John Hays
Peeples Valley - Yavapai County
Inducted in 2012
Longtime Arizona rancher and former State Senator John Hays was born in Prescott in 1928—the son of a ranching family whose history in agriculture dates back to pre-Civil War Missouri. When the Civil War broke out, the Hays family found themselves on the wrong side and lost everything they had. Despite this devastating loss, some of the family members left the area before the hostilities reached them. However, when John's great-grandfather was killed fighting for the South, his great-grandmother packed up and moved to California. This resilience and determination to start anew testify to the Hays family's strength. His grandfather, born shortly before the Civil War, grew up in Coalinga, California, and eventually started the Hays Cattle Company.
When the Hays Cattle Company needed more space and cattle to stock the ranch in California, they turned their eyes toward Arizona. This decision marked the beginning of an adventurous journey for the Hays family. "They went to Mexico first to look at a ranch outside of Magdalena," John said. "The revolution was just starting, so they fortunately did not invest in it, or they would have lost it all in Sonora in 1910." They next looked at land in Arizona, arriving by train at Kirkland. A familiar face met them on their arrival. Charles Rigden, an Englishman who had cowboyed in the Coalinga area, had moved to Kirkland and bought a ranch there.
When he heard that the party was going to Prescott to look at a ranch they were interested in buying, he told them of one for sale in Peeples Valley. He said that if the Prescott property didn't work out, they should take time to look at it. They went on to see Prescott property and returned to check out the Peeples Valley ranch, which they bought in 1912. It was fascinating." John said. "Charlie Rigden's son married my sister in the late 1930s." When Hays Cattle moved in, they began buying a series of homesteads and combining them into a large block of private land to run their cattle.
John's parents, Roy and Hazel, married in 1915 and moved to Arizona to take over the ranch's operation. In the early 1900s, there were many people here because of the area's great placer and gold mines," John said. "Then that population sort of dwindled." John's first memories of the area date from the end of the 1930s. "Many people were living down at Congress, Wickenburg, and all around. Wherever there's gold, there are people out prospecting. Octave Mine, Yamell, and Congress Mine were running, so many more people were living at the mines around here."
Before Hays Cattle could introduce Herefords to the range, they had to eliminate the native cattle. "They looked all colors and shapes and sizes," John said. They spent several years roping, leading out wild ones, and getting rid of the native bulls for breeding. cattle." In 1913, they brought in Hereford. There were no feed lots then. All of the cattle from the Arizona operation were shipped to California to be fattened until 1940. When they were about two years old and weighed around 1,200 pounds, they were shipped to a slaughterhouse in San Francisco. "They were grass-fattened. It took a long time, three or four years. It would not be economically feasible today!" John said, "Now they go on a feedlot, hopefully weighing 600 to 700 pounds off the range. They hope to get them up to 950 to 1100 pounds in six months or less. Today, they feed them as young and rapidly as possible to make better-flavored, tendered meat. All cattle breeds are the same despite the fact they tell you Angus beef is the only thing to eat. The quality of the meat depends on the age and nutrition. Angus are great cattle, but other breeds are too."
John grew up on the ranch and attended elementary school at a one-room schoolhouse about a quarter of a mile from home. "It was Peeples Valley Grammar School. We never had over twelve children, sometimes as low as eight. The most we ever had was twelve in all eight grades. One teacher. It depends on whether you have a good teacher. It was like having a tutor for a family." The historical society now uses the little school as a community center. After graduation, John spent two years at Prescott High School and then went to Brown Military Academy in San Diego to complete his high school education.
His next stop was the University of Arizona, where he spent two years. "I finished the last two years in Mexico City. University of the Americas is a liberal arts college in Mexico. I majored in Latin American studies, Spanish, and Portuguese. Then, I went to Thunderbird and got another bachelor's degree in Glendale.
