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64-776: The Little Boquillas Ranch gets its name from the San Juan de las Boquillas y Nogales (Saint John of the Little Springs and Walnut Trees) land grant, which was granted to the family of Rafael Elias Gonzales by the Mexican government in 1833. The grant ran from a point near what is now the ghost town of Charleston, Arizona , north to a point just to the south of Fairbank, along the San Pedro River . The San Rafael del Valle grant, owned by Rafael's cousin, Captain Ignacio Elias Gonzales,

128-470: A post office which opened on April 17, 1879. Millville's post office opened shortly after Charleston's, on May 26, 1879, but shut down less than a year later on May 3, 1880, as it became clear that Charleston was to be the primary residence for the people of both towns. While Millville was named for its primary function as a milling location, Charleston took its name from its original postmaster , Charles D. Handy. The 1880 United States Census recorded

192-578: A brickyard, a brewery, and at least four saloons . One of the butcher shops in town was owned by noted frontier lawman John H. Slaughter . The town had a wild and lawless reputation, largely perpetuated by newspapers on the east coast. Noted outlaw Frank Stilwell owned a saloon in Charleston, before selling it to Jacob W. Swart in 1881. In addition, the Clanton Ranch, owned by "Old Man" Clanton , and run by his sons John, Phin, Ike and Billy ,

256-547: A lack of water, needed for refinement, in the immediate vicinity of Tombstone. The mills, one operated by the Tombstone Mill and Mining Company and the other by the Corbin Mill and Mining Company, processed or "stamped" the silver ore into fine powder in preparation for smelting . The mills began operations in 1879, and at their peak from 1881–1882, they processed almost $ 1.4 million in silver bullion in one year. Once

320-629: A living producing food and other necessities for the people in the nearby boomtowns and the soldiers at Fort Huachuca . In 1880, the San Francisco businessman George Hearst and his partner, George Hill Howard, purchased the Boquillas land grant from the Elias family in Sonora . Hearst, who eventually became the sole owner of the property, began selling off parcels of land for townsites, mills, ranches, farms and

384-565: A man. In the absence of other governmental representatives, Burnett became the de facto dictator of Charleston until the town was abandoned around 1889, at which time he left Charleston and became Justice of the Peace in nearby Pearce . He was shot and killed in Tombstone in July 1897 by William Greene, a local rancher who believed that Burnett blew up a dam which led to the death of Greene's daughter. There

448-402: A more unified bureau mission and recognized the value of the remaining public lands by declaring that these lands would remain in public ownership. The law directed that these lands be managed with a view toward "multiple use" defined as "management of the public lands and their various resource values so that they are utilized in the combination that will best meet the present and future needs of

512-590: A pilot project on the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range known as the Adopt-A-Horse initiative. The program took advantage of provisions in the WFRHBA to allow private "qualified" individuals to "adopt" as many horses as they wanted if they could show that they could provide adequate care for the animals. At the time, title to the horses remained permanently with the federal government. The pilot project

576-625: A railroad soon after, making him responsible for much of the early development of the region. In 1891, the United States government established the Court of Private Land Claims to validate land grant claims and attempt to sort out the problems caused by the Surveyor Office, which had previously validated claims. The same year George Hearst died and his son, William Randolph Hearst , and his widow, Phoebe Hearst, filed papers to have their exclusive claim to

640-513: A regular and recurring presence on a vast amount of public lands, roads and recreation sites. They focus on the protection of natural and cultural resources, other BLM employees and visitors. Given the many locations of BLM public lands, these rangers use canines, helicopters, snowmobiles, dirt bikes and boats to perform their duties. By contrast BLM special agents are criminal investigators who plan and conduct investigations concerning possible violations of criminal and administrative provisions of

