Photos courtesy of Northern Gila County Historical Society

  Often, I have glanced from my home window over Green Valley Lake to the reconstructed home of Zane Grey and even taken a tour of his “cabin.” But recently when I began to investigate who this man was through interviews, articles, and a book of his biography, I became aware that he was a very complicated person, and his lifestyle was different from the norm of his time. I stitched together pieces of what this famous man may have been through the eyes of others. To start, I sat down with Sandy and Lisa at the Rim Country Museum. Their input piqued my interest in learning more about this prominent writer who set the genre of Western novels. I appreciated their personal slant on parts of his life.

  I learned that Pearl Zane Gray (later known commonly as Zane Grey) was a very complex person. He was resolute and had to have things his own way. His cabin had NO beds because he slept in the outdoors. When he invited visitors for hunting parties of his choosing, if they didn’t want to sleep outdoors, he put them up at Kohls Ranch resort. Although his original cabin burned to the ground in the Dude Fire, it was rebuilt in Payson on grounds that are owned and operated by the Northern Gila County Historical Society.

  Zane read many books on how to write. He felt that writers should write about what they knew. Zane actually traveled to the places that he wrote about. He was able to describe things in colorful, impactful, and graphic details, which made his writings very authentic. However, he was not well received in the literary world.

Author Zane had a driving thirst for adventure. In 1906 he went with Buffalo Jones to rope a mountain lion in the Grand Canyon area. He put Buffalo Jones in his book The Last of the Plainsmen. He received $100 as a writer and that started his career. But in 1912, his best-known American frontier adventure novel was Riders of the Purple Sage, which became his best-seller. Besides his numerous books that were published, there are still many manuscripts that have not yet been printed. His works were also used in films and television series. In this short coverage, I am only able to touch on a small part of his colorful and zest-filled living.

  Although Zane was by trade a dentist, following in his expected father’s footsteps, his heart was not in that profession. After all, he really didn’t like people – except to invite some on his hunting trips. 

  The day he met his future wife Lina Roth, “Dolly,” as he called her, she said that he had better focus on something he liked to make a living, because he wouldn’t make it in dentistry. He loved fishing, hunting, and writing. So, since Dolly was very good at editing and finances, before they got married, they made a written agreement that she got 50% of everything he made. I understand that she used her portion on family matters, as Zane was a spendthrift. I read that their courtship had been very tumultuous, with many quarrels and he still saw other women then too. He said, “I cannot change my spots…I’ll never lose my interest in women…..” But they eventually did get married.

  Zane often had periods of depression and moodiness throughout his life. He even wrote about it. “Like a hyena lying in ambush…I wandered about like a lost soul…” It appears that his adventurous temperament kept him out and about most of the time, traveling, writing, hunting, fishing, etc. Dolly was taking care of their children and the business side of things. She had been a teacher, was good with English, and savvy with financial business matters. I think it was a good fit for his needs to have someone deal with the details and properness of his stories. However, I don’t know that many wives would have tolerated his many mistresses/secretaries that typed up his hand-written manuscripts before they were sent to Dolly to polish and send to publishers.

  In Zane’s early childhood, he and his brother were very athletically inclined, playing baseball and going fishing. Zane later played baseball professionally. He also grew up interested in history which helped in his writing later. His imagination was nurtured with dime novels about Buffalo Bill and other adventure stories. Although his mother was supportive, his father was stern, punishing him with beatings. 

 Zane spent some time at his cabin in our Mogollon Rim country from 1923 to 1930. In the fall of 1929, Zane Grey brought a film crew out early to make a movie. However, it was two weeks before the date to open for fishing. The Arizona Fish and Game Department said, “No, he could not get a special permit to operate early.” This rebuffed Zane who retorted, “I’ll leave Arizona, and never return!” And he did. He went to Altadena, California to be near Hollywood and Paramount Pictures. Paramount based 113 of their movies on his books. His cabin in Arizona sat empty for some time. Then in the 1950s, Mr. Bill Goettle purchased it and made it a free museum. Unfortunately, the Dude fire of 1990 burned the cabin to the ground. Fortunately, the Northern Arizona Historical Society was able to accurately rebuild the cabin on their property located at Green Valley Park area in Payson. They have made the Zane Grey cabin available to visit on tours.

