Historic Site Tours at YMCA of the Rockies-Snow Mountain Ranch, Granby, CO

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The Rowley family, Fred, Martha, Fred Jr., Clara, and Opal, began homesteading here in 1919. They lived in this cabin during the summer months, though Martha only spent a few summers here. Fred built the south half of this cabin after he finished the original barn. When he finished the cabin, it was considerably larger than most homesteaders’ cabins. Johnny Childs’ cabin, which forms the base of the horse barn, is more typical in size. If you look along the wall by the door, you can see that Fred kept the logs of the original room long because he planned to add another room in the future. After a few summers, Fred began living here year round. We cannot be certain exactly how the cabin was set up while he lived here, but we can make some inferences based on oral histories and evidence from other homesteaders of that era. The south half of the cabin is now set up as the kitchen, dining room, and, when needed, the laundry room. The other room was the bedroom for the entire family. Most spaces inside a homesteader’s cabin served more than one purpose because of the lack of space. To add more rooms meant cutting more logs and building the addition yourself, so most homesteaders made do with small homes.

2. Rowley Homestead Smokehouse

Fred used this building to smoke meat. Smoking removed the moisture from the meat and allowed it to be preserved for months. Fred hunted and fished for most of his meat and occasionally slaughtered the animals on the homestead. He hung the raw meat from metal hooks near the ceiling of the building and a small fire was lit in the pit below. This fire was not intended to be hot enough to cook the meat, but burned fairly cool in order to produce a lot of smoke.

3. Rowley Homestead Root Cellar

This is a reconstruction of Fred’s root cellar, which was also in this location. Due to animal activity, the root cellar collapsed in the mid-2010s. The original root cellar was a small dirt room with wooden shelves along the walls. Today our reconstruction includes a concrete vault with a wood-cladded interior and dirt to match Fred’s. Fred stored almost all of his food for the winter months in this room, including root vegetables, eggs, dairy, canned goods, and smoked meat.

4. Rowley Homestead Farming Implements

Like most of the objects at the Rowley Homestead today, none of these farming implements belonged to Fred. They may have been similar to the machinery he used to grow his crops, but not these exact machines. Additionally, many of these implements are too large and too expensive for a farm the size of Fred’s. Other farmers with more land in this area, like the nearby Just Ranch, likely used more of these machines because they were growing more hay and making more money. Aside from hay, Fred also had a small vegetable garden down the hill by Pole Creek. Keep an eye out for rhubarb in this area; the plants growing today are the descendants of the rhubarb Fred planted in his garden.

5. Rowley Homestead Milking Barn

Fred used this barn to milk and sometimes shelter his cows. Similar to the goat barn, this space was likely not occupied by cows unless they were being milked or it was cold or snowy outside. Fred built five stanchions out of wood planks and tree trunks to aid in the milking process. The cows stuck their heads through the wooden slats to reach the hay in the manger. Then Fred closed the slats around them, ensuring that the cows could not move around while being milked. Based on the number of stanchions, Fred had at least five milking cows.

6. Rowley Homestead Goat Barn

Fred milked and stabled his goats in the Goat Barn. It is the smallest of the three barns, since goats are small and likely spent most of their time in the fields. Inside the barn is a hay trough for the goats and a stanchion for milking. Goat milk was one of Fred’s sources of income—either as a bartered or sold product. He would sell or barter his animal products with neighbors or in the nearby towns of Tabernash, Fraser, or Granby.

7. Rowley Homestead Horse and Hay Barn

This barn housed Fred’s horses, with the second story serving as a hay loft. The first and second floors of this barn are different: the coloring on each is unique, as is the construction and the way the logs fit together— the logs on the first story are rectangular while the second story are circular and notched. The floor of the lower story is lined with logs. Fred likely did this to protect his horses from hoof rot during the wintertime. When horses stand in mud, especially freezing mud, for too long, their hooves can get infected which prevents them from being able to work. Horses were an important source of power: they provided the power needed to pull the farm equipment. The outside also features a hay pulley which Fred may have used to move hay from the ground or hay wagon into the loft.

8. Rowley Homestead Original Barn

Fred Rowley and his family arrived at their homestead location in the summer of 1919. Fred constructed this barn first. During its construction, Fred, his wife Martha, and their three children, Fred Jr., Clara, and baby Opal, slept in a tent. Eventually, Fred constructed more and larger barns for his livestock and turned this building into a workshop. Today, the original barn is set up as a workshop and features a small forge, a kerosene engine, and a corn sheller— all common farm implements for early twentieth century homesteaders.There is a two-seater outhouse attached to the back of this building. It is no longer in use. The outhouse is far enough from the cabin that Fred may have ran a rope from his back door to the door of the outhouse to avoid getting lost in the dark and in the snow during the winter.

9. Rowley Homestead Logger's Cabin

The Logger’s Cabin, now located at the Rowley Homestead, was moved from another part of the YMCA property. It was built in the 1940s. Its simple design and construction suggest that it was not meant to be a permanent structure. Up to 5 loggers might have sheltered in this cabin during their 6 to 8-week stints logging in the forests. The cabin was moved to the homestead in the 1980s by YMCA of the Rockies. The porch was added at that time as the cabin is used as a storage area for the Homestead staff. It is the only building not original to the Rowley Homestead.

10. Just Ranch

The Just family, Karl Just and his son Carl Jr., immigrated from Austria and arrived and made a homestead claim on Pole Creek in the early 1880s. No homesteader had claimed a plot on Pole Creek, so they were the first settlers to draw water from the creek. As they were the first homesteaders to use the water to improve their land, they were awarded the water rights under the doctrine of prior appropriation (the water rights law in Colorado). Water was an important resource in the West. Without water rights, homesteads were often unsuccessful. Carl Jr. married Della (Adelia) Lehman in 1898. The couple had eight children during their marriage, but Carl tragically passed away during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Della had to raise all eight children by herself. She not only raised them, but accumulated nearly 3,000 acres of land including the Rowley Homestead before she died in 1969.

This Tour is a Walking Tour.

Historic Site Tours at YMCA of the Rockies-Snow Mountain Ranch, Granby, CO

Created by Karen Lloyd-D'Onofrio on September 19th 2022, 4:57:44 pm.

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Description

The Rowley Homestead is a historic site on the property of the YMCA of the Rockies-Snow Mountain Ranch. An historic homestead from the early twentieth century, this site tour offers an in-depth look at homesteading, agriculture, ranching, and daily life in Middle Park and Grand County during that era. It shares the story of Fred and Martha Rowley, a couple who moved from Denver in 1919 to claim land under the Homestead Act of 1862. This tour also includes information about the Just Ranch and Just family who homesteaded at this location in the early 1880s until the 1960s.

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Historic Site Tours at YMCA of the Rockies-Snow Mountain Ranch, Granby, CO

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