704-614: A small population of Mexican immigrants who furthered the town's dismantling by using what was left of the wooden structures for kindling. Later, during World War II , the United States Army used Charleston as a practice site for urban combat , often using live ammunition. The site was known to the soldiers of nearby Fort Huachuca as "Little Tunisia" due to its climatic and geographic similarity to Tunisia in Africa . These activities, in and around 1943, led to further deterioration of

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768-425: Is no known surviving evidence that Burnett was responsible for the dam explosion, though Greene and Burnett did have a history of altercation. When the silver mines in Tombstone flooded in 1886, the mills were forced to shut down, and Charleston and Millville went into steep decline. The large Sonoran earthquake that struck on May 3, 1887, accompanied by more than thirty minutes of aftershocks , left all of

832-592: Is not protected by a national park or monument designation. The BLM's May 30, 2019 statement proposed an additional 183,668 acres on "lands managed by the Canyon Country, Color Country, Green River, and West Desert districts" that would be listed for the quarterly oil and gas lease sale on September 10, 2019. In their May 2019, September lease offerings, the BLM said that they had "245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 Western states, including Alaska" and across

896-619: Is the SIG Sauer P320 chambered in 9mm which is replacing the SIG Sauer P226 /P229 both chambered in .40 S&W. The BLM manages free-roaming horses and burros on public lands in ten western states. Though they are feral , the agency is obligated to protect them under the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (WFRHBA). As the horses have few natural predators, populations have grown substantially. WFRHBA as enacted provides for

960-581: Is the agency's largest ever purchase in the state. In 2024 the Department of the Interior has begun to advance a new rule according to which the Bureau of Land Management can distribute restoration leases and mitigation leases exactly in the same way as it distributes new leases for oil and gas drilling. The designed land will be used for nature conservation including use of indigenous knowledge. Established in 2000,

1024-466: The Department of the Interior . It took several years for this new agency to integrate and reorganize. In the end, the Bureau of Land Management became less focused on land disposal and more focused on the long term management and preservation of the land. The agency achieved its current form by combining offices in the western states and creating a corresponding office for lands both east of and alongside

1088-701: The Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument in southern Utah, the first of now 20 national monuments established on BLM lands and managed by the agency. The establishment of Grand Staircase–Escalante foreshadowed later creation of the BLM's National Landscape Conservation System in 2000. Use of the Antiquities Act authority, to the extent it effectively scuttled a coal mine to have been operated by Andalex Resources , delighted recreation and conservation enthusiasts but set up larger confrontations with state and local authorities. Under

1152-596: The Grazing Service . The agency manages the federal government's nearly 700 million acres (2,800,000 km ) of subsurface mineral estate located beneath federal, state and private lands severed from their surface rights by the Homestead Act of 1862 . Most BLM public lands are located in these 12 western states: Alaska , Arizona , California , Colorado , Idaho , Montana , Nevada , New Mexico , Oregon , Utah , Washington and Wyoming . The mission of

1216-673: The Mississippi River . As a matter of course, the BLM's emphasis fell on activities in the western states as most of the mining, land sales, and federally owned areas are located west of the Mississippi. BLM personnel on the ground have typically been oriented toward local interests, while bureau management in Washington are led by presidential guidance. By means of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, Congress created

1280-698: The National Conservation Lands (formerly known as the National Landscape Conservation System), totaling about 36 million acres (150,000 km ). In addition the National Conservation Lands include nearly 2,400 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers , and nearly 6,000 miles of National Scenic and Historic Trails . There are more than 63,000 oil and gas wells on BLM public lands. Total energy leases generated approximately $ 5.4 billion in 2013, an amount divided among

1344-574: The National Landscape Conservation System is overseen by the BLM. The National Landscape Conservation System lands constitute just about 12% of the lands managed by the BLM. Congress passed Title II of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-11) to make the system a permanent part of the public lands protection system in the United States. By designating these areas for conservation,

