179 Prairie Divide Road
Prairie
Divide Road
connects 74E,
Red Feather Lakes Road
with 80C,
Cherokee Park Road
to the north. Along the way
Creedmore Lakes Road
(73c/180) intersects from the west. A
left turn at this point would make a return trip to back to
RFL
Village
, connecting with 74E, a few miles west of the beginning of
Prairie Divide Road
. Continuing on to 80C, a right
(east) turn will take you back to 287 a few miles north of the Forks.
Prairie
Divide Road
is the main road into
Red
Feather
Lakes
Village
. The road sign says 67J, and
goes north, then east, past Fox Acres subdivision and down into the North Lone
Pine valley. It is not clear where
67J becomes 179. Fox Acres was a
Historical Society tour, so that information will not be repeated in this
roadside tour.
There are only two structures to be seen on this tour, the Maxwell Ranch and the
Copper Bug Mine. The rest is open
land and grand vistas.
Prairie
Divide Road
in the Valley of the
North Fork
of the Lone Pine, heading east to the Maxwell Ranch.
Maxwell bulls laying contentedly after a morning
meal.
Maxwell Ranch
The Maxwell Ranch is visible just before
Prairie Divide Road
makes a left turn and climbs up out of the valley towards
Cherokee Park Road
.
Stewart G.
Maxwell and sons homesteaded in the upper reaches of
Lone
Pine
Valley
, in an area where the
Prairie Divide Road
drops down into the valley. The
present ranch is comprised of land from several homesteads: Samuel Sloan (1881),
George W. Jewett (1886), Noah W. Gowan (1889) & William Allen Sloan (1900)
and others.
1926
Margaret Goldsborough purchased Jewett homestead plus additional parcels
and continued to expand.
1938
Daughter Mildred Cusack inherits ranch and in1940 marries ranch foreman
A. J. Becksted.
1965
Ranch purchased by Stuart G. & Shirley B. Maxwell which includes
Lone
Pine
Forest
grazing permit.
1988
Ranch established as a partnership to include sons Michael and wife
Erica, and Dan P. and wife Deanna.
Maxwell Ranch Viewed from
Mount
Margaret
View of
Mt.
Margaret
from the Maxwell Ranch.
Old
Wagon Road
along Lone Pine Creek
The view is looking west, up
the valley. The old wagon road runs
right along the creek.
Copper Bug Mine
Just as you emerge from the valley is this remnant of
a mining structure from the Copper Bug Mine, begun in 1910, at 8,000 feet
which extracted copper and zinc for a few years. In 1949
pitchblende was found and the mine produced uranium for a few more years (Evans,
p. 17). Unfortunately this area is just outside the Colorado Mineral Belt,
whose northern limit is
Boulder
County
.
Chicken
Park
, which is 3 miles west of Prairie Divide is a location for commercial diamonds,
but alas, again, not financially viable. See Wikipedia for a map and
more information on mining in Colorado.
The Prairie
After climbing up from the
Lone
Pine
Valley
, 179 crosses a high ridge which runs south-north and is treeless (most of it)
which gives the road its informal name, Prairie Divide. This
view is looking back, south, toward the Mummies.
These winter pictures were taken February 2009.
This view is
to the west. There clearly is a lot
of open space available for cattle grazing.
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