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 Recently
SALT (Superstition Area Land Trust) acquired the old
Tony Ranch. The ranch included some seventy-eight
acres of pristine wilderness bordering the
Superstition Wilderness Area. It was the desire of
the descendents of George Taylor that the ranch
become the property of a conservatory group, rather
than the mining companies or forest service. This
old homestead site is three miles from the nearest
road. The old ranch house’s isolation has helped to
preserve it into the 21st Century.
William Toney build a cabin along Haunted Canyon in
a large open meadow in August of 1913 on federal
land. He applied for a homestead some two years
after he constructed his cabin. Toney received a
patent for 78.06 acres of land in 1922. This exact
patent is the land SALT received from the
descendents of the Taylors. The family always
spelled their name Toney, but cartographers confused
the spelling and made reference to the homestead as
the Tony Ranch. The property has been known as the
Tony Ranch since the 1940’s.
Homestead documents acquired by Jack Carlson and
Elizabeth Stewart indicate William Toney build a
12-foot-by-30-foot two-room log cabin with a
corrugated metal roof. Forest Ranger Henry Taylor
reported in an inspection report in June of 1919 the
following, “…no one at home but the children, I
found the land under cultivation, farming implements
consisted of a plow and a broken disc. The log cabin
was furnished with a cook stove, two bunks, a board
table, two chairs and few cooking utensils and
dishes.” The cabin was enlarged to 12-feet
–by-34-feet with three rooms by 1922. This was the
present size of the cabin when I visited it in 1971
for the first time.
 The homestead law required the building of a home
and also the cultivating of the and. By 1915 Toney
had planted five acres of wheat and laid out 600
apple trees. The following years he planted beans,
corn, potatoes, sorghum, alfalfa and a truck garden.
A dependable supply of water for irrigation was
lacking on the Toney homestead. The creek was
normally dry most of the time and made irrigation
impossible on the southern half of the homestead.
Irrigation was possible on the northern portion of
the property toward Hill Spring (now referred to as
Tony Ranch Spring). One acre of alfalfa and 2.5
acres of beans were reported in 1920 as under
irrigation. The bean patch only produced six sacks
of beans that year.
The homestead law did not require a settler to raise
livestock, but most homesteaders complimented their
farms with a variety of animals. Ranger Henry Taylor
reported Toney had 120 chickens, 25 turkeys, and 4
horses at his Haunted Canyon homestead. Toney also
had several head of cows on the nearby range. In a
1921 document Toney mentioned he had 234 head of
cattle on the range near the homestead. He ran his
cattle under the Lazy W Bar T brand.
George Taylor purchased the Toney (Tony) Ranch and
cattle from William Toney in 1921. After Taylor died
in 1949, his wife Ann hired Jimmy Herron, of
Superior, Arizona, to manage the Toney Ranch and
another ranch property. SALT purchased the land and
cabin from the Taylor’s heirs in August of 2008.
The old Tony Ranch is a unique, isolated window for
viewing a natural ecosystem bordering the
Superstition Wilderness Area. This homestead has
provided a haven to hiker and horseman over the past
forty years. Its isolation from our modern
complicated society warrants it protection for the
future. This protection will be provided by SALT as
the old homestead’s new conservators.
The only way to visit the area is on horseback,
hiking or by helicopter. This island of private land
is located in the Tonto National Forest. It can only
be accessed by a seven or three mile trail through
wilderness terrain. The seven mile walk up Haunted
Canyon to the Toney Ranch is probably the easiest
access. I visited the old ranch site in 1971 for the
first time. We traveled to the old ranch from the
southwest. Our primary goal was to visit several
limestone caverns within the area. A mile or so from
the Tony Ranch is the legendary “Cave of a Thousand
Eyes.” It is truly one of the unique wonders of the
Superstition area.
 Sometime around 1975, Dr. Malcom Comeaux, Larry
Hedrick, Allen Blackman, Nyle Leatham and I made a
trip to the Tony Ranch from Jimmy Herron’s stock
corrals in Whitford Canyon horseback. The ride was
about nine miles through heavy chaparral and a
constantly vanishing trail. We made the ride in
about four hours. Nyle Leatham did a wonder article
in the Arizona Republic about our visit to the old
Tony Ranch. Dr. Comeaux, a geographer from Arizona
State University, was particularly interested in
early Arizona homesteads. It certainly was one of
those rides I will remember for many years to come.
The wilderness that surrounds the Tony Ranch has
bears, mountain lions, coyotes, and most of the wild
animals associated with the Sonoran Desert life
zone. Some claim a Mexican Jaguar was killed in the
area about eighty years ago. Also there is an
interesting story about a bear’s skeleton found in
one of the limestone caverns with flint arrowheads
in the chest cavity area. There are hundreds of
stories about the old Tony Ranch. I am sure the
future of the Tony Ranch is in good hands. These
many stories will surely be told around campfires in
the future.
There are many natural wonders in the area.
Hopefully they will remain isolated and safe from
vandals and greedy profiteers. It is likely some of
the natural wonders in the Tony Ranch area will be
discovered in the future, but for the present they
are safe. My wife and I recently trekked into the
region to check on one large cavern. The cavern
still remains totally in tact and undisturbed.
I would like to extend a special appreciation to
Jack Carlson and Elizabeth Stewart for all their
research and for their assistance with this story.
Also I would like to thank Rosemary Shearer for her
help also. I am indebted to all of them for their
gracious assistance in making this story possible.
Carlson and Stewart’s book on the eastern portion of
the Superstition Wilderness Area will be available
soon with more details and information about the
Tony Ranch.
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