Internet
Presentation
Revised Version 010416
In the
winter/spring of 2007 good friend Diane Bain told me her husband Bill and two
friends, Bill Snider and Ralph Goodall, rode ATV’s in the
Palmerita
Ranch, (C) Copyright 2007, Neal Du Shane, All Rights Reserved |
Palmerita
Ranch Cemetery, (C) Copyright 2007, Neal Du Shane, All Rights Reserved. |
Having never
been in this area previously, I asked Diane if she would connect me with the
three guys and ask them to show me the site. We connected and the guys took me
to the Cemetery and it is posted on the APCRP website and is known as “CAMPAS
CEMERTER”.
11/4/07 Ralph Goodall submitted:
We recently learned from Carl, the
former longtime owner of the Wayside Inn on old Alamo Rd that the concrete pads
were indeed mainly for trailers (as you thought), and was the site of a ranch
called Three Rivers Ranch.
Carl was familiar with this ranch and the others around there, such as
Palmerita Ranch and Date Creek Ranch. He told us he had lived there all
his life (and I am not sure how old he is, but probably at least in his
mid-70's), and had cleared land and worked these ranches and farms all his younger
life.
Carl sold Wayside Inn this past spring and does not reside there anymore, but
apparently he still comes back to visit regularly. The new owners who
purchased in the spring had a major setback a few weeks ago--the entire Wayside
Inn building burned to the ground. They are planning to rebuild, and are
actively looking for another pre-fab building. There are still many full
and part-time RV residents living at this park.
While
researching this cemetery we got to talking about the concrete pads slightly
west of the cemetery. When I got home and started researching the old
Topographical maps of this area I found two additional cemeteries. One is right
at the Alamo Lake Campgrounds to which Bill Bain, Bill Snider and Ralph have
researched and haven’t found any evidence using GPS readings.
Jesus
Fass Palmerita Ranch Cemetery. (C) Copyright 2007, Neal Du Shane, All Rights
Reserved. |
11/16/07 Ralph Goodall submitted:
While we were up at Alamo lake last
month, we made an attempt to locate the cemetery that you showed me from an old
topographical quad map, indicating the probable location of the cemetery
associated with the old town of Alamo (now under the lake somewhere). We
pretty much zeroed in on the GPS coordinates and could recognize we were in
about the right place based on the topographical contours, but could not find
anything. Bill did try researching around the area on another day after I
left, but said he could not find any indications of additional graves. I
know the lake has risen up over this area several times in past years during
major flood inflows from the river, which has surely made any cemetery
indications very difficult to find.
I immediately
contacted the guys as they were camping at
Palmerita Ranch Cemetery. (C) Copyright 2007, Neal Du Shane, All Rights Reserved. |
Bill
Bain researching Palmerita Ranch Cemetery. (C) Copyright 2007, Neal Du Shane,
All Rights Reserved. |
The one
cemetery that caught my eye was the site at the old Palmerita Ranch homestead.
The guys said they would check it out before they left
Within a week
Bill Bain called and indicated they had in fact located the cemetery. To which
they took pictures and researched the cemetery for graves.
Betty Hastings Recalls
If
you are looking for information about whether this is the Palmerita Ranch cemetery,
one of Rusty's (Hastings) friends, Carl Miller, owns--his family owned--Palmerita
and also Grapevine Ranch.
Palmerita
was purchased by environmentalists and they just let everything go back to
ruin. It was once a beautiful ranch. I spent a lot of my childhood out
there hunting rocks before the wilderness area was put into the Santa Maria
Mountains. I used to sit on the bank overlooking the river and the ranch
and see the beautiful alfalfa fields they had there and look at the ranch
buildings.
There
were seven wells on the place and big waterers spraying the fields. It
was incredible and I always wanted the place. Of course, when it came up for
sale in the 1980's. It was only going for about $300,000.00 at that time,
too.
(L) Bonnie Helten, (R) Shelley Rasmussen restraining one mysterious truant student, trying to escape the School House March 9, 2012 (C) Copyright 2012 Neal Du Shane, All Rights Reserved. |
There
were a lot of people living up and down the river there - - the Orozcos and Madrils and Millers
and so forth. You can still see their places if you go along through the
underbrush. There was even a school house (Photo above) and when I was
about 15 years old in 1957 or so, the walls were still standing and also
several desks and blackboard and the keyboard of an old piano on the floor. When
I was out there, a man named Chet Fuller owned it. I don't know if he is
still living, or if he is still around Wickenburg. Carl Miller is,
however, and his family is from out there--generations of them.
11/23/08 Betty
& Rusty Hastings,
Palmerita
Ranch. (C) Copyright 2007 Neal Du Shane, All Rights Reserved. |
Over the past
few years preservation and restoration has been sporadic. As of 2016,
restoration has ceased at the property and is in disrepair once again. You can
still access the ranch on the somewhat maintained road with stipulation that
the conditions change on the road with each storm.
On my last
visit to the Palmerita Ranch I was asked to see if I could identify any graves
outside the presently enclosed cemetery. I did find two graves approximately
500’ to the east of the cemetery. Both were believed to be male and it is also believed
they were ranch hands who passed from natural causes. More research is forthcoming
to verify this information.
|
|
Photographs above, Palmerita Ranch
Cemetery. © Copyright 2007, Neal Du Shane, All Rights Reserved
All pictures were
taken by Bill Bain, Bill Snider, submitted and approval to use by Ralph
Goodall.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Palmerita Ranch Cemetery has been
deemed a Native American burial site which by law, restricts it from any
photography or videography. Members of the Fass family have graciously granted APCRP exclusive
permission to display these photographs. The photographs on this website may
not be copied or reproduced by any means nor used in any manner.
By: Neal Du
Shane 01/04/16
Internet
Presentation
Revised Version 010416
WebMaster: Neal Du Shane
Copyright ©2003-2016 Neal Du Shane
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