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They trod swiftly and softly through the forest not disturbing the pine laden paths. They were now in their favorite summer hunting grounds where the game was plentiful and their lodges nestled in the ponderosa and lodgepole pine. The wind chimed through the douglas fir and aspen. At the end of the warm days when the crisp air of autumn blew the aspen leaves and the forest became gold and red, the Ute Indian tribe would pack up their lodges and start their journey to the low country along the Yampa River where the game would migrate and settle in during the long winter months.
west of the town of Maybell, Colorado in Moffat County at an elevation of between 5,500 and 7,500 feet. It was here that the Utes wintered due to the more mild weather and the vast herds of elk, antelope and deer.
The Upper Country and the Lower Country are non contiguous parcels of property separated by fifty miles but surrounded by an assortment of federal, state, private leases and permits which total approximately 341,600 acres. Thus, the deeded and leased parcels total approximately 400,000 acres.
attempted to convert the Utes from hunters to farmers. He was unyielding in his fervor and told the Utes to plow and thresh their favorite gaming and racing fields. The result was a massacre of Meeker and all his employees and an ambush of Colonel Thornburgh’s U.S. Calvary detachment at Milk Creek on September 29, 1879. From that moment on, the fate of the Utes was sealed and the opening of Northwestern Colorado to homesteading was an eventuality.
the Upper Country parcel of Cross Mountain Ranch, as the crow flies. It was determined that a renegade band of Utes, numbering about twelve, had actually committed the crimes for which they stood accused. The peace-loving Chief Ouray of the Utes negotiated with the Army officers over the fate of his braves and he (Chief Ouray) insisted that they be tried in Washington. Ten braves did go to Washington, but nothing of consequence happened to them. Instead there was a final ratification of a Ute treaty whereby the Utes were divided; half went to a reservation in southern Colorado and half to the Unitah reservation in Utah.
Ranches added another prime property to the ranch when they purchased the Pyramid Ranch in 1993. The Pyramid Peak Guest Ranch is located in the Upper Country (Rio Blanco County). Situated in a box canyon at the end of the east fork of the Williams Fork River, this beautiful, pristine and remote ranch sits at an elevation of 8,000 feet at the foot of Pyramid Peak (13,000 feet). Crossed with streams, nestled in forests of pine and aspen, teeming with wildlife and surrounded by the Flat Top Wilderness, the Pyramid Peak Guest Ranch offers solace and beauty to the weary traveler.
rode and fled from posses. Brown’s Park adjacent to the Cross Mountain
Ranch Low Country was the rendezvous of cattle rustlers and hardy early ranchers. The introduction of sheep from Wyoming
was met with stiff resistance in this area by cattlemen, many of whom had
the largest spreads in Northwest Colorado. Three of these ranches stand out
for their size and fame. They were the White Bear Land and Cattle, Co., the
Sevens and the Two Circle Bar.
west which were told to them by a Denver promoter names James D. Husted. The origin of the name White Bears is cloudy. Popular conjecture held that the Yampa River, originally called the Bear River (because of the number of bears in the vicinity), could have had significance in the naming. Mr. Husted’s holdings consisted of a big ranch in Lily Park, so named because of the profusion of beautiful sand lilies that bloomed in the spring. The Little Snake Joins the Yampa at Lily Park. The White Bear’s holding were 5,000 acres. The company adopted the brand the W Bar W.
equal number of mature animals were trailed to market at Wolcott, a station on the Denver and Rio Grande railroad in the Eagle River Valley. Eventually Mrs. N.N. Pierce’s nephew, Billy Wear, became the third foreman of the Sevens following the ouster of George Watson, a very capable cowman but unfortunately not related to the owner. Billy Wear was a colorful foreman, handsome, hard-working and hard-drinking. There is a story about Billy Wear and a cattle drive to Steamboat Springs which could be a scene out of a John Huston western.
and sometimes bring him a fresh kill of deer. He lived his last three years at Lily Park where he died and was buried at the age of ninety-eight.
owners are sensitive to the vast historical influences of this special property and plan to maintain and improve all aspects of this unique ranch.
