HISTORY OF THE TATE RANCH AND UCO:    

Earnest "Peck" Tate was born in 1891 in Longton, Kansas. He came to the for harness horses, which they shipped to many parts of the United States. Peck enjoyed working with the horses. He continued to train horses while he also homesteaded a section of land on Cream Creek, across the Ruby River from the Larabie ranch where he raised cattle.

When the United States entered World War I, he sold his cattle and enlisted in the Marines. He was in some large battles in France and Germany and was wounded several times.

After the war he returned to the Ruby Valley and traded his homestead for a ranch above the Larabie ranch at Clear Creek. In 1924 he married Mary Mullen and together had six children; three boys and three girls. He raised sheep, cattle and his family and purchased the Murphy ranch and the Garrison ranch. He ran sheep and cattle until 1946 when he sold all his sheep and only cattle remained. In 1949, Peck passed away and Mary sold all the land except the Garrison ranch which is where we reside today.

At first, the three boys used the ranch as a vacation spot to hunt and fish and visit. In 1984, when Bill Tate (Peck and Mary's eldest son) turned fifty he realized he had no retirement fund and needed something more to supplement his social security check. As Bill purchased the first trailer houses to place on the property, he had no idea of the highly profitable market he was about to tap in to.

Bill and his wife Bernice began scrimping and saving and putting in all their blood, sweat and tears into creating what would eventually become Upper Canyon Outfitters. The first things to come were a couple beat up old trailers for the hunters to stay in, a barn, and a corral. From there, every single penny Bill and Bernice made from the business went right back into improving and expanding it. In 1989, they began building the lodge and opened it two years later in 1991.

The business grew through word of mouth advertising and the help from Bill and Bernice's hard working and loyal friends. "Without them," Bill said regarding his friends, "This would have been impossible." Bill also placed an ad in Outdoor Magazine with one of the very first 800 numbers. In 1995 Donna and Jake bought the business and continued to grow and expand on what Bill and Bernice created from scratch.

Today, when you come to Upper Canyon Outfitters you will see the lodge, four cabins, a conference room and work shop, two barns, corrals for livestock, and much much more. There, at the end of the ranch, is the Old Cabin- the original building on the property that sits proudly next to the spring-fed pond and overlooks all the hustle and bustle that occurs. To think that this ranch started with just a little old cabin and grew to what it is today is truly a testament of hard work and dedication.