Cattle Drives of the I S Ranch: Mountains to Desert

Note: We gave a presentation about this subject on September 14, 2023, to the Big Bear Historical Society. This article is the culmination of a month’s long research project. We also debuted a video, which we plan to upload to our YouTube channel. Our warmest thanks goes to historians Anne Roark, Jonni Vindiola, Mark Durban, Richard Graham, Julie Stocker and Valarie Warren Carlomagno for their kind assistance.

It was almost as if Horace Greeley himself got the idea from Francis Lebaron Talmadge, before uttering his famous words in 1854. “Go west, young man!” That’s just what former New York resident Francis, “Frank,” Talmadge did a year earlier, in 1853, driving a herd of cattle and sheep across the country, before settling in the growing Southern California town of San Bernardino. In 1855, he married Firnetta, “Nettie,” Jane Lane, and settled into the life of a entrepreneur and family man. Soon enough, the mountains called, and Frank moved to the heavily forested area of Little Bear Valley, about a mile above the desert floor, in the great San Bernardino Mountain range. There, Frank took up the business of being a sawyer, establishing his own sawmill. By 1862, Frank was raising cattle, and a family, on the lush meadows that today are known as Lake Arrowhead. Frank and Nettie produced three sons and three daughters. So, at that time and place, we can say that the Talmadge dynasty of the mountains and desert began. Francis Talmadge died on November 12, 1918, the day after the official end of World War One, then known as Armistice Day.

Francis’ oldest son William, nicknamed by his family as “Teet,” was born in 1862. When he was 30 years old, after working his own oxen-powered freighter team with his brothers, and providing logging services for the family sawmill, and others on a contract basis, he bought the James Smart Ranch, along with the I S brand, in Big Bear Valley. Another mountain cattle pioneer, Jim Stocker, bought Will’s oxen ranch brand, a reversed ‘&’ symbol, and later used it for his horse brand. His granddaughter, Julie Stocker, recalled he used that brand on everything–spurs, tack, belts and tools included. She added the family even had a mini branding iron with an inch-long brand. The Talmadge I S ranch was a prominent feature of Big Bear Valley, and the desert, until 1943. By the way, folklore has it that the iron brand was actually a “J S,” until it was dropped and the curved part of the “J” broke off. However, research of early county brand records show that it has always been the IS brand, possibly because the other design of brand resembled a similar one.

San Bernardino County Brand Book registration page for James Smart, 1882. Courtesy of Anne Roark.

John Talmadge was known as “Peg” or “Puppup,” and the youngest brother Frank was called “Fish.” The Talmadge’s owned great swaths of land in the Big Bear Valley and in the desert below. They were popular fodder for local newspapers, and articles about their daily lives appeared frequently. The Talmadge’s married into other large cattle ranching families, and frequently bought out other ranches over the years, ever increasing their immense holdings. The ranch was designated as the “Upper I S,” and the “Lower I S.”

Talmadge family members and others, on the floor of what would later become Lake Arrowhead. Photo courtesy, Big Bear Historic Museum.

Frank and John had a freight line in Victorville and when they got out of that, they bought into the Lower I S with Will. When the freight line was discontinued in 1909, Mark “Chuck” Bemis Warren and wife Sylvia, of Warren’s Well fame, sold their ranch to the Talmadge brothers, whose I S Ranch would eventually cover 750,000 acres from Antelope Valley (not the one near Palmdale), to Big Bear, and all the way to Thousand Palms.

We were honored to have recently met Chuck Warren’s Great-Great Granddaughter, Valarie Warren Carlomagno, at the Warren’s Well historic site in Yucca Valley to discuss its history. The Warrens came to the Morongo Basin in 1876. Chuck built an adobe home and worked driving a Studebaker stage coach, raising cattle and freighting. They had 11 children. In 1880, Mark and his sons dug Warren’s Well, the first in Yucca Valley, which was 160 feet deep. The Warrens made a lasting impact on the Morongo Basin. Part of their former ranch, a site first settled by Native Americans and then by the earliest pioneers in the Basin, became present-day Covington Park and Big Morongo Canyon Preserve.

In 1913, the Talmadge’s purchased the Cedar Lake property where the lake, dam, and camp are now situated. They used the land to graze cattle, then sold it in 1922 to the Bartlett brothers. In 1913, the Talmadge brothers purchased J.D. Clarke’s interest in the Clark and Talmadge Ranch in Bear Valley. The property consisted of 640 acres of land.

