Working Ranch April/May 2025

looking back Continued from page 106

Not all the land in the state was avail able to the cattlemen, or anyone else for that matter. The land Sam coveted belonged to the Uncompahgre Ute Indians. While waiting for the Ute land to become available, he worked at driving horses and cattle from the front range of Colorado to towns all through the mountains. The Ute land in western Colorado had become a point of contention for those who hated the Indians and wanted their land. After many battles with the Utes, the government took action. On August 28, 1881, the Ute Indians were rounded up by the cavalry and escorted to a new reservation in eastern Utah. The doors had swung wide open and the rush was on for the new settlers to claim their 160 acres of the now-empty Ute land. Like many others, Sam had waited impatiently for the government to remove the Indians. When the day finally came, Sam had taken on a partner named Ed Kreighton, and they had already crossed Black Mesa with Alonzo, two new cowhands, and several thousand shorthorn cattle. On the trail, they encountered thirty wagons full of new settlers headed for the North Fork Valley. The new settlers were guided by Samual Wade and Enos Hotchkiss, whose names are still well known in the area today. Sam Hartman had set up business at Maher, in Crawford County, and began to build his empire. By the second

Dos Rios Ranch, the first ranch in the Gunnison Valley, was owned and operated by Alonzo Hartman, in 1872.

year in the valley, more cattlemen and entrepreneurs of all kinds of busi nesses poured into the valley to claim their piece of the new land. By the end of the second year, Hartman had driven so many herds of cattle and horses over the Old Indian Trail, that locals began to call it the Old Hartman Trail. After a few years, there were many successful cattlemen in the area called cattle kings, but it was Sam Boone Hartman who was the undisputed cat tle king of North Fork. Hartman drove thousands of cattle from the valley to Cimarron, where the railroad took them to the Kansas City markets. The period of 1884 to 1890 was the prime years of the cattle kings of the North Fork Valley. The most successful cattle ranchers started to dress in flamboyant clothes, including white, double-breasted shirts with pearl buttons, high-heeled boots, and large hats. They added large, colorful scarves, to call atten tion to themselves as the royalty of the North Fork Valley. Fancy pistols in equally fancy holsters hung on the belts of all the kings. Their pres ence was announced by the music of the jingle bobs dangling from their shiny silver spurs. By the turn of the century, Sam, and most of the cattle kings had become rich, and successful. They had organized into the Gunnison Cattlemen’s Association, and Sam was elected president. They also organized an annual event called Cattlemen’s Days for all the people in the Valley. In 1904, Sam had an accident at

his ranch in Maher that could have ended his ranching career. The Delta Independent paper covered the story: “Sam Hartman, who lives in Maher and is well known throughout Delta County, had his leg so badly mangled Tuesday afternoon that it had to be taken off. The team started and Mr. Hartman reached for the lines and at the same time attempted to get into the buggy when his foot slipped and caught between the spokes of the wheel.” Sam Hartman recovered the team and continued to the school to pick up his kids and take them home before he went for help. After he healed from the amputation, (said to be removed by using a well-worn dehorning saw,) he made a wooden brace for his missing leg and continued with his business. Settling in the mountains of Colorado in the early days took a special kind of grit and determination. Sam was the first cattleman to set up a business in the North Fork Valley. His brother Alonzo had started his own successful ranch and became Gunnison’s post master after the Indians were removed. The Hartman brothers are the back bone of the Valley’s history and are still remembered today. You can see Alonzo’s beautiful Queen Anne-style castle home in Gunnison, and Sam’s brace is on display in the local museum. Sam Hartman died on April 21, 1935, in Maher, and Alonzo died in 1919.

Bert Entwistle’s web page is www.blackmulepress.com.

Sam Hartman.

APRIL / MAY 2025 I 105