Throughout the late 1870s prospectors filtered into the mountains, especially into the Rabbit Ear Range (today's Never Summer Range). Thus the prospector became a familiar figure throughout the Front Range and Never Summer Range for decades to follow.

From 1895-1935, Grand Ditch was built to bring water from Never Summer Range across La Poudre Pass and down the Cache La Poudre to the plains for agriculture.

Around 1917, John G. Holzwarth, a German immigrant, his wife Sophia, and his three teenaged children moved into the mountains, establishing a homestead along the Colorado River north of Grand Lake. There on the North Fork they cut timber, built a sawmill, and erected a cabin. Their original idea was to develop a ranch, raising both hay and horses. Trapping for furs and freight hauling helped bring in extra money.

In about 1920 a few of Mr. Holzwarth's "drinkin' friends" from Denver made a visit to the homestead to do some fishing. That group proved to be "so lazy and drunken that they even quarreled over the division of the fish." Once that bunch left for home, Mrs. Holzwarth and her son Johnnie "rebelled" at having to cater to such ill-mannered people. Future guests, they insisted, would have to pay. They christened their homestead the Holzwarth Trout Lodge and began charging two dollars a day or eleven dollars per week. A dude ranch was born. Rental cabins soon offered visitors some rustic shelter and Mrs. Holzwarth provided filling meals. This infant business found a steady clientele and thrived, growing larger during the decade. The Never Summer Ranch, as it was called by 1929, continued as a prosperous example of the 1920s until it was purchased by The Nature Conservancy in 1974 and transferred to Rocky Mountain National Park in 1975.

Credits and Sources:

“Rocky Mountain National Park: A History. Chapter 4: Dreams with Silver Lining.” National Park Service. Park History Program. Accessed June 12, 2015. http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/romo/buchholtz/chap4.htm

“Rocky Mountain National Park: A History. Chapter 6: Paradise Founded.” National Park Service. Park History Program. Accessed June 12, 2015. http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/romo/buchholtz/chap6.htm

“Timeline of Historic Events.” National Park Service: Rocky Mountain, Colorado. Stories. Accessed June 12, 2015. http://www.nps.gov/romo/learn/historyculture/time_line_of_historic_events.htm

“Rocky Mountain National Park: A History. Chapter 6: Paradise Founded.” National Park Service. Park History Program. Accessed May 31. 2015. http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/romo/buchholtz/chap6.htm