That same year, tragedy struck when William Talmadge’s sons, Otis, age 22, Willie, only 11 years old, and Otis’s friend, Howard Dutro, drowned in Big Bear Lake when their boat capsized during a freak storm.

Grass Valley area cowboys, circa 1900. Photo courtesy of Big Bear Historic Museum.

Historian Anne Roark explained, “John Metcalf was married to Gus Knight Sr.’s daughter, Belle, and he had the Metcalf area first. Jim Smart had the Moonridge area. Jim Smart sold to Rathbun and Will Talmadge, who was married to Rathbun’s sister. John Metcalf sold his place and eventually Will Talmadge got that with John D. Clark and then Will Talmadge bought out Rathbun for Moonridge. The Talmadge brothers came in on Metcalf Bay hence a lower and upper I S Ranch.”

The Talmadge Brothers weren’t the only ones buying extensive real estate holdings left and right. In 1914, Will Shay and C.O. Barker purchased from the estate of E.J. “Lucky” Baldwin, all 3500 acres of his pasture land beside Baldwin Lake, and 600 head of cattle for $30,000 dollars ($917,000 today). Shay and Barker purchased 320 acres from the Talmadge I S Ranch. Newspapers reported Shay and Barker owned practically all the available grazing land in Big Bear Valley district, comprising holdings formerly known as Knights and Baldwins.

Will Talmadge in front of the Metcalf Ranch house. Photo courtesy of Anne Roark.

Barker and Shay and the Talmadge brothers held their Spring round ups two weeks apart during the latter part of May or first part of June. Each outfit would help each other rounding up their cattle from all over the western part of the desert. They both used water and corrals at Warren’s Well during cattle drives to the summer grazing in Big Bear.

Warren’s Well in the 1940s. Throughout their many years in the Morongo Valley, the Warren’s generous hospitality was greatly appreciated. Courtesy Morongo Basin Historical Society

Around Halloween, the cattle were gathered and driven downhill to to a winter pasture; first at Old Woman Springs and later at Pipes Canyon and the Whitewater Ranch. In late Spring, they were returned to their mountain pastures. The Talmadge’s grazing rights included the high desert land along the slopes east of the San Bernardino Mountains through the Morongo Basin, south to the Southern Pacific Railroad East of Whitewater. One of their line shacks and holding corrals was said to be the site of an abandoned Indian campground near the mouth of the Upper Pipes Canyon.

Lower I S Ranch at Metcalf Bay, 1916. Photo courtesy of Anne Roark.

In his book titled Foxsong, Kendall Stone recalled a fencing crew would be sent to check and repair the fences and corrals and fields at the Devil’s Garden, Morongo Valley, Warren’s Well, The Pipes, Bain’s Ranch, Rose Mine, Shay’s, China Garden and the I S Ranch horse meadows, and it always turned out to be a week or 10 days of hard work.

According to the Morongo Basin Historical Society, The Tanks was a reservoir the Talmadges constructed in the southwest corner of present-day Yucca Valley. Water was pumped to The Tanks from the tunnel to the south where they had already dug out the spring. Tanks were also built at Black Rock Springs.

At approximately the same time, two cowboys would go to the Whitewater Ranch where cowboys began to drive cattle up to the summer pastures. This is where the remuda was kept during the winter months and the horses needed to be shod and doctored when needed. Mostly every step from Whitewater to Big Bear was uphill, some of it steep, narrow, rocky and slick. Several head were lost every year from falls from the steeper, rougher sections such as Toutain Canyon, as well as some losses in bog holes and quicksand, particularly in Shay Meadows and Baldwin Lake.

Aerial view of Baldwin Lake looking West, 1930. Photo courtesy of USC Digital Library.

It would take 3-4 days to gather strays from Palm Springs, One Horse, Snow Creek, the Morongo Indian Reservation, Gold Canyon, Whitewater Canyon, Whitewater Ranch, Mission Creek, dry Morongo and lower Morongo Canyons to Warren’s Well via Yucca Valley. Six hundred head of stock were commonly rested at Warren’s Well, which offered 160 fenced acres. Warren’s Well also served as a social hub where man and beast could count on a nourishing meal and a well-earned rest until their journey resumed.

