Ramon Ahumada

Ramón Ahumada managed the Arivaca Ranch, Pima County, Arizona, for almost forty years. Born in Batuc in the Altar District of Sonora, Ahumada had an uncle, Jose Vega, who was mayordomo (manager) on the Arivaca Ranch, then called Las Ruinas Ranch.  Vega brought Ramón Ahumada to Arivaca when he was just a young boy, and he became mayordomo before he was 21 years old. Blessed with the ability to manage cattle and men on a large scale, Ahumada  frequently bossed community roundups of 5,000 cattle with a crew of from 70 to 80 men, per day.

Cattlemen and cattle inspectors regarded Ahumada’s identification of cattle brands as legendary. Knowing all the brands of the southwest ranges, he could correctly distinguish brands among as many as 40 or 50 different marks on a mixed herd of livestock.

As with most Mexican vaqueros, Ramón Ahumada rode with easy and effortless grace that inspired  horses to extra effort and frequently rode the same horse all day. The Arivaca Ranch reared Standardbred-Thoroughbred cross horses, imported from out of state, and Ahumada trained them as ranch horses or to be sold as polo ponies.

Ramón Ahumada was married to the beautiful Virginia Zepeda, a member of the Moraga family, whose ancestors had included the co-founder of San Francisco and the captain of the Presidio at Tucson during the Spanish colonial period.  Many admired Ahumada’s ability to talk his way out of bad situations, including tense encounters with Native Americans.

In the Jalisco country near Clifford Well Ahumada was thrown off his own horse while roping a difficult horse, suffering a head injury that killed him at the age of 56.