Old West, New West
One Couple's Search for Adventure Led Them to Build a Home on a Historic Cattle Ranch
As managing director of RBC Capital Markets, the fifth-largest bank in North America, Dale often conducts his work from behind a comfortable executive desk, filtered through tiers of investment peers, and documented on the slick pages of chart-filled fiscal reports. But these days, as owner of a 15,500-acre cattle ranch in the rolling grasslands of Cochise County, he often conducts his work on the back of a horse and is dictated by seasons and the sun: soft pink sunrises giving birth to new days, clear night skies choked with sparkling stars, spring calving and protracted cattle roundups to take the stock to market.
"Ranching is a more solitary activity than either of us has ever experienced before," admits Louise, a gracious yet plucky Kentucky native whose great-grandfather ran several thousand head of cattle on ranches in the Bluegrass State and in Florida. "But we are now more in touch with the cycles of nature than ever before in our lives."
The Hendersons - who met and married in Tucson in the early 1980's - bought the Winchester Ranch in 2003, after a nation wide search of ranching properties. Of of its many attractions, Dale and Louise agreed, was that it is an authentic cattle ranch and runs about 200 head of free-range cattle. The red and black crossbred Hereford-Angus cattle and reddish-gold Limousin bulls graze on the grassland, herded between various parts of the ranch by horse, based on water supplies and plants growing cycles.
"This is not a gentleman's ranch," 64-year-old Dale emphasizes. "We don't have an irrigated 40-acre pasture with a bunch of pedigreed cows that you can look at and pet. This is an old-style working ranch...with 20 miles of pipeline, eight wells, 50 miles of fence—as well as corrals, buildings, roads, and cattle. There's never a shortage of things to do."
For visitors, just getting to the ranch is an adventure. It is located about 25 miles from Willcox, down rumbling gravel stretches marked with ominous PRIMITIVE ROAD signs and other signposts that point the way to the 55,000-acre Muleshoe Ranch, which is partly owned by The Nature Conservancy, and to the historic, family-owned Warbonnet Ranch, which abuts the Winchester. And after you turn off the main road, there are another 10 miles of twisting, turning, rutted dirt roads with sheer drop-offs into rocky canyons that are impassable to all but a trusty pickup truck or sturdy ATV.
"You have to be in the right time in your life to do this," says Louise, who enthusiastically signed on for a ranching adventure that would have given many a Southern belle the vapors. In fact, she is the one who not only found the isolated ranch property but also chose a particularly remote location on which to build the family home. "When I came, I wasn't looking for dwellings," she says with a smile. "I was looking for space."
She found it on a dramatic ridge overlooking the rolling hills below, in a place that catches cooling afternoon breezes and affords views of no fewer than nine mountain ranges, including the Santa Catalinas, Santa Ritas, Rincons, Galiuros, Huachucas, and Dragoons.
And although the 2,700-square-foot, modernist house may be located smack in the middle of a cattle ranch, it is anything but rustic. The surprises start at the entry, which features a 500-pound, 6-foot-by-8-foot steel front door that operates on an offset pivot. Designed by Florida architect Guy Peterson, the house also boasts polished concrete floors and soaring ceilings that impart an open, loft like feel—highlighted by a dramatic second-floor catwalk suspended by a single truss and thick steel cables purchased from a marine supply store. Another whimsical touch comes in the form of a steep wooden galley ladder to the catwalk. Built by Dale, it echoes the Hendersons love of boating.
The house's four sunlit bedrooms are decorated in neutral shades of cream and happily house the Hendersons children, grandchildren, and friends when they come to visit. A custom kitchen anchors the ground floor and features a backsplash and counter of gray marble purchased from a tombstone manufacturer. A powerful punch of color bursts from the wall in the form of a dramatic painting of barrel cactus blossoms by a Willcox artist.
The house's overall design is chic, clean lined, and minimalist, yet surprisingly homey. "I don't have a lot of stuff," Louise says. "We are constantly 'editing' our things. Everything needs to be very simple, because our views are so magnificent." And, of course, sunsets and shifting cloud patterns become part of the decor through the home's banks of windows. Soaring hawks, magnificent mountain lions, herds of delicate Coues white-tailed deer, the occasional bear, and slow moving tortoises and tarantulas only reinforce the knowledge that Winchester Ranch is a very sacred and wild place. And the Hendersons wouldn't have it any other way.
"What attracted me was the space, and the never-ending projects here," Dale says, gesturing at the house and ranch land with the sweep of one arm. "This has been a self-supporting, working ranch for more than 100 years, with basically the same boundaries—and there are just not many places like this left."
