad, Steve Sr. on the ranch. Steve was the last of the family tradition of being born in California. He grew up the only boy with 6 sisters. He remembers his first day of school at Noftsger Hill with his neighbor Roy Hicks, and the harrowing experiences of attending that notorious grade school. When his parents divorced, Steve moved to Phoenix where he finished out his schooling, but always spent his summers on his dad's ranch. During WWII, Steve Bixby Sr. served in the State Senate on what would be called the Cow Country Senate. After Steve Jr. graduated he returned to the ranch, but fearing he'd be drafted into the Korean War, he enlisted and worked in a helicopter rescue unit on aircraft carriers for 4 years. When he got out, Steve and his buddy enrolled at the U of A where he could take classes on ranching. He met his friend's sister and they married mid-semester. After that year in college, they returned to the ranch in 1956. The Bixbys started the Gila County Cattle sales in the late '50s. They built pens on Company grounds about a mile above Radium and had sales of both purebred Herefords and regular cattle there for 30 years. Steve Jr. was the president of the Gila County Cattle Growers Association. The Bixby Ranch specialized in purebred White-faced Herefords, and each year would have a barbeque, a bull sale and then a cocktail party at the barn. He and his dad would also travel around the western states and as far as Oklahoma checking out other similar ranchers/breeders. He had a good relationship with the Forest Service, and met the challenges of droughts because the ranch was well watered and they could also supplement the grass with feed. When there were predators, such as black bear, coyotes or mountain lions, he would hire Alvin Clary or other lion hunters to trap or hunt them down. Steve Sr. eventually retired and moved to Washington State. After about 10 years, he told his son he wanted to get his affairs in order by selling out their ranch partnership. Steve couldn't buy out his share, so they sold the ranch just before Steve Sr. died. Steve Jr. had only wanted to be a rancher, and had invested his whole life into the cattle business. After Steve and his wife had raised 3 girls, they divorced. He married Dorothy Fritz, the daughter of a fireman, and fire chief in Globe. She had 2 daughters when they married, and then they had one more daughter, so 6 daughters in all. After they sold the ranch Steve and Dorothy moved to Pinetop, AZ for 18 years, then RV'd around the country for 5 years, and now are settled in Punkin Center.
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Stewart and Tucker Family History, Part 1
Part 1: Velma Stewart Tucker tells the history of the Stewart family. Her father, Bill Stewart, was born in Payson the son of Sam and Margaret Stewart, before statehood. Her mother was born in Pima, a Cluff, an old Mormon family who came to Arizona in the 1880s. Velma's parents met in Rye, in the Tonto Basin, where her sister Velma Cluff lived. They married and settled in Globe. Velma was born in a house above the stockyards in 1933, and was just 14 months old when her father died. Velma's mother then returned with her two daughters to live with his parents, then stayed again with her sister in Rye for a while before returning Globe. She worked for the Gila County Historical Society gluing pottery shards together from the Besh ba Gawah ruins. And then later, she worked for the Richelieu Cafe. Velma's mother was fast on her feet, and in those days Payson had rodeos with matched-horse and matched-foot races. At one such event when Chester Cooper, a horse racer, saw her win a race, he decided she was the woman for him. So in about 1939, when Velma was 6 years old, her mother married Chester Cooper and the family moved to Roosevelt to the Hay Hook Ranch. Velma and her sister attended school at Roosevelt up to the 8th grade, and she recalls the students and what the community of Roosevelt was like in those days. Chet Cooper played the fiddle for dances, and she recalled the last dance he played before they tore the hotel down. Velma attended up to her sophomore year at Globe High School. That year the Cooper family and the Roy and Georgia Tucker family, who had always been close friends, went to a matched horse race and rodeo at Snowflake. It was raining hard that day so Leroy Tucker joined Velma for a while in the car. One thing led to another, he asked her to the dance that night, and they fell in love. They were married the following spring in 1949 at Leroy's parents' house at the HZ Ranch, and Velma and Leroy took up residence in a cabin they still call the "honeymoon suite," at the headquarters. That first summer Leroy continued to rope in the rodeos. But it wasn't too long later that his father, Roy Tucker, passed away, and Leroy had to take over running the ranch with his mother. Velma worked with them as much as she could, but gradually became too involved with raising their 3 children. Leroy and Velma eventually bought out Georgia and his sister's part of the ranch and they moved to Globe. Things were going well on the ranch and so they took a vacation to California. While they were in Northern California, they saw what they thought was the perfect ranch and impulsively put some money down on it. When they returned home, a neighbor rancher, Joe Bassett, made them a complicated offer, where the buyer of his ranch would pay the Tuckers for their ranch that Joe Bassett had bought. That was their second mistake. Not long after they'd moved to Northern California, they discovered that although their new purchase was beautiful and green, it was not a practical ranch. They soon saw they couldn't make any money on it. So they sold that ranch for another one near Merced. Meanwhile, back in Arizona, in the 3 years that George Hatch, the buyer of Joe Bassett's old ranch, stayed on the ranch, he never made a payment. So when a Sheriff's auction was called, the Tuckers had to return to protect their interests. The auction was tense, but the Tuckers eventually succeeded in acquiring the ranch. This meant they had to return to live on the 5 Slash Ranch, located in the lion infested junipers off Highway 60 about 30 miles north of Globe. This was a tough 10 years for the Tuckers, barely eking out a living in the rough countryside with only the occasional help of Cibecue Indian cowboys. Velma, who was preoccupied with the headquarters and children, only got to ride with Leroy during branding and fence mending. She had also gotten involved with the American National Junior Rodeo Association during the mid-60's and the president helped her start the Arizona Junior Rodeo Association, which is now about 500 members strong. But when their roping horses got out on the highway and were hit and killed by a logging truck, the family lost the heart for rodeos. They sold the 5 Slash in 1971 and it wasn't long afterward that Joe Bassett offered to sell them back their old HZ Ranch along with the Bar Eleven he'd also acquired. The day they signed the papers it began to rain. They settled in the Bar Eleven headquarters and then found that Joe Bassett was gravely ill. He died the following spring. Later his wife Mabel wanted to move into town so they were able to buy back their home.
