Diamond Ranch | |
Nearest city | Chugwater, Wyoming |
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Coordinates | 41°44′45″N105°3′15″W / 41.74583°N 105.05417°W Coordinates: 41°44′45″N105°3′15″W / 41.74583°N 105.05417°W |
Area | 3.8 acres (1.5 ha) |
Built | 1878 |
Architect | George D. Rainsford |
NRHP reference No. | 84003696 [1] |
Added to NRHP | September 28, 1984 |
The Diamond Ranch was established near Chugwater, Wyoming in 1878 by George Rainsford, a New York native who came west to breed horses. Rainsford, an architect, designed many of the structures at the ranch. Horses bred at the ranch, mainly Morgans and Clydesdales, were widely known and sought after. The ranch was named after Rainsford's Diamond brand, one of the two oldest registered brands in Wyoming. Unlike most brands, which remain with the owner, the Diamond brand has remained with the property. The ranch features extensive barns for breeding and raising horses, as well as a more modest ranch house. In its prime there were formal gardens. [2]
Although Rainsford established the ranch in 1878, it was not until 1880-1882 that temporary structures were built, with permanent buildings in 1885. Rainsford did not receive a patent for his lands until 1891, and then for only 160 acres (65 ha). The remainder was public land amounting to about 27,000 acres (11,000 ha), which Rainsford fenced. He was fined and forced to tear the fences down from 1905 to 1907, as an 1885 law prohibited the fencing of public lands. Although there were 3000 horses on the land in 1900, by 1920 they had declined to 200, and Rainsford sold his remaining stock to the U.S. Army and retired. His manager, Paul Raborg, bought the ranch in 1922, breeding polo ponies and raising dairy cattle. A scheme to feed the cattle on sunflower seeds led to the construction of large silos for storage. The plan failed and Raborg left when his marriage dissolved. His former wife's parents took over the ranch, with Maud Raborg's mother Dora Mae Oberman becoming sole owner on the death of her husband in 1937. Dora Mae Oberman expanded the ranch to 64,000 acres (26,000 ha) before she died in 1956. [2]
In 1956 the ranch was sold to neighboring landowners Hugh and Rissa McDonald, who also owned the nearby Ned Foss Ranch. Their holdings amounted to 75,000 acres (30,000 ha) by 1962. The McDonald's rented the Diamond Ranch buildings for use as a Methodist youth camp from the mid-1950s through 1965. The ranch passed from the McDonald's on their deaths in 1966 to their daughter and her husband, Ruth and John Braunschweig. In 1968 the ranch became a dude ranch and camping center associated with Kampgrounds of America. The barns were converted for guest use, with sleeping accommodations in the stud stalls and a dance floor in the main barn. [2]
Rainsford avoided traditional frontier architecture, using materials and forms more typical of eastern U.S. practices. The ranch buildings are substantial stone structures. The main barn, later the dance and dining hall, is an irregular stone structure varying from 1+1⁄2 to 2+1⁄2 stories with a mixture of hipped and gabled roofs. The complex encloses a sheltered courtyard with the main part of the barn set back into a hillside. The roofs are steeply pitched, lending the structures a lowered appearance that is characteristic of Rainsford's architecture. The ranch house is an irregularly shaped two-story structure with a variety of design elements. A stone bunkhouse and a stone bath building, formerly a storage building, complete the ensemble. [2]
The Diamond Ranch was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 28, 1984. [1] It continues to function as a guest ranch.
The Snake River Ranch, near Wilson, Wyoming, is the largest deeded ranch in the Jackson Hole area. The ranch buildings are grouped into three complexes comprising headquarters, residential and shop complexes. The ranch combined two neighboring homesteads and was first owned by advertising executive Stanley B. Resor and his wife, Helen Lansdowne Resor. The Resors used the property as a vacation home, but the ranch was also a full-time, self-sustaining operation.
The Swan Land and Cattle Company Headquarters are a historic ranch headquarters complex on Wyoming Highway 313 in Chugwater, Wyoming. Organized in 1883 in Scotland, the Swan Company was one of the largest ranching operations in the nation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, managing more than one million acres of land. Now a much smaller operation, its former headquarters complex was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964.
The Cunningham Cabin is a double-pen log cabin in Grand Teton National Park. The cabin was built as a homestead in Jackson Hole and represents an adaptation of an Appalachian building form to the West. The cabin was built just south of Spread Creek by John Pierce Cunningham, who arrived in Jackson Hole in 1885 and subsisted as a trapper until he established the Bar Flying U Ranch in 1888. The Cunninghams left the valley for Idaho in 1928, when land was being acquired for the future Grand Teton National Park.
