Faraway Ranch: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Chiricahua National Monument, National Park Service
Nicholas L, Ruter H, University of Arizona Student Team. 2010. Faraway Ranch: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Chiricahua National Monument, National Park Service. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 850020. NPS Intermountain Regional Office. Intermountain Regional Office/CLI Database
Faraway Ranch is located in southeastern Arizona within Chiricahua National Monument. This historic vernacular landscape, situated in Bonita Canyon, includes structures from the Homesteading (1878-1888), Ranching (1889-1916), and Guest Ranch (1917-1960s) Periods that define the landscape’s historical progression. The period of significance for Faraway Ranch is identified as 1879-1977, beginning with the first homesteading activities by Ja Hu Stafford, including the final military campaign against the Apaches and the peak years of the guest ranch, and ending with the transfer of ownership to the National Park Service (NPS). The physical components of the ranch help to illustrate its role in the developmental history of the area, as well as its relationship to the surrounding landscape. The property has significant associations with areas of archeology, historic agriculture, architecture, conservation, settlement, industry (cattle and guest ranching), military history, women's history, and social history. In addition to its association to these historical events and patterns, the Faraway Ranch is significant for its association with the lives of several individuals. Early settlers, including J.H. Stafford, Emma Erickson, Ed Riggs, Neil Erickson, and Lillian Erickson Riggs, were not the first to live on this land; however, their homestead efforts shaped one of the early pioneer homesteads in the region. Architectural styles and materials used at the ranch are also notable, blending regional construction techniques with European/American styles. The Faraway Ranch landscape encompasses the main ranch house complex with the family residence and associated structures, which include the barn, various sheds, a garage, a bunkhouse, an earthen reservoir, a corral, and fruit tree orchards. Also within the residential complex area is a swimming pool built by the Erickson family in 1923 and fed by diverted well water. The area continued to be occupied by descendants of the Erickson family until the mid-1970’s. To the east of the residential complex are the remnants of an orchard and the former site of the family’s vegetable garden. The landscape also contains traces of field roads, cobblestone edged paths, irrigation ditches, and a well. The historic Stafford cabin, which is the earliest structure at the site, is approximately a quarter mile east of the Erickson’s primary residential complex. The 160-acre Stafford homestead property, adjacent to the Erickson homestead, was purchased by Lillian and Hildegarde Erickson in 1918 and combined with the family’s property. The Stafford land was subdivided several times; first in 1945, and again in 1955. Lillian (Erickson) Riggs retained the parcel of land that included the historic cabin. Approximately one mile to the southwest of the main complex is the Erickson family cemetery, which consists of two fenced rectangular enclosures, plantings, and four headstones. A military lookout used by the Buffalo Soldiers during the 1885-86 war with the Apaches lies south of the ranch. Chiricahua National Monument was created in 1924, but the Faraway Ranch Historic District was not officially acquired for the park until 1978. Beyond simply containing historic structures, the Faraway Ranch landscape as a whole can support a more comprehensive interpretation of the historical progression of the surrounding landscape. Existing features provide an understanding of the guest house period, Chiricahua Apache history, early subsistence Anglo homesteading, and the Buffalo Soldiers. It also can be viewed in connection to the development of the Chiricahua National Monument and the early conservation movement.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Nicholas, Lisa; Ruter, Helana; University of Arizona Student Team
- Date of Issue
- 2010-05-30
- Publisher
- NPS Intermountain Regional Office
- Units
- CHIR , IMR
- Keywords
- "Wonderland of Rocks", African-American History, Agriculture, Architecture, Arizona, Bonita Canyon, Buffalo Soldiers, Bunkhouse, Captain Charles Cooper, Cattle Ranching, Cochise County, Conservation, corral, Creating Social Institutions and Movements, Earthen Reservoir, Ed Riggs, Emma Erickson, Entertainment-Recreation, Erickson Homestead, Ethnic Heritage-Black, Family Cemetery, Forestine Cooper, Guest Ranching, historic district, Immigrant History, Indian wars, Industry, Irrigation System, J.H. Stafford, Lillian Erickson Riggs, Military, Neil Erickson, Orchard, Pioneer Homestead, Political and Military Affairs 1865-1939, Ranch Complex, Recreation, road trace, Settlement, Social History, Stafford Cabin, Swedish Heritage, swimming pool, The Farmers' Frontier, The Great Depression and the New Deal 1929-1941, U.S. Forest Service, vegetable garden, Well, Westward Expansion of the Colonies and the United States 1763-1898, Women's History