Harold Russell Vickerman spent his childhood in Silver Cliff, the son of a widowed miner and the youngest of six children. As a young man he worked on his brother’s ranch near Rosita. At age 26, he leased 160 acres near Westcliffe and used the proceeds from his first crop of hay to purchase the ranch in 1918. The property included two historic houses, built in 1883 and 1887, that are still in use today. In 1919 he married Velma Hocking and together they ran cattle, grew hay, and raised two sons, Wilbur and Harold Gillard. Ownership of the ranch passed to Harold and his wife Milla and over time the ranch grew to 3,600 acres. Harold ranched until his death in 1985; he was a past president of the Custer County Stockgrowers Association and a member of the Colorado Cattleman's Association. Today Milla and her four children own the ranch.