The Rookie Rancher
How a tenderfoot took on the challenge of reviving a historic guest ranch.
By: Mark Boardman 06/01/2007
Doc Holliday. Sam Bass. “Bear River” Tom Smith. And countless others. They found a haven in the West. A chance to change their lives. The opportunity to reinvent themselves. A move that allowed them to leave heartache and hassles behind, with almost unlimited possibilities for the future.
Linda Kelly trod the same path. Okay, so she already was in the West—California—when she decided to make her move. And maybe it’s a bit tough to compare life in the 1800s to that of the 21st century. But the essence of the story, leaving the past behind for a new and uncertain future, that is just the same.
Family Tragedy, New Start
For Linda Kelly, the story starts back in January 2001. She was a healthcare professional, well established in her community and seemingly settled for life. But then her adult daughter was in a horrible car crash that left her physically and mentally incapacitated. To compound the problem, the daughter had a 22-month-old son named Trever who needed a home and family. Linda Kelly and her husband took in the infant.
Just a few months later, Trever was diagnosed with cancer. Over the next three years, the family went through the roller coaster ride of emotions as the cancer went into remission, then recurred. In September 2004, the little boy died. Linda Kelly’s life was already undergoing some big changes.
During Trever’s cancer battle, Kelly got involved with alternative medicine. And that continued after his death—although Kelly was now working with non-traditional treatments for horses. She got to know people involved in ranching and became interested in the lifestyle—especially guest ranches. In 2005, she located an Arizona ranch and decided to buy it, but the deal fell through. Another ranch came up for sale and she bought it, sight unseen (NOTE—do not try this at home). And in January 2006, Linda Kelly moved to the Triangle T Guest Ranch near Dragoon, Arizona.
Triangle T Has Its Own Story to Tell
It’s located on 160 acres in Texas Canyon at the foothills of the Dragoon Mountains, north of Tombstone and about 60 miles east of Tucson. Huge boulders, single and in formations, are the most notable part of the landscape. Cochise and his Apaches used the land for summer residence; the place still has petroglyphs and stone carvings.
In 1922, the owner set up the guest ranch. Seven years later, Catherine Tuff took title to the land as the result of a breach-of-promise-to-marry lawsuit (a lesson to be learned by men of all backgrounds). The Triangle T became one of the premiere guest ranches in the country during that period.
In the early 1940s, some unusual guests took up residence. A number of Japanese diplomats from Hawaii were “incarcerated” there for several months after the Pearl Harbor attack. This relatively unknown incident was classified “top secret” until it was unearthed a few years ago.
In 1975, a bicentennial salute to cowboys—in the form of a cattle drive—started at the ranch (and ended in Tucson).
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