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1408-652: The Treasury , the states, and Native American groups. The BLM's roots go back to the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. These laws provided for the survey and settlement of the lands that the original Thirteen Colonies ceded to the federal government after the American Revolution . As additional lands were acquired by the United States from Spain , France and other countries,

1472-678: The United States Congress directed that they be explored, surveyed, and made available for settlement. During the Revolutionary War, military bounty land was promised to soldiers who fought for the colonies. After the war, the Treaty of Paris of 1783 , signed by the United States, the UK , France , and Spain , ceded territory to the United States. In the 1780s, other states relinquished their own claims to land in modern-day Ohio . By this time,

1536-711: The United States General Land Office as part of the Department of the Treasury to oversee the disposition of these federal lands. By the early 1800s, promised bounty land claims were finally fulfilled. In the 19th century, other bounty land and homestead laws were enacted to dispose of federal land. Several different types of patents existed. These include cash entry, credit, homestead, Indian, military warrants, mineral certificates, private land claims, railroads, state selections, swamps, town sites, and town lots. A system of local land offices spread throughout

1600-794: The riparian corridor along the San Pedro River. Several historic buildings and other structures associated with the early history of the Little Boquillas Ranch remain in the San Pedro National Conservation Area, including the Little Boquillas Ranch headquarters, the Fairbank Historic Townsite and the San Pedro House near Sierra Vista . The latter was built by the Boquillas Land and Cattle Company in

1664-518: The "squatting" homesteaders. The Supreme Court's ruling in 1906 further served to depopulate the San Pedro Valley by triggering an exodus from the area. Boquillas allowed only a handful of favored families and their businesses to remain in Fairbank, along with a few other families living on land that had been sold previously by George Hearst. The Little Boquillas Ranch continued raising livestock along

1728-468: The 1930s and is now used as a visitor center, bookshop and trailhead for accessing the San Pedro River. The following historic buildings and structures are currently maintained by the BLM, which believes that most of the ranch development was in place by 1910: Charleston, Arizona Charleston is a ghost town in Cochise County in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Arizona . It

1792-555: The American people." Since the Reagan administration in the 1980s, Republicans have often given priority to local control and to grazing, mining and petroleum production, while Democrats have more often emphasized environmental concerns even when granting mining and drilling leases. In September 1996, then President Bill Clinton used his authority under the Antiquities Act to establish

1856-495: The BLM and other statutes under the United States Code. Special agents are normally plain clothes officers who carry concealed firearms and other defensive equipment, make arrests, carry out complex criminal investigations, present cases for prosecution to local United States Attorneys and prepare investigative reports. Criminal investigators occasionally conduct internal and civil claim investigations. The current sidearm

1920-513: The BLM is "to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations." Originally BLM holdings were described as "land nobody wanted" because homesteaders had passed them by. All the same, ranchers hold nearly 18,000 permits and leases for livestock grazing on 155 million acres (630,000 km ) of BLM public lands. The agency manages 221 wilderness areas , 29 national monuments and some 636 other protected areas as part of

1984-615: The Biden administration, the BLM is working on a pilot project called "outcomes-based grazing", to see if cattle grazing can help achieve conservation, agency director Tracy Stone-Manning said in an interview published in April 2022. In June 2022, the BLM finalized two acquisitions in Colorado and Wyoming, acquiring over 40,000 acres of previously inaccessible land. The acquisition in Wyoming for 35,670 acres

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2048-669: The Boquillas land grant recognized. In 1899, the Land Claim Court ruled that only the Hearst family had valid title to the land grant, but not everyone was in agreement. A group of some thirty residents of the land grant soon filed a lawsuit to dispute the ruling, and although the case eventually made it to the highest court in the nation, the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Land Claims Court in 1906. In 1901, while their case

2112-461: The Interior responsible for administering U.S. federal lands . Headquartered in Washington, D.C. , the BLM oversees more than 247.3 million acres (1,001,000 km ) of land, or one-eighth of the United States's total landmass. The Bureau was created by Congress during the presidency of Harry S. Truman in 1946 by combining two existing agencies: the United States General Land Office and

