Holzwarth Historic Site - Bridge Over the Colorado River

Bridge Over Colorado River with views of the Kawuneeche Valley

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Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

Beneath you runs the headwaters of the Colorado River! It provided water to the homesteaders who called this valley home over a century ago.

What was the Homestead Act?

With the goal of promoting development in the American West, President Lincoln passed a law in 1862 that promised any family or individual 160 free acres on the frontier given they inhabit the land for five years and “improve it”.

Improvement was defined as clearing, building structures, cultivating plants and livestock, etc. 

How did the Homestead Act Impact the Kawuneeche Valley?

While a total of 270 million acres were claimed under the Homestead Act, here in the Kawuneeche Valley only a little over two dozen claims were successfully staked between 1880 and 1927. This impacted roughly a quarter of the total area.

There were many obstacles to improving the land, and farmers and ranchers saw little success converting the area to cropland or ranchland. There were poor, swampy soil conditions, a lack of accessible pastureland, and a natural competition between domestic livestock and native wildlife. Not only that, but day to day activities were impacted by long, cold winters. Imagine having to walk through three feet of snow to use the outhouse!

Despite the harsh landscape surrounding them, homesteaders were keen to adapt the landscape to suit their needs, even though it was at the expense of the natural character of the ecosystems. They removed native vegetation and planted non-native plants and grasses. They also removed beavers and dammed, re-routed, and channelized rivers and streams. They built a device near this bridge, with a wheel and headgate, to divert water to pastures.

If you stood in this place a hundred years ago, you would have seen a wetter landscape with willow dominated wetlands mixed with riparian forest. You would have seen an abundance of beavers, natural grasses instead of the non-native Timothy grass that was planted by homesteaders, and more channels and tributaries of the Colorado River.

When the Holzwarth family arrived in 1917, they followed in the footsteps of other homesteaders and sought the goal of creating their own habitable oasis in the Rockies. But what was their background to qualify them as ranchers? And how did the family settle on the Kawuneeche Valley?