The Wagner Ranch, some six miles north of Golden, Colorado, was created and owned by Henry F. Wagner and his wife, Almeda Peabody.

The following paragraphs which describe both the ranch itself and life on the ranch are excerpts taken from two narratives, one written by Henry and Almeda's youngest daughter, Beatrice Lulu and the other by Almeda herself. I have inserted occasional comments enclosed in brackets [ ]. :

April 1873 they [Henry and Almeda] moved to the valley, 6-1/2 miles north of Golden, which is Co. seat of Jefferson Co. Colo. This became known as the "Wagner Ranch" where they lived 27 years. The ranch was homesteaded, pre-empted and purchased land of the Railroad Co. and otherwise. Almost entirely grazing land. Finally owned 1200 [1240] acres, part of which they bought of a Mr. Samuel Eldridge who like Henry Wagner was a veteran of Civil War in Union Army. This acreage was called the Big Gulch. The land immediately at foot of the mountains on west was bought from a Thomas Rowe or Rose. He had built a stone house but did not complete it when he sold out. In a beautiful spot, a gorgeous supply of water from a spring near by; it was the most delicious water any one could drink.

To the south, Karl Wagner, the brother [of Henry] had taken up a homestead. He sold it to Henry.

In order to have more land for winter pasturing & raising upland hay in summer they leased some acreage across the & to the east public road. This land was called Leyden Place. A creek which run thru was called Leyden Creek so named from 3 brothers who owned the land & mined coal by tunneling in the mountain which was called "The Hog Back. These men 1 or two were killed in the mine when it caught on fire from explosion occurring deep in side. One of them was presumably murdered not far away. Thought to be for the gold dust he carried. It was before coin and currency was generally used. Also much gold dust was supposed to have been stached away under rock or buried in the hills. For many years people would come for many miles and places & search for days. In late 1890, a new shaft was opened up, but the fire was still burning deep in the mt. So it could not be operated with any success. Smoke issued continually for years, and occasionally there would be an explosion & flames would belch forth; then die down. On winter mornings & cold nights the cattle would huddle around this opening for heat. One cow got too close & slipped down. Her foot was so badly burnt. Finally had to put her away. Incidentally, it was the cow I learned to milk - my first. (Beatrice L. writing this).

There was no real farm land in that acreage. Upland hay was all the crops there was for feeding, only possibly a ½ acre which was sowed to alfalfa. All grain and other feed had to be brought in by horse and wagon.

Henry was a born cattleman. He loved horses and cattle which was the only means of livelihood excepting when Almeda decided she would help by making butter and selling it. The largest number of milk cows they had was rarely more than 22. All milking & butter making done by hand. Skimming milk, churning, etc.

Cow barns were built for the winter. … In summer the milk cows roamed open range. Every evening by 5 oclock the horse was brought out & someone to herd them in. All work was usually done by 8 oclock. In summer it began at 4 A.M. The cattle which were kept for beef in the fall were turned in to the mountain pasture, after yearly branding done. Some one of the family rode the range couple times a week; carried salt to the spot which was called "Salt Pile". In fall they were rounded up & marketed for beef.

The last year in which they made butter 3,444 lbs were made & sold for magnificent sum of 30 & 35 cts per lb.
. . .
I was very young when father was severely injured by being kicked by a horse, ill for many months. Another accident, which I saw occur, was: He & a hired man named Chris Walters were building a log barn. A log slipped or rolled down & struck my father, breaking a leg. Again laid up for many weeks.

Incidentally the logs were hauled down from the mountains by oxen which I well remember - name Tom and Jerry. One other accident which left him permanently handicapped was being kicked by a horse, 1 foot striking left shoulder, breaking colar bone, other foot right side of his face. I also saw that happen.

In 1901 or 1902 [July 6, 1901] my parents sold the ranch to a group of men who formed some kind of oil company. The only name I can remember was a Mose Howell. There was oil there. The well within 20 ft of our house was too oily for use. Also on the ranch were ledges of lime stone, red granite & fire clay. After selling the ranch and all his stock & etc we moved in to Golden.
. . .
He [Henry] had suffered with rheumatism for years & other ailments. On 16 of May 1906 he took violent heart attack, while up to the P.O. for morning mail. He lived until 6.30, Sunday A.M. May 20, 1906, when he passed on.

Mother came to Calif fall, of 1913 & spent 4 months with me; she returned to Colo. & in 1919 came back & lived with me until her death Dec 31, 1925.