After graduation, he returned home to fulfill his destiny on the ranch. With many of their employees speaking Spanish fluently, it was beneficial. The ranch remained a family operation until John's father and great-uncle, Jacob Zwang, bought out all the other stockholders. They owned the farm from about 1940 until 1950, when they decided to divide it. "They kept the California ranch, and we took this one. Then, my mother and father owned this ranch. My two sisters and I inherited it." John's wife, Mary, grew up on a ranch on the San Rafael Ranch in South Patagonia. The Sharps sold the property to the Nature Conservancy. "State Parks owns the House and 3000 acres.
When Mary and John married in 1970, she was no stranger to Prescott. "Her grandfather came in 1870 to Prescott. He was a miner. He then went to Tombstone, then down to Mexico, founded the town of Cananea, and developed the copper mine in Cananea. His name was William Greene."
At one time, the Hays ranch comprised approximately 80,000 acres, but eventually, land on the east side of the highway was sold. "They split it down the highway, and we kept this part here." Today, the ranch is down to 5,000 acres and runs about 100 head of cattle. "We cut it back considerably because the water is short up in the mountains." The area where the Hay Ranch is located is historic. The ruins of Hohkam ball courts have been found on the hills across the road. "I described that at length in that book that NAU published about the Yavapais," John said.
Abraham Peeples was the first white man to settle the area. The Genung family eventually bought him out. "Their place across the road is where the horse farm is. Charles Genung was an Indian fighter and a friend of the Indians. General Crook had Yavapai scouts to help him fight the Tonto Apaches. Yavapais do not want to be called Apaches, even though linguistically, they are a subgroup of Apache. They resent being called Apache because they were always at war with one another. The Yavapais were friendlier toward the whites, and Mr. Genung was able to hire them on work crews to build the road from here to Wickenburg and various things like that, as well as build fences and develop the country," John recalls.
John remembers that one scout, in particular, was named Johnny Jones. The federal government awarded Jones a section of land (640 acres) for his service. The land is on the creek about a mile from the Hays place. "It's a beautiful location, and his descendants still own it. Some of that family worked here on the ranch a lot. They were wonderful people. Mother was a good friend of the family's matriarch, Jones's wife. She died at about 90-something when I was about ten years old. I remember her well. They lived in wikiups. They were brush domes with a smoke hole in the middle and a fire kept in the middle." John said, "We'd go down to visit frequently. I have always enjoyed it." She and John's mother were good friends. “She made beautiful baskets. It was always a fun thing to do. Mother liked to go down and visit. She didn't speak much English. Mother spoke very little Apache, but they were good friends. Every Christmas, she would bring the Hays family a gallon coffee can of black walnut meat that she had picked out of the shells. "It's a tremendous chore. It was always the greatest gift."
John started his public life as a member of the school board. "I got interested in community stuff and then county planning and zoning. Then we've had such a miserable record for rural development in Arizona. Ned Warren was ripping and tearing Arizona apart with fraudulent land sales. That was the only reason I ran for the Legislature. I think I helped get a lot of reform into real estate law in Arizona to stop the fraudulent land sales going all over the country and other countries." John served in the State Legislature for 16 years, beginning in 1975. "I was elected in 1974. Eight years in the House and eight years in the Senate. From 1974 to 1990. Then, I was elected out in the primary by the Republicans. I wasn't conservative enough for them."
John Hays has always felt ranchers and farmers are caretakers of the land. He controlled burns to improve the quality of grazing on his land and controlled the growth around seeps and springs to protect the water sources. Through his conservation methods, Hays has improved the land for his cattle and created an excellent wildlife habitat. When Hays ran for and was elected to the Arizona Legislature, he took his concerns for Arizona agriculture.
John and his wife Jane had three children and six grandchildren. Their son, John Jr., works for the Los Angeles Municipal Water District. Jane lives in Scottsdale with her family. Their youngest, Rebecca (Becky), married into a well-known farming family, the Roveys.
