Chiricahua National Monument

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Cultural Resource Management Intermountain Region CHIRICAHUA NATIONAL MONUMENT Faraway Ranch Special History Study By Lysa Wegman- French Intermountain Cultural Resource Management Professional Paper No. 72 Cover: Post card of the entrance sign to Faraway Ranch, ca. 1950s. Faraway Ranch Collections, Western Archeological and Conservation Center, Tucson. Intermountain Cultural Resources Management Professional Paper No. 72 Faraway Ranch Special History Study Chiricahua National Monument by Lysa Wegman- French Cultural Resources Division Intermountain Region National Park Service U. S. Department of the Interior Santa Fe, 2006 i ii CONTENTS Introduction 1 Theme I: An Overview of the People and the History of Faraway Ranch 7 Theme II: The Federal Presence in the West 31 Theme III: The Women of the West 67 Theme IV: Tourism and Guest Ranching 105 Theme V: Ranching 167 Bibliography 211 iii iv ILLUSTRATIONS Illustration 1. The landscape, orchard, and main house of Faraway Ranch. Bonita Creek, lined by oak trees, leads to the “Wonderland of Rocks,” Chiricahua National Monument, established 1924. vi Illustration 2. The Erickson family, ca. 1912. Emma and Neil, front row, with their children Lillian, Ben, and Hildegard. 5 Illustration 3. The Erickson homestead, later their Faraway Ranch, a few years after the original cabin and stone house had been added to and expanded with the two story main house. The orchard extends to the oak tree- lined banks of Bonita Creek. Ca. 1907. 6 Illustration 4. Soldier Neil Erickson prior to homesteading in the Chiricahua Mountains. 30 Illustration 5. In 1903, Neil Erickson became an employee of the U. S. Forest Service and maintained his office in the ranch house. 30 Illustration 6. Ed and Lillian Erickson Riggs with duded up guest, Faraway Guest Ranch. 66 Illustration 7. Emma Erickson and her chickens. 66 Illustration 8. Guest at Faraway Ranch, 1920s. 104 Illustration 9. Dudes arriving at Faraway Guest ranch, 1920s. 104 Illustration 10. Besides a guest ranch, the Faraway was a working ranch with up to 500 cattle. Here a guest helps rope a calf. 165 Illustration 11. Branding cattle at Faraway Ranch. 166 Note: All illustrations from the Faraway Ranch Collection, Western Archeological and Conservation Center, National Park Service, Tucson. v Illustration 1. The landscape, orchard, and main house of Faraway Ranch. Bonita Creek, lined by oak trees, leads to the “Wonderland of Rocks,” Chiricahua National Monument, established 1924. vi Faraway Ranch Special History Study- - Introduction INTRODUCTION "Context in interpretation - - Every historical park should answer three basic questions through its interpretive program- - what happened, why it occurred, and what it means. Efforts need to be increased to provide context and meaning."1 The history of Faraway Ranch and the Erickson- Riggs family is a rich and complex story. However, if viewed simplistically as we often have, the Faraway Ranch story is one more tale of Western settlement. Two Swedish immigrants, one a soldier and the other an officer’s family servant, meet at a frontier military post, fall in love and decide to homestead along the banks of Bonita Creek in the Chiricahua Mountains. They marry, raise a family, and, through hard work and perseverance, build the Erickson homestead/ranch. After the turn of the twentieth- century, their oldest daughter marries a ranch neighbor and converts the old home into a popular guest ranch, renamed Faraway Guest Ranch, which survives over fifty years as gateway to the “Wonderland of Rocks,” the Chiricahua National Monument. Of course, history is multifaceted. The goal here is to provide several aspects of that richer yet more complicated story. Faraway Ranch now plays out its days as an historic site within Chiricahua National Monument, in southeastern Arizona. Even before the National Park Service acquired the property in the late 1970s, the staff recognized the historical importance of the ranch. Since then, the monument’s staff has performed a yeoman’s service studying the ranch, preserving it, and interpreting the people and events associated with the site. The extensive collection of papers and material artifacts have been catalogued, preserved and made accessible to researchers; architectural drawings of the structures have been delineated; and studies have been published on a variety of topics including archeological remains, the army occupation of the property during the Indian wars, the historic landscape, and the appropriate furnishings to interpret the home and ranch. Visitors now tour the home and ranch, learning about the Erickson and Riggs families and their nearly century- long period of working the land. But the quest for information on Faraway Ranch and its residents continues. The observation quoted above, made during a National Park Service conference, pinpointed the three goals for this special history study: what happened, why it occurred, and what it means. This does not imply that all answers to all three questions are included. Any event can be viewed from multiple—perhaps innumerable perspectives; each provides a new explanation of what happened, why it occurred, and what it means. Faraway Ranch could be interpreted under any number of themes, and each would present new insight into the history of that place. For practical purposes, we have chosen four perspectives- - or thematic contexts- - from which to view the ranch. These contexts help us better understand the complex history of the ranch. But if truly successful, the contexts will also provide information that we can we carry with us, to help us understand our broader history. The ranch can be used 1 "Discovery 2000," Morning Report, September 12, 2000. 