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Blank_page About the Author Images of Empire Ranch House is my first serious attempt at black & white photography. I have taken color photographs all of my life, but with the advances of the digital camera, computer photo editing and photo quality home printers, I decided to take a foray into B&W. With two ?Photo Op? partners, Ed Melnick and Don Spector, we set off to find a suitable setting for B&W, with Ed providing the eye for detail, like reflections in windows, and Don the camera techniques. Ed selected Empire Ranch as he had hiked Las Cienegas and had an interest in returning to the Empire Ranch House with his camera. It?s a good thing he knew his way, because we were traveling without clear directions from Tucson. (See the last page so you don?t have those concerns.) This book is the account of that venture. This is my third self-published book, The Four Corners of Arizona ? Utah ? Colorado ? New Mexico (2006) and Tucson Historic Districts: A Photographic Tour (2007), having preceded Images of Empire Ranch House. In addition, I have produced a number of posters, including Tucson Doors and Windows, Arizona in Color, Arizona Naturally, Faces of Mexico, and with Ed Melnick, People of Ecuador. Since moving in 1999 to Tucson from New Jersey, my wife Barbara and I have traveled extensively throughout Arizona, enjoying its diverse visual splendors and providing opportunities for me to indulge in my photography habit. As photography is my main interest, I want to express my appreciation to the Empire Ranch Foundation for permitting me to use their literature as the source for my descriptive material. Enjoy my book ? and do visit Empire Ranch House! Dick Fleming 2 About the AuthorImages of Empire Ranch House is my first serious attempt at black & white photography. I have taken color photographs all of my life, but with the advances of the digital camera, computer photo editing and photo quality home printers, I decided to take a foray into B&W.

With two ?Photo Op? partners, Ed Melnick and Don Spector, we set off to find a suitable setting for B&W, with Ed providing the eye for detail, like reflections in windows, and Don the camera techniques. Ed selected Empire Ranch as he had hiked Las Cienegas and had an interest in returning to the Empire Ranch House with his camera. It?s a good thing he knew his way, because we were traveling without clear directions from Tucson. (See the last page so you don?t have those concerns.) This book is the account of that venture.

This is my third self-published book, The Four Corners of Arizona ? Utah ? Colorado ? New Mexico (2006) and Tucson Historic Districts: A Photographic Tour (2007), having preceded Images of Empire Ranch House. In addition, I have produced a number of posters, including Tucson Doors and Windows, Arizona in Color, Arizona Naturally, Faces of Mexico, and with Ed Melnick, People of Ecuador.

Since moving in 1999 to Tucson from New Jersey, my wife Barbara and I have traveled extensively throughout Arizona, enjoying its diverse visual splendors and providing opportunities for me to indulge in my photography habit.

As photography is my main interest, I want to express my appreciation to the Empire Ranch Foundation for permitting me to use their literature as the source for my descriptive material.

Enjoy my book ? and do visit Empire Ranch House!Dick Fleming2
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Blank_page Empire Ranch and Empire Ranch House Once considered one of the largest and most prosperous cattle operations in the southwest, the Empire Ranch by the early 1900?s covered nearly one million acres. Established in the 1870?s, the ranch?s historic buildings, corrals and house now sit at the heart of the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area, reduced to 42,000 acres of rolling public lands when acquired in 1988 by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in recognition of its unique ecology as scenic high desert grasslands. Empire Ranch House is situated in the Sonoran Desert about 50 miles southeast of Tucson, off Route 83. From a four-room house, it is now more than a 22-room adobe and wood frame building, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Empire Ranch Foundation was formed in 1997 to work with the BLM to develop private support to preserve the ranch buildings and enhance the educational and recreational opportunities it offers to the public. The History A 160-acre homestead originally established in the 1860's was owned by William Wakefield and formed the heart of the Empire Ranch. In June of 1876 he sold the homestead with a four-room adobe house and adjoining corral, to Edward Nye Fish and Simon Silverberg of Tucson. As an aside, Fish, a Tucson businessman and civic leader, owned the Eagle Flour Mill, the first steam operated mill in the Arizona Territory. His Tucson home, built in 1880 for his San Francisco bride, was filled with the latest Victorian appointments. The Edward Nye Fish House is now incorporated into the Tucson Museum of Art at 140 Main Avenue, and houses the museum?s John K. Goodman Pavilion of Western Art and is also the home of the American West Collection. 3
Empire Ranch
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Empire Ranch HouseOnce considered one of the largest and most prosperous cattle operations in the southwest, the Empire Ranch by the early 1900?s covered nearly one million acres. Established in the 1870?s, the ranch?s historic buildings, corrals and house now sit at the heart of the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area, reduced to 42,000 acres of rolling public lands when acquired in 1988 by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in recognition of its unique ecology as scenic high desert grasslands.

Empire Ranch House is situated in the Sonoran Desert about 50 miles southeast of Tucson, off Route 83. From a four-room house, it is now more than a 22-room adobe and wood frame building, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Empire Ranch Foundation was formed in 1997 to work with the BLM to develop private support to preserve the ranch buildings and enhance the educational and recreational opportunities it offers to the public.

The History

A 160-acre homestead originally established in the 1860's was owned by William Wakefield and formed the heart of the Empire Ranch. In June of 1876 he sold the homestead with a four-room adobe house and adjoining corral, to Edward Nye Fish and Simon Silverberg of Tucson. As an aside, Fish, a Tucson businessman and civic leader, owned the Eagle Flour Mill, the first steam operated mill in the Arizona Territory. His Tucson home, built in 1880 for his San Francisco bride, was filled with the latest Victorian appointments. The Edward Nye Fish House is now incorporated into the Tucson Museum of Art at 140 Main Avenue, and houses the museum?s John K. Goodman Pavilion of Western Art and is also the home of the American West Collection.3
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