john slaughter ranch

John Slaughter, universally known as "The Meanest Good Guy in Arizona" was, they say, "judge, jury & executioner" at the same time. Born in Louisiana, he moved West and in the 1860's fought against the Comanches as Texas Ranger. In the 70's he traded cattle in New Mexico, then moved to Southern Arizona where he purchased a 100,000 acre cattle ranch near Douglas. Elected Sheriff in 1886 and re-elected after the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, he helped clean Cochise county of the bad element. It is said about him, that he always stated "I will arrest them, and if they don't come peacefully, I'll bring them across the saddle of the horse"... He is credited with killing at least twelve bandits, while also fighting in the Indian wars. He was present at the capturing of Geronimo. Given this picturesque story, it is no wander I wanted to see the ranch, nowadays on the National Register of Historic Places. Douglas is only 1 mile from the Mexican border and is, basically, a dump. It was built as a company town for the Copper Queen mine (Phelps Dodge) in Bisbee and is named after James Douglas who invented a profitable way to work out the copper extraction. I've been planning to visit for a long time. On this trip, I even chose to stay at the Gadsden historical hotel (separate review of that disaster) in Douglas, in order to be close to the Ranch. It's been raining for two days, so the trip is a pain. Only 13 miles from Douglas to the ranch, but it takes 45 minutes because the last eight miles are on a primitive dirt road, which the rain has turned into piles of red mud intermixed with ditches and huge muddy lakes. We cross at least half a dozen Border Patrol cars along the way, but nobody else. The ranch is supposed to be open 9:30 to 3:30 (both the WEB site and my phone call resulted with this info). We arrive at 2:35 only to see a very unfriendly woman slam the gate literally in front of our noses. I point out that there is a whole one hour left to closing time and that we've driven in this bestial weather to reach them. She looks at me with disgust and only says "We are closed". On she hops to her ATV and drives away. Two minutes later, she comes back, checks that the gate is locked without any acknowledgement of our continued presence and disappear, this time for sure. So sad.

We went out of our way to see the Slaughter Ranch.Texas John Slaughter is a forgotten hero of American history, he is known as the "Meanest Good Guy in the West". And he was a tough man. He 100,000 acres in southern Arizona and the Slaughter Museum is the houseplace. John Slaughter was a cattle drover, business man, gambler, and sheriff of Tombstone for two terms, he had a telephone line strung 70 miles over mountains from Tombstone to his ranch so he could stay in touch with his family. His life is too amazing to review here.The ranch is reached by about 20 mile drive on the Geronimo Trail outside Douglas, AZ. Call before going to ensure the road is passable. The drive is desert vista and Mexico is literally just a stone's throw from the road, the border is some where behind the Slaughter barn.Turn off the main gravel road, down another dirt road and then the most amazing view comes into sight. There is a natural springfed pond next to the house which provides a jarring vista of desert with this crystal clear water.There is a small fee to tour, and it is self-guided.. There is a Walt Disney film which can be viewed in the cook house; there is actually a series Walt Disney did based on Texas John Slaughter of his life. The house place has numerous articles written about John Slaughter but there are many more stories that are not posted in the house.For those of you who love history, that the journey is as important as the destination, this is the place to visit.

We went here with some friends who live in Hereford, Az. So they knew how to get to the ranch. Which is a very long way from the town limits. But the drive to the ranch was very interesting. Once you get out of the town proper, you end up on rugged dirt terrain all the way to the ranch. And there is nothing to see for miles but desert, mountain, and border patrol. That's how close to Mexico you are as you make this journey. Off in the distance you can see a Mexican highway with lots of truck traffic.Once is get to the ranch, you are welcomed by some very friendly people who maintain the ranch.They have a few horses and some other animals as well, and there is a very nice lake. The houses are very interesting as well and there are lots of Slaughter family artifacts in them. You can also sit in one of the houses and watch a full length feature western about John Slaughter and how he became a Texas Ranger. If you are a western movie buff, you may have seen it before. Anyway, it was an interesting day trip for me.