I'd like to thank my dad for finding this one...In March of 1894, Nathaniel T. Dodge applied for a homestead in Buena Vista, Colorado. It was the Northwest quarter of the Southwest quarter (also known as Lot 6) of Section 6, Township 14 South, Range 78 West of the 6th Principal Meridian, containing 42.69 acres. After several years of living on and improving the land, the homestead application was granted in 1901 and the homestead patent issued in 1903. (for the homestead application, I have posted this information previously on http://nbdodge.blogspot.com/2008/11/land-patent-records-for-nathaniel-t.html) Nathaniel lived and worked the land until he sold it in 1922.
Below is a picture of the home that he built and lived in. The picture is from the mid-1900's. We're not sure who is in the picture, but the home is very interesting to see and is a nice detail to add to his homesteading story
Fast forward to 2021...we are now looking to find out what happened to the homestead after Nathaniel sold his land and passed away. The land was sold to a Mr. R.B. Griffith in 1922 for $1,500 as part of a mortgage taken out from the Federal Land Bank of Wichita. After trading hands a few times, the land was foreclosed in 1930 due to non-payment of the mortgage. This was following the crash of 1929 and the onset of the great depression. The land sat vacant, owned by the bank until 1946, when it was purchased by a rancher (along with several thousand additional acres). This rancher owned it until his death in the 1960's and was sold by his estate in the early 1970's. The people who purchased it kept the land together and sold it again in the 1980's. In the 1990's, a five-acre parcel was subdivided from the former homestead. The remaining land was sold again in the 1990's, and in the early 2000's, the Terrapin Ranch subdivision was created. The land records for Chaffee County are available online at iCounty.org.
This last week, dad was looking on google earth and found the former homestead (we visited the land on our trip to Buena Vista last Summer). The boundaries of the former homestead parcel are easy to see. It is a square parcel of land with a road along the southwest corner. There are three homes running from the Northwest to the Southeast with open space along the north and southwest.
google.com
South of the middle house, there was something that caught my dad's eye. Below is a picture from google earth of what he found.
In the middle of this picture, there appears to be an outline of a foundation where a building used to stand as well as other remnants of former habitation. Looking at the picture of the home where Nathaniel and his family lived, it appears to be the exact location of where their house stood. The outline of the foundation appears to match the photo. In addition, the location of the trees appear to be in the same place as well. We are planning to go back to Buena Vista next Summer to visit this place and see where our ancestors lived. We are hoping the remnants of the foundation are still there for us to see in person.
