Article Provided by Mark Sobczak.

The area known as South T Bar Ranch has a long history as a cattle ranch. Pursuant to an Act of Congress of May 20, 1862, A Homestead Patent was signed on April 8th, 1925 between Calvin Coolidge and William Happel and then deposited with the General Land office in Pueblo, CO.

A second Homestead Patent, signed by Herbert Hoover on November 2, 1932 conveying property to Lillian Frizzell. She and her sister built two cabins by what is now Sawmill Road and Arrowhead Court. The nearby creek kept their things cold in the concrete cellar. (Note: there is a third cabin said to be built by a third sister off what is now Pioneer Way.) All buildings are falling down but newspaper clippings dated 1935 and 1936 have been found in a cellar and old window frames. One headline was reporting news of Hitler antics in Europe.
Buddy Taylor’s grandfather moved from Missouri to South T Bar in 1897 and began a 1000 herd cattle operation. There were three ranches then with one of the ranch houses located where the present mailboxes are. This building was renovated and is now a residence.

Buddy went to school in the one room school house that you can see to the right side before you reach the present gate. It was for grades 1-8 and had 11 students. (Two were his sisters). You can still see the two outhouses—one for the boys and the other for the girls. When he reached third grade the school was consolidated to Canon City.
During the 1940’s a sawmill operation using a steam engine, cut lots of trees into 4×7 and 4×8 posts for supports in Mine shafts. The South Tallahassee River provided lots of water then. There were no elk on the ranch or in the entire area until 1968 when the Colorado Division of Wildlife transported 400 from Yellowstone Park to the Waugh Mountain area.