The Manges Cabin in Grand Teton National Park, also known as the Old Elbo Ranch Homestead Cabin, Mangus Cabin and the Taggart Creek Barn, was built in 1911 by James Manges. Manges was the second settler on the west side of the Snake River after Bill Menor, setting up a homestead near Taggart Creek. James Manges arrived in Jackson Hole in 1910, where he cut wood for Charles or William Wort. Manges' cabin is stated to have been the first two-story structure in the northern part of the valley. A root cellar was excavated beneath. The log and frame structure features wide eaves to keep the winter snow away from the walls. It was heated in winter by a single stove, with one room on each level.
The Hunter Hereford Ranch was first homesteaded in 1909 by James Williams in the eastern portion of Jackson Hole, in what would become Grand Teton National Park. By the 1940s it was developed as a hobby ranch by William and Eileen Hunter and their foreman John Anderson. With its rustic log buildings it was used as the shooting location for the movie The Wild Country, while one structure with a stone fireplace was used in the 1963 movie Spencer's Mountain. The ranch is located on the extreme eastern edge of Jackson Hole under Shadow Mountain. It is unusual in having some areas of sagebrush-free pasture.
The T E Ranch Headquarters, near Cody, Wyoming, is a log ranch house that belonged to buffalo hunter and entertainer Buffalo Bill Cody (1846–1917). The house may have originally been built by homesteader Bob Burns prior to 1895, when Cody acquired the ranch. Cody expanded the ranch to about eight thousand acres (32 km²), using the T E brand for his thousand head of cattle.
The P Ranch is a historic ranch in Harney County in southeastern Oregon, United States. The remaining ranch structures are located on the west bank of the Donner und Blitzen River in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The ranch was built by Peter French, a well known 19th-century cattle baron. The P Ranch became headquarters for the French-Glenn Livestock Company, which eventually covered over 140,000 acres (570 km2). After French was murdered in 1897, the French-Glenn Livestock Company slowly sold off the P Ranch property. In 1935, the United States Government purchased the remaining P Ranch property to add to an adjacent wildlife refuge. The Civilian Conservation Corps demolished most of the original ranch buildings in the 1930s, and a fire destroyed the main ranch house in 1947. The few remaining P Ranch structures are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Ranch A, near Beulah, Wyoming, was built as a vacation retreat for newspaper publisher Moses Annenberg. The original log ranch structures in Sand Creek Canyon were designed in the rustic style by architect Ray Ewing. The principal building, a large log lodge, was built in 1932. Other buildings constructed at the time included a garage with an upstairs apartment, a barn, a hydroelectric power plant, stone entrance arches and a pump house. The lodge was furnished with Western furniture and light fixtures made by noted designer Thomas C. Molesworth. Many of these furnishings, among the first of Molesworth's career, are now the property of the state of Wyoming and are in the Wyoming State Museum.
The Sod House Ranch is a historic ranch in Harney County in southeastern Oregon, United States. The remaining ranch structures are located south of Malheur Lake in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The ranch was built by Peter French, a well known 19th-century cattle baron. The Sod House Ranch became the headquarters for the northern operating division of the French-Glenn Livestock Company, which eventually covered over 140,000 acres (570 km2). After French was murdered in 1897, the French-Glenn Livestock Company slowly sold off its ranch property. In 1935, the United States Government purchased the Sod House Ranch property to add to an adjacent wildlife refuge. The eight remaining Sod House Ranch buildings are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The David L. Shirk Ranch is a historic ranch located in the Guano Valley of eastern Lake County, Oregon, United States. The ranch was originally homesteaded in 1881. It was purchased by David L. Shirk in 1883. He operated the ranch until 1914. The property was acquired by the United States Government in 1942. The ranch is now administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The remaining historic ranch buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Rainsford Historic District in Cheyenne, Wyoming comprises a group of Victorian houses, many designed by architect George D. Rainsford. The neighborhood includes the residences of a number of cattle barons, giving rise to the name "Cattle Baron Row." The district is located immediately to the east of downtown Cheyenne and includes examples of Stick, Eastlake, Greek Revival, Romanesque Revival and Shingle style architecture, among other eclectic styles of the time. The neighborhood includes the former Wyoming Governor's Mansion and the William Sturgis House, both individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Caroline Lockhart Ranch was established in 1926 by Caroline Lockhart, who purchased a 160-acre (65 ha) homestead near Davis Creek at the foot of the Pryor Mountains in Carbon County, Montana, while in her fifties. Lockhart expanded the ranch, adding buildings, land and grazing rights until the ranch comprised about 7,000 acres (2,800 ha). The region, known as Dryhead Country, is one of the most isolated places in Montana.
