Empire Ranch, Sonoita, Arizona

The Empire Ranch began in 1860, the ranch house was built in 1870

it started as 160 acres and grew to over 1 million acres. As time went by many acres were sold off. The Empire Ranch is now part of the BML and includes 42,ooo acres of the Las Cinegas National Conservation Area.

Many western movies and TV series were filmed here with big celebrity names. I will list a few as there are far to many to mention;

Red River 1948, Oklahoma 1955, Dual in the Sun 1946, The Big Country 1958, 3:10 to Yuma 1957, Broken Lance 1954, Hombre 1967,The Last Hard Man 1976.

TV Series;

Bonanza 1959-75, The Young Riders 1989-92, Gun Smoke 1955-75

More can be learned @ empireranchfoundation.org

Bathroom added in early 1950s


Vitoria addition

This little guy was there to play with the kids, of course he was a big hit

The barn is in need of repair this event was a fund raiser for that purpose

This shows the construction materials which is adobe, mud and straw or hay