Ranching comes naturally for Bill Conway, current owner-operator of the ranch. And it should. He comes from a long line of ranchers. His grandfather, Edward F. Conway, was born at the ranch which was homesteaded by his great-great-grandfather in 1872.

In 1872 when Captain Hancock met David Harer, a pig farmer from California who was looking for the perfect place to raise pigs, he quickly told him of the possibilities in Tonto, and in Greenback Valley.

Harer immediately set out for Greenback Valley.  When he arrived, he found more than he expected.  Abundant water and grass were both there as Hancock had said, as were the many large oak trees in the valley which produced abundant acorns that would make his pigs fat for market.  

Unexpectedly, Harer also came upon an Apache Indian camp. Not knowing if they were friendly or hostile, Harer approached the camp with caution with a rattlesnake he had captured on his journey slung over his shoulders. During the course of their meeting, he brought out the snake and allowed it to bite him. Amazingly, Harer did not die. The Apaches were awed.  They thought he was a Medicine Man and revered him as royalty from then on. His ranch was never raided, nor livestock lost, nor was his family ever threatened. 

Harer did not let them know that he had defanged the snake.

Harer moved his family from California and ran pigs in Greenback for many years acquiring some cattle for their own use. In 1881 Edward C. Conway, a pioneer rancher, married Alice Harer and started cattle ranching at the 76 Ranch near Rye. In the late 1800's Edward moved to Greenback Valley and began ranching there. He continued to raise cattle in Greenback until his death in 1917. His son, Edward F., continued the family ranching operation until his death in 1963.

In 1965 when Ed's sons, E.C. and Clarence, divided the Conway holdings, E.C. remained on the Greenback working it with his sons Bill and Eddie. 

Bill was born in 1949 and grew up on the ranch, living with his grandparents, Ed & Jane Grantham Conway. Bill became partners with his dad, E.C. in 1976. He rode bulls on the professional rodeo circuit, but Greenback Valley Ranch was always home.  Bill married Penny Simon in 1979 and had two children, Katy and Kyle.

Greenback Valley ranch is a cow-calf operation in the Sierra Ancha Mountains 14 miles east of Tonto Basin. In 2001 the family was forced to remove all cattle by the Forest Service and have been restocking it since then.

Times have changed through the years, but Bill has the cowboy no-quit spirit to keep ranching in his family for generations to come. Raising mostly black and black-baldy cattle, he has made numerous improvements on the ranch in the past 10 years including 6 major water stations along with fencing the 16,000 acres into a rotation cattle operation.

Bill became much more active in the Gila County Cattle Growers and has worked diligently toward creating a better relationship between the Forest Service and the ranchers. In 2014, he became GCCGA president, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, father and brother, who are all past GCCGA presidents.  E.C., Eddie and Bill have all been supporters of the ACGA.  His five grand-babies are the 7th generation on the Greenback Valley Ranch and his hope is that when he is gone Greenback Valley Ranch will still be going strong and one of the next generations will be continuing the Conway legac