San Bernardino Ranch

San Bernardino Ranch is a historic cattle farming area in the San Bernardino Valley east of Douglas near the Mexican border. The property still contains original buildings from its operational period, including the main residence, a washing house, an icehouse, a grain storage building, and a commissary structure.

The place began as a Spanish land grant in 1822 and was stocked with about 4,000 cattle until Apache raids forced its abandonment in the 1830s. John Horton Slaughter, a former sheriff of Cochise County, revived it as a working cattle ranch starting in 1884.

The name comes from Spanish settlers and reflects the religious heritage of the border region. Today visitors can sense how people from different backgrounds once worked and lived together on this land.

The site sits about 15 miles east of Douglas in open terrain very close to the border. Plan a visit during cooler months, as the desert heat here can be intense during summer.

Slaughter was himself a legendary gunman and lawman of the border region before he took over and transformed the property into a working operation. His personal story embodies the transitions and conflicts of the American Southwest during this turbulent era.