2176-557: The National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund each year for five years for needed maintenance for critical facilities and infrastructure in national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, recreation areas and American Indian schools. The Act also committed $ 900 million a year in royalties from offshore oil and natural gas to permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund investments in conservation and recreation opportunities across

2240-722: The Peace James Burnett. Burnett was, by all accounts, a corrupt and violent individual. After a disagreement with the Cochise County Board of Supervisors who ostensibly supervised Burnett's action, Burnett declared that he would run his court independently. From that point on, he was said to administer justice on the spot, outside of his courtroom, in the form of fines that he personally pocketed. Burnett's fines were diverse, including anything from cattle to cash, and ranged from nine cords of wood for theft, through one thousand dollars when saloon owner Jacob Swart shot and killed

2304-711: The San Pedro River all the way up until 1971, when the Tenneco Oil Company gained title to the Del Valle and Boquillas land grants through the acquisition of the parent Kern County Land and Cattle Company. In 1986, the Boquillas and Del Valle grants were acquired by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in a land exchange to form what is now the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, a large nature preserve that focuses on protecting and restoring

2368-490: The San Pedro River. While trails were rough and unmarked for many years, the Bureau of Land Management has begun maintaining trails to and from the area. The remains of the town can be found on the west bank of the river with Millville's ruins directly across the river on the east bank. Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management ( BLM ) is an agency within the United States Department of

2432-599: The Trump administration, the BLM offered millions of acres of available Federal lands for 10-year leases for commercial development, potentially in oil and gas and mining, with the stated goal of "promoting American energy security". The BLM holds quarterly oil and gas lease sales. According to a June 18, 2018 article in The Atlantic , under the tenure of then- United States Secretary of the Interior , Ryan Zinke "practically gave away hundreds of thousands of acres of open land across

2496-550: The United States another "700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate" is under their management. The statement also said that these "diverse activities authorized on these lands generated $ 96 billion in sales of goods and services throughout the American economy in fiscal year 2017" while supporting over 468,000 jobs". On August 4, 2020, President Trump signed the Great American Outdoors Act into law, committing up to $ 1.9 billion from energy development revenues to

2560-475: The United States needed revenue to function and land was sold as a source of income for the government. In order to sell the land, surveys needed to be conducted. The Land Ordinance of 1785 instructed a geographer to oversee this work as undertaken by a group of surveyors. The first years of surveying were completed by trial and error; once the territory of Ohio had been surveyed, a modern public land survey system had been developed. In 1812, Congress established

2624-792: The United States. There are several herds of horses and burros roaming free on 26.9 million acres of range spread out in ten western states. It is essential to maintain a balance that keeps herd management land and animal population healthy. Some programs and partnerships include the Mustang Heritage Foundation, U.S. Border Patrol, Idaho 4H, Napa Mustang Days and Little Book Cliffs Darting Team. These partnerships help with adoption and animal population as well as education and raising awareness about wild horses and burros. In 2009, BLM opened Renewable Energy Coordination Offices in order to approve and oversee wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal projects on BLM-managed lands. The offices were located in

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2688-766: The West, leasing it to energy companies for pennies on the dollar." The Salt Lake Tribune reported that in March 2019, the price per acre for leases near the Golden Spike National Historical Park , in Utah were "$ 1.50 an acre for the next two years". By September 11, 2018, the Department of Interior was offering 2.9 million acres to be leased to commercial operations including drilling for oil and gas and mining in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and other states where public land

2752-450: The country. Also in August 2020, the BLM headquarters was relocated to Grand Junction, Colorado , by an order signed by Interior Secretary David Bernhardt . The relocation was praised by Republican Western politicians but criticized by Democrats as a move to weaken the agency through the loss of experienced staffers, who opted to stay in Washington, D.C. Some ranchers were concerned about

