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Henry Hooker

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A ranch (from Spanish : rancho / Mexican Spanish ) is an area of land , including various structures, given primarily to ranching , the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep . It is a subtype of farm . These terms are most often applied to livestock-raising operations in Mexico , the Western United States and Western Canada , though there are ranches in other areas. People who own or operate a ranch are called ranchers , cattlemen , or stockgrowers . Ranching is also a method used to raise less common livestock such as horses , elk , American bison , ostrich , emu , and alpaca .

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68-609: Henry Clay Hooker (January 10, 1828 – December 5, 1907) was a prominent and wealthy rancher during the American Old West who formed the first and what became the largest American ranch in Arizona Territory . After growing up on the east coast, he married and traveled to California, where he established a hardware store in Hangtown . When it burned, he left for Arizona Territory where he partnered with others to supply cattle to

136-411: A Rancho or Estancia as "a unit of land which comprises a Hacienda, where cattle and horses are raised, and which is in the care of a Caporal who is the captain of the other cowboys." Niceto de Zamacois , in his book "Historia de Méjico" (1879), defined terms as follows: "...the men of the countryside who carry out their jobs on horseback are given the name of "Rancheros," derived from the word Rancho that

204-511: A U.S. government contract to supply beef to military posts and Indian agencies in Arizona. Hooker visited each agency to assess how much beef each needed. Hooker followed that contract with another by partnering with pioneer cattlemen William B. Hooper and James M. Barney in a similar venture. A family legend says that a herd of cattle stampeded and Hooker's range hands found the cattle in what later became known as Sulphur Springs Valley. Hooker liked

272-537: A circle; a mess hall. “Rancho” in Spain is also the: “food prepared for several people who eat in a circle and from the same pot.” It was also defined as a family reunion to talk any particular business. While “ranchero” is defined as the: “steward of a mess”, the steward in charge of preparing the food for the “rancho” or mess-hall. In South America, specifically in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Brasil, Bolivia and Paraguay,

340-661: A farm (occasionally also ranch) in South African English and plaas in Afrikaans . Sierra Bonita Ranch The Sierra Bonita Ranch , founded in 1872 by Henry C. Hooker , is one of the oldest cattle ranches in the United States and the ranch buildings have been designated a National Historic Landmark. It was the first permanent American cattle ranch in Arizona . Hooker bought neighboring ranches until his operation became

408-476: A farm that had belonged to his great-grandfather. His father was Henry C. Hooker Sr. (1791–1885), a descendant of early New England leader Thomas Hooker , and his mother was Mary Daggett. He was sixth among 10 siblings: Amelia Prentice, Julia Worthington, George Prince, Charles Gay, Anson Carey, Almira Ann, Minerva Sophia, Anson Carey, John Daggett, and Mary Rosella. In 1848 he moved first to New York City and then in 1849 to Kansas City, Missouri . He worked for

476-528: A few struggling smaller operations have added some dude ranch features such as horseback rides, cattle drives, and guided hunting to bring in additional income. Ranching is part of the iconography of the " Wild West " as seen in Western movies and rodeos . The term ranch comes from the Spanish term rancho , itself from the term rancharse , which means “to get ready, to settle in a place, to pitch camp”, itself from

544-477: A fire destroyed much of Hangtown including Hooker's business and residence. Henry and his family survived with only $ 1,000.00 (or about $ 19,900 in today's dollars) that Henry had saved. Searching for a way to rebuild his capital, Hooker came up with the idea of delivering live turkeys to the miners of the Comstock Lode who were willing to pay top dollar for meat. He bought turkeys from a number of local ranchers at

612-476: A generous price of $ 1.50 per head (about $ 30 in present-day dollars). He hired a man, bought two dogs, and started over the Sierra Nevada with 500 turkeys. He almost lost the entire flock near his destination when they took flight at the top of a cliff, but was able to recapture the birds when they landed in the valley below. He drove them through the middle of Carson City and sold them for $ 5.00 per head, realizing

680-459: A large number of well-bred hogs. He had hen houses built to supply the ranch with chickens and eggs. He bought six purebred stallions and ran over 500 brood mares that produced horses that became known for their speed, beauty and temperament. The ranch eventually included lands in Graham and Cochise Counties . It became the largest ranch in Arizona , totaling 800 square miles (2,100 km ). Hooker

