The Cow Creek Trail, Part One

by Barb Boyer Buck

Imagine it's 150 years ago (I do this all the time).  Imagine you have made the long trek via horseback to the beautiful mountain valley of Estes Park.  At that time, Colorado was a territory of the US and the land was declared "public" by the Homestead Act.

Every piece of the valley that is not already developed is open for homesteading.  All you have to do is pick out your 160-acre parcel, "improve" the property, and pay a small registration fee.

Put yourself in that scene.  What is your personal perspective?  Are you a child, part of a family looking for a new home?  Are you sick of the towns where you live and want some peace and quiet in the Colorado mountains?  Do you fancy yourself a wilderness man or woman, fiercely independent and resourceful? You're itching to live off the land and figure things out for yourself.  Whatever your perspective, I'm sure you'll agree.  The homesteading narrative is romantic and adventurous.

Let's say you’re a big game hunting guide and you marvel at the wide-open fields below you as you crest that final hill over Estes Park. It's  the late summer of 1871, and the basin looks mostly dry, with only the snake of the Big Thompson River slicing through it (there was no lake back then).  You notice the prime spots along the river were already claimed.
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Now, suppose you ride north in the valley, where the mountains meet the meadows and the elk are plentiful.  Finally, you see it.  The Cow Creek Valley. ​

Looking north from the lodge porch, near the Cow Creek Trailhead. Photo by Barb Boyer Buck

The creeks in this valley have been slicing a sliver out of the surrounding Rocky Mountains for millions of years. Upon investigation, you find the valley is more than wide enough to establish a viable homestead and the entire drainage is covered in lush foliage.  

Imagine you stop to take a drink from the stream. (Don't do that today unless you treat the water!)  
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These are not the exact circumstances that led Henry Farrar to eventually homestead the area in 1871, but it's probably close.   

These are the kind of things I like to think of when I talk about hikes in historic sites within Rocky Mountain National Park but when I was a kid, I hated history. I struggled in class to remember dates, names, events.  I only fell in love with history while I earned a BA in Anthropology.

The McGraw Ranch lodge in the mid-1930s. Photo courtesy of NPS

The lodge in early August, 2020. Photo by Barb Boyer Buck

Suddenly, I found context in past events. I studied possible motivations for historical figures.  I found similarities between myself and everyone who came before me.  I can imagine myself into the mindset of someone in Estes Park, 150 years ago.  In the case of the Cow Creek Valley, I can imagine the stirring excitement of the situation, being given just enough help through the Homestead Act to get myself started in something entirely my own. 

In reality, Estes Park had long been the hunting grounds for native Americans, a summer stop on their nomadic routes.  Just because a place had never been permanently settled, doesn't mean anyone should claim it.  It had been a public, shared, space for ten thousand years before the homesteaders arrived.
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Several buildings near the original homestead near Cow Creek were finished in 1887 after the property was developed with its sale in 1884.  The barn, the lodge, the bunkhouse, and two additional cabins started this valley along another journey.  It provided water for cows and the family that lived there. I imagine an idyllic scene, exactly how you'd imagine what a Little-House-on-the-Prairie homestead would be like here, in its perfect riparian ecosystem. Bounteous and cozy. ​

The original homestead cabin, built in the 1870s by hunting guide Henry Farrar, is still on the site. Photo by Barb Boyer Buck

The barn, built after the property was sold and became a cattle ranch in 1884. Photo by Barb Boyer Buck

I'm an environmentalist, so I understand the damage human development has affected on our ecosystem, but the feeling of adventure, possibility, and excitement is intoxicating. 

John and Irene McGraw, grandparents of the surviving McGraw lineage, bought the ranch outright in 1909. John set it up so there could never be any debt on it.  There was no way any of his kin was going to gamble with the family home by using it as leverage in other concerns.  This pioneer tradition of establishing family ranches can be found in nearly every rural town, including those close to a National Park.
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Frank and his brother John, sons of the senior McGraws, turned the place into a dude ranch in 1936 by building additional cabins, eager to get in on the action so many in the area had at the time by taking in lodgers.  ​

Frank McGraw and his wife, Ruth, ride in the Cow Creek Valley in this hand-colored photo. Photo from a private collection.

Alf Landon, presidential candidate in 1936, sits on the steps of the McGraw Ranch lodge in 1936. Courtesy photo

Immediately after the McGraw Ranch guest ranch opened Alf Landon, Governor of Kansas and Republican candidate for President, booked the entire ranch for his summer campaign headquarters. 

​Ultimately, this was an unwise choice for Landon, despite having the public support of US Olympic-gold medals winner, Jesse Owen.   Landon became known as the politician who rarely traveled far from his home.

​He lost by a landslide later that year to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR held the record of most electoral votes in any US presidential election at 523 until the 1980s. Landon received eight. 

​Landon lost the popular vote as well. ​

The McGraw family was the backbone of the operation and was living onsite, but everyone had to move to a hotel in Estes Park to make room for the Landon family and his campaign.  Secret service personnel were housed in the bunkhouse, the Landon family lived in the lodge.  The McGraws would return to the ranch every day to cook for everyone and take them on horse rides.  One of the most popular rides was to Bridal Veil Falls.  Eventually, this well-trodden path became the Cow Creek Trail.

After Landon's visit, the McGraw Ranch was on the map and the family, eventually including Frank's wife and five daughters, were essential to its success during its 52 years of operation as a guest ranch.  In 1988, The McGraw Ranch was sold to the National Park Service and became part of Rocky Mountain National Park.
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Go to Part Two of The Cow Creek Trail next week when I will describe trail specifics, more historical anecdotes, and explain what the McGraw Ranch buildings are being used for today. 

A placard at the Cow Creek Trailhead explains the McGraw's ranch past as a guest ranch.