Cattle baron and trailblazer Charles Goodnight established his Rock Canon Ranch in 1870 on land formerly included within the Nolan Land Grant near Pueblo.  The ranch served as the northern headquarters for the famous Goodnight-Loving Cattle Trail.  Four years earlier, Goodnight and his partner Oliver Loving drove a herd of two thousand cows and steers from Texas to Fort Sumner in New Mexico.  Goodnight sold the steers to the local government contractor, earning twelve thousand dollars in gold.  Although Goodnight returned to Texas, Loving continued north into Colorado, where he sold the remaining cows and calves to John Iliff.  Their pioneering cattle drive (and many subsequent drives) not only established a new route to lucrative markets, it helped to develop Colorado’s ranching industry.

As the Rock Canon Ranch’s only surviving structure, the Goodnight Barn is one of Colorado’s most significant ranching-related historic resources.  Goodnight built the sturdy front-gable barn using limestone quarried from nearby canyon walls.  He fashioned the beams, rafters, and distinctive wood doors by hand from native timber.

Pueblo preservationists realized at once that losing the building to the Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock would devastate their ability to interpret Colorado’s ranching history.  As all preservationists know, relocated buildings tell abridged stories about their past.  Therefore, if the Heritage Center moved the barn, even the people fortunate enough to see the building in its new home would not be able to appreciate its true significance.

Fortunately, CPI’s Most Endangered Places Program was created to handle just this kind of situation.  Established in 1997 and supported in part by the State Historical Fund, this program identifies and attempts to save historic resources threatened by vandalism, harsh weather, neglect, encroaching development, or other hazards.  Each year, concerned citizens nominate around sixty properties to the list.  Volunteer committee members visit and evaluate the nominated sites, meet to consider the merits of each nomination, and whittle the list down to a dozen or so most historically significant and most highly threatened resources.  Then CPI’s board of directors selects the final list based on recommendations of the committee members.  CPI announces Colorado’s Most Endangered Places List at its annual Saving Places Conference each February.  The Goodnight Barn was one of seven properties listed in 2002.

As a statewide advocate for historic preservation, CPI offers technical assistance, publicity, and other forms of aid to the stewards of endangered places.  In the case of the Goodnight Barn, listing facilitated the City of Pueblo’s attempt to purchase the structure and adjacent property.  According to Scott Hobson, Department of Planning and Development in Pueblo, CPI’s listing helped solidify local efforts to secure matching funds for the project by broadening awareness of and interest in the project from people outside Pueblo.  The State Historical Fund, the City of Pueblo, the Pueblo County Historical Society, the Hudspeth Family Trust, the Frontier Pathways Scenic and Historic Byway, and four other nonprofit foundations are contributing to the project.

Future plans for the site include acquisition of nine additional acres, the restoration and interpretation of the barn, and planning for public use of the site.  Colorado State Parks has expressed an interest in purchasing 200 acres that would connect the barn site to the Arkansas River and Lake Pueblo, setting the framework for development of a riparian area that would connect the barn site to riverfront trails.  Descendants of the Hudspeth family, who owned the property as a dairy farm, have approached CPI to provide photographs and archival information about the site.

As of this writing, the final details of the property acquisition were being hammered out by the City of Pueblo and the State Historical Fund.  All parties are confident that this important part of Colorado’s heritage will not only remain in its current location, but will be restored and opened to the public soon.  Texans are welcome to visit.