Photo, Print, Drawing Faraway Ranch, East Bonita Canyon Road (east of the entrance into the Chiricahua National Monument from Arizona SR 181), Willcox, Cochise County, AZ Chiricahua National Monument Faraway Ranch Historic District

Title

• Faraway Ranch, East Bonita Canyon Road (east of the entrance into the Chiricahua National Monument from Arizona SR 181), Willcox, Cochise County, AZ

Other Title

• Chiricahua National Monument Faraway Ranch Historic District

Names

• Historic American Landscapes Survey, creator
• Erickson, Emma Sophia Peterson
• Erickson, Neil
• Stafford, Ja Hu
• Newton
• Riggs, Lillian Sophia Erickson
• Riggs, Ed
• Erickson, Hildegard
• Tenth Regiment of the U.S. Cavalry
• Apaches
• Cooper, Charles L.
• Cooper, Forestine
• Kelley, Joseph M.
• Stafford, Pauline Madsen
• Stevens, Christopher M., transmitter
• Erickson, Helen, historian

Created / Published

• Documentation compiled after 2000

Headings

• -  ranch houses
• -  ranches
• -  cattle ranches
• -  women
• -  African Americans
• -  Native Americans
• -  war (Military-Indian Conflicts)
• -  guest rooms
• -  guesthouses
• -  orchards
• -  Arizona--Cochise County--Willcox

