The Crawford Ranch is located on 620 acres in La Plata County near the town of Hesperus. The homestead started out as a logging claim established by Allen & Pearl Crawford. Although there are no written records from the early days, and the exact date that they settled on the land is not known, it may have been as early as 1886, and land records clearly trace their ownership to 1898. The ranch is currently owned and run as a hay and cattle operation by Allen & Pearl Crawford's grandchildren, Mike, Mark, Ronald & Bonnie Crawford.

The Aspaas Ranch, located near Hesperus in LaPlata County,was deeded to Annette Johnsen Aspaas, a Norwegian immigrant, in 1913. Annette passed in 1920, dividing the ranch among her four children and it has remained in the family since then. Historically and today, Aspaas Ranch raises cattle and allows grazing in the autumn. By 2010, Helen Ruth Aspaas finished purchasing shares from cousins and became sole owner of the property. In 2010, Helen Ruth placed a conservation easement on the ranch, held by La Plata Open Space Conservancy.