Great Divide, Colorado

Terry and I drove through Area 3 (on the Colorado State Hunting Map) so Terry could have a feel for the terrain and animals as he begins to field more and more calls about hunting season.

I have been telling people that you have to love sagebrush to live in this country. It is everywhere and an admirable plant.

The first picture is of an elderly windmill set on a hill looking toward the Little Snake River. The Little Snake, its drainage system, and the surrounding area—low, rolling hills, distant peaks, stone bluffs and sagebrush—were part of the huge cattle industry that operated here in the late 1880s and early 1900s. Thousands of cows were herded into and out of this remote area, down the Little Snake to Brown’s Park and back up to the railroad in Wyoming in the fall.



As I look around, I am astounded that this dry country with its sparse grass could possibly support that many cows. I have to stop and remember that the grass and vegetation has changed since the herds grazed the original grasses down.

The windmill sits several miles east of Great Divide, an early homesteading community. It thrived after the Homestead Act, when many individuals and families moved West to take on the challenge of taming the west by proving up on a homestead—160 acres. Proving up meant living on the land for two years, building a house of some sort and working the land. They quickly found out 160 acres could not support them in crops or livestock; many sold out and moved to town. Others bought up to increase their holdings so they could run cows or sheep or put up hay or grain.

Great Divide is a crossroad with several empty buildings and several occupied homes and then, after a while, this windmill.

We took CR 21 along the Little Snake, a quiet, little brown river that the dog could walk across; a working river, feeding the few alfalfa fields and providing water for farms, irrigation, cows and the deer, elk, and antelope that make this such a good place to hunt.

We saw a large herd of elk sleeping and browsing along the river.