Browse Items (308 total)

Letter to Edward L. Vail (March 301898) from H. Harrison, the secretary of the Live Stock Sanitary Board for the Territory of Arizona. The letter is the notification of Edward L. Vail's appointment as Live Stock Inspector and Detective for the…

The holding gate at the Empire Ranch. A holding gate keeps animals in the holding area so they can be sorted out.

Pages 71-77 of an interview of Harry Heffner, Foreman of the Empire Ranch from 1893 to 1905, by Charles U. Pickrell on June 4, 1960. The interview discusses the history of the Empire Ranch giving details on people involved with the ranch and Southern…

Pages 61-70 of an interview of Harry Heffner, Foreman of the Empire Ranch from 1893 to 1905, by Charles U. Pickrell on June 4, 1960. The interview discusses the history of the Empire Ranch giving details on people involved with the ranch and Southern…

Pages 51-60 of an interview of Harry Heffner, Foreman of the Empire Ranch from 1893 to 1905, by Charles U. Pickrell on June 4, 1960. The interview discusses the history of the Empire Ranch giving details on people involved with the ranch and Southern…

Pages 41-50 of an interview of Harry Heffner, Foreman of the Empire Ranch from 1893 to 1905, by Charles U. Pickrell on June 4, 1960. The interview discusses the history of the Empire Ranch giving details on people involved with the ranch and Southern…

Pages 31-40 of an interview of Harry Heffner, Foreman of the Empire Ranch from 1893 to 1905, by Charles U. Pickrell on June 4, 1960. The interview discusses the history of the Empire Ranch giving details on people involved with the ranch and Southern…

Pages 21-30 of an interview of Harry Heffner, Foreman of the Empire Ranch from 1893 to 1905, by Charles U. Pickrell on June 4, 1960. The interview discusses the history of the Empire Ranch giving details on people involved with the ranch and Southern…

Pages 11-20 of an interview of Harry Heffner, Foreman of the Empire Ranch from 1893 to 1905, by Charles U. Pickrell on June 4, 1960. The interview discusses the history of the Empire Ranch giving details on people involved with the ranch and Southern…

Pages 1-10 of an interview of Harry Heffner, Foreman of the Empire Ranch from 1893 to 1905, by Charles U. Pickrell on June 4, 1960. The interview discusses the history of the Empire Ranch giving details on people involved with the ranch and Southern…

Letter dated February 5, 1954 from Harry L. Heffner (Foreman from 1893 to 1905) to Mary Boice, wife of Frank S. Boice, owner and operator of the Empire Ranch at the time. The letter is a partial history of Walter L. Vail's acquisition and start of…

Three men posing for a picture in 1879 after Edward L. Vail (the tenderfoot's) arrival at Empire Ranch. Walter L. Vail and Herbert R. Hislop bought the Empire Ranch on August 22, 1876 from E.N. Fish and Silverberg. John H. Harvey was brought on as…

Harry Heffner branding a steer at the Empire Ranch. The Empire Ranch used several brands including the heart, the letter V, and the initials VH. 200 to 250 calves branded in a day was considered a big branding day's work.

Harry Heffner on a horse with a lasso at the Empire Ranch. Harry Heffner was the Foreman from 1893 to 1905. He started with Empire Ranch in April of 1893 helping to gather the cattle on Catalina Island to be shipped to Kansas.

One of the original grazing permits issued to the Empire Land and Cattle Company in 1911, allowing their cattle to graze in the National Forest on government land. Note the brands and earmarks for the horses and cattle.

This document is a certificate of inspection from December 22, 1902. The document shows eight different types of brands and the markings for 818 cattle shipped by Vail and Gates from Pantano, AZ to Gaviota, CA. By the early 1880s, Vail began to…

School children and horses in front of the Empire School. E. L. Vail owned the building and leased it out in 1897 to be used for the school which was near but not part of the ranch.

The Empire Ranch homestead was originally a four-room adobe building without windows and doors. Improvements were made such as adding a kitchen, pantry, cook's room, and business office. Further improvements were made with the arrival of Walter's new…

These horses are shown on the east side of the Empire Ranch corral. In 1884 Empire Ranch decided to include the breeding of race horses as a sidelight to their ranch operations. At one time they had a total of 250 to 300 broke horses.

Portrait of Edward L. Vail in 1926. During the 1920s, Edward wrote many stories about his experiences as a cowboy and rancher. These include a column recounting his cattle drive of 1890 for the Arizona Daily Star (1922) his recollection of the first…