About The Santa Maria Ranch Near Hartsel In The Colorado Rocky Mountains

As with so much of Colorado, the Santa Maria Ranch and the nearby town of Hartsel is rife with history and culture. At Santa Maria Fly Fishing, we're proud to be a part of this history with historic structures on the ranch dating back to the late 1870s. Originally, this estate was known as the EM Ranch before being renamed in the 1950s after the Santa Maria Springs, which reside on the property. For much of this ranch's history, it was used to raise sheep and other livestock before its bisecting middle fork of the South Platte River became a premier destination for fly fishing in Colorado.

In 2002, the application to recognize the structures on the Santa Maria Ranch within the National Register of Historic Places was submitted and later accepted. Of the seventeen structures on the ranch, thirteen offer historic significance and remain much as they were over a century ago. These include a blacksmith shop, bunkhouse, barn, and the main ranch house. Together, the various structures and resources on the Santa Maria Ranch paint a vivid historical picture of ranching in South Park, Colorado.

It all started when a man named Hardy Epperson established the ranch as a homestead in 1874, and it was Mr. Epperson who is said to have been among the first to take out a ditch in the area. He improved the flow of the warm spring and made other improvements to the property. Future owners expanded the ranch through homesteads of their own and the acquisition of neighboring homesteads. An owner named Fehringer was credited with greatly expanding the irrigation system on the ranch, which allowed large amounts of hay to be produced and sold in the Denver area. The ranch was later owned by Chalmers-Galloway Livestock Company.