Ephemera
Various documents which we have termed “ephemera” expand our understanding of the early days of the Empire Ranch. The materials in this section span the years 1875 through 1960 and are located in various manuscript collections and biographical files in Special Collections at the University of Arizona library.
Newspaper Series by Edward Vail ("Diary of a Desert Trail")
A series of fifteen episodes written by Edward L. Vail in the Arizona Daily Star in 1922 based on his diary of the 1890 cattle drive. Call number: Micro-film News-paper (Arizona Daily Star) Special Collections
Edward L. Vail wrote a fifteen episode series for the Arizona Daily Star that was published February and March of 1922. The series was based on the diary he kept during the 1890 cattle drive from the Empire Ranch in Arizona to the Warner Ranch near San Diego, California. The cattle drive was undertaken due to the increased rates that the railroad was imposing. This ultimately resulted in the railroad restoring the old rates with the provision that the stockmen would not undertake any more cattle drives. This material was keyed in from the University of Arizona, Arizona Daily Star, microfilm.