The rustic Kane Ranch is a treasured part of the dynamic ranching legacy that has shaped the area since the late 1800s. Extending across the Kaibab National Forest, the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, and more, the Kane Ranch is a part of the larger North Rim Ranches that host cattle, research, and restoration grounds. According to our partner at GrandCanyonTrust.org, the Grand Canyon Trust bought grazing permits for Kane and Two-Mile Ranches in 2005, now collectively called the North Rim Ranches. These permits cover 830,000 acres of national forest and Bureau of Land Management lands, and the Grand Canyon Trust works with the Jones family to manage the day-to-day ranching operations.

The Kane Ranch Headquarters is eligible for the National Register for its association with the broad pattern of settlement and ranching on the Arizona Strip. The original building was constructed in 1877, and the site served as a ranching hub for over a century. The structure is a one-story, two-room, side-gabled house with symmetrical massing, sandstone walls, a near full-width front porch, and cedar shake roof. The National Register of Historic Places also notes that a three-room rear addition was constructed between 1892 and 1925. This addition has sandstone walls (with a shed roof above its northern two rooms), a saltbox roof above the southern room, and roofing materials that consist of cedar shakes.

The headquarters building and root cellar have retained its integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, and strongly convey a sense of the property during its period of significance (1877 to 1957). The ranch’s architectural classification is identified as subtype called “National Folk”, which is a simple, utilitarian residential architecture which was popular in the U.S. from 1850 to 1930. This style is marked by wood-frame construction, simple forms, and the employment of local materials.

Founded by Mormons circa 1877, the property became an important cattle ranch during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the early 1890s, the ranch played a key role in a scheme to develop sport hunting in the region and because it embodies a type, period, and method of construction, being a fine example of nineteenth-century Mormon domestic architecture, it meets another criterion for the National Register of Historic Places. The period of significance begins with the founding of the ranch in around 1877, continues through the end of 1957, and the level of significance is local.

Kane Ranch continues to serve as a basecamp for hundreds of volunteers, knowledge holders, students, and other visitors learning about and stewarding the surrounding landscape. We’re honored to partner with the Grand Canyon Trust to help preserve this iconic emblem of local ranching history, and we hope you’ll join us as we embark on another HistoriCorps Arizona adventure!