Archive All Issues February 2023

BACK AT THE RANCH

The Roaring ''20s may be best known for the introduction of jazz, flappers and the jitterbug, but they also marked the proliferation of dude ranches in Arizona, where city slickers from back East and beyond would spend a month or more living out the great American Western dream.

Featured in the February 2023 Issue of Arizona Highways

Winter visitors at the Silverbell Guest Ranch near Tucson take a trail ride amid tall saguaros beneath the Santa Catalina Mountains. The ranch was on Silverbell Road on the west side of present-day Interstate 10. In the late 1940s, it touted accommodations for 33 guests in adobe cottages during an operating season of November through April. The ranch was sold in the mid-1960s and had closed by 1970

BY: Jeff Kida and Keith Whitney | Photographs: Arizona Historical Society

THE CUSTER TRAIL RANCH IN THE DAKOTA Badlands is where it all began. In 1879, that outfit was the first to use the term "dude ranch." in arizona, there's no definitive answer on which came first, but the circle z, south of patagonia, claims to be the oldest continuously operating dude ranch in the state. that, too, is uncertain. what we do know is that by the 1920s, there were at least 10 legitimate dude ranches here. and by the 1930s, hundreds of others had joined the crowd, many in an effort to stave off bankruptcy when beef prices were mired in a bear market.

Like the characters in Yellowstone, each dude ranch, a term often used interchangeably with "guest ranch," had its own personality. "some have retained the simplicity of life of the old cattle ranch," mrs. lamar cobb wrote in our october 1931 issue, "while others are the last word in luxury, affording a variety of entertainment." the common denominators were wholesome food, a return to nature, dramatic scenery, glorious winter weather, relaxation, camaraderie, romance and adventure.

In an interview with Arizona Highways in the late 1970s, sheila moore of philadelphia talked about the many ranches she'd visited in their heyday. "one phoenix ranch sent their wranglers out to meet our train on horseback," she said. "they galloped along the tracks shouting 'yippee' and 'yahoo' and fired their guns as a token of welcome."

Sadly, the allure of dude ranching began to fade in the 1950s. and today, the vast majority of the old ranches have shut down. gone, too, is the spirit of the unknown that came with a jazz age visit to the old west. but we do have photographs, and for that we're much obliged.

— Robert Stieve