The Perry Family has been a proud agriculture producer in Routt County for five generations. In 1911, Winfield Scott Perry homesteaded in Toponas, Colorado, purchasing water rights in 1913.  The ranch grew spinach and lettuce in the early days, and later, oats and a mix of Timothy & Red Clover hay. English Herefords were the family's choice cattle breed, and Junior Perry developed a special relationship with a Canadian rancher, from whom he purchased his bulls.

The Moellenberg Ranch was established in October 1914, when C. Henry Moellenberg purchased 240 acres of ranch land in Yuma County. Herman Fred Moellenberg, one of Henry’s sons, acquired adjacent property in 1914 as well. Herman Fred and his brother, August, homesteaded together and worked the property upon August’s return home from World War I. In 1938, August inherited his father’s 240 acres. August’s son, Delmar, and his wife Roberta, purchased the home place in February 1973.

The Daniel Miller family immigrated to The United States from Germany in the 1840s. The Millers ultimately ended up in south central Colorado in 1910, where they started ranching with their oldest son. In April of 1919, Daniel purchased what was to become the Miller Ranch. Later, Daniel’s son, Martin, married Freda Kitzman. The newlyweds moved to the ranch and made the place their livelihood. Martin purchased the ranch from his father in 1936. By 1953, he had added 320 acres of mountain pasture to the ranch.

The M&M Hahn Partnership LLLP farm is located in Yuma, Colorado. The land came under Hahn family ownership when Allen Fields sold 960 acres to Louis and Katie Bueltel in 1910. Originally producing corn, wheat, sorghum, and cattle, soybeans are now grown as well. The original farmhouse was not built until 1920. The Bueltels had a daughter, Rose, who married Joe Hahn. The couple bought the land in 1931. After serving in the Air Force, Rose and Joe’s son Maurice bought the farm in 1946. He married Marie, and the farm has been passed down through the family ever since.

Frank and Angelina Lorenzini came to Weldona in 1908 from Silver Plume to work in the sugar beet fields, along with many other Italian families. Their son Americo purchased 40 acres in 1919 but the farm ground was seepy, so Americo and other area farmers dug drainage ditches by hand and buried tiles to drain the water, forming the Weldon Valley Drainage District. Americo also ran a truck line and during the Great Depression, he would take livestock to the stockyards in Denver and return with food and fuel for the people of the community.

Floris Clifford (Cliff) and Leota Lewton moved their family from northeast Kansas to farm in Bennett, Colorado in 1919. The family lived in a tent on the initial 715 acres until they built their house which is still in use today. Cliff and Leota, along with their eight children, worked the farm until World War II, raising wheat, corn, and dry beans as well as horses, cattle, hogs, and chickens.  After the War, sons Harold and Glenn worked alongside Cliff until his passing in 1971.

Frank J. Kleve was born in Humphrey, Nebraska and was one of 11 sons. Frank was the first to leave home. He purchased a farm near Holyoke, Colorado. When conscripted during World War I, he sold the farm.  In 1919, Frank returned to Holyoke, married Elizabeth Heitoff, and purchased a different farm. The farm was further from town and at a higher price. The farm began at 160 acres and has since grown to 2,048.

Erik and Maria Enstrom immigrated to United States in 1898 from Sweden. They lived in Ironwood, Michigan and Telluride, Colorado before settling in Nucla in 1911. They purchased the family place and began raising fruits and vegetables to sell to the miners in Telluride and harvesting seeds to sell to the Mile High Seed Company.  Later, they began raising alfalfa and grass hay along with a herd of Hereford cattle. Their son Arthur and his wife Kittie Mae inherited the ranch in 1929 running it until their son Herbert took over.

In 1917, Felix Lempka purchased a farm near Julesburg in Sedgwick County. Felix and his wife, Frances, raised six children on the farm. Their daughter, Margaret and son-in-law, Jerry Dolezal, purchased the farm from her parents in 1942. Jerry and Margaret retired in 1982 when their son, Jim, and wife Charlene, moved to the farm. The couple purchased adjacent property in Nebraska, expanding the family farm over the years. They raised two daughters in the home that Jim’s grandfather, Felix Lempka, built in 1926.

Arthur L. & Alma Becker Davis married in 1914. In 1919, they journeyed from Ashby, Nebraska to start their new lives and claim their southern Colorado plains homestead. In 1923, having fulfilled the requirements of the Homestead Act, Arthur Davis received his patent signed by President Calvin Coolidge. The original 640 acre homestead was 11 miles from Walsenburg. The homestead house (which still stands today) was built in the mid-1920s.  Through the years the family expanded to 8 children.