Browse Items (2882 total)

Notary Document for 1876 Bill of Sale for properties and animals related to the expansion of the Empire Ranch.

This bill of sale is from Henry M. Kemp to Vail and Hislop. Vail and Hislop bought 160 acres from Fish and Silverberg for $2000 in gold coin according to the Pima County Recorder Book 3, pages 551-554 (not shown here). Afterwards they purchased the…

Rate notices and bill for dues from the Arizona Cattle Growers Association which was $2.00 annually, plus one-half cent per head above 200 head. The document is stamped paid and has hand written notation of calculation indicating Vail's dues of…

This 1906 map of Arizona shows thirteen counties and railroad routes. Included on the map is the town of Vail, which was named for Walter Vail, who deeded land to the railroad for its stop. The Empire Ranch location is not shown on this map as it was…

Following the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, the Federal government started surveying the West with the intention of selling as much land as possible to the public. The system used divided land into thirty-six single-square-mile sections. Each section…

Edward L. Vail agreed to lease a building he owned for the Rosemont School at the rate of ninety-five dollars per year. The building was located on the Fair View Placer Claim approximately 1/4 mile east from the Post Office in the Village of…

Close up of the 1883 map of Arizona Territory showing Pima County and the location of the Fish Ranch.

1883 map of Arizona Territory shows the location of the Fish Ranch, also known as the Empire Ranch, which was purchased by Walter Vail and his partner in 1876. In 1880, the Southern Pacific Railroad arrived in Arizona. This map shows the routes of…

1880 map of Arizona shows the seven counties at the time: Mohave, Yavapai, Apache, Yuma, Maricopa, Pinal, and Pima. The Empire Ranch location is shown on this map in Pima County.