Listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975, the San Ysidro Hacienda was the home of Jose Maria Redondo, an early Arizona pioneer. The ranch once contained over 2,000 acres, but subsequent to the death of Redondo in 1878, his family could not make a claim to more than 160 under American homestead laws; not enough land to support the hacienda's extensive agricultural operations and it quickly fell into ruin.
The site once contained the adobe ruins of the main ranch house, a two-story mill, and rubble mounds; the original headquarters included a cane mill, numerous storehouses, workhouses, stables, carriage house, and harness house; and houses for approximately a hundred laborers' families built outside walled the headquarters. Named for the patron saint of agriculture, it was the first large non-Indian irrigated farm in Arizona with twenty-seven miles of canals and ditches bringing water from Gila River. While the National Register nomination kept the location of the ruins secret, recent urban development has encroached on the site and the ruins are now at risk. The property is currently owned by the Archaeological Conservancy, who are powerless to protect it.
September 2007 Update:
- "Preservation group determines ranch one of Arizona's most endangered," Yuma Sun, September 30, 2007
[For more information, contact the Archaeological Conservancy at 505-266-540. Photo source: Lorraine LeRoy Merkel.]
