A former Union soldier, he arrived with his family in 1868 from Kansas in a covered wagon which brought apple tree slips.

It was extremely cold in winters along the creek, so they moved to higher ground in 1873 and built a wood-frame house at the current location of ranch headquarters.

Blunt acquired others' homestead properties and eventually what he called Sunflower Ranch had 1,550 acres (6.3 km2) on which he farmed wheat, sorghum, and steers.

[4] The ranch was sold by Ray Blunt in 1954 to Mildred Montague Genevieve Kimball, known as "Tweet", who chose to call it Amnicola after her property in Chattanooga on the Tennessee River.

Tweet Kimball, known as "a delightfully eccentric international traveler, philanthropist, equestrian, award-winning cattlewoman and legendary hostess", lived 55 years in Cherokee Castle.