Keys Ranch, Joshua Tree National Park

It wasn’t a park or a monument yet, but a rough and desolate place to make a living. Yet this man was not deterred. No, this Russian-born immigrant would make the desert his home until his death.

This is a story of a man who built something in an extremely hostile environment; one which most of us only venture into via an air-conditioned vehicle and very little time outside of that air-conditioned vehicle. 1910, a hard working man moved from Nebraska and took up residence in what would later be known as Joshua Tree National Park.

This is also a story of a man convicted of murder in 1943, and pardoned for five years later.

This is a story about Bill Keys.

According to Ranger Dave, “Bill was an industrious man. As you will see on this tour, he never let anything go to waste and built a home for his family in this often tough desert landscape.”

Ranger Dave at Keys Ranch

I generally don’t attend tours. Not that there's anything wrong with tours, but I like to wander here and there on my own and do my own research.

Sometimes I even get the research correct. When I don’t, my readers let me know.

During my recent visit to Joshua Tree National Park, I took the Desert Queen Ranch Tour - the ranch that Bill Keys created among the Joshua trees and towering boulders on the northwestern section of the park not far from Hidden Valley.

Keys Ranch in Joshua Tree National Park

To reach the ranch, down about a half mile single dirt trail, a guided ranger tour was the only way to view this abode in the middle of nowhere.

Only way in to Keys Ranch is by a dirt road

There was a locked gate. I didn’t have a key and broke two paper-clips before Ranger Dave showed up.

"I have the key,” he announced.

“I was trying to paper-clip some papers,” I replied. “But I forgot the papers.”

Ranger Dave was a friendly sort of fellow who greeted the tourists individually. The tour is limited in size and I think there may have been a dozen visitors at this early morning gathering.

Though, I was worried my paper clip may have jammed the lock.

“Okay,” he said to the tour group. “I will drive and all of you will follow me to the ranch. Please, do not take any items from the ranch or surrounding area since this is a historical site.”

Looked like I would have to stop by a gift shop to buy Laureen, my wonderful wife, a memento of my trip to Joshua Tree National Park.

A coffee mug or a rusty door knob from Bill Keys ranch - I know what I would desire.

The road was sandy, a bit rough but any vehicle could make the short trip to the ranch without any issues.

In 1910, Bill Keys arrived in the area of Twenty-Nine Palms and found work as a custodian and assayer at the Desert Queen Mine, east of where he would later build his home. It was tough work but something Keys fell in love with.

He oversaw the mine until 1917, when the owner passed away and Keys obtained the property due to not being paid for years. The back wages came in the form of a working mine.

Some mining equipment to view

That same year, he filed for 80 acres under the Homestead Act and started his ranch, built by hand from nearby rocks, adobe bricks, and wood shipped in from Banning and other locations.

“Funny story about Bill,” Ranger Dave said. “After years of living in this area alone, he met Frances May Lawton who happened to come from a very comfortable lifestyle near Los Angeles.. They fell in love, got married and Bill drove her out here to their, her new home.”

The home was a small wooden built structure boasting a living room, dining room and a bedroom located in not the green area Frances was used to, but instead a seemingly barren desert.

The Keys main residence

“What do you think her first words were when Bill stopped his old truck and showed his young bride her new home?”

Since this is a family blog - I will not say what words may have come out of Frances in my mind.

“We will never know,” Ranger Dave quipped. “What we understand is she smiled and accepted this is where she would reside with her husband. Within a short time, she loved this alcove in the desert as much as her husband did.”

Bill expanded the house, as well as the out-buildings as his family grew.  The couple had seven children, with four reaching adulthood.

It was a tough life day to day, but as Ranger Dave stated during the tour, they were a close-knit family and loved the rough and tumble life they led here.

As Ranger Dave was stopping here and there at this or that location during the tour, I wandered a bit and snapped some photos, stared into the canyon walls surrounding the property, gazed at the house, the horse corrals, the hand dug well in front of the house, and the rest of the site.

Hardy folks to say the least. Not just for a man and woman who fell in love and decided to make their life in the middle of a desert but to raise and educate children here was something special.

These were tough folks - honest folks - determined folks - and resilient folks.

I gazed over the round arrasta used to break up huge pieces of quartz in the search of gold and wondered if Keys hoped to find his fortune in the nearby hills.

The arrasta at Keys Ranch in Joshua Tree National Park

He had a small crushing mill at the ranch plus a larger one not far away for local miners to use, at a small fee, to crush what they had pulled out of the earth each day.

At one time, Keys had nearly 200 cattle on his ranch, along with pigs, burros, and a very large garden which grew both vegetables and fruit.

Horse corrals and livestock pens

This family knew how to make a buck and did it honestly with hard daily work.

Frances and Bill even built a one-room schoolhouse at the front of their property and other families in the area would bring the children there for daily lessons. The county provided a school teacher who resided in a home in which Bill had built for that purpose.

Another quarter on the ranch

During the tour, Ranger Dave told anecdotes about life here for the Keys family.

“One day, the children asked their father, since they were getting older, if it was their time to have a mine of their own.”

Ranger Dave smiled. “So, Bill told his kids to dig in a certain spot and that was to be their own mine. Well, they dug and dug and when the pit was deep and wide enough, Bill moved the outhouse over the hole.”

But, in 1943 the fortunes of the Keys family would change. With a dispute with a neighbor, Worth Bagley, there was a shootout and Keys was arrested for murder after killing Bagley.

According to a book written by Art Kidwell, Ambush, The Story of Bill Keys, the case against Keys seemed rather weak.

It was proven through the court records, or at least what I took from them, that Bagley shot at Keys without provocation first and Keys returned fire, killing him.

A trial was conducted and somehow the jury found Keys guilty of manslaughter.

Steve, a fellow visitor and recently retired California Highway Patrol Officer, looked at me - “Yeah, no issues there. A solid case of self-defense.”

I nodded in agreement.

Two former cops hearing what Ranger Dave said about the case put a lot of questions in our minds.

Rumors were that Bagley may have had friends in high places who did not like Keys.

Of course, those are just rumors.

After serving five years in state prison for the murder, Keys was pardoned by the governor of California, and instead of being a bitter man,  Keys went right back to work on his ranch and mining operations.

Frances died in 1963 and Bill six years later.

A romantic story of a couple who built a home out of nearly nothing, even with all the hardships and obstacles, their love endured till the end.

A visit to the Keys Ranch must be on the list when visiting Joshua Tree National Park - the Keys story of endurance is enough for the journey itself.