Kitty Boeddeker, Owner Cross Mountain Ranch
______________________________________________ (1) “Where the Old West Stayed Young” by John Burroughs
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From
the 14th century until they were "relocated" onto reservations, the Ute
tribes, a part of the Shoshone family, hunted and gathered, procured horses
from the Spanish of the southwest and protected and governed their lands of
Northwestern Colorado.
where the Utes summered, is located in the Upper Country at an elevation of
8,000 feet. There are 30,700 deeded acres in Routt and Rio Blanco counties,
near the township of Hayden,
Colorado. The Low Country
consists of 27,700 deeded acres
For
four centuries, from the 14th to the 18th, the Utes lived relatively
undisturbed lives, occasionally defending their hunting grounds from
incursions by the Arapahoe, Sioux and Cheyenne. When the white man did
venture in, they came as explorers, mountain men and fur trappers and the
Utes assisted them. Early settlers found the Indians peaceful and friendly.
They bartered for sugar, biscuits and medical help in exchange for meat,
moccasins and pelts. Only when gold seekers began to harass and encroach on
Indian territories in the vicinity of Steamboat Springs in the mid-1800’s
did the Indians begin to show signs of hostility.
would
feed his herds of sheep and cattle in the summer and the natural and
nutritious bluestem grasses of the Low Country would sustain his herds
through long and difficult winters without putting them “on the stack.”
The
“White Bears” were a consortium of eastern investors comprised of preachers,
college professors, and professionals who were basically ignorant of
ranch operations but
lured by the tales of the 
Mountain
Canyon gorge, the ditching and irrigation of more than two thousand acres of
land on the first bench above the river, the cultivation of alfalfa, grain
and root crops (some of which won prizes at the 1913 National Western Stock
Show in Denver) and running a considerable herd of cattle on the open range and growing hogs,
turkeys, chickens, geese and ducks for market.” (1)
Billy
was approaching the town of Steamboat Springs with a herd of four to five
thousand head of hot, dirty and tired cattle on their way to the railhead at
Wolcott. He had been on the trail for several days when he was met at the
end of town by the constable who told him it was no longer permissible to
drive cattle down Main Street. The herd would have to bypass the town. To do
thus they would have to cross the Yampa twice and ride over mountainous
terrain. The town had recently installed brand new plank sidewalks on either
side of Main Street. The town fathers did not relish the idea of fresh cow manure
spattered on their brand new sidewalks. 
There are also stories of Tom Horn, the over-zealous lawman who ran down
outlaws only to be hanged himself for murdering a young black boy. Pat
Lynch, the Hermit of Pat’s Hole is buried at Lily Park. Pat was born in
Ireland, took to the sea at fourteen years of age, shipwrecked in Africa,
rescued by an English ship, went to India and found his way to America where
he joined the Navy. He fought in the Civil War and made his way to
Northwestern Colorado. He lived the life of a hermit in a canyon where the
Green River joins the Yampa. He stored jerky and bread all over the
mountains and was said to have tamed a mountain lion who he would call and
the lion would answer with a plaintive cry
called
this place Disappointment. He then crossed to the south side hoping to find
her there but she was not to be found. He sat down and wept and called this
place Vale of Tears and he went on. He finally found her some miles up the
river and named this place Happy Hollow. These names are a part of Cross
Mountain Ranch.
Guests
will lodge in the Upper Country at the historic Pyramid Peak Guest Ranch and
in the Lower Country at the historic Victorian Sevens Ranch. Between the two
unique locations and elevations (8,000 feet to 5,000 feet), guests will
enjoy all winter sports (snow mobiling and cross country skiing)
to fly fishing, horseback riding, white water rafting, and cattle drives in
the summer.