We lived in Summit County two and a half years, then I went back to York State in the fall of 1871. I stopped in Michigan on my way, to see my Father, and Brothers, Daniel and James. I passed through Chicago a few days before the great Chicago fire. The weather was very hot and dry everywhere, and as I went on down to home and to St. Lawrence Co., 800 miles, I was not out of sight of fire. Many buildings, fences, haystacks, and trees, everything inflammable, seemed on fire; often the heat almost burning our faces through the (railroad) car windows. I arrives at my sister Saloma Thompson's in October, remaining there until January 8th among friends and relations. When I went east Mr. Wagner was intending to go to Missouri and get a farm, but he changed his mind and sent for me to come back to Colorado. I arrived in Georgetown January 13, 1872. Mr. Wagner worked there in the stamp mills until the next spring, when he went to the Valley and got a homestead. We moved there about May 1st and bought a team of horses, harness and wagon. The land he purchased from a man, then took it up as a homestead. We had been married for four years. I had taken boarders and worked by the month and both saving as best we knew how, so that we had in all $2,500. In April 1873 we moved to the Valley on a ranch and homesteaded, pre-empted and purchased land of the railroad company and other ways until we owned 1200 acres. This was mostly stock or grazing land. Mr. Wagner being exceptionally good at handling cattle and horses. We lived at that place for 27 years. It was and now is called the Wagner Ranch.

While we were in Georgetown, Carl Wagner [Henry's brother] came from Germany and boarded with us until we left. He was in the Franco-Prussian War and as soon as he could get away he cam to America. Our eldest son was born in Georgetown on November 17, 1872. Our three youngest children were born on our ranch. When we first went on the ranch the house was only a shell, but we kept building on until we had a comfortable house of seven rooms, besides a large store room and milk house, with chamber for men to sleep in, but all those things took much time and money and hard work, for to begin with we had no cellar, no well, just a little spring down in the meadow - no fence or sheds. Many cold mornings Mr. Wagner drove up to Coal Creek Canon over almost impassable roads to get slabs and poles and posts to build with, until at last we had sheds and corrals, miles of fences [water] brought to the door in pipes, and our Son Lelon dug a cistern, so then we had plenty of soft water on the porch, as well as hard. Also hydrants in the cow yard; one in the barn, one in the house lot and one in the slaughterhouse. One winter after a dry summer there were severe storms and we were obliged to haul hay and grain from Golden. We lost heavily of our stock that spring after paying $700.00 for feed. Then we both got down with pneumonia - I in bed and he in Golden, unable to come home. Our oldest girl, Rie, only ten years of age, together with her brothers John 8 and Lelon 6, doing their best to care for the stock and get their own meals. The snow was two or three feet deep in places. Those two boys, so young worked like men, and Rie and had no idle moments for weeks. During the winter I taught the children at home as they had never been in school, as we lived three miles from a school house, but they studied well, so that when they began to attend school, they were well able to stand with any class of their ages. Now when I think of how hard those dear little ones worked, making no complaints, it brings the tears even yet. But taken all together, I believe that our happiest days were spent on that big ranch, and it was not always hard or bad after we got well started. We had plenty to supply all our needs or wants. We had teams and wagons and buggies and saddle horses, to go and come as we chose, and those big fields and mountains seemed all our own. Mr. Wagner was an extra good man with stock and he and his sons could guess the weight very close with our stock. He was also good at breaking horses to the saddle or harness, and he took good care that his stock did not suffer from hunger.

. . .

But the years flew by. All the children except the youngest grew up in the old home and married and left us to make homes of their own. Lulu our youngest, was our stay and helper during the last six years on the ranch. Mr. Wagner's eyesight was failing so she or I were needed with him constantly to be eyes for him while driving or riding or doing any kind of work.

In 1901 we sold the ranch for $14,000 and moved into Golden. We had the pleasure of raising our children in the country, among the hills and valleys and in the fresh mountain air, with plenty of room, no other building in sight but our own. All but one married while we lived there, and here let me say I have thanked my Maker for the privilege of raising our children in that county home, and of having a husband that did not play cards or use tobacco; had temperate habits, was kind in family, had many good friends who shed tears of sorrow at his death on May 20, 1906.