Latitude / Longitude

• 32.005639,-109.372208

Notes

• -  See also HABS AZ-139 (A-M) for additional documentation.
• -  2013 HALS Challenge Entry: Documenting the Cultural Landscapes of Women
• -  Significance: Faraway Ranch is significant for its association with (1) women’s history, (2) African American history and (3) Anglo American pioneer history. (1) Women’s History The landscape of Faraway Ranch reflects the achievement of a Swedish immigrant to Arizona at the end of the nineteenth century and the subsequent achievement of her daughter during the 1920s until the 1960s. These two women shaped the social and economic patterns of the land from the end of Arizona’s Apache wars through the middle of the twentieth century. Emma Sophia Peterson Erickson (1854-1950) Emma was born in Sweden in 1854 into a well-to-do family. Her mother died when she was born, her father remarried, and her stepmother mocked her dreams of becoming a teacher. With financial assistance from her brother, Emma emigrated to Chicago. Knowing little English, she worked as a servant for a number of years, then left to become a dressmaker. Subsequently she took positions with families in Colorado and in other places in the West. Eventually she found work for officers’ families at Fort Craig, New Mexico, where she was introduced to another Swedish immigrant, Neil Erickson, who was serving in the army during the Indian campaigns of the early 1880s. The couple began an long correspondence, in which Emma tried to convince Neil to remain in the army as a career officer. In 1884 Emma came to Fort Bowie, Arizona, to work for an officer’s family, but shortly thereafter she found a position running a boarding house. Meanwhile she was looking for a ranch of her own, and in 1886 she purchased a cabin in nearby Bonita Canyon from an earlier settler named Stafford, whose own cabin lay to the east. This one-room cabin had been built by a squatter named Newton, for whom the adjacent wash is named. By this time it was clear that Neil and Emma would be married. Emma had planned to file a homestead claim on the land surrounding her cabin, but when she went to Tucson to do so, she discovered that only one member of a family could file on a single homestead. Not wishing to embarrass her future husband by putting him in the position of living on her homestead, she arranged for Neil to file the claim after their marriage. From the beginning Emma insisted on an orchard as well as decorative plantings around the house. The Ericksons raised cattle and laid out a vegetable garden. Having found a place to settle, Emma took on the role of social organizer among the rancher families in Bonita Canyon, arranging splendid Christmas parties and showing others how to preserve fruits and vegetables. The main house was enlarged a number of times, eventually becoming an area showplace with a collection of exotic flowering trees, shrubs and perennials setting off a grass-covered yard. Emma and Neil had three children, all of whom received an excellent education, thanks to Neil’s 1903 appointment as a forest ranger in the Chiricahua Forest Preserve, at that time a national forest adjacent to Bonita Canyon. Of the three, the oldest, Lillian Sophia, was the one who would take over leadership from her mother in the following generation. Lillian Sophia Erickson Riggs (1888-1977) Lillian, born in 1888, went to Galesburg, Illinois, to stay with relatives while completing high school in 1906. Then she returned home to teach school for five years, briefly dating (in 1907) a local rancher’s son, Ed Riggs, who sixteen years later would become her husband. After teaching in local schools for five years, she returned to Galesburg to complete a degree at Knox College in 1915. In 1917, Lillian’s sister Hildegard came up with the idea of charging for the numerous guests who stayed with them while they took advantage of hunting, camping and riding in the Chiricahua Forest Preserve. At first Lillian was opposed to the idea because she felt that people might look down on them, but when she saw how successful the project was, she became enthusiastically involved. With money from Lillian’s work as a teacher and income from the guests, the sisters were able to purchase the adjacent Stafford homestead to enlarge their business. During this period, Lillian came up with the name ‘Faraway Ranch’, because it was so “god-awful faraway from everything”. Emma and Neil moved away from the ranch at this time to follow Neil’s Forest Service appointments, and the two girls ran the boarding enterprise on their own. Although men are frequently mentioned in connection with the development of western dude ranches, it is clear that in this kind of economic undertaking women excelled as organizers, publicists, managers and entertainers. When Hildegard married in 1920 and moved away, Lillian took over the guest ranch. In 1923 she married Ed Riggs, whose first wife had died of smallpox. Together they began to develop the facilities, building a swimming pool and a tennis court and adding additional cabins for guests. In time, their efforts led to the designation of the ‘Wonderland of Rocks’ as the Chiricahua National Monument in 1924. Many guests returned year after year to enjoy riding, hiking and picnicking. Lillian took advantage of her mother’s memories of her early years in Bonita Canyon in marketing her enterprise, emphasizing the Apache threat and other aspects of the Wild West. Visitors toured the Monument on horseback, picnicked and swam. At night movies or slides were shown on the side of the main house, or sing-alongs were held in the parlor. Faraway also remained a working ranch with around 200 head of cattle, and guests had the opportunity to participate in ranch work, sometimes to the chagrin of the working cowboys. Lillian, like her mother, was an astute businesswoman, and she kept in