Continued from January 2022 Vail Voice.
By J.J. Lamb
…Owners of the larger ranches near Vail often hired Bee Atkins, the Rancho del Lago Foreman, to hunt predators that were killing their cattle. In November of 1936, Bee and George Davis were laying traps on the La Casa Blanca ranch owned by J. Rukin Jelks. Born in 1903 in Texas, Bee was one of nine children. When he was 14, he was cast out on his own because there was not enough food to go around at home.
Young Bee found work on a ranch for $15.00 a month. He was hazed mercilessly by the other cowhands because of two large moles on his left cheek. As a way to deal with the anger built up inside him he began to practice with his carbine and develop his marksmanship. Bee’s hunting dogs provided him with companionship and affection. They didn’t care about his disfiguring moles. As Bee’s skills increased, his value to ranchers did as well. He was paid $2.50 or more for each predator he killed. He often earned as much as $50 a month in addition to his $15 salary.
With his hunting and tracking skills he was able to earn a living. Bee met a young woman named Viola. They fell in love, married, and soon a daughter was born, then another. Bee needed more steady work. He heard about a ranch, recently acquired, by a wealthy easterner just southeast of Tucson. The property owner was plagued by a family of squatters stealing water. There were three sons and their mother. They had cut the barbed wire that the rancher had had his wranglers string up to keep the squatters out and were brazenly watering their cattle from his cattle pond.
The rancher met with the mother, Mattie Adkins, and tried to come to an agreement. She was offered the use of water twice a week in exchange for quilting, sewing, and other housekeeping services. A receipt for $6.00 for “quilting two quilts at $3.00 each. Said amount to be applied on rent…” survives to corroborate the story. The agreement was not kept for long. In truth, Mr. Putnam’s offer of water twice a week was not realistic. The wealthy rancher hired Bee as a ‘Foreman’ to solve his ‘problem’. Bee told Mr. Putnam that he wanted to talk to the squatters to determine if the rancher’s story squared up. He was met with crossed arms and a shotgun as he approached the Adkin’s shack.
Bee restrung the wire and gave a warning. Just days later, while in Tucson, he received word the wire had been cut and the squatter’s cattle were drinking from the pond. Bee hurried back to Vail, along the way he decided that confronting them on the trail back to their shack when they weren’t on alert would be best.
The ambush worked as planned. Caught unaware, the ‘Foreman’ assured the Adkins boys that if they didn’t drop their weapons he would not hesitate to shoot. The Foreman’s reputation was known across the Southwest and Northern Mexico ― he was a deadly hunter for animals on four legs and two. The clatter of weapons followed and the family packed up and moved on. The ‘Foreman’s’ task accomplished, it was time for he and his family to move on. The school year wasn’t quite over, but Alpha, Gladys, and Vina said goodbye to their friends and teachers. The family moved to Tucson.
The wealthy rancher was Cleaveland Putnam of Rancho del Lago. The mother was Mattie Adkins, no kin to Bee. The life of Bee Gee Atkins, the ‘Foreman’, and his relationship with his hunting dog Copper was adapted and retold in a Disney film ― The Fox and the Hound.
Stories surround us, layers of history in everyday places. Is one of the ponds at Rancho where the stand-off over water and barbed wire took place? Which trail heard the sounds of firearms clattering as they hit the ground?
J.J. Lamb, Vail Preservation Society, 2022 Vail Preservation Society – Community Connections
The New Year is getting off to a good beginning for heritage preservation in greater Vail. VPS has received a $1,000. grant from the Arizona Historical Society to digitize 32 older oral histories still on cassettes. Topics range from: ranching, railroad life, community life, Civilian Conservation Corp, Colossal Cave, Rincon Valley, Hilton Ranch/49 Mining Camp, Pantano, Vail School, Vail Store & Post Office, and the Shrine of Santa Rita in the Desert.
An Arizona State Parks Historic Preservation grant was submitted for the 1908 Old Vail Post Office rehabilitation. We’ll hear in March. Thank you to those who donated the 40% designated matching funds requirement including, Lloyd Construction, Means Design and Building, SWAIM Associates, Concord General Contracting, Lucas Electric, DLR Group, Tolin Mechanical and the many individuals whose donations ranged from $25. to $10,000. It is their support that made it possible for us to submit this proposal. Thank you!
The Esmond Station K8 Section Gang Museum Club members are working on making Story Quilts featuring local history. Stop at the Vail Heritage Area at Vail Pride Day to see the quilts and meet Museum Club members.
Save the Date: First Saturdays Marketplace, Food Truck& Heritage Programs Between the Tracks 9:00 – 1:00
February 5th, The Orphan Trains, a nationally acclaimed multi-media presentation is scheduled for 10:00-11:00 a.m. Vail’s connection to this national story is Father Mandin, The Shrine of Santa Rita’s first resident Priest.
March 5th Vail – On Ancestral Tohono O’odham Lands, bring your family out for the Hohokam Lifestyles presentation by Old Pueblo Archaeology that includes a Petroglyph activity for children.
J.J. Lamb is President & CEO of Vail Preservation Society. A U of A graduate, her family has lived in Vail since 1971. She was named an Arizona Culturekeeper in 2011 and an Arizona Friend of the Humanities in 2020.
