Sierra Bonita is in Arizona's Sulphur Springs Valley region, approximately 30 minutes from Willcox. This ranch was founded in 1872 by Colonel Henry Hooker, and it was the first cattle ranch in the Arizona territory. Hooker established the ranch to supply beef to U.S. cavalry units, who were at war with local Native American tribes. The ranch was built on the site of an 18th century Spanish hacienda; the Sierra Bonita house is an adobe structure. In 1964, the Sierra Bonita Ranch was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Also referred to as the "Slaughter Ranch," the San Bernardino Ranch is in the San Bernardino Valley region of Cochise County, Arizona. The ranch was founded in the 1880s by John Slaughter, a Louisiana native, who was also the sheriff of Cochise County during that time. San Bernardino Ranch comprised approximately 65,000 acres and included parts of modern-day Mexico; beef cattle was the primary product from the ranch. During the Border War conflict of the early 20th century, the U.S. Army used San Bernardino Ranch as an encampment. San Bernardino Ranch was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1964.
Faraway Ranch, a historic site in Cochise County, is part of Arizona's Chiricahua National Monument. This ranch was founded by Swedish immigrant Neil Erickson in the 1890s; Erickson was a member of the U.S. Army, stationed at Fort Bowie in the 1880s. The two-story ranch house is an adobe-style building that was completed in 1915. Faraway Ranch was initially a cattle ranch until it became a guest ranch in 1917; the ranch maintained its guest house status until the '70s, when the Erickson family sold the ranch to the National Park Service. The Faraway Ranch was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Pete Kitchen's Ranch, in the southeastern Arizona county of Santa Cruz, is less than four miles north of Nogales. This ranch house was founded in the 1850s by Pete Kitchen, a former U.S. Army soldier. Kitchen built an adobe structure less than five miles north of the modern-day United States-Mexico border. Cattle and horses were raised at the ranch when it was first established. Many of the ranch hands were Opata Native Americans, who befriended Kitchen. During the mid- to late-19th century, Kitchen's Ranch served as a haven for settlers who sought refuge from Apache war parties. In 1975, this ranch was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