748-551: A mercantile business or hardware store and sold supplies to the miners. Once in a while Henry would buy and drive cattle east, over the Sierra, to sell to the Comstock Lode miners in the region around Carson City and Genoa, Nevada. His business flourished and he and Elizabeth had three children: Ida M. Hooker (born May 3, 1858), Edwin R. Hooker (born February 27, 1861), and Joseph M. Hooker (born September 4, 1863), who married Laura Butler Coffin on November 14, 1906. On August 10, 1865,

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816-574: A number of terms, including cowhand , ranch hand, and cowboy . People exclusively involved with handling horses are sometimes called wranglers . Ranching and the cowboy tradition originated in Spain , out of the necessity to handle large herds of grazing animals on dry land from horseback. During the Reconquista , members of the Spanish nobility and various military orders received large land grants that

884-459: A pasturing land or agricultural settlement where cattle are raised. Originally used to refer to a hamlet or village where cattle is raised and where the land is sowed; and to a small independent cattle farm, or to a cattle station, an area of land for cattle raising, that is dependent of a hacienda , a large cattle estate. In Spain it retained its military origin, being defined as: the group of people, typically soldiers, who eat together in

952-514: A profit of about $ 1750 (about $ 34,800 today). Hooker, who was referred by the honorary title of "Colonel Hooker", arrived in the Arizona Territory with the profits from his turkey venture in 1867. He built up a cattle operation supplying beef to the military. He brought 10,000 Texas Longhorns from Texas in 1872. During one cattle drive in 1872 as they traveled between Mt. Graham and the Galiuro Range northwest of present-day Willcox, Arizona ,

1020-599: A settlement originated. For example, many of the traditions of the Jalisco charros in central Mexico come from the Salamanca charros of Castile. The vaquero tradition of Northern Mexico was more organic, developed to adapt to the characteristics of the region from Spanish sources by cultural interaction between the Spanish elites and the native and mestizo peoples. Cattle ranching flourished in Spanish Florida during

1088-566: A smaller scale. After the 1891 drought, he formed the Sierra Bonita Land and Stock Company, which extended ranching operations to 250,000 acres (1,000 km) supporting 20,000 head of cattle. Hooker hired Billy the Kid before he became famous during the Lincoln County War . Hooker, like many ranchers and businessmen, supported the lawmen Virgil and Wyatt Earp . On March 27, 1882, after

1156-444: A social center in the southeastern Arizona Territory . Hooker hosted politicians, government and military officials, artists, writers, and scientists. When invited to dinner, everyone was required to wear a coat, and Hooker kept a few extra on hand for guests who didn't have one. Hooker always dressed like an Eastern gentleman and never wore cowboy clothing, even when on the range. Playwright Augustus Thomas set his play Arizona at

1224-468: A steep ramp, and tied by their horns to the horns of a tame, older steer (or ox ) and taken to fenced-in areas. The industry grew slowly under the reign of Kamehameha's son Liholiho ( Kamehameha II ). When Liholiho's brother, Kauikeaouli ( Kamehameha III ), visited California , then still a part of Mexico , he was impressed with the skill of the Mexican vaqueros . In 1832, he invited several to Hawaii to teach

1292-465: A trail through the valley near his ranch compound. The trail ran between the United States and Mexico, but Hooker rarely had trouble from them. By 1885, Hooker bought other nearby ranches. He built up his herds and brought in expensive bulls and blooded cows. He maintained a dairy herd that kept the ranch supplied with butter and milk. He put in 1,000 acres (400 ha) of alfalfa and timothy , and planted acres of corn and artichokes to use as feed for

1360-426: Is an employee of the actual owner, the term foreman or ranch foreman is used. A rancher who primarily raises young stock sometimes is called a cow-calf operator or a cow-calf man . This person is usually the owner, though in some cases, particularly where there is absentee ownership, it is the ranch manager or ranch foreman. The people who are employees of the rancher and involved in handling livestock are called

1428-524: Is applied to a small hacienda, or to a part of a large one that is divided into racherias or ranchos. Those who carry out the same tasks in the haciedas of Veracruz are given the name of "Jarochos." Thus the term Rancho in Mexican Spanish became a unit of land that makes up a hacienda where cattle is raised and where people live in farmhouses. The people that live and work in those Ranchos managing cattle and horses are called Rancheros. As settlers from

