The ranch's origins date back to 1881 when a man named Orville Hawkins Smith, a mule skinner, and Lafayette French, a buffalo hunter, began to raise cattle illegally around the Highwood River.
Later that year his brother, James Walter, came to the OH and together they named the ranch "Rio Alto" or High River in Spanish.
However, Burns sold the property to a shipping company Mayer & Lage, although he eventually bought it back later.
The same year Bert Sheppard was hired to manage the ranch and in 1957 along with Bill Ardern's son-in-law (A.D. (Doug) Kingsford) became full partners.
The Department of National Defence was planning to buy and use the ranch for an artillery range and training ground.