I’m heading to the Tucson Festival of Books this month, so I thought it would be fun to tell some of Tucson’s dude ranch tales.

People flocked to the area in the early twentieth century because the dry climate was thought to be good for respiratory trouble; more specifically, tuberculosis. The city of Tucson did a great job promoting itself for healthy people too, and dude ranching began in the 1930s at places like Tanque Verde, the Flying V, the Double R, the Double U, Saguaro Vista, Desert Willow, Diamond W, and other evocative names.

My personal collection of dude ranch ephemera has a few Tucson-related items. One colorful piece is this postcard from the 1930s or early 1940s, showing many of the dude ranches in Tucson (Rancho de la Osa is actually in Sasabe, but I guess the company that made the card wanted people to know it was within driving distance).

The city itself placed ads in travel magazines, touting Tucson’s many charms, along with the equally charming name of its booster organization: Tucson Sunshine Climate Club. This one is from Holiday, December, 1947. Note the caption which starts, “Live at a modern hotel.” You can also live at a charming guest ranch, a sanatorium, or a rest home. Tucson had it all!

I love this photo from the July, 1950 issue of Esquire magazine, though I roll my eyes at the caption. Cowgal?

The Blue Book of Western Dude Ranches was a short-lived promotional magazine that featured sprightly stories about ranches, along with lots of advertising. The Fall 1951 issue had a number of stories about Arizona, and Tucson-area ranches also got lots of ink. (Though not great photography, which might be one reason the magazine folded.)

Many of these ranches are gone, though Tanque Verde still thrives and newer ranches like Elkhorn and White Stallion opened up in Tucson from the 1940s to the 1960s.

I’ll leave you with a story about one memorable place from what I call my “experience collection:” the adventures I’ve had visiting dude ranches around the country.

My book, American Dude Ranch: A Touch of the Cowboy and the Thrill of the West, was published in 2022, and I went to the Tucson Festival of Books that year to appear on two panels about dude ranching. One of my co-presenters was Russell True, owner of White Stallion Ranch, who hosted me at the ranch during my time in Tucson. It’s a beautiful, peaceful place.

On Saturday evening, I went directly to dinner at the ranch from the book festival, still wearing the cowboy shirt I put on for my presentation that day. The woman ahead of me in the buffet line complimented me on the shirt and we got to chatting. Everyone else at the ranch was with family or friends, and I was flying solo. When we finished filling our plates I asked the woman if I could join her for dinner.

She smiled and said that would be great. But instead of heading toward the main dining room, she went the opposite direction into a smaller room. It had a few large tables and people had started to fill the seats. As we went through the door my buffet buddy turned to me and said, “We’re having a family reunion.”

Horrified, I started to back out, saying I didn’t want to intrude, but she dragged me into the room and sat me next to the matriarch of the family, who had arranged the event. Her name was Barbara, and she lived in Tucson. She booked the dude ranch for the reunion of every living member of her family, because she wanted them to be together before the older folks started to pass away.

As we chatted, more people came in and they all glanced at me, wondering what I was doing there. Each time someone sat down Barbara said to them, “This is Lynn. She’s part of our family tonight.” And I was.

That’s a dude ranch. Where everyone arrives as strangers, but they don’t stay that way for long.

Want to know more about the history of Arizona’s dude ranches? Pick up a copy of Russell True’s book, Dude Ranching in Arizona. I dip into it all the time.