Amidst the hustle and bustle of early Colorado’s mining boomtown lifestyle, Thornton and Margaret "Madge" Brown craved a simpler life. Their dream was fulfilled when the bank assayer and his wife, a school teacher, decided to leave Cripple Creek and purchased their ranch near Steamboat Springs in 1915. However, in 1918, tragedy struck. Thornton died in the Spanish flu epidemic, leaving Madge a widow.