Colter Ranch Historic District

About this property

The Colter Ranch Historic District consists of twelve buildings in a rural setting near Eagar, Arizona. The site is located in the Amity Valley, which itself is part of Round Valley (not to be confused with the Census Designated Place in Arizona of the same name); the Little Colorado River runs along the one side of the district. Most of the buildings date from between 1904 and 1930, the period during which Fred Colter resided on the residence. Colter Ranch is situated in the portion of Round Valley known as Amity Valley, the valley's name being derived from the Mormon ward which was located here in the 1800s. Eagar and Springerville are the nearest towns. The area is mostly farmland, made possible by irrigation water from the Little Colorado River. The boundaries of the historic district are the Little Colorado River to the north, 4th Street to the south, and School Bus Road to the west. The boundary on the east is less distinct, lying along a section line on a USGS map (T8N, R29E). The Milligan Ditch, bringing irrigation water from the Little Colorado to the historic ranch bisects the district, running east to west. Most of the buildings in the district lie on the southern bank of the ditch, towards the western end of the district. These include three sheds (two wooden, and one corrugated metal); a stuccoed log bunkhouse; a log cabin; a corrugated metal shed; a larger wood storage building, which at one point served as the ranch's commissary; and a wooden machine shop. On the northern side of the ditch can be found a barn, a granary, and a work shed (which is also known as the "little barn"). The oldest structure still standing is the log cabin, built ca. 1890. It is a ten by fifteen foot rectangle, the exterior of the building is covered with finished planks, fitted at the corners. The single entrance faces south, away from the Milligan ditch. Its wood-shingled roof is side-gabled with a medium pitch. There is a fireplace on its east side, with a small window on the corresponding west end of the building. The next oldest buildings are the barn, the bunkhouse, the smaller of the wooden sheds, and the storage building (commissary), all of which were constructed circa 1910. The barn is the largest building in the district, measuring 60 feet long by 35 feet wide. Two stories tall, the walls are covered with board-and-batt siding, and has a corrugated metal roof of medium pitch. It has two single-story additions. The northern addition is 60 feet long with a shed roof, while the eastern addition runs the length of the original structure, widening the footprint of the barn by 15 feet. It has a lean-to structure. The entire barn complex is enclosed by a corral, which has a split rail fence approximately 5 feet high. Also within the corral is a 15 by 15 foot granary. Built circa 1940, it is constructed with the same materials as the barn, and has a shed roof.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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