In 1917, William Koch of Lancaster County, Nebraska purchased 160 acres south of Haxtun, with his son Louis settling on the land and building a house with the help of his brother.  A year after he started farming, Louis sent for his wife Reka. They planted trees and windbreaks and raised numerous crops including wheat, millet, oats, and corn and had pasture land for their Angus cattle, milk cows, sheep, hogs, horses, and chickens.

Nebraskans Frank W. Koberstein and wife Clara purchased 160 acres northwest of Holyoke in 1918. Frank arrived first with the stock, household items, and the dog, while Clara and their children stayed with relatives for a time before joining Frank on their new family farm. 

While traveling to an Old Settler’s Picnic, James and Nora Brophy stumbled upon a 360-acre farm nestled in a neat little valley near Eckley, Colorado. Shortly thereafter, in 1918, they purchased the property, now known as the Brophy Homeplace. The couple moved with their four children and started a new life in Yuma County, where the family welcomed eight more children. The Brophys grew watermelon, corn, and cane to feed their cowherd, while keeping a handful of horses to pull farm machinery. The couple’s son, James “Jim” P.

Harold Russell Vickerman spent his childhood in Silver Cliff, the son of a widowed miner and the youngest of six children. As a young man he worked on his brother’s ranch near Rosita. At age 26, he leased 160 acres near Westcliffe and used the proceeds from his first crop of hay to purchase the ranch in 1918. The property included two historic houses, built in 1883 and 1887, that are still in use today. In 1919 he married Velma Hocking and together they ran cattle, grew hay, and raised two sons, Wilbur and Harold Gillard.

Establishing their claim on the plains of Eastern Colorado in 1912 after arriving in a covered wagon from Missouri, James M. Kenny and his family were officially granted legal ownership of the property by President Woodrow Wilson in 1917. 

James’ daughter Arlie would marry Red Hamilton, and the couple would build the original homestead on the land while raising their four children in the 1920s. Their son Marvin, along with his wife Evelyn continued to build the ranch into a well respected operation. 

A foreman for the Illinois Central railroad, Starling Gray had traveled from Iowa to Kit Carson with the hopes of acquiring a farm in southeast Colorado. He was eventually able to lay claim to a relinquished 160-acre logging claim and an adjacent unclaimed parcel. Starling, his wife Essie, and two small children moved from Iowa to their new home in Colorado in the spring of 1910, bringing with them cows, mules, chickens, chicken coops, seeds for planting, furniture, and farm machinery.

Gillham’s Rim Ranch was established in 1917 by Roy E. Gillham of Archer, Nebraska when he bought 160 acres of land near Peetz, Colorado. Roy and his wife Orpha would acquire additional tracts of land in the 1920s while raising their three boys, Kenneth, Charles Dean, and Robert. After returning from duty in World War II, Charles Dean and his wife Mary Adele would move into the farm once Roy and Orpha had built themselves a new home in Peetz.

Traveling from Kansas in a covered wagon, Charles Gergen arrived at his homestead site in March 1907. After marrying Nellie Shannon in October 1911, Charles gained full ownership to his land in April 1913. Of Nellie and Charles’ five children, their youngest son, Paul Gergen, stayed on the farm, buying it from his father in 1947 for his new bride Rosemary.After many years of dryland farming the Gergens were some of the first farmers in the area to install irrigation for their corn crops.

On January 4, 1908, Franz Gebauer purchased the 160-acre parcel homesteaded by Peter Jones in 1903. Franz, his wife Augusta, and their children raised cattle, sheep, and horses in addition to various crops. Over time additional acreage was acquired and now the farm encompasses more than 1,000 acres. The majority of the farm’s buildings were constructed in 1916, shortly after the two-story hipped roof house was built in 1915. The property includes two historic utility buildings and two large barns.

In 1916, Frank Greenlee filed homestead papers for and moved onto 160 acres near Cortez. In 1918, he purchased an additional 160 acres to the north. On the combined 320 acres, he raised cattle, hogs, corn, and hay, as did his sons Harold, Howard, and George after him.  George’s son Gale continues to farm the land, raising the same crops and livestock as his father, uncles, and grandfather.  Two homestead houses, a blacksmith shop, and outhouse remain from the very first years of homesteading by the Greenlees.