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Stewart and Tucker Family History, Part 2
Part 2: Velma Tucker continues her story of after they had moved onto the Bar Eleven ranch. Being active with the Arizona Cattle Growers Assoc., Velma, as the wife of a cattleman, was also involved in the Arizona Cowbelles. She was instrumental in organizing the Gila County Cowbelles in 1971 and became their president in 1976. She went through the chairs and became the Arizona State President in 1980, when they sponsored the National Beef Cook Off in Scottsdale. By now their two older children were in college and their youngest was a senior in high school. When their son Roy returned, he moved to the 30-acre HZ headquarters and helped his father work the Bar Eleven ranch. They made a land swap with the Forest Service of the Gleeson Ranch on the Salt River for the Spring Creek area, and then when they sold that land to the Baptist church in 1994, Leroy and Velma bought a 3,052 ranch in Kansas and leased the grazing rights to son Roy. But Roy's departure left them short of hands in what was predicted to be the beginning of bad times. Leroy and Velma decided to sell the Bar Eleven just before another drought hit. The rancher who bought was assured by the Forest Service that everything would be okay, but soon the environmentalist pressure on the U.S. Forest Service to close off access to the river and lake to cattle effectively forced him to fail. After Leroy and Velma had sold, they moved back to the HZ headquarters and Leroy stayed busy working for other ranchers. In 2004, there was enough rain that the Forest Service allowed them to put some cattle back on the range and so they leased the grazing rights of the 2 Bar, located near the Tonto National Monument cliff dwellings. Velma was appointed to the Arizona Beef Council where she served for 12 years. Governor Babbitt then appointed her to the National Livestock and Meat Board, where she served another 8 years. These were exciting times for the Tuckers because they were never previously able to take vacations, but now she was required to travel around the United States to conventions and Leroy could be an inexpensive tagalong spouse. Velma served on the Promotion Committee that came up with the familiar slogans of "Where's the Beef?" and "Beef, it's what's for Dinner." She was also on the Education Committee that produced educational videos for schools promoting beef. Now retired, she's happy to just ride and look at the baby calves. After graduating from college, their older daughter worked in the field of the blind and deaf until she retired. Their youngest daughter has had a long career in banking. The Tuckers have now sold their Kansas ranch and Roy has bought another ranch in New Mexico. The Tuckers are comfortable in their longtime home, and Leroy, now 82 years old, still rides daily. Velma concludes saying they still enjoy working cattle. It's a good life.
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Cline Family History Part 1
The first to immigrant to Arizona was Christian Cline, an English former bondservant from Pennsylvania. The family first immigrated to California during the gold rush. They panned enough gold to purchase a small herd of cattle in San Diego, and moved them to the future Roosevelt Dam basin on the Salt River sometime before or during the Civil War. They found the mature grasses too tough and reedy for the cattle to survive, so was forced to relocate south of Tucson. Indians drove them back out after killing a couple of their sons. They returned and started burning the old grass to improve the feed, but within a year the varmints had nearly decimated the herd. This time, while one part of the family went back to California and bought replacement cattle, another group went to New Mexico for hunting dogs. Steve's great grandfather, John Leroy Cline, was just 11 or 12 years old when on the return trip from California he was shot in the leg by bandits, the result being he walked with a limp the rest of his life. The Clines settled where Tonto Creek meets the Salt River and opened up a general store and post office. There were only a few peaceful Indians remaining in the area by then because the U.S. Cavalry had already driven the Apaches out to form the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. Steve talks briefly about local legends, the Apache Kid, Nachez and Al Seiber. After the flood covered their original homestead, they relocated just east of the A Cross (Armer) Ranch. John Leroy Cline, while not found guilty, lost everything he had, his ranch and cattle there, the result of the ambush and murder of Territorial Charlie Edwards, a psychopath whose father was the Territorial Judge. Now, too old to start another ranch, he relocated to the Tonto Basin area where the family still lives. John Leroy Cline opened another store and saloon, providing a warm meal and bootleg for the locals and travelers through the area. Steve's grandfather, George Cline, was now a young man who, while working on the Roosevelt Dam had met his future bride, Roxy Libby Solomon, the daughter of a teamster.
