Tag - vail preservation society

The Vail Brothers, Their Adventures and Role in Vail’s Story

Walter Vail stepped out of a stagecoach onto the dusty streets of Tucson in 1876. Twenty-four years old, with a keen sense of purpose, Walter intended to become a successful businessman and rancher. Walter left New Jersey soon after turning 21. His quest led him to Virginia City, Nevada where he worked as a time keeper in the silver mines. By all...

Steam & Steel Rails – No Match for the Waters of Cienega Creek

By J.J. Lamb,Vail Preservation Society The Last Flat Piece of Land… Vail’s Siding.“In the Cienega a large number of China men are engaged excavating, as they there encounter considerable elevation throughwhich cuts have to be made, and the grade has to be raised a number of feet above the low, marshy ground…”— Arizona Weekly Star, April 15...

Quilts, Fences, Hunting Dogs, Disney, and a ‘Foreman’s’ Real Job – A Vail Water Story

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...