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1496-516: Is owned as of 2012 by Jesse Hooker Davis, great-great-great-grandson of Henry Hooker, who took over management from his grandmother, Jacqueline Hooker Hughes. The ranch currently includes 45,000 acres (18,000 ha), about one-fifth the size of the operation under its founder, Henry Hooker. Some of the land was lost to homesteaders allowed on the property in the early 20th century by the federal government, and some has been portioned off to other family members. The property currently includes only two of

1564-457: The Apache Indians in the early 19th century. The main ranch house was 80 feet (24 m) by 100 feet (30 m). Soon after establishing the ranch, Hooker erected a small adobe fort to fend off raids by the local Apache . They initially cost him numerous losses, both in personnel and equipment. The lush landscape allowed Hooker to pasture up to 15,500 head of cattle there at all times of

1632-522: The Conquistadors came to the Americas in the 16th century, followed by settlers, they brought their cattle and cattle-raising techniques with them. Huge land grants by the Spanish (and later Mexican) government, part of the hacienda system, allowed large numbers of animals to roam freely over vast areas. A number of different traditions developed, often related to the original location in Spain from which

1700-783: The Earp Vendetta Ride , Hooker hosted the Earps and their companions on their way out of the Arizona Territory. He died December 5, 1907, on his ranch. At the time of his death he was the wealthiest rancher in Arizona. As of 2005, the Sierra Bonita Ranch was operated by Mrs. Harry Hooker, granddaughter of Henry Hooker. It remains an operating cattle ranch and is owned as of 2012 by Jesse Hooker Davis, great-great-great-grandson of Henry Hooker, who took over management from his grandmother, Jacqueline Hooker Hughes. The Sierra Bonita Ranch

1768-526: The Homestead Act of 1862, more settlers came west to set up farms . This created some conflict, as increasing numbers of farmers needed to fence off fields to prevent cattle and sheep from eating their crops. Barbed wire , invented in 1874, gradually made inroads in fencing off privately owned land, especially for homesteads. There was some reduction of land on the Great Plains open to grazing. The end of

1836-583: The Indian Department until 1852 when he moved to El Dorado County, California , during the California Gold Rush . He married Elizabeth Rockwell (born December 23, 1837, in Erie, Pennsylvania ), daughter of Peter King Rockwell and his wife, Maria Dorcas (née Bell), on March 19, 1856. After trying his hand at mining, they moved to Hangtown, California (later renamed Placerville ), in the 1860s. Henry started

1904-556: The Kingdom of Castile had conquered from the Moors . These landowners were to defend the lands put into their control and could use them for earning revenue. In the process it was found that open-range breeding of sheep and cattle (under the Mesta system) was the most suitable use for vast tracts, particularly in the parts of Spain now known as Castilla-La Mancha , Extremadura and Andalusia . When

1972-659: The Revolutionary War , and three or four drives in the late 1930s, when area cattle were herded down Montauk Highway to pasture ground near Deep Hollow Ranch. The prairie and desert lands of what today is Mexico and the western United States were well-suited to " open range " grazing. For example, American bison had been a mainstay of the diet for the Native Americans in the Great Plains for centuries. Likewise, cattle and other livestock were simply turned loose in

2040-551: The United States moved west, they brought cattle breeds developed on the east coast and in Europe along with them, and adapted their management to the drier lands of the west by borrowing key elements of the Spanish vaquero culture. However, there were cattle on the eastern seaboard. Deep Hollow Ranch , 110 miles (180 km) east of New York City in Montauk, New York , claims to be

2108-587: The 17th century. The word "Rancho" in Mexico developed different definitions from what it originally meant in Spain. In the book "Descripción de la Diócesis de Guadalajara de Indias" (1770), Mateo José de Arteaga defined "Ranchos" as "extensions of land where few people live with few assets and sheltering in huts." In 1778, José Alejandro Patiño , in his text "Topografía del Curato de Tlaxomulco," defined Ranchos as "In these Indian kingdoms, Ranchos are country houses of little pomp and value, where men of average means and

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2176-453: The 1840s, and expansion both north and west from that time, through the Civil War and into the 1880s, ranching dominated western economic activity. Along with ranchers came the need for agricultural crops to feed both humans and livestock, and hence many farmers also came west along with ranchers. Many operations were "diversified", with both ranching and farming activities taking place. With

2244-419: The 1880s Hooker improved his herds further by importing Hereford graded stock. He gradually built his holdings until he controlled 250,000 acres (1,000 km ) that carried 20,000 head. In the Arizona Territory from 1873–91, cattle herds grew from 40,000 to 1.5 million head. Hooker built a sound operation and was one of the few Arizona ranchers to survive a disastrous drought in 1891, which killed over half

