The Cattle Ranches Of Colorado

The impact Colorado’s natural resources have had on its development as a state cannot be overstated. This book looks at how mining and ranching have helped shape the history, culture, and people of the Centennial State. From the Gold Rush to modern-day agriculture, the book considers how economy, industry, and the environment have all affected and been affected by the presence of these resources.

The mountain ranches of western Colorado preserve a way of life that has nearly vanished from the American scene. Families who have lived on the same land for five or six generations raise cattle much as their ancestors did, following an annual cycle of breeding, birthing, branding, grazing, and selling livestock. Michael Crouser spent more than a decade (2006–2016) photographing family cattle ranches in Colorado, intrigued "not by the ways their lives are changing but by the way they have stayed the same." He was, he says, "most interested in the traditional elements of these traditional lives, . . . what they call 'cowboying.'" Intimate without being sentimental about the realities of ranch work, Mountain Ranch's duotone images capture the raw and basic elements of a hard and basic life. In the afterword, Crouser pays verbal tribute to ranch people who are "the real deal," whose seasonal round of work forms the subject of the acclaimed nature writer Gretel Ehrlich's foreword. Portraits of eight men and women who eloquently describe their long lives on Colorado mountain ranches complete the volume.

When it was sold in 1974, the ranch had been in the Arthur family for 72 years. Writer Kathleen Arthur evokes a powerful sense of what it was like to grow up as a member of the fourth generation of a cattle ranching family. She and her sister, Tammi, grew from toddlers to teenagers surrounded by the daily workings of a cattle ranch. As the family worked on the ranch, the girls learned independence, self-reliance and satisfaction in a job well done. With almost 1000 acres as their playground, the girls were free to roam and play, expanding their boundaries. They knew they could go no further than where they could hear the pickup horn honking if Mom wanted them to head for the house. Hauling wood, chasing horses and chasing water were much more than chores, providing life lessons in hard work as the girls tagged along and then helped as they got older. The family worked long, hard hours because the land demanded it. Work on the ranch never let up but it did change with the seasons. In winter cows and horses were fed the hay grown on the ranch. Early in the spring, calves were born. Later, when the snow melted in the high country, the hayfields were irrigated. Early summer, calves were branded and the cattle moved to the upper pasture. Mid and late summer was haying season. Fall was for canning and hunting season. And the cycle began again. Ranching knew no holidays, weekends or vacations and there was no calling in sick with this job. Ms. Arthur's detailed descriptions give us insight into a lifestyle that is quickly disappearing as family ranches are sold and subdivided into housing developments. As the tale unfolds about trailing horses cross country to hunting camp, the reader can almost feel the fresh mountain air and hear the creaking of saddle leather. Accounts of stepping in fresh cow manure, working in the hot, dusty hayfields or chasing a calf out of the brush are vivid and colorful. Only the haying crew knows just how delicious ice cold water from an old Clorox jug can be. It is both funny and touching as the writer relates being startled by a snake or unexpectedly walking home after being thrown by her horse. For their part, the girls had roles to play that made them feel like an important part of the operation. They opened gates, put in the hubs on the four wheel drive pickup, hauled wood and constantly fetched things for their folks. They worked hard but when they took a few hours off, the family played hard too, spending many happy days camping, picnicking, fishing, plinking away at tin cans with the .22 rifle and generally romping around in the high country. Whether moving cows, putting up hay or fixing fence, the whole family pitched in to get the job done. The Arthur Ranch on East Divide Creek is a compelling account of a disappearing way of life, told from an insider's point of view. If you have an interest in the land and the critters in the Rocky Mountain west or a passion for country living, this book is for you.

Why would a Colorado rancher sell the home place--the ranch his family had owned and operated for four generations--and move the entire operation to a remote 300,000-acre spread in British Columbia, Canada? For the adventure And adventure is what Tom and Connie Hook and their sons found. Two miles above the mighty Fraser River, the Empire Valley Ranch headquarters lay 80 gravel miles beyond the pavement. The range extended another 75 miles further west and higher up into the Coastal Mountains. The Hook's exploits included punching cows in the high country with colorful cowboys who were mostly Indigenous neighbors or outlaws hiding from the RCMP. The hazards, besides mountain weather, included wolves, grizzly bears, cougars, and eagles. Mountain Ranch at the End of the Road is the tale of life on a remote ranch: vast distances, long rides, interesting neighbors, colorful cowboys, unlikely horse stories, and hair-raising wildlife encounters. Tom Hook served God, loved his family, and respected his employees and neighbors. He was a gentleman, a leader, adventurer, cattleman, preacher and beloved father and husband-and, to people all over the West and as far north as Alaska, a loyal friend. In the last months of his life Tom was blogging at CattleToday.com. At over 150,000 hits, his is the top-viewed board. He filed his final post a few days before he died suddenly on February 8, 2011. Many of Tom's readers asked him to publish his stories in book form. What you hold in your hands is the result.