February 2004 Ranch Hike PAGE 1 During FoT 2003, an idea was proposed by local history enthusiast, Bill, to seek out ruins along the Babocomari River in hopes of locating the McLaury's first ranch. Obtaining permissions from property owners and conducting numerous investigative hikes, Bill invited McLaury relatives, CP and Frankie, along with any who might have an interest, to spend a day hike to certain points in the Babocomari Valley. Three promising locations were mapped out. The first was on a ranch less than 10 miles from Fairbank. Gracious hosts, the owners of the ranch kindly allowed us to tour their home and land, yeilding fascinating clues to the past. |
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| A must for breakfast in Tombstone. The OK Cafe shows off the best Cochise County citizenry. Although stuck back in NY, McLaury kin, Grubber, started the day off right for us by paying for everyone's breakfast. |
The group met at the first hike of the day and learned a little background history from Bill and the ranch owner. The weather, while not typical sunny San Pedro Valley, was still perfect for a day of hiking tough terrain. |
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| Once a stagecoach stop in 1880's, in 1963, a house was built completely around the existing adobe structure preserving it to this day. Sorry about the finger. Coated with preservative and completely encased by the house, the adobe structure was fascinating. Pieces of straw was still visible within the walls. |
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| Located on a working ranch, it was noted the differences between real cowboy and cowgirls and us wannabes by who walked through the cowpies and who dodged them! Left: Turns out nails can be a good time marker. Several types of nails from different eras are hammered into a fence post. Center: A short hike through dense underbrush reveal several remains of rock and adobe structures. Right: This photo shows the remains of a convection-style water heater for a wood-burning stove. |
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| Complete with a ranch dog ensuring all wayward hikers kept rounded up, we surveyed the ruins speculating on the dimensions and number of separate buildings. Could this have been the remains of the Patterson Ranch? |
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| The largest of the foundations was around 20'x10'. Standing the middle of the foundations, two members of the McLaury Clan, Frankie and CP, speculate if they were standing where Frank and Tom McLaury once lived back in the Summer of 1880. |
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| Afraid I negleted to count how many individual ruins there were in view. It seemed there was one large foundation with one or two smaller foundation abutting. Then there were at least 3 or 4 other foundations within 100 foot radius of the main "house." |
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