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Greene Cattle Company collection 1836-1970

MS 496

Biographical Note

William Cornell Greene was born in Duck Creek, Wisconsin on August 26, 1853 to a Quaker family. The Greene’s had come from New York to the fertile lands of Wisconsin to build a farm. Upon the death of the father Townsend Greene, the family moved back to New York State where William stayed until about 1872 when he headed out West. Little is know about his travels between 1872 and 1877 at which point he reached central Arizona and began prospecting for gold. In 1880, news of rich mineral strikes near Tombstone lured him to southern Arizona, where he would eventually build his mining and cattle empire.

In 1884, Greene married Ella Moson and together they had two daughters, Ella and Eva. Ella also brought with her two children from her previous marriage, Frank and Virginia Moson. They lived together on a ranch in the San Pedro Valley where they raised cattle and farmed various crops. It was during this time that tragedy struck the Greene family. In 1897, his daughter Ella and her friend Katie Corcoran drowned in the river on the San Pedro Ranch. Jim Burnett, a local farmer, was suspected of blowing the river dam on Greene’s property in order to divert more water to his land. The destruction of this dam led to the girls drowning. On July 1, 1897, Burnett had the unfortunate luck of visiting Tombstone at the same time as Greene. Upon seeing Burnett, Greene shot and killed him. Greene was acquitted of any wrongdoing but the incident drew much speculation as he became successful.

Over the next decade Greene was a rancher in the San Pedro Valley but soon his interest returned to prospecting. In 1896 he incorporated the Cananea Copper Company, the first of many mining corporations. After the death of his first wife, Ella Moson Greene in 1899, Greene relocated to Cananea, Sonora, Mexico (although he spent much of his time in New York) and in 1901 he incorporated the Cananea Cattle Company and the Greene Cattle Company. That same year he married the daughter of a long-time acquaintance, Mary Proctor, a woman twenty-five years his junior. The union produced six children, William, Virginia, Frank, Charles, Florence, and Kirk.

At the peak of his career, from 1899-1906, Greene was a man worth almost fifty million dollars. He owned a copper enterprise, a lumber business, and had accumulated almost one million acres of ranch land in both Arizona and Mexico. He gave himself the title of Colonel in order to impress investors back East. By 1908, due to financial woes including the dramatic drop in the price of copper, the events of the Mexican Revolution, and land disputes, Colonel Greene’s mining and lumber empire collapsed. He returned to ranching and managed the Greene Cattle Company and the Cananea Cattle Company until his death on August 5, 1911 resulting from injuries sustained in a carriage accident. For a definitive history of Colonel W.C. Greene, see Colonel Greene and the Copper Skyrocket, by C. L. Sonnichsen.

Colonel Greene’s first venture into ranching occurred in 1882 when he partnered with Ed Roberts, the brother of his first wife Ella, to start a cattle ranch near Tombstone. Between the years of 1884 and 1896, Greene spent his time running the ranch and searching for possible mining claims. Greene’s interest in northern Mexico, particularly Cananea, was sparked in the 1870’s during which time he prospected in the area. After pursuing claims in Cananea for years and without any luck, Greene finally hit pay dirt when he leased four Cananea mines in 1896 including the famous Cobra Grande. He immediately organized his first corporation, the Cananea Copper Company. It was this company and other enterprises that would make Greene a multi-millionaire.

The Greene Cattle Company was incorporated in 1901 encompassing his U.S. land holdings. The Cananea Cattle Company was incorporated the same year for all ranch lands in Mexico. In 1901, the holdings of the Cananea Cattle Company (700,000 acres) vastly outnumbered those of the Greene Cattle Company (100,000 acres). The Greene Cattle Company quickly grew in size. In the first decade of the twentieth century, Greene acquired the San Rafael del Valle Land Grant, the Palominas Ranch, and the San Rafael de la Zanja Land Grant. He raised many cattle on these lands and shipped them to vendors all over the U.S.

In 1910, prior to his untimely death, Greene put his ranch holdings in his wife Mary’s name. Mary, Charles Wiswall - general manager and Mary’s future husband, and the Greene children would run the two cattle companies until they were dissolved. In 1958, the Cananea Cattle Company lands were expropriated by the Mexican government. The Greene Cattle Company was dissolved in 1973 with the sale of the Baca Float.

Scope and Content Note

The collection has been arranged and organized by company or individual. The companies include vendors, customers, and the various divisions of the Greene Cattle Company (Green Cattle Company Inc., Greene Cattle Company of Arizona, Greene Cattle Company of California). When the materials apply to general Greene Cattle Company transactions and records, they are organized by type or subject. Each box is then organized alphabetically and chronologically within.

Among the many items of interest within this collection, there are a few that deserve special mention. Of particular importance are the documents pertaining to the Luis Maria Baca Grant. The Baca Grant was awarded to Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca (originally de Vaca) in the mid-sixteenth century by the King of Spain. The grant was made up of five floats or tracts of land totaling almost one million acres. In 1936, the Greene Cattle Company acquired the Luis Maria Baca Grant, Float #5 which is located 50 miles north of Prescott near Seligman, Arizona. The Baca Float as it was called totaled 95,000 acres and would be the last running ranch owned by the Greene Cattle Company until its sale in 1973. Documents pertaining to the Luis Maria Baca Float can be found within every series of this collection. For a short history of the acquisition and operations of the Baca Float, refer to Big Outfit: Ranching on the Baca Float, written by Robert L. Sharp, the general manager of the ranch from 1937 to 1952.

Also deserving mention are the records relating to the J.G. Boswell Company out of California. J.G. Boswell II, the biggest farmer in America and commonly referred to as the ‘King of California.’ The company, started by his uncle J.G. Boswell I in the 1920s, is one of the largest producers of cotton in the United States. During the 1930’s, the J.G. Boswell Company also owned feedlots in California, which were used by the Greene Cattle Company to transport and house their cattle. During the Great Depression, the Greene Cattle Company and the J.G. Boswell Company entered into a joint venture to raise and sell cattle. The continuation of both companies was in part due to the partnership they formed. These records on the J.G. Boswell Company are some of the few records available pertaining to this cotton giant. They can be found in Series I-III of this collection. For a definitive history of J.G. Boswell, refer to The King of California: J.G. Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire, by Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman.

Arrangement

Restrictions

Restrictions

There are no restrictions on this collection.

Copyright

It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the University of Arizona, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.

Access Terms

Administrative Information

Custodial History

This collection was donated to the Arizona Historical Foundation by Margarethe Greene Lewis from 1974 – 1998. Collection number was formally FM MSS #95. Transferred to the University of Arizona Special Collections in April 2012.

Credit Line

Green Cattle Company collection (MS 496). Special Collections, University of Arizona Libraries.

Processing Information

The bulk of this collection was donated to the Arizona Historical Foundation in 1974 and was restricted for access for unknown reasons until 1980. During the restricted years and the decades to follow, the collection was disassembled and reorganized. Therefore, the original order of the Greene Cattle Collection is primarily unknown. At some point, a few of the Spanish documents were transcribed as well.

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