Five Dot Ranch, Willow Creek Valley, 1958. Courtesy of Wendell LougheadHeadquartered in Willow Creek Valley, this ranch, like so many others has a storied past. For the most part of the twentieth century it was known as the Lonkey Ranch. In 1939, the Lonkey’s found a buyer, W.C. Anderson, a banker from Galt, California. The ranch would change ownership several times and in the spring of 1949, two cousins, Ben Dyer and Arlyn Hughes from Gridley, California purchased the Lonkey Ranch. The two men needed financial assistance and brought in three partners: Marvin Kirk, Jack Hughes, and B.B. Hughes. They named their new enterprise the Five Dot Land & Cattle Company, with Arlyn Hughes operating the ranch. The partnership was brief and the ranch was placed on the market in 1958. In 1959, the Swickard Brothers, Jack and Tom of San Jose, purchased the Five Dot Land & Cattle Company for a reported $300,000.