2312-628: The American government so that they could keep better control of the pasture land available to their own animals. Ranching in Hawaii developed independently of that in the continental United States. In colonial times, Capt. George Vancouver gave several head of cattle to the Hawaiian king, Pai`ea Kamehameha , monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and by the early 19th century, they had multiplied considerably, to

2380-591: The Army and Indian Agencies. When one of the herds stampeded , he found them in a verdant valley. He established the Sierra Bonita Ranch there. It became one of the largest ranches in the Territory and state of Arizona and was held by family members for several generations. He was a personal friend of Wyatt Earp and aided him after the Earp Vendetta Ride . Henry Clay Hooker was born January 10, 1828, in Hinsdale, New Hampshire on

2448-600: The Chiricahua Apaches took many cattle. The ranchers would drive the cattle up California's Central Valley . Once they arrived in the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento Valley , they would rent pasture and fatten the cattle up before selling them for a handsome profit. When Hooker arrived in Arizona from California in 1867, he partnered with Captain Hugh Hinds, who Hooker knew from Placerville. Hinds had secured

2516-601: The Gold Rush, cattle were primarily valued for their hides and tallow . A mature steer rarely fetched more than $ 4.00 a head (or about $ 146 today). The miners and merchants who came to California as a result of the Gold Rush fed an explosion in the state's population and a concurrent demand for beef. The price of cattle rose up to $ 75 a head (around $ 1,493 today). Ranchers could turn a profit driving cattle from as far as Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to California even though

2584-587: The Hawaiian people how to work cattle. The Hawaiian cowboy came to be called the paniolo , a Hawaiianized pronunciation of español. Even today, the traditional Hawaiian saddle and many other tools of the ranching trade have a distinctly Mexican look, and many Hawaiian ranching families still carry the surnames of vaqueros who made Hawaii their home. In Argentina and Uruguay , ranches are known as estancias and in Brazil , they are called fazendas . In much of South America , including Ecuador and Colombia ,

2652-500: The United States. The gaucho culture of Argentina , Brazil and Uruguay are among the cattle ranching traditions born during the period. However, in the 20th century, cattle raising expanded into less-suitable areas of the Pantanal . Particularly in Brazil , the 20th century marked the rapid growth of deforestation , as rain forest lands were cleared by slash and burn methods that allowed grass to grow for livestock, but also led to

2720-475: The building's outside walls had doors or windows. The only access was through a single gate in a fourth wall, although another door was added in another wall years later when security improved. To maximize self-sufficiency, the patio originally contained a well and a root cellar, but they were later filled in. The roof had gunports in the parapets. Hooker developed a relationship with the Apache Indians who used

2788-413: The cattle due in part to severe overgrazing. Efforts to restore the rangeland between 1905 and 1934 had limited success, but ranching continued on a smaller scale. When he died in 1907, Hooker was still the cattle king of Arizona. The Sierra Bonita Ranch was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964. It is among the oldest ranches in the United States. It remains an operating cattle ranch and

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2856-485: The cattle stampeded and were found grazing in a verdant valley with abundant water (Spanish ciénega ) later named Sulphur Springs Valley . At 4,000 feet (1,200 m) elevation, it supported lush, 12 to 20 inches (300 to 510 mm) tall grass. But the constant threat of Apache raids prevented permanent settlement until after the Civil War ended, when a U.S. Army post was built at Ft. Grant about 10 miles (16 km) to

2924-496: The depletion of the land within only a few years. Many of indigenous peoples of the rain forest opposed this form of cattle ranching and protested the forest being burnt down to set up grazing operations and farms. This conflict is still a concern in the region today. In Spain, where the origins of ranching can be traced, there are ganaderías operating on dehesa -type land, where fighting bulls are raised. However, ranch-type properties are not seen to any significant degree in

2992-695: The east, and in the Santa Cruz and San Pedro Valleys, which helped to reduce the Indian raids. Hooker was impressed by the valley, and after the Apache threat was sufficiently reduced, in 1872 he decided to locate his ranch there. He named it the Sierra Bonita Ranch for the views of the nearby mountains. It was located on the site of a former Spanish hacienda in Sulphur Spring Valley that had been destroyed by

