Hacienda de Gila: dendroarchaeology, architecture, and history at the Lyons and Campbell Ranch, Gila, New Mexico.

Buildings have stories. The materials, architecture, design, decoration and other attributes reveal life histories of a structure and often show changes through time. Sometimes, however, the stories are hidden and must be coaxed out of the building. Such is the case of the original Lyons and Campbell Ranch headquarters in Gila, New Mexico. Known in the 1890s as headquarters of the largest cattle ranch west of the Mississippi, the Lyons and Campbell Ranch actually has a much longer and more intriguing story. In this presentation, I employ tree-ring dating, architecture, and documents to delineate other aspects of this story.