Enos T. Hotchkiss settled here in the 1880s. There are about 140 acres and the family uses the land for pasture and hay. The farm is a family operation with 100+ head of cattle. The family lives in the house Enos built in 1890.

Starting when they were married in 1913, Alvin and Gertrude Hawkins Morris worked in Colorado agriculture, eventually renting and then owning an apple orchard.  Five generations of the family have continued to work in agriculture, and all members of the Morris family have been fruitgrowers.

Theodore and Mary Roeber purchased the homestead and adobe house, as well as purchased additional acres nearby. The rest of the land was homesteaded and purchased by other members of the family. Roebers raised cattle, hay, and fruit on the original farm.

Enos T. Hotchkiss first came to the North Folk Valley in 1879. He returned with other settlers in 1881 and built a house and barn. The original barn still stands as does the large house which replaced his first adobe house. Enos first raised cattle but finally brought the first sheep into the valley. Enos owned a large part of the townsite of the Town of Hotchkiss at one time.

The Vela Ranch is located in Delta County near Eckert, and is the second ranch we are recognizing today from the Surface Creek Valley. It was established in 1893 when James and Meri Vela purchased 40 acres from Albert Weir. By 1900, James' brother Caesar Vela arrived from Italy and the two brothers began to expand the ranch. Within ten years it reached its current size of nearly 1200 acres. Today the ranch is owned  and operated by James and Meri's grandchildren, Mary Vela Callahan and James D. Vela and his wife Carol.

The Kehmeier Ranch, which is located near Eckert in Delta County, got its start in 1894 when William Frederick and Leota Kehmeier purchased 65 acres from Charles E. States. That first year William built a small, sod-roofed log cabin, which was home for his family of five for the first couple of years. By the late 1890s they built a second, larger log home, and by 1907 were able to move with their seven children into a fine, two-story house, which remains the family home today.

The Campbell Ranch, located in Delta County near Hotchkiss, was started in 1890 by William A. Sheppard, who established an apple and peach orchard on 80 acres. The property has grown over the years into a ranch of over 400 acres, and is now owned by William Sheppard's great-grandson, Cal Campbell, who runs the operation with his son, Jess Campbell, and grandsons, Calvin and Chad Campbell. In addition to cattle, they raise alfalfa, corn and other small grains.

The Cribb-Leitzinger Farm, located in Delta County near the town of Hotchkiss, was started 100 years ago this year by James and Sarah Ann Cribb. The young couple came to this country from England and Wales in 1891 and first settled in Crested Butte. After working for six years in the mine, they had saved enough money to purchase 40 acres on Rogers Mesa, where they established their new home, planting fruit trees and raising livestock.

John Obergfell, the founder of the River Road Ranch, was a trapper and a guide for the Army as early as 1870. In early 1881 he and another fellow staked out the Roubideau Valley in Delta County and were put in Fort Crawford until September 3, 1881. Upon his release, John returned to restake the valley but a fellow inmate filed first. A quarrel followed and John ended up purchasing the claim for $80. He was 52 at the time and over the next 16 years built up a large cattle ranch which he left to his family.

Alonzo Hamilton brought his family from Iowa in 1886 to homestead in Delta County. The trip by covered wagon took 4 months. Alonzo raised hay, grain, cattle and horses on 165 acres and also had an orchard. He was a successful sheepman as well and ran his sheep from Marble. On his property, Alonzo built a log cabin, stable, granary, fences, dug ditches and planted fruit trees.