Future of 80-year-old Ranch in question after fire

The owners of an 80-year-old ranch aren’t giving up after it was heavily damaged by fire.

Desert Moon Ranch was one of the first settlements in Thousand Palms and now it’s future is in question after a massive fire nearly 2 weeks ago.

The owners are looking for help to save this piece of Valley history.

“This was a stairwell going up to the upper level,” said owner Tyrone Dunham.

Dunham still sees the possibilities as he walks through what’s left of the main house of Desert Moon Ranch.

“We are going to get this thing cleaned up. It survived all these years, we are just not going to give up on it,” said Dunham.

Built in 1931, the 9 bedroom, 2-story home, was one of the first two homesteads in the area.

“This was Thousand Palms really,” said Dunham. “In the 40s this ranch was used for dances on Saturday nights, school on Sundays.”

It then it became a vacation destination, and later a refuge.

“Every since the 70s, this place has always been a place where people that really had no where else to turn would come here and they would fix it up in exchange for staying here,” said Dunham.

When Dunham became an owner in 2012, it continued as a sober living house. Its nine residents worked to restore the ranch while restoring their lives.

“We had restored this room, it probably hadn’t been used in 50 years,” said Dunham.

All their hard work is now gone.

“We were trying to abate a beehive and using a shop vac and turned our backs on it when it caught fire and the fire spread so quickly we were just unable to do anything about it,” said Dunham.

Now Dunham is working to get Desert Moon Ranch designated as a historical landmark.

“That will prevent the county from leveling what’s left of the building,” said Dunham.

Because of it’s age, Dunham said the ranch home was not eligible for fire insurance. Now Dunham and his partner are asking for the public’s help to restore it through a Go Fund Me account.

The public helped once already, donating funds after the ranch was flooded during last year’s 700 Year Storm.

“We were on the other side of that disaster and then we have this fire. We are just not going to give up,” said Dunham.

Modern building standards may prevent it from returning to as 2-story home, but Dunham hopes it can at least become a meeting hall for future generations to enjoy.

“It was just a glorious place,” said Dunham.

For a link to the Desert Moon Ranch Go Fund Me account click here.