3060-448: The first ranch in the United States, having continuously operated since 1658. The ranch makes the somewhat debatable claim of having the oldest cattle operation in what today is the United States, though cattle had been run in the area since European settlers purchased land from the Indian people of the area in 1643. Although there were substantial numbers of cattle on Long Island, as well as

3128-407: The government's protection. Apaches stole or killed most of the cattle, and the settlers who didn't return to the interior of Mexico were killed. By about 1840 the only evidence of their former presence were some ruins and a few herds of wild cattle. The California Gold Rush that began in 1849 drew a large number of people through the area, but by this time only the Apache occupied the area. Prior to

3196-475: The largest ranch in Arizona , totaling 800 square miles (2,100 km ), or about 30 by 27 miles (48 by 43 km). It is located in Sulphur Springs Valley about 27 miles (43 km) north of present-day Willcox, Arizona . The modern ranch is much smaller but is still operational and owned by Jesse Hooker Davis, the sixth generation to live and work on the ranch. Before the arrival of the Spanish,

3264-551: The military French term se ranger (to arrange oneself, to tidy up), from the Frankish hring , which means ring or circle . It was, originally, vulgarly applied in the 16th century to the provisional houses of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. The term evolved differently throughout the Spanish speaking world : In Mexico, it evolved to mean a cattle farm, station or estate,

3332-519: The mountains to reservoirs on his ranch. Control of a reliable water source gave Hooker the ability to control a range approximately 30 miles (48 km) long and 30 miles (48 km) wide. Hooker became the largest supplier of beef to the military in the Arizona Territory . Hooker Initially suffered heavy losses, both in personnel and supplies, due to Apache raids. Hooker originally stocked his ranch with Texas Longhorns and low-grade Mexican corrientes before replacing them with Durham cattle . In

3400-408: The need to herd them to and from common grazing lands on a seasonal basis, the cattle handlers actually lived in houses built on the pasture grounds, and cattle were ear-marked for identification, rather than being branded. The only actual "cattle drives" held on Long Island consisted of one drive in 1776, when the island's cattle were moved in a failed attempt to prevent them from being captured during

3468-399: The open range was not brought about by a reduction in land due to crop farming , but by overgrazing . Cattle stocked on the open range created a tragedy of the commons as each rancher sought increased economic benefit by grazing too many animals on public lands that "nobody" owned. However, being a non-native species, the grazing patterns of ever-increasing numbers of cattle slowly reduced

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3536-417: The original five wells, and the ranch no longer includes any of the mountain ranges and their water supplies. The adobe ranch house has been remodeled inside, but it still retains the fortress-like appearance of early days. It is shaded by giant cottonwoods and surrounded by the original adobe corrals, bunkhouses, and barns. The integrity of the site is exceptional for three reasons: Continuity, appearance of

3604-433: The point that they were wreaking havoc throughout the countryside. About 1812, John Parker, a sailor who had jumped ship and settled in the islands, received permission from Kamehameha to capture the wild cattle and develop a beef industry. The Hawaiian style of ranching originally included capturing wild cattle by driving them into pits dug in the forest floor. Once tamed somewhat by hunger and thirst, they were hauled out up

3672-507: The poor live, cultivating the small plots of land that they own or rent, sowing to the extent that each one can afford and raising their domestic, country animals, according to their strength." By the nineteenth century, the words Rancho and Estancia as used in Mexico had been consolidated to define a unit of land that made up a Hacienda or any rural area or the countryside in general. Domingo Revilla in 1844, in his text "Los Rancheros", defined

3740-559: The property. Employees are generally known as stockmen/stockwomen , jackaroos/jillaroos , and ringers (rather than cowboys). Some Australian cattle stations are larger than 10,000 km , with the greatest being Anna Creek Station which measures 23,677 km in area (approximately eight times the largest US Ranch). Anna Creek is owned by S Kidman & Co . The equivalent terms in New Zealand are run and station . In South Africa , similar extensive holdings are usually known as

3808-458: The quality of the rangeland, in spite of the simultaneous massive slaughter of American bison that occurred. The winter of 1886–87 was one of the most severe on record, and livestock that were already stressed by reduced grazing died by the thousands. Many large cattle operations went bankrupt, and others suffered severe financial losses. Thus, after this time, ranchers also began to fence off their land and negotiated individual grazing leases with

