The Empire Ranch comes alive for annual celebration

SONOITA—It was just about a perfect day for the Empire Ranch roundup last Sunday.

It was cloudless and the sky was a desert autumn blue. A slight breeze occasionally nudged a windmill’s fans to action.

And the ranch house area of the Empire Ranch was packed with fun-seekers and those hoping to learn more about the cowboy of life and the history of the ranch.

Hundreds came.

“At one point traffic was backed up from the ranch all the way to the highway,” State Route 83, said Bruce Andre of Sonoita. That’s three miles.

Dressed in jeans and a cowboy shirt and Western hat, Andre tipped back in his chair strumming his guitar. He was one of the musician at the roundup, and was taking a break.

Andre came to the Sonoita in 1974, and for a while managed a ranch on the west side of State Route 83.

“Look at them,” Andre said nodding his head toward the arena where nine young nervous cows were pinned.

“The cows can probably feel the crowd,” he said.

They could probably also hear the “pop,” “pop,” “pop” of revolvers loaded with black power as riders rode swiftly along a course of tethered balloons, shooting them.

The headquarters of the Empire Ranch is about 10 miles northeast of Sonoita. It’s to the east of the Santa Rita Mountain, which are east of Green Valley.

Headquarters is a 22-room adobe and wood frame building which dates to 1870. The headquarters sits near the center of the 42,000-acre Las Cienegas National Conservation Area, public lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The ranch, about 50 miles southeast of Tucson, was acquired in 1876 by Walter L. Vail, a native of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, and Herbert Hislop, an Englishman.

At one time, the ranch covered a million acres.

In the 1950s, Frank Boice and his family acquired the ranch, which became a favorite place to film some classic Western movies.

The Bureau of Land Management acquired the property in 1988, and fortunately for fans of the Old West preserved the ranch headquarters. Many times when government acquires ranches, it removes the buildings as no longer necessary for their operation.

Parts of a score of movies and TV series were filmed on and around the ranch, including “Red River” with John Wayne, “Oklahoma” with Gordon McRae and Shirley Jones, “Duel In the Sun” with Jennifer Jones and Gregory Peck, “Hombre” with Paul Newman, “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas and “Winchester 73” with James Stewart and Shelly Winters.

On Sunday, the east side of the ranch house and corrals was pretty much turned over to cattle ranching activities.

There was roping in the main arena and two horse-drawn wagons made repeated trips around it. The wagons were filled with men, women and kiddies, mostly dressed in Western garb.

As soon as one wagon circled the area, passengers got off and a new group climbed aboard for the ride.

The horses could probably make the circle with their eyes closed.

On the east side a series of Western bands played, occasionally providing music for girls line-dancing. Authors were signing books, people were relaxing under the trees and watched as “A chocolate red dog” ran loose, said the P.A. announcer.

“He’s very small and wearing a green collar.”

Half an hour later the dog was being led by someone who obviously knew it.

There was a pack of goats running free on the grounds, snatching a bite of grass here and there. Crowds didn’t bother them.

There lectures by ranch experts and a series of maps and signs.

Pre-teen Colt Donaldson in full cowboy regalia, sat astride a horse, and he loaded his revolver. He got a chance to shoot at the balloon. Friends said Donaldson lives on the ranch.

There were dogs barking, cows bawling, goats calling and leather creaking from saddles and harnesses.

With a whoop and holler, two mounted cowboys chased a young cow in the arena, one roping its neck, the other roping its rear heels.

In a second it was down. Joel Elliot of Sonoita, who had been leaning against the arena railing, walked over to the fallen cow, removed the ropes and it struggled to its feet.

“What did you say to the cow?” he was asked.

With a grin he said, “There you go, snookums.”

jlamb@gvnews.com | 547-9749