2816-454: The development of the area until the final quarter of the century, when silver and copper were discovered in the Tombstone and Bisbee areas, leading to a rush of incoming American settlers. Being the only land with a reliable source of water for miles around, the old Mexican land grants along the San Pedro River quickly filled up with American homesteaders and other settlers, many of whom made

2880-508: The early successes of the adoption program, the BLM has struggled to maintain acceptable herd levels, as without natural predators, herd sizes can double every four years. As of 2014, there were more than 49,000 horses and burros on BLM-managed land, exceeding the BLM's estimated "appropriate management level" (AML) by almost 22,500. The Bureau of Land Management has implemented several programs and has developed partnerships as part of their management plan for preserving wild burros and horses in

2944-450: The future site of Tombstone's mills was established, the land that was to become Charleston was claimed by Amos Stowe on October 28, 1878, and planning for the town began immediately thereafter. The town consisted of twenty-six blocks with sixteen lots each, laid out in a grid. Due to an attractive leasing system set up by Stowe, businesses flocked to Charleston, and by May 1879, the town already housed approximately 40 buildings, including

3008-544: The hands of outlaws, though a failed robbery of the Tombstone Mining Company which resulted in the murder of mining engineer M. R. Peel was recorded in Millville on March 25, 1882. In addition, The Tombstone Epitaph on May 6, 1882, said of Charleston that it was "well regulated and free from turmoil" and that it was "one of the most peaceful places we were ever in." Charleston was also known for Justice of

3072-440: The isolation of Grand Junction compared to other Western cities, having limited flights and road access. After the announcement, 87% of D.C.-based employees left, prompting former lead career BLM official Steve Ellis to state "the bureau lost a tremendous amount of expertise...[of] very seasoned people." On September 17, 2021, Secretary Deb Haaland announced that the headquarters would be moved back to Washington, D.C. Under

3136-470: The late 1840s, the only remnant of the Mexican settlement were thousands of wild cattle left behind to roam freely on the open range. Following the end of the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) and the Gadsden Purchase in 1853, most of the San Pedro Valley became part of the United States, which agreed to acknowledge and respect the legitimacy of the old Spanish and Mexican land gants in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo . Apache raids continued, postponing

3200-792: The law directed the BLM to ensure these places are protected for future generations, similar to national parks and wildlife refuges . Source: BLM Resources and Statistics The BLM, through its Office of Law Enforcement & Security, functions as a federal law enforcement agency of the United States Government. BLM law enforcement rangers and special agents receive their training through Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC). Full-time staffing for these positions approaches 300. Uniformed rangers enforce laws and regulations governing BLM lands and resources. As part of that mission, these BLM rangers carry firearms and defensive equipment, make arrests, execute search warrants, complete reports and testify in court. They seek to establish

3264-399: The mills. What little is left of the local cemetery is approximately a mile and a half north of the Charleston site, though it is difficult to locate, and very few traces remain. The site is part of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area (NCA) maintained by the Bureau of Land Management . Charleston and Millville are not accessible by car and can only be reached by hiking up

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3328-410: The population as 350 people, and the town's permanent population likely peaked at over 400 a few years later during the height of Tombstone's silver boom. At its peak, the town housed a post office, four restaurants, a school, a church, a doctor, a lawyer, a drugstore, two blacksmiths, two livery stables , two butcher shops, two bakeries, a hotel, five general stores , a jewelry shop, a carpenter,

3392-415: The public rangelands by establishment of advisory boards that set grazing fees. The Oregon and California Revested Lands Sustained Yield Management Act of 1937, commonly referred as the O&C Act, required sustained yield management of the timberlands in western Oregon. In 1946, the Grazing Service was merged with the United States General Land Office to form the Bureau of Land Management within