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Cline Family History Part 2
Part 2: Generations of George Cline and Benjamin Baker Cline. Steve talks about his famous grandfather George Cline, a champion team roper and steer tier, who won the calf roping in Madison Square Gardens while on the rodeo circuit. Because his father had saved him from being murdered by the Territorial Deputy, but had lost every thing he owned in his own defense, George started out on his own with nothing. But, so he honed his expertise by roping and leading out cattle from ranches being shut down by the U.S. Forest Service. He got his first ranch by purchasing such a ranch where the owner underestimated how many head of cattle he owned. George gathered enough extra cattle to sell to pay off the ranch. He bought several more ranches, including the Bar 11, the TV Ranch, Joe Cline's H Ranch, the J Slash X on Picture Mountain, then the Cross 7 and the V.I.V. Steve's father, Benjamin Baker Cline met Dorothy Euline Herman, the daughter of Daley Herman, while attending Mesa High School. Steve, their only child, was born in 1936. He remembers the day he went to school and everyone gathered around the radio to listen to President Roosevelt declare war on the Japanese, the result of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He recalled the scrap metal campaign that followed and fell through. Steve had many relatives who went to war, but his father, being an only son, was exempted to take care of the 800 head of cattle on their ranch. With the cowboys now gone, the ranchers couldn't properly care for their herds and so by the end of the war the range was filled with wild cattle. When the cowboys returned they were equally wild and mostly stayed drunk and dangerous, but eventually they either healed or drifted off to other occupations. Benjamin Baker Cline had bought the Tin Cup Ranch from Fred Packard and later in 1949 this ranch, the Slash X, from George Martin. Ironically, Martin had purchased it from the widow of Charles Edwards, the Territorial Marshall who had been ambushed in order to protect George Cline, allegedly by, but not proven, Benjamin Baker's grandfather, John Leroy Cline. Like his father, Steve attended Mesa High School and met his bride-to-be, Arlene Starks there. They were married and Arlene fit right into ranching. During the summers when ranching slowed, Steve supplemented their income by fire jumping from an old helicopter for the Forest Service. He also did assessment work for the White Mountain Drilling, pulling in $50 per day, which paid for their first child's birth. Grandfather George Cline was a pretty good judge of minerals, and so prospecting was a part of the cowboy's work. Steve tells of the Fluorspar that was mined and milled in the Tonto Basin, it's uses in making hand grenades and how they worked, and in Naval guns during WWII.
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Cline Family History Part 3
Part 3: Steve Cline's Generation. Steve and Arlene were married in 1954 and lived on the old TV Ranch. About 4 years later, his father Benjamin Baker Cline was bucked off his horse and killed while putting cattle out. Steve was 23 years old. Having been raised on the ranch, he knew well how to be a cowboy, but now suddenly he was thrust into the role of a rancher. He learned quickly there's a difference between being a cowboy and a rancher. He credits his grandfather George Cline, a seasoned and successful rancher himself, for saving the ranch. Now alone, Steve took on the awesome task of finishing his father's work of cleaning the land of wild cattle. Steve recalls his dogs who served as indispensable cowhands, and tells some funny dog stories. He also talks about the bear predation with bear stories. About the time he got his numbers down to the Forest Service allotment, drought, environmentalists and the U.S. Forest Service pulled out the rest of his cattle. Now in the past years he's been building up a small herd of about 43 head, crossing over from Herefords to Charolais. Cattle in the U.S. is down about 12 percent so the market is picking up. He takes them to the Phoenix auction instead of Globe. He used to be the president of the Gila County Cattle Growers Assoc. in the mid-late 1990's but after the cattle was moved out, there was no purpose left. He mentions in 2002, when the Forest Service made everyone gather all their cattle, that he hired Joe Haught to help him and was struck by what a remarkable, hardworking and genuine character Joe Haught was, calling him one of the last of the cowboys. Steve has now passed on the ranch legacy to his two sons and grandchildren, giving them charge over the 110 acre ranch.
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