Today was as fun as a treasure hunt! Our goal: to find the ranch my grandmother's family once owned. We grew up on stories of the ranch, which spanned the Wyoming-Colorado border between Laramie and Virginia Dale. For fans of the Mary O'Hara books: My Friend Flicka, Thunderhead, and Green Grass of Wyoming, this is the same area where these books were set. My favorite books as a horse-crazy kid.
In the family genealogy was a photocopy of a brochure advertising the ranch, which told the approximate location and milestones where the original entrance was. What we didn't know is that the ranch is intact today, the same as it was in the 1940s when it went out of the family.
Imagine my surprise (and delight) when we found the Pioneer Trail marker mentioned in the brochure, and right next to it, a dirt road heading into the hills with this sign. Wow! I took a lot of pictures, to share with the rest of the family. As far we we know, no one of our generation has set foot on the ranch. We were brave and drove in, and asked permission to drive around.
This is the main cluster of ranch buildings, where the ranch manager lives; looking generally southwest. The main ranch house is about 3 miles north of this spot. Near the big house is this water tank, probably the original water tank built for the log ranch house. The log house burned in the 1940s; it looks like the house was rebuilt on the original rock foundation.
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