By Linda Ludington

In Part I, we learned that Ed Kellis dreamed of owning a cattle ranch, and that as a toddler, he received his first heifer calf. During the Depression, the Kellis family sold their Blackwell, Texas, windmill business and blacksmith shop and moved to Bagdad, Arizona. Having purchased a herd of goats and cattle, the family met with financial disaster due to a severe winter, during which most of the livestock perished, unfortunately. Hence, Ed Kellis started work at the mine in Bagdad.

In 1961, he finally purchased the ranch of which he had dreamed. Along with his father, Gilbert, his mother and wife Betty Jo, Ed purchased the Gray Ranch from Bob Gray, who had settled on the land in 1909. Ed continued to work at the mine. His parents moved to the ranch house, only a half-mile from Bagdad.

New corrals, barn and shop were built. They stocked it with the remnant of June's progeny and a 120 cows and yearlings purchased from Bob Lambert. Their first Polled Hereford bulls were bought from various Arizona ranchers. Within a few years, the Kellis Home Place was fully stocked. Gilbert rode the ranch daily checking the cattle, fences and water. He epitomized what ranch folks respectfully call an "old time cowboy." Ed speaks with understandable pride of his dad's artistic ability with a rope, of his talent for evaluating horseflesh, and for his skill with cattle. He credits his parents, Betty Jo, and his children with the success of the ranching enterprise.

One fall, during roundup, when Gilbert was in his eighties, he had difficulty mounting his horse, and even greater difficulty dismounting at the end of the day. Standing beside Tony, the horse he had moved as a colt to Wild Horse Basin in 1944, the elderly cowboy admitted he had ridden his last horse. However, his cowboying wasn't over. He continued his daily rounds of the ranch, riding his Jeep, until the morning he died in 1975.

That was also the year Ed resigned from twenty-nine years of working for the mine. Ed Kellis rented the Burrow Creek Ranch from the mine for fifteen years, until the lease expired in 1988. He then purchased the SH Ranch, which lies just east of his home place. In 1994, he bought the Wild Horse Basin Ranch through a land swap with the mine, now owned by the Phelps Dodge Corporation. The three places are adjoining, well watered from creeks and springs, and comprise 120 sections of deeded and government-lease land.

Ed and his sons, Gib and Bert, run a cow/calf operation of Polled Hereford, Brahma and Hereford-Brahma mix cattle. They use the "Two U-s" brand, on the left ribs - note the brand on the sign in the photo. Due to his great respect for the area cowboys of local lore, Ed and his dad named water traps and wells for these men: "Hardy Schell Trap," the "Johnny Andrews Well," "Travis Heckle Corral and Water Hole." Ed admired Bert Smith so much he named one of his sons for him. The older son, Gib, is named for Ed's dad.

Ed has served the ranching community in many ways, including as president of Yavapai Cattle Growers in 1979, as Yavapai County Extension Board member for ten years and as BLM Advisory Board member in Kingman for fifteen years. When asked about challenges faced by current ranchers, Ed puts the menace of mountain lions at the head of his list. The Kellis Ranch loses between fifty and eighty branded calves every year. Unbranded calves are also known prey but uncounted in official records.

The extended drought has hurt all area ranchers; Ed regrets that some have been forced to sell complete herds. Even though their ranch has sold older cows and some very young calves, the Kellis ranchers have fed supplements and grazed their range conservatively to protect the bulk of their herd. Ed laments that buying a new pickup costs over 100 calves. Such a vehicle is a necessity for modern ranching. Hiring outside cowboys to ride the place, as was typical even a generation ago, is no longer feasible for a family ranch.

To be successful, Ed Kellis believes, a rancher must be a skilled cowboy, an astute cowman, and a wise businessman. In spite of these challenges, he hopes his sons and their children will carry forward the Kellis love affair with ranching. One senses a profound love shared among the Kellis folks. Ed unabashedly recalls enjoying his young children so much that he often had them ride the ranch with him. Their mischief and childish bickerings amused him.

However, there has been sorrow to endure as well. Leeta Ann, his oldest child and only daughter, was killed in a truck accident while still a young woman. Three months later, his wife Betty Jo died following surgery. Ed's second wife Bobbye Jean died only a year after their marriage.

In 1995, Ed married Judy. From their ranch house window they follow the horses' antics in the barn corrals, observe the progress of the Kellis grandchildren's 4-H project animals, spy desert birds nesting in the saguaros, and marvel at spectacular sunrises over the eastern ridge. This is not a gentle land. It is a starkly beautiful country, well suited for the Kellis Ranch of Bagdad.

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Courtesy of Author
Gib, Bert, and Ed Kellis gather at the Kellis Ranch sign in 1997. Note the “2-U” brand on the sign.