Ed Bonnell Real estate and Mining Agent 1883

Edwin Bonnell (1848-1893) arrived in White Oaks, New Mexico in 1880, coming from Larned, Kansas with his four young sons Erva, 8, Harvey, 6, Bert, 4, and Nelson, 2. Bonnell’s wife had died in Kansas in 1878. He began business activities in lumber, mercantile, mining and real estate during the boom years of White Oaks in the 1880s and 1890s. Bonnell remarried in 1884 and fathered four more children. He died in 1893 at the age of 45 and is buried in the Cedarville Cemetery.

In 1892, Bert and Nelson Bonnell were sent to Pomona, Kansas to live with relatives and finish school. They returned to Lincoln County and worked on ranches south of White Oaks and in the Hondo and Ruidoso valleys. In 1899 they began working for rancher and farmer Frank Coe at Glencoe in the Ruidoso Valley. The two brothers married Sydney and Agnes Coe, daughters of Frank Coe.

Bert Bonnell and Sydney Coe were married at the Coe Ranch on December 18, 1900. Their first son, Frank, was born in December 1901. Bonnell continued to work for Frank Coe until 1909, when the family moved to Dewey, Arizona. A daughter, Mildred, was born in Dewey in 1910. In 1911 the family moved to the Crow Indian Agency in Montana, where Bert Bonnell had been named superintendent. After three years, the family moved back to Glencoe and purchased the property adjacent to the Frank Coe ranch. There they planted fruit trees and raised hogs, cattle and poultry, which they sold to the U.S. Marine Hospital at Fort Stanton, nine miles to the north.

The Bonnell ranch was located on one of the primary routes across southern New Mexico, later U.S. Highway 70, and became a stop on the Pickwick Stage Line where passengers could rest and have a meal. They served homemade meals from livestock, fruits and vegetables grown on the ranch. The Bonnells began to receive requests to allow boarders, especially during the summer months, and their guest ranch business was born. The original house was enlarged to 18 rooms and 10 individual cottages were built behind the house. They charged a per-person rate of $2.50 per day, $15.00 per week, or $50.00 per month for room and board. Activities for the guests included horseback riding, tennis, fishing, croquet, card playing and hayrides. Additionally, there was a dance every Saturday night at the ranch with live music provided by family and friends.

The Bonnell Ranch continued to be a working cattle ranch and farm. Bert Bonnell raised registered Herford cattle and was an active member of the American Hereford Association. The Bonnells actively participated in school, church and civic organizations.

Activities at the guest ranch began to decline in 1941 with the coming of WWII. Bert Bonnell died after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage on November 23, 1951. Sydney Bonnell died May 2, 1955. The Bonnells’ second son, Ralph, took over operation of the ranch following the death of his parents. A flood in 1965 severely damaged many of the buildings of the old guest ranch and in 1972 the ranch house was demolished to make room for the new, widened highway.