3876-462: The ranch and based the two primary characters Canby and Bonita on Hooker's family. The valley is at 4,000 feet (1,200 m) elevation, allowing the ranch to escape extremes of heat and cold, and thus provided an ideal breeding range. The plentiful water supply included five springs, creeks that flowed in the spring and fall, and abundant, shallow groundwater easily tapped by wells. In case of drought, Hooker had ditches dug that brought water from

3944-489: The ranch's centennial. North of the main house is a weather-worn adobe bunkhouse with a tin roof and a large adobe corral for storing hay. Other historic corrals at the ranch are made of adobe and wooden planks. Some of the older structures have become unusable, but due to the limitations imposed by the National Historic Structures designation, Davis doesn't want to spend money to rebuild them. The ranch became

4012-600: The rest of western Europe , where there is far less land area and sufficient rainfall allows the raising of cattle on much smaller farms. In Australia , a rangeland property is a station (originally in the sense of a place where stock were temporarily stationed). In almost all cases, these are either cattle stations or sheep stations . The largest cattle stations in the world are located in Australia's dry outback rangelands. Owners of these stations are usually known as graziers or pastoralists, especially if they reside on

4080-420: The spring after their young were born and allowed to roam with little supervision and no fences, then rounded up in the fall, with the mature animals driven to market and the breeding stock brought close to the ranch headquarters for greater protection in the winter. The use of livestock branding allowed the cattle owned by different ranchers to be identified and sorted. Beginning with the settlement of Texas in

4148-588: The term hacienda or finca may be used. Ranchero or Rancho are also generic terms used throughout tropical Latin America . In the colonial period, from the pampas regions of South America all the way to the Minas Gerais state in Brazil, including the semi-arid pampas of Argentina and the south of Brazil, were often well-suited to ranching, and a tradition developed that largely paralleled that of Mexico and

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4216-502: The term is applied to a modest humble rural home or dwelling, a cottage ; while in Venezuela it’s an improvised, illegal dwelling, generally poorly built or not meeting basic habitability requirements; a shanty or slum house. The person who owns and manages the operation of a ranch is usually called a rancher , but the terms cattleman , stockgrower , or stockman are also sometimes used. If this individual in charge of overall management

4284-465: The valley and decided to start a ranch there. Hooker established his ranch in 1872 on the site of a former Spanish hacienda, one of those destroyed by the Apache many years before. His main ranch house was a large, rectangular, U-shaped structure 80 feet (24 m) by 100 feet (30 m) surrounding a central patio. The walls were built of two rows of adobe bricks 20 inches (510 mm) thick and 16 feet (4.9 m) high. To maximize security, none of

4352-457: The valley was visited and may have been occupied by Chiricahua Apache . Beginning in about 1775, the Mexican government promoted a policy of Indian appeasement that reduced hostilities. By the early 1800s there were a number of Mexican rancheros in the area that managed thousands of cattle on the open range. As a result of the Mexican War of Independence , the settlers in the northern regions lost

4420-753: The western United States, many ranches are a combination of privately owned land supplemented by grazing leases on land under the control of the federal Bureau of Land Management or the United States Forest Service . If the ranch includes arable or irrigated land , the ranch may also engage in a limited amount of farming , raising crops for feeding the animals, such as hay and feed grains. Ranches that cater exclusively to tourists are called guest ranches or, colloquially, " dude ranches". Most working ranches do not cater to guests, though they may allow private hunters or outfitters onto their property to hunt native wildlife. However, in recent years,

4488-434: The year. Hooker built a sound operation and his ranch was a key part in cattle production in the Arizona Territory that by 1891 supported 1.5 million cattle on the open range. Hooker was one of the few Arizona ranchers to survive a disastrous drought in 1891, which killed over half the cattle due in part to severe overgrazing. Efforts to restore the range-land between 1905 and 1934 had limited success, but ranching continued on

4556-401: Was committed to quality livestock and in the 1880s he improved his herds by importing Hereford graded stock. He was noted for breeding some of the best cattle, horses, sheep, and dogs in the country. Hooker built a number of other buildings that still survive, including the original barn, built of adobe and wood. It was decorated in 1972 with the words "Sierra Bonita Ranch 1872", in honor of

4624-658: Was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964 but it is not open to the public. In 1959, Henry Hooker was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum . In the 1993 film Tombstone , Hooker was portrayed by actor Charlton Heston . Lynn R. Bailey wrote a book about him and the ranch titled Henry Clay Hooker and the Sierra Bonita . Rancher Ranches generally consist of large areas, but may be of nearly any size. In

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