Historic ranch in Southern Arizona can be yours for $30 million

A historic ranch in Patagonia that was a childhood home to late congressman Jim Kolbe is for sale.

With an asking price of nearly $30 million, it is the most expensive residence listed for sale in Southern Arizona in at least 30 years.

Rail X Ranch, built in 1937, has two barns, three apartments, a casita, three standalone homes and a private lake.

Listed by associate broker Gary Brasher, of Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty, the multilevel estate is on 1,739 acres at 2671 Arizona 82 in Santa Cruz County.

“Jim lived there as a child,” Brasher said. “His parents operated it as a guest ranch.”

Kolbe’s parents, “an independent-minded Arizona cattle rancher and an elegant candy heiress from Chicago,” according to the obituary his family wrote when he died last year, bought the ranch when he was 5. He worked there as a farmhand as a boy. Kolbe was first elected to the U.S. House in 1984 and went on to serve 11 terms representing Southern Arizona.

The main house has a floor-to-ceiling library and there is artwork throughout the house.

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All the living quarters total 17,856 square feet of space with 15 bedrooms, 15 bathrooms and four half-bathrooms.

“Every once in a great while a part of Arizona’s history comes available on the market — a signature property that is unique and breathtaking in its beauty and as diverse as the Arizona landscape,” Brasher said. “The Rail X Ranch is such a property.”

Among the features of Rail X Ranch are a private lake and an artesian well, which flows without mechanical intervention. The property retains all its mineral rights.

The current owners are Countess Anita Von Galen, a German aristocrat, and her son, Ferdinand Von Galen. They have owned the ranch since 1973.

A potential buyer could be anyone from a celebrity looking for a private getaway to a developer because the site can have 36-acre homesites built there, Brasher said.

For more information or to set up a private tour of the estate and its grounds, contact gary.brasher@russlyon.com.