Mountain views and buried gold? Infamous Dalton gang linked to Fresno-area ranch for sale
The 1,426-acre ranch is listed at $6.4 million. The Elwood Ranch, a 1,426-acre property east of Fresno, California, is up for sale for $6.4 million. The ranch was bought by dairy and businessman Virgil Jepsen in 2003 for hunting purposes but also for historical purposes. According to legend, Dalton Mountain, named for notorious cattle thief and bank robber Gratton Dalton, a member of the Dalton Brothers gang, was named for Dalton Mountain. The gang would steal from the family's meat locker, which still sits on the property more than 130 years later. Some of the gold is believed to still be buried somewhere on or near Dalton Mountain and possibly on Elwood ranch. The property, which is currently listed for sale, is parceled out into nine properties with potential separation or purchase as a single entity.
Опубликовано : 4 недели назад от Joshua Tehee в Business
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When Virgil Jepsen bought the Elwood Ranch in 2003, it was for hunting purposes, mostly.
The 1,426 acres nestled between Yokuts Valley and Wonder Valley in the foothills east of Fresno was full of wildlife, though not as much as Jepsen had originally envisioned.
But there was something else of interest to the Fresno dairy and businessman — a story that he would tell to anyone who would listen.
Within eyesight of Eischens Elwood Historical Ranch (Est. 1878) is Dalton Mountain, which, according to an “Ask Paula” column in The Fresno Bee, was named for Gratton Dalton, a notorious cattle thief and bank robber and part of the Dalton Brothers gang.
Before the gang met its ultimate fate in an infamous shootout on the streets of Coffeyville, Kansas in 1892, its members had lived (and committed crimes) in and around the central San Joaquin Valley, including Visalia in Tulare County.
That’s where Dalton was jailed for train robbery in 1891.
He escaped and fled to the mountains of Fresno County, where he hid out with members of his gang for several weeks before a sheriff’s posse caught up with them.
This time, he fled to Kansas and his ultimate demise.
In 1994, a marker was installed near the entrance of Wonder Valley to identify the historical spot.
“The outlaws, long since gone, leave Dalton Mountain as their lasting Valley legacy.”
The Elwood Ranch had its part in this piece of Wild West history, too.
According to the lore, as told by Jepsen before his death in 2022, the gang would sneak down from their hideout and onto the ranch to steal from the family’s meat locker (which still sits on the property more than 130 years later).
They would leave gold coins as payment, which the family happily took, for fear of being shot, instead.
Some of that gold is said to still be buried somewhere on or near Dalton Mountain, possibly somewhere on Elwood Ranch.
Members of the sheriff’s posse slept on the floor of the Elwood’s home the night before the raid on the hideout and, as Jepsen’s story goes, Dalton made his escape by stealing a horse from the Elwood patriarch, who happened to be out plowing his field.
An obituary for Julia Johnson Dalton written in 1943 tells it with only slight differences.
It says “Grat escaped on a horse he took from a farmer who was plowing a Tulare County field.”
Jepsen’s daughter Janice says her father bought and sold property often, both in the Central Valley and Central Coast and also in other states.
It was pat of the family business.
The Elwood Ranch, she says, he kept longer than most and visited almost every weekend.
“He liked the historical aspect of it.”
But, before he died Jepsen decided the sell the ranch. It is currently listed for $6.4 million.
History aside, it is an impressive piece of land.
Its 1,426+ acres are parceled out into nine different properties that could be separated out (at prices starting at $399,000) or purchased as a single entity.
The historical homestead and original meat locker still exist on the picturesque property. There’s year-round water (60 springs, three wells, two large ponds, rainy season waterfalls and an underground river that keeps the grasses perpetually green), a variety of trees (particularly oaks, but also sycamores and California Buckeye) and wildlife (deer, mule, turkeys, pigs, fox, coyotes, quail and lot of rattlesnakes).
Already, there has been interest in the ranch, says Tom Smart, a land specialist with National Land Reality, which is handling the sale.
There are foreign entities looking to own something with ties to the kind of nostalgic Americana the Elwood Ranch has, he says.
The Boy Scouts showed interest in turning the ranch into an outdoor camp and there was a group looking to study the various oak trees on the property.
But it could also operate as a working cattle ranch. It is leased as such, currently.
Or, it could be the good spot for those looking for quiet off-the-grid living post COVID, Smart says.
There are development opportunities, Smart says, though much of the land is pretty rocky. It does have oil, gas mineral and water rights.
And there is always the chance of finding some of that buried treasure, though Virgil Jepsen never bought into that particular legend, his daughter says.
“He figured if it was there, they would have found it by now.”
In an ideal world, any new owner would bring Jepsen’s level of passion to the property, his daughter says. “He would want someone to love it as much as he did.”
Темы: Organized Crime