  During the Depression years of the 1930s, Zane’s book sales fell sharply. To compensate for this, he published his books in what was called “pocket-books” which fit into the pockets of servicemen who were in the field. His sales increased tremendously. I think that was a smart business move- perhaps the hand of Dolly was involved?

  Zane Grey was a prolific writer; sometimes writing 10,000 words a day about the wild American West. (I was surprised to learn he wrote books on hunting, fishing, baseball, and even some children’s books.) Zane would then hand his handwritten manuscripts to his (current) typist, who would send them to Dolly after typing up his handwritten version. Dolly must have been a broadminded lady to accept his intimacy with his secretaries and many other women, even though she may not have liked it. Dolly would polish the new versions and send them off to the publisher. She played a major role in his books becoming famous and deserves credit for negotiating his contracts and handling his business matters.

  Zane Grey died when he was only 67 years old of a massive heart attack at his home in Altadena, California. He never drank alcohol although he wrote about all the homebrew stills in Rim Country. At the time Zane was writing, everyone had a still. However, in his stories, the bad guys were the ones who always had the stills. Since Zane’s father was an abusive alcoholic, that may have influenced his life of not drinking alcohol. He ate well and exercised hard.

  Zane had a penchant for adventure and traveling, often in the wilderness areas. He especially was fond of our Arizona Rim Country, formerly dubbed Zane Grey Country. Although he formed many hunting parties and fishing expeditions, he was a conservationist at heart. What he liked most was the sport of the chase. He held world records in fishing contests around the world.

  As I read some of his writings, he portrayed his characters as powerful, dashing, robust central figures, and yet, the most attractive descriptions were about the land, the scenery.

During the time Zane Grey wrote, there were no roads between The Rim Country and the Valley (Phoenix). To get to the valley you had to travel over the Apache Trail or to Flagstaff and then down the highway. The areas around Payson and the Rim Country were poor range farming towns.

  When Zane came to the Rim Country area, he and Dolly went to the Grand Canyon on their honeymoon. In 1918 Zane met the Haught family and hired them as guides. Then he hired them to build his log cabin. The Haught cabin is also on display at the Rim Country Museum grounds at Green Valley Park. However, Zane, was a very impatient man, and his restless spirit could not wait until the trees were felled, the logs were cured, etc. So, he opted out for what to me looked like a white townhouse.

  This “cabin” was used for hunting events for him and whomever he invited. However, they always slept outside as he put no beds inside the cabin. Zane had a home in Altadena, California and a fishing cabin up in Oregon, to mention a few. His wife Dolly stayed home and took care of the children. However, when the family traveled to Europe, Dolly would take the girls and Zane took the two boys. The Grey family traveled in style. I understand that the family was dysfunctional, yet Dolly stuck with him despite the unconventionalities of their lifestyle and his many mood swings.

  In his writings, Zane took characters from real life that he’d met and put them in his stories. People from the Rim Country that he had met were recognizable from character descriptions in his books.

What is happening with Zane Grey’s books now? Well, some of his books fell out of copyright laws and several of them don’t have copyrights, so I was told that the Northern Gila County Historical Society could print them. There are about one hundred of these! They also have some of his books for sale at the museum. Betty Zane, his great-great aunt, was his first book. It wasn’t much of a success. But Zane felt that family stories were very important to him.

  Zane made a number of movies too. Code of the West initially got him involved in the movie-making business. Part of this movie was actually filmed around our Green Valley area.

  The Northern Gila County Historical Society, Inc. which rebuilt the Zane Grey cabin on their land, is located around Green Valley Lake. The land was rescued in 1990 from the U.S. Government after going through approval from senators and the townspeople. Today, you can visit the exact replica of his cabin and a historic museum, as well as a self-guided tour around the grounds. A good worthwhile walk-through history.


  Tours of Zane Grey Cabin /Museum are on Friday and Saturdays from 10am-4pm. Each guide personalizes their slant on this incredible and yet complex historic man’s life. Visit rimcountrymuseum.org for updates and further information.
  I am fascinated by this slice of our history, and perhaps will delve into his life more. Until then, may your journeys be safe and satisfying. And whether you adventure into the future or back to the past, may you enjoy happy trails and bring back good memories!