History

The first settlements in the Red Feather Lakes, Livermore, Cherokee Park and Pourde River areas was about 1870. The United States gave the Union Pacific land as an incentive to build the railroad system. In this area, the railroad was give odd numbered square mile sections. The railroad needed ties for the rails. They would sell the land to lumbermen by having them deliver ties to Tie Siding ,Wyoming and Laporte, Colorado. Other land was homesteaded for grazing by ranchers.

To make a living, the ranchers needed three to five sections to of land to graze 50 cows. The land sold for less than one dollar per acre. As time passed, the most efficient ranchers would buy available land for one to ten dollars per acre. The ranches grew in size from 1,500 acres to over 17,000 acres.

In 1960, the ranch land started to be converted to recreation land, first at price at $30 to $100 per acre,.which was more than the economics of ranching could meet. Large ranches were sought to be sold in small parcels.

In the late 1900s wealthy individuals began buying ranches for status. They drove the price of large mountain ranches to over $5,000 per acres.. They did not need the ranch to make a profit. Mountain land is retaining its high value today.