Floral Ranch
Association: Box canyon home of Ephraim Knowlton Hanks & Thisbe Quilley Read, Pleasant Creek, Capitol Reef National Park, Wayne County, Utah.
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History
Floral Ranch is located in a box canyon on Pleasant Creek, a small tributary of the Fremont River. Here in 1878, Ephraim Knowlton Hanks, Utah pioneer of 1847, built a home, setting about about two hundred fruit trees he cultivated.
"In August of 1882, Ephraim Knowlton Hanks and his family settled on Pleasant Creek, just west of where it cuts through the upturned cliffs. Their first home was a dugout built into the side of a bluff with a second room of logs added on. By 1888, a four or five-room frame house had been built. The Hanks family raised some crops, had some pasturage for a few livestock, and also set out an orchard of about 200 fruit trees, which they cultivated. During their first spring at Pleasant Creek, when the fruit trees came out with thousands of blossoms, Mrs. Thisbe Quilley Read Hanks gave the area a new name – Floral Ranch. The limited amount of water and arable land available restricted settlement, and the area never supported more than a few families. Even these residents were related either by blood or marriage to Ephraim Knowlton Hanks.
Eph Hanks died in 1896, but Floral Ranch remained in the family until 1916. The ranch then passed through several hands until 1940, when it was sold to Lurton Knee. It was renamed Sleeping Rainbow Guest Ranch, and after World War II additional cabins and a small motel were built to accommodate tourists. A variety of jeep and horseback tours were offered throughout Capitol Reef and the surrounding scenic regions. After Knee acquired the property, the Hanks’ frame house was intentionally burned, and all of the other original buildings, granary, stable, corrals, etc., were knocked down and removed.
With the creation of Capitol Reef National Park and its subsequent enlargement, the main portions of the Sleeping Rainbow Guest Ranch property were purchased by the government in 1974 and 1978, except a small portion granted to the Knees as a life residency. Following Mr. Knee’s death in 1995, the National Park Service acquired the remaining acreage, and the guest ranch facility is now used as a university-operated environmental education and research center." - by James H. Knipmeyer
- Capitol Reef Field Station - A Brief History
- Capitol Reef Field Station - Home Page
- Eph Hanks Tower and Point
Ranch Life
- Time of Ripening-The Life of Sidney Alvarus Hanks written by himself. First five chapters is written about his young years on the Floral Ranch with his parents, Eph and Thisbe. (Written by Sidney A. Hanks)
- Teton's Recollections of the Floral Ranch - written by Teton Hanks Jackman, additional notes by Sherry Mills Smith
- Crannies of the Mountains - Written by Andrew Jensen, Church Historian, 1891, five years before the death of Ephraim K. Hanks
- Chronology of the Floral Ranch
- Hanks Dugouts
- Floral Ranch 1883-1916: Ephraim Knowlton Hanks Homestead
- Floral Ranch 1916-1936: Multiple Property Owners
- Floral Ranch 1933-1935: The Cook Ranch
- Floral Ranch 1937-1940: The Bullards
- Floral Ranch 1940-1996: The Sleeping Rainbow Ranch
- Floral Ranch 1974-1994: Sleeping Rainbow Ranch Purchase
- Floral Ranch 1996-Present: National Park Service Ownership
- Map of Capitol Reef National Park
- Red Rock Eden
Image Gallery
Floral Ranch - Teton Hanks Jackman Collection
Hanks' Floral Home; Will Morrill, ranch foreman under the ownership of Arthur E. Hanks - Teton Hanks Jackman Collection
Arthur Hanks Family, Hank's Floral Ranch Home - Teton Hanks Jackman Collection
Pleasant Creek
Last of the trees that Ephraim Knowlton Hanks planted
Animals on the Floral, Arthur Hanks Family - Teton Hanks Jackman Collection
Arthur Hanks Family, Hanks' Floral Ranch - Teton Hanks Jackman Collection
Making Sorghum on the Floral, Arthur Hanks Family - Teton Hanks Jackman Collection
Indian Hogan once found on the Floral Ranch - Teton Hanks Jackman Collection
Hanks' mailbox at Eph's Tower, 3 miles from the Floral - Teton Hanks Jackman Collection
Turn off to the Floral Ranch, Pleasant Creek, Capitol Reef National Park, Wayne County, Utah - Photo taken by Jerry Zimmerman
Eph's Tower, Capitol Reef National Park, Wayne County, Utah - Paul Fernandez
Eph's Tower, three miles from the Floral Ranch - Photo taken by Sherry Smith
Entering Ranch - Sherry Smith
Floral Ranch - Sherry Smith
Pleasant Creek - Massimo Casulini *Pleasant Creek Hike
Tree near the Floral Home - see the rope burns on the limb from where the children would swing - Photo taken by Sherry Smith
Tree is diminishing, 2002 - Sherry Smith
Tree near the Floral Home. Standing is 3rd and 4th descendant of Eph & Thisbe Hanks - Photo taken by Sherry Smith
Tree near the Floral Home is weakening, 2002 - Sherry Smith
Floral Ranch Stove now in a Caineville Store - Photo taken by Sherry Smith
Bullard Bunk House on the Floral Ranch - Photo taken by Sherry Smith
Corrals - Sherry Smith
Corrals - Sherry Smith
Floral Ranch Cliffs - Photo taken by Delsa Doyle
Cove Where the Wild Horses were Rounded Up - Sherry Smith Collection
Floral Ranch Hike - courtesy of Delsa Doyle abt 1996
Ranch Hike - Sherry Smith
Indian Writings, Floral Ranch - Photo taken by Sherry Smith
Sidney Alva Hanks engraving, 1888, Floral Ranch - courtesy of Dave Hanks
Raymond Elijah Hanks engraving, Floral Ranch - courtesy of Dave Hanks
Arthur E. Hanks, Mattie L. Hanks, Tethon, Floreta & Ray engraving, Sept 24th 1916, Floral Ranch - courtesy of Dave Hanks
Postcard delivered to Floral Ranch, Wm Morrill recipent - Ora Morrill Collection
Wayne County Map
Limited Excavation at the Floral and Sleeping Rainbow Ranch Sites - Office of Public Archaeology, Brigham Young University