The following is a partial transcript of the warranty deed by which Henry and Almeda disposed of their ranch. The deed is recorded in Volume 117, page 407 at the Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder office in Golden:

This Deed, Made this Sixth day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and one between Henry F Wagner and Almeda Wagner of the County of Jefferson, and State of Colorado, of the first part and Ernest M Duncan of the County of Arapahoe, and State of Colorado, of the second part:

Witnesseth, that the said parties of the first part, for and in consideration of the sum of Fourteen Thousand DOLLARS to the said parties of the first part in hand paid by the said party of the second part, the receipt whereof is hereby confessed and acknowledged, have granted, bargained, sold and conveyed, and by these presents do grant, bargain, sell, convey and confirm unto the said party of the second part, his heirs and assigns, forever, all the following described lots or parcels of land, situate, lying and being in the County of Jefferson and State of Colorado, to-wit:

The South East quarter of Section Twenty (20), The West half of the South West Quarter (1/4) of Section Twenty one (21), The West half (1/2) of the West half (1/2) of Section Twenty eight (28), the East half (1/2) and the South West quarter (1/4) of Section Twenty Nine (29), the South half (1/2) of North East Quarter (1/4) and North half (1/2) of the South East Quarter of the North West quarter (1/4) of Section 32 all in Township Two (2) South of Range Seventy (70) West of the 6^th P.M. Containing twelve hundred and forty acres more or less, together with all water rights and privileges appertaining to said land.

Together with all and singular the hereditaments and appurtenances thereunto belonging, or in anywise appertaining, and the reversion and reversions, remainder and remainders, rents, issues and profits thereof; and all the estate, right, title, interest, claim and demand whatsoever of the said party of the first part, either in law or equity, of, in and to the above bargained premises, with the hereditaments and appurtenances.

To have and to hold the said premises above bargained and described, with the appurtenances, unto the said party of the second part, his heirs and assigns, forever. And the said Henry F Wagner and Almeda Wagner parties of the first part, for themselves their heirs, executors and administrators, do covenant, grant, bargain and agree to and with the said party of the second part, his heirs and assigns, that at the time of the ensealing and delivery of these presents they are well seized of the premises above conveyed, as of good, sure, perfect, absolute and indefeasible estate of inheritance, in law, in fee simple, and have good right, full power and lawful authority to grant, bargain, sell and convey the same in manner and form aforesaid; and that the same are free and clear from all former and other grants, bargains [???] except the taxes and assessments for the year 1901 which the party of the second part agrees to pay; also except all the reservations by the Union Pacific Railroad Company with their deeds to the lands located in sections twenty one and twenty nine described with above deed and the above bargained premises in the quiet and peaceable possession of the said party of the second part, his heirs and assigns, against all and every person or persons lawfully claiming or to claim the whole or any part thereof, the said parties of the first part shall and will WARRANT AND FOREVER DEFEND.

In Witness Whereof, The said parties of the first part have hereunto set their hands and seals the day and year first above written

Henry F Wagner

Almeda Wagner

The map of the Wagner Ranch is drawn on joined portions of two USGS topographical maps, the Ralston Buttes quadrangle and the Golden quadrangle. These were created in 1965 but both have been revised, Ralston Buttes in 1971 and Golden in 1994, so they should show most present day roads and structures.

The land making up the ranch was obtained from the Warranty Deed by which the ranch was transferred from Henry and Almeda Wagner to its new owner, Ernest M. Duncan in 1901 when the Wagners moved from the ranch to Golden. A partial transcript of that deed is shown on the previous page.

The property was defined by nine rectangular parcels based upon the Rectangular Survey System in which large parts of the United States are divided into six-mile by six-mile square townships, each of which is divided into thirty-six square sections, each containing one square mile (640 acres). (Both the squareness and the area of a township and its sections are approximate due to local mapping difficulties as well as the curvature and irregularities of the earth's surface.) Each section can then be broken into quarter or half sections and each of these subdivisions similarly divided.

For example, a description such as the north half of the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of the seventeenth section of a particular township would describe a particular rectangular piece of land containing twenty acres (more or less!)

The nine Wagner Ranch parcels are defined in the deed and are listed in the table below (the parcel #s refer to the circled numbers on the map and are not explicitly used in the deed). On the map the section number appears in the center of the section square whose sides are shown by thin horizontal and vertical lines.

All Sections are in Township 2 South (of an east-west base line-the 40^th parallel of latitude in this case) and Range 70 West of the 6^th Principal Meridian (a north-south line running through Wichita, Kansas):

The total acreage is the 1240 mentioned in the deed.