Jasper and his wife Asenith Bliss Riggs and nine children relocated in Weld County from Union County, Iowa in 1872, acquiring this land and other land with the sole purpose of farming. They had three more children here; one died in early childhood. Jasper and son Millard were active in establishing irrigation water in this area, without which this would be a desert. At one time, Weld County was among the top three counties in production of agricultural crops. During World War I he raised a lot of potatoes for the Army.

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.

 John Durstein homesteaded in Baca County in 1883, then bought a relinquishment nearby. He had the primary water pump rights on Two Buttes Cree. Durstein raised feed under irrigation using these rights. Durstein had a beef operation which he pastured on approximately a township.

Mr. and Mrs. Peter Lantz homesteaded this land in 1889, building the house and outbuildings. In 1978, after their daughter Mrs. Alvina Lantz Seifried passed away, her sons Harvey and Clarence inherited. Major crops include wheat, barley, and grassland.

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.

160 acres was homesteaded by John George Held in 1889. Crops planted were spring wheat, corn, oats, and rye at first, but many of those early years, particularly the 1890s, were very dry with precipitation as low as seven inches in 1894. A few horses were used for farmwork and as transportation. A few cattle were kept. As many of the original home owners in the area left because of the drought, open range allowed more acres to be grazed and those who remained were able to survive.

Arthur John Hill and his wife, Mary, left Iowa to come to Kirk, Colorado, with relatives and friends in 1887. They claimed a homestead near Kirk, working on a ranch nearby while getting the soddie built on their place. Once established on their farm with their growing family, their years were the same as most others of their time, made up of challenges, hopes, hard work, and fun. Arthur, Jr., took over the stewardship of the place on his 21st birthday at the death of his father.

The first 160 acres of Farrow Ranch were purchased from a Mr. Perkins in 1879 by Mason Farrow, and an additional 72 acres purchased from Woodruff Cooper. Alfalfa and small grains have always been the main crops along with cattle, and the family also raises Registered Quarter Horses.

Approximately 500 acres or more was acquired by warranty deed in 1881 for cattle, hay, and grain production. All three Charles Faivres (great grandfather, grandfather, and uncle) farmed the land and then Ronald Sutherland started farming when he was discharged from the Navy in 1958. Ron built his home on the ranch in 1966 and has raised his family there. His niece and family live in the old log home. There are two lakes on the ranch that are spring-fed.

The farm was acquired in the 1880s or 1890s by Harmke Ewegen Miller, and was passed on to Harmke’s son, Rudolph Ewegen, in 1909. Rudolph Ewegen was born in Nebraska in 1883 to German immigrant parents. In 1902 he married Josephine Hier. He eventually came out to Amherst, Colorado, to build up the farm, and moved his family there in 1911. Rudolph farmed 1500 acres, growing corn, wheat, potatoes, and oats, along with raising cattle, horses, chickens, and hogs. A light plant was installed on the farm in the 1920s.