The Oxford Horse Barn, built in 1887, is located near Laramie, Wyoming in Albany County, Wyoming. It is one of the oldest and largest existing barns in Albany County. The barn in an excellent example of vernacular architecture as influenced by the English cattle and horse ranchers which immigrated to the American West. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Steele Homestead is a historic homestead located along Wyoming Highway 191 northeast of Boulder, Wyoming. The homestead was established in 1886 by Ed P. Steele, who built a one-room cabin at the site; this cabin was expanded several times until it grew to eight rooms after a 1908 addition. Steele and his family operated and added land to the ranch until it reached a peak of 3,000 acres (1,200 ha); by this point, the Steeles owned 600 cattle and 100 horses. Meanwhile, the ranch continued to add buildings, including a main barn and several sheds; it now has seventeen buildings, fourteen of which are contributing buildings to its National Register listing. Steele's children all stayed in the ranching business, and the homestead is still owned by his descendants.
The Roba Ranch is a pioneer ranch located near the small unincorporated community of Paulina in Crook County, Oregon. The ranch is named for George and Mary Roba, sheep ranchers who acquired the property in 1892. Most of the important ranch buildings were constructed by the Roba family between about 1892 and 1910. Today, the ranch covers 1,480 acres (6.0 km2) and is privately owned. The ranch was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
The Doncaster Round Barn, also called "Bayers' Barn" and "the Round Barn at Twin Bridges" is a three-story, wood-framed round barn located about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of Twin Bridges, Montana. Built about 1882 by mining entrepreneur Noah Armstrong to house his race horses, and featuring a 20 feet (6.1 m)-wide indoor circular aisle that was used for exercising horses, it is a National Register of Historic Places property notable for its unique architecture and as the birthplace of the Thoroughbred racehorse, Spokane, winner of the 1889 Kentucky Derby.
The Bath Ranch, also known as the Bath Brothers Ranch and the Stone Ranch, was established near Laramie, Wyoming by Henry Bath about 1869-70. It was one of the first ranches in Albany County. The initial homestead was replaced by the present stone house and barn in 1875, using stone quarried locally by Henry and his sons. Since the area was populated by hostile Native Americans, the buildings were designed as fortified refuges. The Bath family became prominent in Wyoming society in subsequent years.
The Flying Horseshoe Ranch was established in the Centennial Valley of southeastern Wyoming by Danish immigrant Mads Wolbol in the late 1870s. The complex of mostly log structures, about 15 of which are considered contributing structures.
The Diamond A Ranch, or Spring Ranch, is a ranch in the upper Wind River valley of Fremont County, Wyoming. The site was first settled by John Robert McDonald, a Scottish immigrant who had a 160-acre (65 ha) homestead on the site in 1891. McDonald sold the property to John Williamson in 1907. Jack Williamson and his brother David were Scots as well, working as stonemasons. The Williamsons had worked in New York City, at Princeton University, at the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City and on bridge work for the Union Pacific Railroad. In 1888 they came from Salt Lake City to Lander, where they worked on a number of projects, as well as in Rawlins and at Fort Washakie. They joined their sister Jean Williamson Sinclair at the Upper Circle Ranch near Dubois in the early 1890s. David Williamson married Annie McKenzie, a friend of his sister's who had come with her from Scotland. When Jack died of tick fever in 1916, David moved to the ranch with his family. After David's death in 1934, his wife Annie operated the ranch until she sold it in 1966. The ranch is notable as one of several ranches established by Scottish immigrants.
The Huxtable Ranch Ranch Headquarters District, also known as White Creek Ranch, comprises a complex of ranch structures in Converse County, Wyoming. It was part of a dispersed community known as Boxelder, established by settlers in the 1880s. The ranch was established in 1893 by Charles Smith who built a one-room and later a three-room cabin on the property, as well as a barn. Three years later he sold the homestead to Willard Heber White. White and his wife lived on the ranch until 1928 when they moved to Douglas. On White's death in 1929, the ranch was purchased by Lloyd Huxtable and Charlie Olin. Lloyd and Olin built the present ranch house for Charlie and his wife Najima, Olin's sister, from 1933 to 1935. The Huxtables operated the ranch until his death at 86 in 1976. Huxtable served as a Converse County Commissioner from 1948 to 1956.