A little bit of history...
Brown Canyon Ranch was built a century ago by a local pioneer
family and includes their ranch house, storeroom, corrals, water
system, and a pond that is the habitat of an endangered frog
species. The property in Brown Canyon was first permanently
occupied by John Thomas Brown and his family who settled there
around 1800. It passed through the hands of other users during the
latter part of the 19th century until the house was built by James
and Tom Haverty between 1905 and 1907. James and his wife, Lessie,
homesteaded the ranch in 1912 and owned the property until 1921,
when they sold it to William and Margaret Carmichael. The
Carmichaels were major land owners and significant philanthropists
in early Sierra Vista. During their ownership, Harvey James, the
owner of several mining claims up Brown Canyon, and who lived way
up in the canyon in the summer, sometimes rented the house in the
winter. He and his wife would often invite friends to the ranch for
a social potluck and dance in the living room. Also during the time
of the Carmichaels, a Yaqui Indian named Chico Romero lived there
with his wife and daughters. In 1946, the Carmichaels sold the
ranch to Roy and Stella Rambo, who operated it as a cattle ranch.
They in turn sold the property to Samuel and Cecile Barchas in
1957, together with their additional ranch holdings across South
Highway 92 (OY Ranch). The Barchas family did not live at Brown
Canyon, but in a stone house at OY Ranch. Sarah Barchas obtained
Brown Canyon Ranch through gift deeds from her parents in 1960 and
1961 and she owned the site until 1997. Brown Canyon Ranch is also
known as the Barchas Ranch and was acquired by the USDA Forest
Service in a land exchange in 1998. The Ranch is currently under
renovation, but is open to walk around the property.
We thought this would be a great place for a
cache. To get there you need to go down Ramsey Canyon off Highway
92. Take a right on Calle Metate and about .02 miles up the road
you will see the entrance on the left. Their goal is keep the gate
open from 7 to 5 everyday, but only when caretakers are available.
The ranch is open 24/7 and can also be accessed by hiking from the
trailhead on Ramsey. This is Forest Service land so everyone is
allowed access to the ranch at any time, despite the No Trespassing
signs that you might encounter. They were left there from when the
original owners owned the property.
The cache is hidden quite well as there is a
popular bike path not to far away. Please hide it as well as we
did.
Happy Hunting!