Harvesting Historical Riches

The Beckwith Ranchhouse: Log Cabin to Crown Jewel

Originally published in Colorado History NOW, November 2004

Looking at the Beckwith Ranch’s sprawling Victorian main house today, one might suppose its original owners enjoyed lives of luxury and ease.  Nothing could be more distant from the truth. The Wet Mountain Valley home’s fifty-foot porte-cochère evokes scenes of well-dressed couples emerging from immaculate Concord coaches for a lawn party while guests sip sun tea on wicker rockers scattered about the covered wrap-around porch. But underneath its fanciful gabled roof, this mansion is nothing more than a simple log cabin furnished with hard work and ambition.

Edwin Beckwith came to Colorado for its healthy climate and stayed for the business opportunity provided by a growing demand for beef from area mining camps such as Rosita and Silver Cliff.  In 1869, he drove a herd of Texas cattle to the picturesque valley west of Pueblo with pioneer trailblazer Charles Goodnight.  Edwin’s brother Elton abandoned a Philadelphia flour and grain business and joined the new cattle operation sometime during the early 1870s.  Together, they built one of Colorado’s largest ranches by focusing on land and herd acquisition while foregoing the construction of a large or comfortable home.  U.S. General Land Office records show that the brothers built their first home, a 24 by 22–foot cabin, almost as an afterthought while assembling the first parcels of a Custer County ranching empire that eventually ran 7,000 cattle and 200 horses on more than 60,000 acres.

The brothers built additions to their humble cabin as their fortunes improved. Owning half of all the cattle in Custer County, they were financially stable enough to spend some money on the main house.  Sometime in the 1880s—just prior to or during Elton’s term as a state senator—they converted the original one-and-a-half-story log cabin into a two-story house with a stairway tower and drop siding.  Next, they added a ballroom and a kitchen wing with a pantry, cooler, and mud area.  Finally, they added the wrap-around porch and porte-cochère. In the 1890s, they improved the ranch headquarters by adding a bunk house, servant’s quarters, carriage house, and barns.

All of the changes were complete by 1899.  Unfortunately, Edwin died the year before and was not able to enjoy his hard-won golden years.  Elton became less involved with the ranch’s day-to-day operations after his brother’s death.  According to one source, his own health and financial position deteriorated so much that he felt inclined to take his own life.  In 1907, he jumped—so the story goes—from a second-story window of the house that came to symbolize his family’s dramatic rise from obscurity to wealth and notoriety.  He died two days later.

After Elton died, the ranch changed hands several times.  Recent owners remodeled the home’s interior and covered its wooden siding with stucco, but left it structurally intact.  Over time, the buildings fell into disrepair but local residents still recognized them as precious reminders of the region’s ranching heritage.  Recognizing the place’s significance, owners Paul and Phyllis Seegers donated a portion of the ranch, including the main house and outbuildings, to a nonprofit group in 1996.  The Friends of Beckwith Ranch, led and inspired at that time by Linda Kaufman, agreed to maintain the site as a heritage center and to restore its deteriorated structures.

After listing the ranch in the National Register of Historic Places in 1998, the Friends group committed to a multi-year, multi-phase restoration and rehabilitation project supported in part by the State Historical Fund. They started by completing a historic structure assessment that identified and prioritized future work items. The next phase addressed the most pressing problems. Elder hostel volunteers removed the stucco from the mansion, exposing the original siding. Then contractors raised the entire home and built a new foundation underneath. The Friends group also re-roofed the mansion, two guesthouses, and the bunkhouse. Workers repaired the main house’s siding and trim, restored windows, restored the porte-cochere and porch, rebuilt a bathroom, and painted the exterior. The State Historical Fund has contributed a total of $479,342.

The Friends will complete a “finishing and furnishing” study and restore the exteriors of all of the remaining outbuildings. A final phase will restore the main house’s interior. All of the work will be complete within two years.

Today, the Beckwith Ranch looks very much like it did during its best years. Mike Hess, the current president of the Friends of Beckwith Ranch, says that although more work needs to be done in order to open it to the public as a house museum and living history center, it has regained its status as the “crown jewel” of the Wet Mountain Valley.

BY BEN FOGELBERG, Editor

Enjoy this?  Want more?  Become a member!