touch with her guests with frequent updates and an annual Christmas letter. Despite this, the 1930s were hard. Competition increased as many neighboring ranches also began to take in guests. By 1942 Lillian became completely blind as a result of on-going medical issues after a fall from a horse in 1924. Still, she did not give up. She tried to learn braille and learned to type, writing a fictionalized account of her life. She inspected her cattle and accompanied her guests on fieldtrips, recognizing locations by memory and instinct. Lillian continued to manage the property on her own after the death of her husband in 1950, relying on the help of a neighbor, J.P (‘Andy’) Anderson. But during the 1960s, the ranch became more a retreat for old friends and trusted visitors than a completely commercial enterprise. Despite her failing health, the ranch continued to function until the late 1960s. When family members died, they were buried in a private cemetery at the mouth of Bonita Canyon. This cemetery, with its metal fences, headstones and Arizona cypresses reflects characteristic burial practices of the period. Lillian, however, was buried in the Riggs family cemetery, outside the canyon. Summary: Two generations of strong women adapted the landscape of Bonita Canyon to their needs as they responded to changing demands and economic options. As a northern European immigrant woman, Emma set out to fashion a better life in a new country, working and saving in order to achieve a secure economic and social position. The main ranch house with its landscaped yard reflects her achievement. Her daughter Lillian preserved her inheritance by developing the property as a guest ranch, improving the facilities to create a resort with activities drawn from the resources offered both by the land and by her mother’s story. The presentation of the ranch as part of the legend of the Wild West and the development of the Chiricahua National Monument reflect her work. During a period dominated by the stories of male achievement, both women left their signatures on the land. (2) African American History A military camp was established in Bonita Canyon during the final United States campaign against the Apaches in 1885-86. During this year, ‘Buffalo Soldiers’ – African American troops of the Tenth Cavalry – were stationed here to guard a spring in the canyon, as well as to observe any movement of potential hostile groups through the area. The military camp highlights the role played by African American soldiers in the development of the Arizona borderlands. In 1865, the United State Colored Troops who had fought in the Civil War were disbanded. A year later, however, Congress passed an act leading to the formation of six regular regiments of segregated African American troops, one of which was the Tenth Regiment of the U.S. Cavalry. These troopers were dubbed ‘Buffalo Soldiers’ by the western Indians, who compared their hair to buffalo hides. As had been the case also during the Civil War, white officers commanded the troops. In 1885 the entire Tenth Cavalry was ordered to Arizona to defend the United States borderlands against the Apaches. General George R. Crook masterminded the final campaign against the group of Apaches led by Geronimo, a leader of the Chiricahua Apache band. Crook’s strategy focused on controlling desert water sources and the trails that linked them, thereby limiting possibilities for the Apaches, who had fled to Mexico, to cross the border back into the United States. In the spring of 1886, General Crook was replaced by Brigadier General Nelson A. Miles, but the strategy remained the same. One of these water sources – a perennial spring – was located in Bonita Canyon. The level topography of the lower canyon also offered an excellent site for a military camp, and a natural lookout with a 360º view of the area from the sharply rising hills to the south provided an outstanding observation post. This lookout was enhanced by the strategic placement of shaped stones. H Troop of the Tenth Regiment was deployed to the canyon to monitor the spring as part of what the troops referred to as the ‘waterhole campaign’. Captain Charles L. Cooper commanded the troop, and he and his daughter Forestine took up residence in the squatter’s cabin on Newton’s Wash. At one point, E Troop, commanded by Captain Joseph M. Kelley, joined H Troop, and the number the soldiers in the canyon rose to over a hundred men with attendant horses and mules. The canyon could not supply adequate feed for them, and hay was imported through nearby Fort Bowie. The Staffords, whose homestead claim included the spring, provided vegetables and beef to the camp to supplement canned food supplies. The soldiers’ duties included serving as couriers and tracking down small groups of Apaches who stole horses or were merely passing through. The day-to-day routine, typical of most isolated frontier posts, provided little of on-going interest. It has been suggested that this monotonous existence may have fostered construction of a memorial to honor the assassinated president James A. Garfield. Garfield had commanded African American troops during the Civil War and was known to respect the abilities of his soldiers. This monument was an approximately 10’ x 10’ x 10’ stepped structure constructed of hand carved native rhyolitic stones, many of which included names, initials or other symbols. It had deteriorated badly by the early 1920s, and Neil Erickson tried and failed to interest NPS in maintaining it. Eventually Lillian and Ed Riggs had the remaining stones incorporated into a fireplace in the main house in an attempt to preserve them. Archaeological investigations of the 1980s located the monument base, which is still in place. Summary: The presence of the Tenth Cavalry in the canyon as part of the final campaign against the Apaches provides a