Harry Heffner Empire Ranch photograph collection

Primarily photographs but also a small amount of reminiscences, typescripts of letters, and notes concerning Harry Heffner’s involvement with the Empire Ranch from 1893 to 1905. There are typescript copies of letters written to Edward L. Vail, 1875 to 1877, mostly by Walter Vail, and there are original ranch and water documents from Heffner’s California activities, 1905-1937

There are photographs of ranch life, cattle and horses, and the McFadden family. Two large photograph albums, one with 102 photographs, the other with 101 photographs relating to Harry Heffner and the Empire Ranch operations, ca. 1893-1905. Images depict cattle and ranching activities including branding, ranch houses, wagons and automobiles (including an 8-team wagon and the “first Oldsmobile in Arizona, 1904”). There are images of Harry Heffner, H. V. McFadden, Bert Alvord, the Herbert Drachman family, the Vail family, and Jim Seaver. Also present are images of Crittenden ruins, Tucson buildings, and Gardner Ranch (Colossal Cave)