The history of the ranch.

“Ranching - Early 1900‘s”, by Bernice Brown. Acrylic painting of Liza Ortman’s grandmother, Bess Rohlfs.

Liza’s Great Grandfather, Amos E. Walther, acquired the Walther Ranch property in 1904. There was a cabin on the property homesteaded by George Marlow. The 1960 movie, “The Sons of Katie Elder”, starring John Wayne, was filmed in the Ridgway area portraying the colorful Marlow family.

Great Grandfather Walther incorporated with his daughter, Bess, and son-in-law, Sterling Rohlfs, to raise purebred Hereford bulls. The founding sire was Hugh Fairfax, calved March 14, 1921.

The two World Wars, the Great Depression and end of the Rio Grande Southern railroad led to a series of leases on Walther Ranch. The upkeep became minimal, and the slow decline culminated in an arson fire that destroyed all vestiges of the working ranch. All that remained were the homestead cabin, icehouse and the brick chimney from the original main house.

In 1980, Liza’s aunt (Rosamond Zetterholm, the little girl standing on the log in the old photos above) built a new ranch house north of the cabin across the big lake field pasture. She began the clean up process, removing dump truck loads of old barbed wire. Upon her death in 1994, Liza and her husband, John, returned to the physical labor of ranching by irrigating, cutting and clearing wood, fencing, and animal and vegetable husbandry.

There is now a conservation easement on the vast majority of the property. We have decided to help preserve the integrity of traditional ranching, combined with the abundant wildlife and natural beauty of southwestern Colorado, by sharing it with others.