Charles Blake Carrington


Blake and Jane playing cards at the Crown C Ranch

b. 1881 Newark, New Jersey
d. 1963 Sonoita, Arizona

 Blake grew up in Newark, New Jersey and later became the Newark Fire Commissioner. He saw the department go from a horse-drawn company to a motorized one. He had relatives who pushed cattle from Texas to California and he dreamed of one day having a ranch of his own. That dream came true in the early 1930s when he and his son, Chuck, arrived in Sonoita hoping to purchase a 6,000 acre portion of the Rail X ranch, which they named the Crown C.

 While they were waiting for the sale to go through, they stayed at the Los Encinos Guest Ranch, where he met and fell head over heels in love with Jane Tapper, another eastern transport who was also in love with the area. Theirs was a match made in heaven and they were soon married in an intimate ceremony at the Los Encinos. After a honeymoon in Hawaii, they settled in at the Crown C and never left.

 Jane was a dedicated horsewoman and loved working the roundups, but Blake was definitely a 'gentleman rancher'. When he had to get on a horse for a picture featured in a Ford Truck Times pamphlet in 1951, his ranch foreman, Dick Jiminez, had to boost him up on the saddle. At that time, some of the scenes for the movies, Oklahoma and Broken Lance were being filmed at the Crown C.

 
photo shoot for "The Ford Truck Times"

 Although Blake was from a prosperous family he was very frugal, according to Jane's nephew, Bill Tollefson. One of his favorite pastimes was to sit for hours cutting up used envelopes into the right size for notepads. When it came to his beloved wife, Jane, however, generosity was his middle name. Whatever her heart desired he was happy to provide it for her enjoyment.

Written and edited by Betty Barr with contributions from Bill Tollefson.

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