by John Mason Glen, Ph.D., The Western Heritage Foundation
Yavapai County is ranch country, and one of the most distinctive is the Quarter Circle V Bar — the Orme Ranch — on almost 27,000 acres about 25 miles south of Prescott, where they run between 450 and 500 cows and calves.
It’s not only a ranch in its most classic sense, but also an internationally known boarding high school for about 100 domestic and international students. All students have an opportunity to enroll in the school’s horsemanship program, as well as assist in ranch work.
The Quarter Circle V Bar can truly be called a “family operation.” Ownership is in the hands of Paul Orme, a member of the fourth generation of Ormes to operate the ranch. The patriarch was John Pinkley Orme who farmed the Phoenix Valley near the present site of the Phoenix Country Club, in the late 19th century. One of the founders of the Salt River Project Water Users Association, he was also its first president.
His son “Chick” in 1929 continued the ranching tradition by purchasing 1,500 acres of deeded land along Ash Creek, which was coupled to a 20,000-acre Forest Service permit and another of 5,000 acres on a state permit. This comprises the Quarter Circle V Bar today. Chick also represented Yavapai County as a state senator for eight years.
Forced to home school their children due to the remoteness of the ranch, the Ormes were soon asked by neighboring ranchers if their children could also be educated by the family. Charlie, one of Chick’s sons, ran the boarding school for 42 years. Young people received not just a traditional education, but one that included the development of a sense of responsibility, accomplishing the many chores that comprise ranch living.
Recently the Ormes made a commitment to perpetuate agricultural and wildlife values by placing over 900 acres in a conservation easement trust.
This land would be ripe for commercial development, but under the terms of the trust, administered by the Central Arizona Land Trust, “it will permanently conserve historic ranch lands for sustainable agricultural uses preventing development, while ensuring protection of land and water resources along Ash Creek and in the Arizona central highlands.”
The Western Heritage Center, 156 S. Montezuma St. is a repository of all things western. Admission is free.
