Entertainment Magazine: Arizona: Tucson

The Historic High Jinks Ranch

Original gold mine property of Buffalo Bill Cody near Oracle, Arizona

The famous High Jinks Ranch, tucked away on the northern side of the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tucson and Oracle, Arizona has a long history of fame, invention, mining and intrigue.

The community mourns the loss of the High Jinks owner, Dan Blanco, who passed away on September 19, 2016. He spent the past six years renovating and remodeling the main building and the several structures that had been crumbling from neglect after being abandoned from several years after the death of its previous owner Dean Pritchard.

The High Jinks Ranch, located near the YMCA's Triangle Y Ranch, is a stone-mason two-story home built by Buffalo Bill Cody's foster son Jimmy Baker. The property is now surrounded by the Oracle State Park land next to the Coronado National Forest, six miles south of Oracle, AZ.

• Read more about the High Jinks Ranch and its gold mine legend.
• Visit the historic High Jinks Ranch web site at www.highjinksranch.net/
• Read more of the history and the legends of the Santa Catalina Mountains.

The High Jinks Ranch, the property once owned by Buffalo Bill Cody in 1912 has a home called La Casa del High Jinks, which is on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona.

The house on the property was built in 1933 by Johnny Baker, the foster son of Buffalo Bill Cody. It is in this area the the famed Cody Stone is found.

The High Jinks Ranch holds a lot of history and intrigue. Many hikers stop off near the High Jinks to rest along the way on the popular Arizona Trail. Buffalo Bill Cody mined for gold, silver and other ores from the property 100 years ago when the valley was populated with miners digging mainly for gold. The home displayed Buffalo Bill Cody's memorabilia until 1945.

The area was called Campo Bonito and most of the mines in the area were in the Old Hat District, just south of near Oracle, Arizona, near the Triangle Y Ranch surrounded by Oracle State Park.

Continue reading about the history and legends of the High Jinks Ranch and to see more photos of the building.