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Spring Mountain Ranch
Spring
Mountain Ranch, a 520-acre oasis situated at the base of the magnificen Wilson Cliffs, was developed into a combination working ranch and luxurious retreat by a string of owners. This site has a long and varied history.
By the mid-1830s a campsite had been established
along the creek that runs through the ranch. The springfed stream and the grassy meadows formed a welcome oasis for travelers who used this alternate Spanish Trail route through Cottonwood Valley.This use of the site by pack and wagon trains continued until their replacement by railroad in 1905.
In 1876 former Fort Mohave-based Sergeant James
B. Wilson and his partner, George Anderson, filed on the property, which they named the Sandstone Ranch. The owners changed often, also the names. In 1955 Vera Krupp, wife of German munitions industria- list Alfred Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, bought the ranch. She added the swimming pool and west wing to the main house and expanded the cattle operation. The ranch was renamed the Spring Mountain Ranch.
Today,the main ranch house is open as a visitor center on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. Here
the visitor will find information about the ranch and surrounding areas, and can take a self-guiding tour of the ranch house interior. A self-guided tour of the grounds of the main ranch house is available every day. Guided tours throughout the historic areas of the ranch are conducted on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.Spring Mountain Ranch is one of the group of recreational sites available to visitors in the Red Rock Canyon Recrea- tion Lands; other sites include picnic areas and hiking trails.
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