Highway 62 at Morongo Valley, 2019. Photo by J. Earl

Then 25-30 calves would be gathered from Coyote Hole, Black Rock, The Tanks, the Covington Ranch (originally Warren’s Ranch), Smith Canyon and Quail Springs, now Joshua Tree National Park. Onward to Sand Canyon to Water Canyon, where Pioneertown is now located, enroute to The Pipes, Bull Springs. north of Yucca Valley, east of Pioneertown, and Chuparosa Springs, then northwest of Pioneertown to Pipes Fields, which was about 200 acres.

Will Shay and John Talmadge at Baldwin Lake when they bought Gus Knight Sr.’s place and were partners – that would eventually become the Shay Ranch and then Shay and Barker. John Talmadge and Will Shay were brother-in-laws but only stayed partners for about a year. Photo courtesy of Anne Roark.

The “spring at The Pipes,” at the entrance to Pipes Canyon, was developed over the years by cattlemen. Water was carried into an impounding pond by a stone-lined ditch. About 1910, Gus Knight, a pioneer of Big Bear Valley, held the property at The Pipes and ranged his cattle there. Barker and Shay secured The Pipes from Knight in 1913. Will and Sarah Shay homesteaded the tract in Pipe’s Wash East of the present-day junction of Old Woman Springs Road and Pipes Canyon Road. This is still called The Windmill.

The Pipes Ranch gathering was fairly large. It took three days to work Pipes Valley, Pipes Canyon, Pipes Windmill, Painted Rock (petroglyphs) and the Reches Well (Landers) areas. Stragglers were constantly being added to the Pipes Ranch Field herd. The last places gathered were Painted Rock, Saddle Rock Springs, Sticky Hill (now called the Golden Staircase) and the Needle’s Eye, Rose Mine, including herds from Duncan’s Flat, Ruby Mountain, Longhorn and Wood Canyons, as well as Burro Flats, to meet the drive in Antelope Valley.

Rose Mine Corral was a dry camp, and from there, the herd was driven to Baldwin Lake for its summer pastures. Along the way they would stop at Arrastre Creek. They camped overnight at Shay’s Ranch, separating steers then driving cattle to China Garden and Moonridge. In about 2 days, 300 calves were branded, ear-tagged, bulls castrated and all were vaccinated. A second drive was conducted again, but seldom past the Morongos, which took about 10 days.

Mission Creek at the former T Cross K Ranch, now Mission Creek Preserve. Photo by J. Earl

The Talmadge brothers purchased from R.F. Garner the well-known Whitewater Ranch in 1919, where they planned to fatten their stock during winter and increase its alfalfa fields from 50 to 60 acres. But with progress, inevitably comes change. In 1920, the Bartlett brothers, owners of a local general store and other property in the Big Bear Valley, purchased 218 acres, slated to be subdivided for summer homes, for $124,000. The acreage was just a portion of the Talmadge brother’s several thousand acres holdings. The land ran east of the tavern and close to the I S Ranch.

A story in The Desert Sun in 1974, talked about a woman by the name of Cornelia B. White, who rode with the Talmadge drive from Whitewater to Big Bear Lake. She said the journey crossed 75 miles and took close to ten days to complete. Incidentally, Cornelia B. White donated land to the Palm Springs Desert Museum and served on the local school board with Nellie Coffman and Alvah Hicks. Others recalled cattle drives usually took a month depending on conditions while round-ups for strays and newborn calves took a few days before they were added to the ever-growing main herd.

Beef on the hoof in 1920 was nine cents a pound ($1.35 today) for A1 steers and 8 cents a pound for cows. The price was the same as the year prior but not as good as the record-breaking price of 11 and 1/4 cents a pound in 1918. Most of the steers ran at about 1,200 pounds each and cows weighed in at about 1,000 pounds each. Beef cattle were typically sold in Victorville. The two ranches sold over 400,000 pounds of beef in 1920, the peak year of the high desert area. Until that time, range grass often grew as high as a horse’s belly.

China Garden. Photo courtesy of Anne Roark.

In 1923, The Banning Record reported a new town was being planned in the Whitewater Ranch locality, on land located on the Salton Sea route and just West of the main Talmadge brother’s ranch. The new townsite was said to be 15 miles due East from Banning and about 6 miles from Cabazon. Water rights had been petitioned to appropriate water from Cottonwood Canyon, 2 miles from Nellis’ proposed townsite. In the 1870s and 1880s, the ranch was a stage stop on the route between Los Angeles, California, and Yuma, Arizona. The original size of the ranch was 2,500 acres but was eventually reduced to 276 acres.

