By Dana Sharp

(This two part article was first run in the Courier supplement called "Westward" on October 31, 1975 - a long time before the recent development of the area) 

To the northwest of Prescott sprawls a giant of earth and granite boulders, holding the roots of pine trees, oak brush, manzanita, prickly pear and pinon. Tall pines march like sentinels across the rocky crest. Almost a last frontier for wildlife in an area becoming more heavily populated every day, Granite Mountain stands a monument to a vanished time.

This mountain is also the source of Mint Wash that flows or does not flow, depending on the rain and snowfall, through a beautiful, secluded area called Mint Valley. In 1975, only three ranches still ran cattle here and only a handful of folks lived here. It was once the home of about forty families and the scene of activity from the now deserted mines up on the east ridges and the bootlegging in Moonshine Canyon. 

The American Ranch is probably the best known of all the places of the early days and was the stage stop for all traffic going either to or from Ehrenberg or Hardyville. Lying at the foot of Granite Mountain, it was named by J.H. Lee, who traded his revolver for the ranch to Dan Connor, a civil engineer and its first owner who came to the Prescott area with the Walker party. 

The Lee family had already acquired a nice piece of land just north of the Prescott townsite on Granite Creek, which was later known as the City Ranch. Lee met Connor in 1867 in Prescott while having coffee one morning at Uncle Ed's Place. ("Uncle" Ed Boblett had a restaurant built of pine saplings and covered with burlap on the Plaza. It contained a fireplace and was furnished with table and benches which Boblett made himself from pine logs.) 

They got acquainted and Connor told Lee all about his ranch at the foot of Granite. Although it was a beautiful spot with a lake and plenty of tillable land, Connor was weary of the hardship and Indian problems and was planning to go to California. Lee wasn't really interested in buying another place, but Connor finally persuaded him to ride out and look the place over. 

They set out the next morning on the ten-mile ride northwest of Prescott and as they rode over the last hill and looked down on the beautiful blue lake, surrounded by lush pasture and protected by the rugged mass of Granite, Lee knew that he was home at last. His years of searching had begun in the late 1840s and had taken him through many adventures and over many hills to reach "the Frontier," but never had he found a spot so intriguing, so close to paradise as this. Wild mulberry trees, chokecherries and plum thickets grew all up and down the creek known as Mint Wash. Wild grapevine clung to every rock and, as they neared the lake, they could see hundreds of wild ducks. The wildfowl nested in the cane along the creek banks. Mint and clover grew thick and green all down the valley. 

Conner asked Lee to make an offer for the ranch. After a few moments of silence on the part of Lee, Connor said, "I'll tell you what, I'll trade this place to you for your revolver." Lee finally told him it was a deal, but Connor would have to wait until they were back in Prescott and out of danger from the Indians before he would part with the gun. 

A few days after the deal was made, Lee hired men to work for him at the American Ranch. As they cleared the land for farming, a lookout was always posted and the men carried their guns with them to the fields, as the danger from Indians was ever present. 

The years that followed were a beehive of activity for the Lee family. Mrs. Lee continued to run the dairy on Granite Creek and care for her babies and Lee divided his time between the American Ranch and the fulfilling of various government contracts. The farm produce from the American Ranch was contracted by Fort Whipple and was very productive. By the time an adequate home for his family was constructed, the dairy on Granite Creek sold and Mrs. Lee and children moved to the American Ranch. Lee also had a producing orchard. 

Due to the large amount of traffic going to and from Prescott on the Hardyville and Ehrenberg roads, Lee saw another opportunity for business and, in 1876, had a spacious two-story home built which could accommodate many paying guests. Balls were held and, with help from an extra cook, literally hundreds of meals were served in the dining room. 

This prosperous activity was not to last however. As always, when men search for an easier way to do things, someone is the loser. In 1877 Sam Miller, who owned one of the largest freighting businesses in the country, and Bob Atkinson began the planning of a shorter route from Ehrenberg over Iron Springs. The savings in time (a whole day from Skull Valley to Prescott) offset the toll charges of four to five cents per mile, depending on the size of the freighting outfit and soon all travel from the southwest was over this shorter route. 

Though the Lee family continued to live at the ranch and the travel from the north still stopped there, the American Ranch never again saw the activity or prosperity of its early days. The glory, the friendliness, the warmth of the light in the window to a passing traveler and the people are but memories now. 

(Dana Sharp is a long time resident of the Prescott area.) 



Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(bura2068pl). Reuse only by permission.
In 1965, when Matt Culley took this photograph, there really wasn't much left of the American Ranch. In the latter half of the nineteenth century a bustling community of ranchers and farmers with the American Ranch at its hub populated the flanks of Granite Mountain.