Gerzymisch Family History & Genealogy

Fire guts steak restaurant's party room

A party room of Cattleman's Steakhouse at Indian Cliffs Ranch near Fabens was gutted by fire Saturday. One of seven of the restaurant's party rooms was discovered in falmes at about 1:30 p.m. by a ranch foreman, said owner Dieter Gerzymisch. Attempts to put out the fire were futile because "it was too far gone," Gerzymisch said. Damage to the party room - about a quarter of a mile northeast of the steakhouse - was estimated at about $10,000, he said.

No one was in the room at the time. Dining continued as usual during the fire, and the restaurant still is open for business, Gerzymisch said. The cause of the fire was unknown Saturday.

- El Paso Times Sunday, March 4, 1984.

From the top of Indian Cliffs you can see "forever" in any direction. Apache, Commanche, and Lipan Indians who inhabited the Lower El Paso Valley knew it centuries ago and fortunate visitors can know it today, thanks to a new equestrian center being built at a cost of millions by a transplanted German transportation tycoon.

The scene is a dusty, sagebrush dotted spread of 4,900 acres just five miles north of the Fabens offramp at Interstate-10 where wranglers, cowboys, and construction men are busy putting the finishing touches to a complex that includes a restaurant and bar, box stalls, adobe and metal corrals, locker and tack rooms, and a lake with a picnic island. The project is Indian Cliffs Ranch, Inc., the brainchild of Dieter Gerzymisch, owner of Continental Overseas, a container transportation company. The ranch is 35 miles from downtown El Paso on the freeway.

The 32-year-old bachelor tells a strange story of how he traded the lush green hills of his native Germany for the brown, Spanish dagger studded clay hills of the Lower El Paso Valley. "You won't believe it," Gerzymisch (pronounced Gersmitz) says. "I met an old Indian at Hueco Tanks who was selling beer for $18 a weekd and barely making it. I bought him some horses to keep for me and when the State took over Hueco Tanks, I bought four acres over here and built a restaurant and corrals." How did he come to be in El Paso and visiting Hueco Tanks? "I have a moving business and move a lot of the German soldiers' household goods, and I was visiting here," he says. "The place for the Indian was just for his income and a place for my horses, but the investment got to be so much that I had to do something else. Why the cost of bringing electricity her was $52,000! And drilling for water costs a lot, especially since we had bad luck at first. Three wells sanded down and were dry because we were cutting corners. Now I've go close to $1 million invested."

Dieter waves his hand at the 600-acre complex rapidly taking shape for a December opening. "It's first class and that's the way we want to keep it." While the December opening is the official date, the center becomes quite busy every weekend already with horse fanciers and novices alike swarming in to rent horses for lonely, soul-soothing rides in the multi-faceted desert countryside.

They pay $1.50 an hour during the week and $2 an hour on weekends for gentle, well-trained horses. Indian Cliffs Ranch also offers overnight trail rides to the Cliffs that give the ranch its name, and real, honest-to-goodness hay rides pulled by lathering and placid work horses. There are 18 full-time employees scurrying about with their tasks of breaking, training, and caring for western, English riding, harness, saddle and performance horses. Other burly and blue jean clad men are putting the finishing touches to the adobe buildings built in the Mexican hacienda style with exposed vigas and Spanish tile roofs. The tack room will hold 137 saddles on an ingenious iron bar arrangement. And there is a locker and saddle rack room for those who rent or lease their horses on long terms.

A corral area is being welded together with space for 500 horses. A row of 30 box stalls is the elite area for horses with automatic water troughs, piped-in music, rising and lowering heat lamps, and high ceilings for cool interiors. They rent for $65 a month. Currently enjoying their comforts are an International Three-Day event champion from England and a top roping horse from Arizona. Sales manager Rex King speaks enthusiastically about Indian Springs Ranch. "There's every type of terrain - deep sand, gravel, steep hills, gentle slopes - all within a few minutes riding," he says.

He spells out more plans for the ranch than a cactus has spines. Rodeo groups, a one-mile thoroughbred race horse training track, a Charro Lienzo, jumping horse training circle, a motel, a western ghost town setting, fishing lakes, and , eventually, a 200 acre water skiing and water sports lake. Already finished is the jumping circle and one lake that is slowly filling. Dirt is being moved now to form the island for the 200-acre lake, and the dike for the fish-hatching lake is sculptured. Also planned is a 15-foot deep and 45-foot wide swimming pool for sore-legged horses for hydrotherapy treatment.. "This aread has more to offer than the Phoenix area in the winter time," King says. 'The nearest comparable facility is in San Diego."

Operations manager Jack Eicke (i-guee) echoes the though and points out that in addition to riding, archaeological buffs are constantly finding Indian pottery shards and arrowheads. "We also found some tomahawks and a Spanish sword" he says.

The lake, now stocked with 2,500 bass and catfish with 5,000 pounds more due next month, is 25 feet deep in places. It is fed by a 315,000 gallon per minute well and will also draw from a freshly-drilled three million gallons a minute well. Dieter says the lake near the open-air restaurant will have paddle boats so there will be no noise. A nursery will be provided to care for children so their parents can enjoy themselves fishing, swimming, or just relaxing. Indian Cliffs Ranch started in April of 1970 and was the site a year ago of a film for German television of that country's soldiers stationed in El Paso celebrating "Christmas in the Desert."

Eventual use of some of the acreage for motion pictures is not discounted. Producers and directors have already looked the area over for locations. Negotiations are planned for possible leasing of land for a motel to be run by a national concern. Meanwhile, a young German who left his father's company to go on his own and arrived in New York five years ago and went into the moving business, is hopeful that El Pasoans and visitors will enjoy the peace and solitude of Indian Cliffs Ranch.
- El Paso Herald=Post Monday, November 15, 1971, page 11.

Discuss Rodeo - Mrs. Sandi Cardwell, director of the Miss Rodeo El Paso contest, makes plans for the Jan. 8 clinic for queen contestants with Dieter Gerzymisch, developer of Indian Cliffs Guest Ranch.

- El Paso Herald-Post Wednesday, December 8th 1971

The article reads:
Clinic Offered Queen Entrants

A free clinic for contestants in the Miss Rodeo El Paso contest will be held at the Indian Cliffs Guest Ranch near Fabens on Jan. 8, according to Mrs. Sandi Cardwell, contest director.

The day-long clinic will feature specialists in all phases of rodeo queen competition, with helpful hints on how to make the best possible showing in such competitions.

THEME FOR THE contest is "Be a Winner", Mrs. Cardwell said. The clinic will be open to girls who plan to enter the 1972 Miss Rodeo El Paso contest, but also will be open to 17-year-old girls who will not be eligible to enter the competition until 1973.

"We feel that the clinic can be helpful to any girl interested in rodeo, and an extra year of training might make the difference for a girl planning to enter in 1973," Mrs. Cardwell said.

The clinic, which will start at 9:30 a.m., will include sessions on the history of the Miss Rodeo El Paso and Miss Rodeo America contests, pointers on appearance, poise and personality, and will feature a style show of the latest in western wear sponsored by Tony Lama Boot Co.

THE CLINIC WILL break for a chuck wagon lunch, and the afternoon session will be devoted to horsemanship. Mrs. Cardwell said contestants will not be required to bring their own horses, since Indian Cliffs developer Dieter Gerzymisch has offered the use of the ranch horses and saddles.

Indian Cliffs Ranch is located six miles north of the Fabens intersection with Interstate highway 10.