here we go
so. the basics:3 months; 1 ranch house; 10 miles from grover, co.
the job is renovating the house; cleaning up the grounds; mending fences. maybe sub-contracting an addition. getting it ready to be a home and an active cattle ranch again.
why? why the hell not?
we'll be posting pictures and stories and thoughts up here every now and again- let's say about twice a week? we'll put up a mailing address shortly, but you can always email us here. and feel free to leave comments about how we're crazy or your favorite snakebite remedies!
-c+s
posted by sean at 2:23 PM
8 Comments:
hmmm...is it too late to make any gay cowboy quips? cut me some slack i'm on an island. anyway, hope you guys have fun and hurry up with more pics. love, j.
Christina!
Of course you would move to the middle of Colo. and do this. Good luck! Call when you get reception.
okay seriously, whos house is this. and do they own the 1800 acres. If so i say we all move there build houses but instead of cattle lets raise peacocks. i dont know how you make money with them, but we can throw in acouple alpacas for kicks. favorite snake bite remedies....dont touch the snake, run.- allison
Congratulations! You have learned Step one: accepting things are not what you expect them to be.
I'm sure many more lessons will follow... and we cant wait to hear about them. Until then, check all gloves and shoes BEFORE you put them on. Trust me on this.
I miss you! The boys send kisses!
I just happen to know a thing or two about Grover, Colorado. First of all, the locals call it "GroCol" for short. Not really, but they should.
Grover is located in Weld County. In case you weren't aware, Weld County is where the industrial science of welding was accientaly invented by the late great Alexander Weldensteel. (not really, but please find out why they call it "Weld" County)
Nor for the real facts.........
Grover is a classic eastern-Colorado grasslands community. James Michener's Centennial made the Pawnee National Grasslands enveloping this town famous.
The Grover Depot was built in 1887 by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad when it laid track connecting Sterling with Cheyenne for a cost of $7,000. The architecture of the plain two-story frame depot is more like the American Midwest than Colorado's high plains. The depot may be the only surviving example of this style of railroad depot in Colorado. For a historical perspective on Grover's pioneer past, visit the Depot Museum, which weaves together Grover's tales of boom and bust.
Once a prosperous city featuring multiple groceries, hotels, a newspaper, a school, a post office and an opera house, Grover's families and businesses finally moved away, first because of the Dust Bowl and later due to the departure of the local railroad.
Fortunately, Grover remains an important stop for visitors to the grasslands as well as for those traveling along the Pawnee Pioneer Trails Scenic and Historic Byway, a 136-mile driving route through eastern Colorado. Along the route, the Pawnee Buttes rise more than 500 feet above the plains. Not only do the buttes provide scenic backdrops, but the whole trail also affords extensive opportunities for bird watching. In fact, bird lovers have documented over 250 species in the area!
Last but not least, be sure to visit the Antique Washing Machine Museum (35901 Weld County Rd. 31, Eaton) 970-454-1856 (open by appointment only). Lee Maxwell's museum has grown to 978 washing machines at last count, which he has restored to their original glory: rich woods, gleaming copper and shiny enamels. He is in the Guinness Book of Records and has written his own book entitled "Save Women's Lives, History of Washing Machines." Call for your personal tour or group and enjoy some "good clean fun."
By the way, I like that picture featuring the Fink's T-Shirt. I believe that very shirt is available at www.yesterbeer.com
I'm glad my birthday plans are spread around the internet before I even find things out. As you can see, home hasn't changed much at all. Or the fact that everyone can bring their boyfriends to my birthday, but I can't bring my friends. But since the world does not revolve around me 24/7 as much as I would like, I redirect my thoughts back to your current situation.
The blog is cool. I love the house. It looks spectacular. I want the red pick up. Please tell me that baddest duo grover, colorado has seen is kickin' up dust to canyonero music.
I think you should create a new hbo series centered around grover's finest. there has to be some juicy story in the tri-county area...if you have a tri-county area. Well, if not, you could always fabricate a very interesting one. Try and include a Thelma. That'd be great.
So, I'd like you both to know, I hope you guys are havin a good time. If I make it out there, we can go to Fort Collins and stock you up with my discount. Awesome. It'll be like Oregon Trail.
Do you live in Grover or Greeley? I hope Greeley - it has a much more interesting history:
Before Horace Greeley said "Go West, young man, go West," The land upon which the City of Greeley now grows had been shared by humans and mammals for thousands of years. Approximately 11,500BC, Clovis mammoth hunters became the first known people to occupy the area. PaleoIndian groups, foragers, the Plains-Woodland peoples and others followed over the centuries, and mammoths gave way to smaller game and Bison. The earliest agriculturalists arrived as early as 1200BC!
In the 1500's, Apache groups passed through on their slow migration to New Mexico. They obtained horses and became the first mounted hunters on Colorado's plains. Other Indians settled here through time, culminating with Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes occupying the area by 1800. Increasing contact with overland emigrants traveling between trading posts eventually brought diseases that led to the decimation of the native Americans in the area.
By October 1865, the Cheyenne and Arapaho ceded all claims to their former land, effectively opening the region to settlement. Early settlers recalled finding beads, artifacts, and evidence of Cheyenne tree burials in Greeley. That area is now Island Grove Regional Park.
FROM COLONY TO CITY
"After securing several lots in the new town, we pitched our tent, which was almost daily blown to the ground."
-Mrs. Annie M. Green, upon her arrival in Greeley, Colorado in May of 1870.
Though it was Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, who coined the famous phrase "Go West, young man," it was his visionary agricultural editor, Nathan C. Meeker, who spearheaded one of the most successful colonization experiments ever attempted in the "Great American Desert."
In 1863, Peter Winne sold his Island Grove Ranch, which included Island Grove Park. This began a string of real estate sales that ended with the parcel being sold to John Evans, a trustee for the Denver-Pacific Railroad. Having visited the region previously, Meeker learned of the opportunity to purchase almost 60,000 acres of land along the railroad, including the Island Grove parcel at bargain prices - $3.00 to $3.50 per acre! Meeker knew the value of "location, location, location!" He purchased this river valley land situated half way between Denver and Cheyenne with rail access, and the perfect potential for irrigation.
Meeker then called for ambitious individuals with high moral standards and money to join him in establishing a coopertive community based on the Utopian ideal of cooperation, irrigation, agriculture, temperance, religion, and education. The call elicited 3,000 responses, and 59 individuals ultimately formed a joint stock company called the Union Colony in December, 1869.
On October 12th of the folllowing year, Horace Greeley paid his only visit to the town which bore his name. By that time colonists had erected houses on town lots close to the confluence of the South Platte and Cache la Poudre rivers, established a newspaper, built 36 miles of irrigation canals, planted a park in the center of town, and designed streets 100 feet wide and lined with trees. The first school was built by 1872, followed by a courthouse, and a college in 1889. Greeley's success as a planned community was emulated by other communities throughout Colorado (i.e. Ft. Collins, Longmont, Colorado Springs) during the 1870-1920 era.
Post a Comment
<< Home