The ranch era The Little Boquillas Ranch gets its name from the
San Juan de las Boquillas y Nogales (Saint John of the Little Springs and Walnut Trees) land grant, which was granted to the family of Rafael Elias Gonzales by the Mexican government in 1833. The grant ran from a point near what is now the ghost town of
Charleston, Arizona, north to a point just to the south of Fairbank, along the
San Pedro River. The
San Rafael del Valle grant, owned by Rafael's cousin, Captain Ignacio Elias Gonzales, was immediately to the south of the Boquillas grant and ran from what is now the community of
Hereford north to Charleston. Both were roughly four "sitios", or approximately 18,000 acres, in size. Several historic buildings and other structures associated with the early history of the Little Boquillas Ranch remain in the San Pedro National Conservation Area, including the Little Boquillas Ranch headquarters, the Fairbank Historic Townsite and the San Pedro House near
Sierra Vista. The latter was built by the Boquillas Land and Cattle Company in the 1930s and is now used as a visitor center, bookshop and trailhead for accessing the San Pedro River. ==Remnants==