Sahuaro Ranch Park
Posted: 11.14.2024 | Updated: 11.14.2024
Sahuaro Ranch Park preserves its history well. The dry desert climate maintains the glory of humankind’s defiance against the blazing sun. The buildings have different uses now. What was once the packing shed now hosts summer camps. The Adobe House, once the superintendent's house, now offers tours— a look into a rancho life long past.
Dried figs are no longer shipped out in the name of commerce. William Henry Bartlett, his brother, and his sickly son no longer utilize the ranch as a source of income and health. But at Sahuaro Ranch Park, the sweet scent of Glendale’s haunted past still lingers.
Apparitions of 19th-century figures have been seen throughout the haunted Rancho west of Phoenix. Who are they? What are their stories? Many believe that the Bartlett family never left, and the spine-tingling truth tends to point toward it.
Wealth and glory came to all brave enough to defy some of the harshest elements in the American Southwest. For many, it clung to them like the red Arizona soil. They have yet to shake it, and it continues to haunt our world.
Keep reading to learn about the haunted history of Sahuaro Ranch Park. Take a Phoenix ghost tour the next time you are in the Valley of The Sun to learn more about the city’s most haunted places.
Who Haunts Sahuaro Ranch Park?
Many have seen ghastly apparitions of a man dressed in black and a woman in an old-fashioned white dress in Sahuaro Ranch Park. The historic 1886 home has hosted weddings, provided tours to schoolchildren, and built fond memories for many Phoenicians. But all report the same unusual and disturbing sightings.
History of Sahuaro Ranch Park
Sahuaro Ranch Park's history predates the Rancho. Before the city of Phoenix rose from the dusty valley floor, there was the Hohokam. They managed to survive in an inhospitable environment for hundreds of years. Until they simply disappeared.
All trace of them, where they went, and what happened to them has been lost. However, American settlers decided that they would not suffer the same fate. When Confederate Jack Swilling first arrived in Phoenix in 1868, he had a vision for a new civilization out of the ashes of an old.
Swilling’s Mill eventually gave way to Phoenix. Twenty years later, in 1885, came the Arizona Canal that brought water from the surrounding Verde and Salt rivers. Swilling’s vision of an oasis in the desert had finally come to light. Two prosperous and visionary brothers from Peoria, Illinois, found an opportunity for success amongst the Saguaros within this man-made miracle.
William H. Bartlett and his brother Samuel Colcord Bartlett purchased 640 acres, one square mile of land, west of Phoenix in 1885. They soon created Sahauaro Ranch Park, acquiring water rights the following year.
The 17-acre ranch began with a simple adobe house. Even though the Bartlett Brothers never lived in their agricultural wonderland, they owned 2,000 acres of Glendale farmland until W.H. Bartlett’s death in 1918.
The adobe home was built for Bartlett’s sickly brother-in-law, Stephen W. Cambell, who was elected superintendent for business and his health. The dry air would heal what ailed him. Or so modern medicine thought.
Death at Sahuaro Ranch Park
Cambell kept control of the 17-acre Ranch until 1890. In 1888, a more suitable home was built for the ailing rancher. During these years, a number of other buildings were produced, including a dairy barn, milk house, horse barn and tack house, a scale house for weighing cattle, and a hay shed, as well as a brick pumphouse, blacksmith shop with forge, a mill, and a granary.
During this time, Cambell successfully planted, tended to, and shipped figs, pears, navel oranges, peaches, apricots, and olives.
But the fresh air, dry weather, and well-irrigated soil were not enough to save Cambell. He passed away in 1890.
It comes as no surprise that many visitors to Sahuaro have seen a serious and foreboding figure floating around the complex. A figure in all black in the hot Arizona sun seems unlikely. But the spirit world does not operate within our boundaries.
Cambell has seemingly stuck around to take care of the ranch. While the fruit trees and produce have been replaced by Peacocks and visiting school children, his home still needs tending.
He is seen wandering the old adobe home and around the grounds where he spent so much time.
The End of the Bartlett Family
But this was not the only time death and disease would touch Sahuaro Ranch. H.W. Bartlett’s youngest son Willie fell victim to the same disease as Cambell, Tuberculosis. At this point, Harry Adams became the second superintendent of Suharo Ranch.
Adams and his wife constructed a large house for themselves, now the main house. In 1889, they built a guest house next door in just 72 days. The young Willie Bartlett didn't have long.
The Bartlett family finally moved West at the behest of the family doctor. Modern medicine, in a time before antibiotics, dictated that the only cure for Tuberculosis was dry, fresh air. The Western United States became a Mecca for those seeking relief from this deadly disease.
Willie’s condition improved as time went on, and by 1900, Bartlett had set his sights on his business once more. Droughts and floods had forced Bartlett and Adams to switch their focus to raising cattle and producing barley, wheat, oats, cotton, and peanuts. Hardier produce and products that wouldn’t shrivel up in the sun.
Meanwhile, he focused his attention and money on over 200,000 acres of land near Vermejo, New Mexico. H.W. Bartlett eventually sold Sahuaro Ranch in 1913. He passed away in New Mexico in 1918. His oldest son Norman died in 1919, and Willie in 1920.
Various owners purchased the ranch throughout the years. Richard and Lottie Smith purchased the original ranch and 320 acres in 1927. Their son, Richard S. Smith, took over when they passed in 1944. He raised thoroughbred horses on the grounds until he sold 80 acres to the city of Glendale in 1977.
Hauntings of Suaharo Ranch Park
The lady in white is one of the most spotted spirits at Suaharo Ranch Park. Guests have been pouring into the ranch since the 17 acres became a national historic landmark in 1980. The tales of an enigmatic woman in white have followed suit.
Could she be the heartbroken wife of Stephen Cambell, Willie Bartlett, or Harry Adams? Her glowing dress surprises employees who stick around after dark. But many just smile as they feel the warmth of her kind spirit passes them by.
Sahuaro Ranch Park is a place full of wonder and joy. The majestic peacocks, whose original flock was purchased by Lottie Smith in 1933, are a beloved staple of the ranch. Their numbers once reached up to 150 as they spread out over the 17 acres.
But with every field trip and every visitor, there is a sense of uncertainty. Unseen eyes hide in the shadows of the Suaharo Ranch Park, watching as their home changes over the years.
A man stabbed his brother in 2013 at Suaharo Ranch Park. Strangely enough, these two men were from Peoria, IL. It's the same city as the Bartelett brothers. It’s as if their spirits called them to the home. Maybe they had some unfinished business with each other?
Pheonix Most Haunted
Looking for more eerie tales from the Valley of the Sun? Take a Phoenix ghost tour to hear about other haunted ranches, restaurants, and hotels scattered across The Big Saguaro.
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Sources:
https://www.phoenix.gov/pio/city-publications/city-history
https://www.glendalearizonahistoricalsociety.org/historic-sahuaro-ranch
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