3456-522: The removal of excess animals; the killing of lame, old, or sick animals; the private placement or adoption of excess animals; and even the killing of healthy animals if range management required it. The killing of healthy or unhealthy horses has almost never occurred. Pursuant to the Public Rangelands Improvement Act of 1978 , the BLM has established 179 "herd management areas" (HMAs) covering 31.6 million acres (128,000 km ) acres where feral horses can be found on federal lands. In 1973, BLM began

3520-433: The site. The town's location on the very bank of the San Pedro River also contributed to the demise of the town's remains as cliff erosion literally ate away at the land and the adobe structures. All that is left of Charleston today are a few adobe ruins and scattered pieces of stone foundations, all of which are hidden amongst the underbrush. Across the river in Millville, a few stone embankments are all that remain of

3584-439: The territories, patenting land that was surveyed via the corresponding Office of the Surveyor General of a particular territory. This pattern gradually spread across the entire United States. The laws that spurred this system with the exception of the General Mining Law of 1872 and the Desert Land Act of 1877 have since been repealed or superseded. In the early 20th century, Congress took additional steps toward recognizing

3648-407: The town's adobe structures in ruins, and sealed the town's fate. The town was quickly abandoned as none of the structures remained habitable. The Charleston Post Office shut down on October 24, 1888, and by 1889, both Charleston and Millville were already ghost towns. Charleston's population was 15 in the 1960 census. After it was abandoned, Charleston was briefly inhabited in the 1890s by

3712-399: The value of the assets on public lands and directed the Executive Branch to manage activities on the remaining public lands. The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 allowed leasing, exploration, and production of selected commodities, such as coal , oil , gas , and sodium to take place on public lands. The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 established the United States Grazing Service to manage

3776-426: The west bank of the San Pedro River, about 9 miles (14 km) southwest of Tombstone. Millville is located directly across the river, on the east bank. Charleston was originally settled as a residence for the mill workers in Millville, on the opposite bank of the San Pedro River, where two mills were built to process ore from the silver mines of nearby Tombstone. The mills were constructed in Millville due to

3840-405: Was immediately to the south of the Boquillas grant and ran from what is now the community of Hereford north to Charleston. Both were roughly four "sitios", or approximately 18,000 acres, in size. The early years were prosperous for the Mexican settlers, but they didn't last for long. The local Apaches soon started raiding again, leading to the abandonment of the area for the next few decades. By

3904-444: Was located just five miles south of town. Some of the most infamous figures in the territory at the time were employed by or associated with the Clanton Ranch, including the Clantons themselves, Johnny Ringo , "Curly Bill" Brocius , Pete Spence , and Frank and Tom McLaury . Despite its reputation and its infamous residents, it is worth noting that the town never suffered a single successful robbery of either silver or money at

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3968-500: Was occupied from the late-1870s through the late-1880s, and was located in what was then known as the Arizona Territory . Located on the west bank of the San Pedro River , Charleston's economy was based on milling silver ore mined from nearby Tombstone in the community of Millville , located directly across the river. Charleston is located at 31°38′9″N 110°10′21″W  /  31.63583°N 110.17250°W  / 31.63583; -110.17250 (31.635833, -110.1725), on

4032-457: Was so successful that BLM allowed it to go nationwide in 1976. The Adopt-a-Horse program quickly became the primary method of removing excess feral horses from BLM land given the lack of other viable methods. The BLM also uses limited amounts of contraceptives in the herd, in the form of PZP vaccinations; advocates say that additional use of these vaccines would help to diminish the excess number of horses currently under BLM management. Despite

4096-495: Was still pending in the Supreme Court, the Hearst family sold the Boquillas land grant to the Kern County Land and Cattle Company, which was a large mining and ranching conglomerate based in California. Kerns formed the Boquillas Land and Cattle Company in 1901 and began raising cattle from a new headquarters established two miles south of Fairbank, called the Little Boquillas Ranch. The Boquillas Land and Cattle Company also moved to clear out their rangeland for cattle by evicting all of

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