Mrs. Vera Stocker and husband, former Sheriff James W. Stocker, owned the Whitewater Ranch for many years and grazed their cattle there in the winter. During the summer, Stocker operated a cattle ranch in Big Bear Valley. William Betterly inherited his interest in the Whitewater Ranch from Mrs. Margaret Talmadge, widow of Will Talmadge, one of the three Talmadge brothers. Jim Stocker and Will Talmadge were partners until Will died. When John and Frank got out of the cattle business, Will wasn’t ready to retire so he and Jim became partners. Jim used the Hip O brand on his cattle.

You can still see an old building at the Whitewater Ranch from the Whitewater rest area off Interstate 10 East. Photo by J. Earl, 2023.

In 1931, John, William and Frank Talmadge bought the Las Flores Ranch in Summit Valley from the R.F. Garner estate following weeks of negotiation. The valuable property, comprising of 4,900 acres together with improvements and 800 head of stock was sold for a consideration of $80,000 dollars. John Talmadge was said to have moved in a week before the deal was brought to completion but newspapers reported Frank Talmadge said the deal was moving full steam ahead. In addition to the purchase, there was 250,000 acres of grazing rights on national forest land. The history of Las Flores Ranch dates back to about 1862 when the land was purchased by two men by the names of Houghton and Merchum. Early Mormon pioneers are believed to have crossed the ranch during their trek to establish colonies in the San Bernardino area.

The Grizzly Bear Map of Bear Valley, 1946. Photo courtesy of Pepperdine University.

When conversing with the Morongo Basin Historical Society, Kendall Stone, Will and Sarah Talmadge’s nephew who grew up on I S Ranch, recalled the names of cowboys who worked there. They were Harve Martin, Bud Waite, Frankie Paul, Jakie Thompson, Slim Spence, Jess Bangle, Bob Belt, Jim Dever, Joe O’Rourke, Otis Talmadge, Bert Talmadge, Bill Betterley and Kendall Stone. He even remembered all the names of the good horses at the I S Ranch. All 35 of them!

Incidentally, if you’re in the market, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians are selling Whitewater Ranch with 216 acres of tribal property for development. It was advertised for lease last year, but apparently there were no takers. The current asking price exceeds nine million dollars.

Photo courtesy of aguacaliente.org, 2023.

After years of litigation, even the Las Flores Ranch has fallen victim to impending urban sprawl and proposed development.

Bonus trivia: Retired San Bernardino County Undersheriff Kendall Stone’s Great-grandfather, Francis Talmadge, donated and hauled all the lumber from Blue Jay to San Bernardino for the first Masonic Lodge to be built in the county. He also became a charter member of that lodge (the Phoenix). Years later, when Stone became a member, that made the fourth generation of the same family in the same lodge.

Top Photo: Rancher Earl Graham at Las Flores Ranch, Summit Valley, California, 2023. Courtesy of Rhonda Graham.

Recommended Resources

When Big Bear Was Wild and Wooly, As Told to Anne and Rip Rosemier Vol. 1-3 by A. Roark, 2021-2023.

Early Cattlemen of Bear Valley (Power Point Presentation to Big Bear Historical Society) by Anne Roark, 2022.

Saga of the San Bernardinos by Pauliena B. LaFuze, 2006.

San Bernardino County Sheriff Department, Images of America by M. David DeSoucy, 2006.

Guide to Big Bear and Its Hidden Treasures, Volume 6 by William Jack Mann, 2005.

The Big Bear Lake Photo Album by Mark Durban, 2002.

Ghost Town School Marm, Bearly Remembered Vol. 1 by Tom Core, 1993.

Rope, Ride, Ranch & Rodeo, A Way of Life by Kendall J. Stone, 1990.

Foxsong, 100 Years of Cow Ranching in the San Bernardino Mts./Mojave Desert by Kendall J. Stone, 1989.

Heart Bar Ranch and Johnson Valley Neighbors by Martha Wood Coutant, 1986.

The Heritage of Yucca Valley Vol. 1 No. 1 by the Morongo Basin Historical Society, 1984.

Indians of Big Bear Valley by Big Bear Historical Society, 1983.

Big Bear Valley, It’s History, Legends and Tales by Austin Drake, 1949.

Big Bear Panorama, published by Big Bear High School, 1934.

The Wonders of the Colorado Desert by George Wharton James, 1906.

Big Bear Historic Museum, Big Bear City, California.

Morongo Basin Historical Society Museum, Landers, California.

https://www.youtube.com/@TheDesertWaywithJaylynandJohn