context for the subsequent homesteading of Faraway Ranch after the war. Although the larger tale of the Buffalo Soldiers in Arizona does not appear to have been assimilated into the stories told by Lillian Riggs in her efforts to place the guest ranch within the framework of the Wild West, the Apache conflict most certainly was. The site of the military lookout became a favored location for visitor photographs, and the carved stones of the Garfield monument became a conversation piece when viewed in the chimney of the dining room of the main ranch house. The story of the military camp in Bonita Canyon illustrates one of the many roles played by African Americans in Arizona. (3) Anglo-American Pioneer History The Stafford log cabin and surrounding landscape represent the earliest known homestead established in Bonita Canyon. The cabin was built in 1880 by former soldier Ja Hu Stafford and his teenage wife Pauline Madsen Stafford. At the time they arrived in the canyon, the conflict between the United States and the Apaches had not been resolved, meaning that the couple faced both the possibility of Apache attack and the opportunity to sell produce and beef to the troops posted to nearby Fort Bowie. In 1885-86 they also sold supplies to the military camp in Bonita Canyon itself. After serving in the army from 1852-1887, Ja Hu operated a public house in Oregon, ranched and worked as a salesman. He then traveled to Colorado and, in 1879, to Utah. His age is not certain, but he was probably around forty when he met and married twelve-year-old Pauline Madsen, the daughter of a Mormon immigrant from Denmark. Both Ja Hu and Pauline were baptized into the Mormon faith before they left for Arizona in 1880. They found a place of tall grass and a good source of water in Bonita Canyon, and, with winter settling in, they constructed a one-room cabin of unpeeled logs adjacent to the creek. The threat of Indian attack was always with them during the first years, for the Chiricahua Apaches, led by Geronimo, were hiding out in the surrounding Chiricahua mountains after an 1881 uprising at the San Carlos reservation in northern Arizona. According to Stafford family tradition, the well was located inside the cabin for security, and at times it is possible that the Staffords took shelter at Fort Bowie, some thirteen miles to the northeast. The final scare took place in 1880, when the Chiricahua Apache Massai stole a Stafford horse as he came through the canyon with his pregnant wife, whom he was escorting to the San Carlos reservation. Initially the Staffords raised chickens and put in a garden, which was watered by a spring to the east of the cabin. By some accounts, this was a hot spring that made it possible to grow vegetables even in the winter. Unfortunately, this spring disappeared with the Great Sonoran Earthquake of 1887, and an irrigation ditch from the creek was dug to replace this resource. Produce and eggs were sold to Fort Bowie and, later, to the military camp in the canyon. By the time Ja Hu proved up on his homestead claim in 1886, the couple had planted an orchard and were running cattle. The Staffords’ first child – a daughter, Reveley - died at birth; she was buried in the southern part of the homestead, which had by that time been planted as an orchard. Subsequently they had six more children, five of whom lived to adulthood. Although they added a second room to their cabin before 1885, the cabin was very small for such a family. Finally, in 1898, Ja Hu added a lean-to addition to the west side of the house. Pauline died in childbirth in 1894, and the youngest Stafford child lived for only several months, cared for by Ja Hu. After the death of this child, Emma Erickson, living just to the west, assisted Ja Hu in raising the other children; they referred to her as “Mother Erickson” or “Grandmother Erickson”. After Ja Hu died in 1913, his daughter Clara continued to manage the homestead, becoming involved in an argument with the Forest Service over grazing rights. (The Monument was a National Forest at the time.) Lillian became interested in the property and purchased it in 1918, using it to house additional visitors to the guest ranch. During the guest ranch period, the cabin served as the eastern anchor of guest facilities surrounding a meadow (formerly the orchard). A garage was added, and the 1898 addition was moved to enlarge the Bunkhouse, another cabin on the property. Summary: The Stafford homestead is significant as one of the early homesteads of Anglo-American homesteaders in eastern Arizona at the end of the Apache conflict. Raising cattle, chickens, fruits and vegetables, the homestead supplied not only the Staffords’ subsistence needs, but those of other area residents and the military. The log cabin next to the creek, the rectilinear remains of orchards and garden fence lines, the traces of the irrigation ditch and the baby’s grave provide insight into the lives of these pioneer settlers. Lillian’s subsequent transformation of the homestead into a guest ranch property illustrates how an ambitious entrepreneur capitalized on this history to provide a context for guests to experience the Wild West.
• -  Survey number: HALS AZ-10
• -  Building/structure dates: ca. 1886 Initial Construction
• -  Building/structure dates: ca. 1923 Subsequent Work
• -  Building/structure dates: ca. 1917 Subsequent Work
• -  Building/structure dates: ca. 1898 Subsequent Work
• -  National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 80000368

Medium

• Data Page(s): 29

Call Number/Physical Location

• HALS AZ-10

Source Collection

• Historic American Landscapes Survey (Library of Congress)

Repository

• Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Control Number

• az0653

Rights Advisory

• No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/res/114_habs.html

Online Format

• pdf