By J.J. Lamb Sarah Eveleen “Evie” Rae Schley arrived in Arizona in 1900 from New Jersey with her husband George Rae, who was ill with tuberculosis, and their daughter Jessie. They were hoping for improved health and a fresh start. Evie, George and business partner Otto Schley had interests in the Cuprite Mine and other mines in the Santa Rita’s...
By J.J. Lamb The verdant stretch of land along the Pantano Wash we call Rancho del Lago today has drawn people to Vail for millennia, but Otto Schley, Vail’s first unofficial ‘mayor’, was the first to imagine building a golf course there. His dream was written up in the January 31, 1914, edition of the Arizona Citizen. “Tucson is not the only city...
By J.J. Lamb Charron Vineyards is one of Vail’s very special places. The original owners Leo and Rhea Cox planted the vineyard in 1995. Charron is Rhea’s maiden name. The name is French and brings many visitors with the same last name from Quebec, Canada to enjoy a wine tasting. Twelve years ago Leo and Rhea sold their vineyard to Susan and Milton...
By J.J. Lamb Jimmy and Oscar Leon anxiously waited for their mother, Carmen, to have everything ready for their long walk from their home along the Pantano to the Vail Depot. Once a month they went to town (Tucson) to shop and visit family and friends. They stayed overnight in town with family. For Oscar and Jimmy this was the best part—they would...
Growing up in the Rincon Valley:Memories of family, School and the 1918 Pandemic By Ramona Benitez Franco “I was born on the thirteenth of May 1902, on my parents’ ranch in the Rincon Mountains. My parents’ names were Angel Benítez and Desideria Vindiola. My father was born in Banamachi, Sonora, Mexico, in 1860 and died in 1937. He came to Tucson...
By J.J. Lamb The Trotter sisters haven’t lived in Vail for almost sixty years, but their legacy remains strong in the Town Between the Tracks™. From 1931 through 1962 they taught school for the children of the railroad and ranching families living in and around Vail. It was visits to their older sister Julia who lived in Tucson that brought Esta...
By JJ Lamb “…I first met Jack when I was 13 and he was 16 and at that moment I said to myself, “that’s the man I’m going to marry; oh, those beautiful blue eyes!” Jane Dillon moved with her family to Vail in 1935. The Dillon family operated the Vail Junction Texaco Gas Station. She and her brother attended the Vail School...
A Trip on the Butterfield Overland Mail Stage Line By J.J. Lamb Zooming past Vail on I-10 it’s hard to experience the area’s beauty—let alone its heritage—as anything more than furtive glances in the rearview mirror. But in 1858 when the Butterfield Overland Mail Stage Line established the Cienega Stage Stop near the confluence of Cienega Creek...
A Monument to Mexican American Agency By J.J. Lamb In 1889, families living in the Rincon Valley petitioned the Pima County Board of Supervisors for a school; nearly all of those who made the petition were Mexican Americans. They included: Eusebio Tellez, Francisco Solano Leon, Joseph and Teodora Diaz Mills, Crisanta Lopez de Allen, Joaquin...
A Glimpse into the Complex History of Race in the United States By J.J. Lamb On January 3rd, 1894 Dora and Carter Crane welcomed their first child, Florence Estella, into the world. Florence was born on her parents’ homestead—La Cienega Ranch—in Vail, Arizona Territory. Even in 1894 there was paperwork to be completed and filed with the Arizona...
