OX Cattle Company

 cattle ranch, historic ruins

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During the 1910s, this was the site of a tent town known as Ledge. Approximately 100 people lived here then. The town was served daily by the California Eastern Railway, with fresh fruit and vegetables arriving every Monday and Friday. No permanent depot was located here in the early years (a boxcar was later used for this purpose), but the train would stop for 15 minutes while settlers would pick up mail, freight, and express packages. Cecil Barbour, chief promoter of Ledge, had a ranch here that was later purchased by Mrs. Elanor J. Jacoby. In 1919, a small grocery store and gas station was added to the Maruba post office.

After the Rock Springs Land and Cattle Company went bankrupt in 1929, the enormous ranch was split in two. The Nevada side became the Walking Box Ranch (late owned by Rex Bell and Clara Bow) while the California half became the OX, headquartered here at Ledge after the homesteaders slowly abandoned their dry farm ranches earlier in the decade due to drought and the closure of the Barnwell rail branch.

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