1 Faraway Ranch Special History Study- - Introduction as a lens through which we can view the past, as a vehicle through which we can gain a better understanding of history. To help visitors and park staff to better understand the complex themes of western history as exemplified by Faraway Ranch, the series of topics listed below have been analyzed and presented here. This study is organized into five thematic chapters. Each chapter focuses on a broad Western theme. Thus, the chapters are less sequential than topical and need not be read in order of appearance, though one should begin with the overview. The themes are: 1) An overview chronological description of the lives of the people and history of Faraway Ranch. 2) The Federal presence in the West. 3) Women in the American West. 4) Tourism and Guest Ranching. 5) Ranching. Each theme stands alone, an essay on the Western experience and how Faraway Ranch fit into that experience. To provide a background to the Faraway story, this study begins in Sweden, the birthplace of Emma Peterson and Nels (later Neil) Erickson, then proceeds through their separate migrations to the United States in the 1870s, their wedding, and their acquisition of the homestead that would later become part of Chiricahua National Monument. Their two daughters, Hildegard and Lillian, began operating a guest ranch in the family home in the late 1910s, dubbing it Faraway Ranch; Lillian and her husband Ed Riggs subsequently operated the business during the heyday of dude ranches. After the death of Ed, 62- year- old Lillian, then blind and almost deaf, continued operating the ranch/guest ranch for over two decades, until her death in the late 1970s. It was a delight getting to know each member of the Erickson/Riggs family. Any one of them on his or her own would make an absorbing study; each possesses a character that stands out from the papers that recorded their lives. But together, the family members form a fascinating mosaic that represents many stories of the West: immigration, ethnicity, gender, disabilities, class, commerce, settlement, conservation, warfare, displacement of indigenous peoples, government, and urban/rural issues to name a few. We often think of past events as being inevitable, or destined. We fall into the trap of thinking that there was only one way that history's story could have played out, and that there was a linear progression along the historical path. However, it quickly becomes apparent in the Faraway story that there was nothing linear about the route that the historical characters took in their lives. Decision points were reached repeatedly: should Neil Erickson stay in the army to become an officer, or leave the army? If he left the army, should he stay in the West or move back East? Should he live in the city or in the country? Thirty- five years later, Lillian Erickson faced the choice of pursuing a writing career in California, or returning to the family homestead. Should she marry Ed Riggs? Should he move to California to be with her? Should he pursue ranching, or a career as a mechanic in town? Each time a decision was made, the person took a fork in the road, which then led to another fork, and another. The resulting story was only one out of innumerable scenarios that may have occurred. 2 Faraway Ranch Special History Study- - Introduction The majority of the research material for this project came from the Faraway Ranch Collection. This extensive collection provides an amazing array of information about two generations of the Erickson/Riggs family. For the most part, the family members had an understanding of the importance of their personal histories, and so they recorded it and saved it. Sometimes while reading through their personal papers, I seemed to have conversations with the family members. Lillian Erickson Riggs, especially, would seem to address my questions. While I sorted though the mountain of material I wondered which of the bits and pieces would be most relevant, which were an accurate portrayal of the past. From Lillian's diary, she echoed my questions: "How may we evaluate the truth? How know the false from the true? Those things which were of so much importance a little while ago have almost fallen into oblivion.

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