Dobson's Sheep, c. 1940

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Dobson family sheep herd roundup near Elliot Road and the Southern Pacific railroad tracks east of Arizona Avenue

Even though Chandler featured Arizona’s grandest resort hotel, the town’s early economy was firmly rooted in production agriculture. One of the largest of these agricultural endeavors was sheep ranching. For several decades, sheep ranching was a very lucrative business, and by 1934, Chandler ranchers were raising over 42,000 head. Over 2 million pounds of wool were collected that year and sent to national markets. The largest sheep ranchers in Chandler included the Dobsons, Thudes, Andersens, Morgans, and the Chandler Improvement Company. Immigrants from Spain’s Basque region, such as the Etchamendy family, also raised sheep. 

The sheep industry in Chandler and the rest of the Valley was unique in that it was migratory.  Ranchers moved sheep from the Valley to the mountains for summer grazing in cooler climates to produce a better coat. The most popular trail was the Heber-Reno trail, which took the sheep through 200 miles of Arizona wilderness on a 52 day trek. At the trail’s end were large pastures at an elevation of 8,000 feet. The sheep herds reversed the trek back down to the Valley in the fall. This photo shows the roundup of the Dobson sheep herd near Elliot Road and the railroad tracks east of Arizona Avenue in the early 1940s. The Dobsons were the last sheep ranchers to use the Heber-Reno Trail, making their final trek in 2011.