Description of Features On or Near
The Dutch Joe Ranch

	The Dutch Joe Ranch is located approximately 2-1/2 hours northeast of the Phoenix, Scottsdale Arizona area; The Ranch is in the approximate center of the western portion of the approximately 2-million acre Apache-Sitgreaves U.S. Forest and is located approximately 45-minutes from Payson, Arizona, and 45-minutes south of Winslow, Arizona. A jet capable airport is located just 40-minutes north of the Ranch. Click on tab number 8 on the first page for directions to the property and for airport locations.
	The Estates at Dutch Joe Ranch, the Mogollon Mountain Ranch and the original Dutch Joe Ranch, together with its 42,614-acre Wallace Grazing Allotment, suitable for both cattle and horses, are located on the beautiful, fully forested 7,300 foot high elevation Mogollon Rim Plateau. Vegetation is mostly mixed conifers with a predominance of Ponderosa Pine and White Fir, with Gamble Oak and a few Cedar and Juniper Trees.
		Moisture is a combination of rain and snow with total precipitation between 16-18 inches annually. The total accumulative snowfall averages are 40 to 45 inches annually with several 12” to 24” events during an average year. Temperature during the winter months may reach as low as -10° F, with a record low of -21° F. The summer daytime temperature ranges at a very comfortable 70° F - 80° F.
	The area around the Dutch Joe Ranch is teeming with wildlife; from elk, deer, antelope, mountain lions, bear, fox, raccoons, wild-turkeys and a heavy mix of birds including bald eagles, osprey, ducks and a wide variety of other birds. The area around the Ranch is a favorite hunting and fishing location. Publicly available fishing and boating lakes abound on the Mogollon Rim Plateau. Within 10 air miles of the Ranch are Chevlon Canyon Lake, Bear Canyon Lake, Woods Canyon Lake and Willow Springs Lake. There are six private fishing/boating lakes within the Dutch Joe Ranch. The Dutch Joe Ranch is located approximately halfway between two major Arizona ski areas, the Snow Bowl and Sunrise.
	Historically, the Dutch Joe Ranch has been an active cattle ranch and grazing operation since the late 1800’s. Today, cattle in the summer grazing period are “rounded up” every 30 days and driven from one 8,000 to 10,000-acre pasture to another. One of the very first U.S. Forest Service fire lookout towers was located on the Ranch, aptly named the “Dutch Joe Lookout Tower.”
	During the prohibition period, the original rancher, a Swiss immigrant, by the name of Joseph G. Meyer, locally known as “Dutch Joe” operated his own cattle ranch, along with an illegal bootlegging operation in a hidden box canyon on the Ranch. Dutch Joe was found frozen to death in 1925 at the south entrance gate to the Ranch. The Graham-Tewksbury Feud, or otherwise known as the Sheep and Cattleman’s War, and or the “Pleasant Valley War,” that resulted in the deaths of at least 40 people during the period 1885 through approximately the 1900’s, occurred in the general area to the south of the Ranch. At least three books have been written on the feud; “To the Last Man,” 1922, By Zane Grey. “A Little War of Our Own,” 1988, by Don Dedera and, most recently, “Pleasant Valley War,” 2009, by Jinx Pyle(1).
A gravestone, with the date of 1885 chiseled on it, is located about one-mile south of the Ranch. During the Indian wars, the Ranch was just a few miles north of the Old General George Crook Army Trail, which runs from Ft. Camp Verde to the west and to Ft. Apache, to the east. A prominent volcanic spire called Chevlon Butte just north of the Ranch was used by the U.S. Army as a lookout structure, and the remaining rock walls are still quite evident. There is substantial evidence of Indian use in the nearby water drainage canyons.
	Most of the area of the Dutch Joe Ranch, including the area of the Estates at Dutch Joe Ranch and the Mogollon Mountain Ranch, is located on top of the Coconino Sands Aquifer. Five wells have been drilled on Ranch properties, all drilled to approximately 1,100 to 1,200 feet deep. Substantial water was found, all with an approximate static level of 900 feet. Test running of the wells yielded from 80-gallons per minute up to 300 gpm.
The following web sections will describe in detail each 36 or 40-acre Ranch Parcel at the Estates at Dutch Joe Ranch and Mogollon Mountain Ranch.
(1) Available from: Get a Rope Publishing, Inc. • PO Box 2099 • Payson, AZ 85549