Salt Works Ranch

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Photograph of Salt Works Ranch, late 1800s

 

 

Dreaming of gold and success, Charles Hall ventured to Colorado alongside other prospectors. Failing to realize his goals, Hall turned to salt manufacturing and he erected the Colorado Salt Works and Ranch in 1862.[1] 

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Main house at Salt Works Ranch 1998

Hall’s salt enterprise took water from the salt springs near Fairplay and boiled it down to dry crystals. For a few years, Hall ran a successful business on his ranch land, with his product in demand for the processing of mineral ores, but the railroads soon imported much cheaper salt from the East.[2]

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Barn at Salt Works Ranch 1998

Hall and his descendants focused on cattle ranching as salt sale profits decreased. The ranch became headquarters for Tom McQuaid, Hall’s son in law, and his “vast cattle empire.”[3]  McQuaid was well known in the Fairplay area for managing thousands of cattle on 100,000 acres of ranchland.

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A group looking at a building at Salt Works Ranch 1970s

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Salt Works Ranch, 1998

Much of the Salt Works ranch land was sold off after McQuaid’s death, but a couple of thousand acres of the 135-year-old ranch remain. Charles Hall’s descendants continue to ranch and raise cattle on the land today, and they are committed to keeping the scenic fields protected from commercial development.[4]

[1] Simmons, R. Laurie & Simmons, Thomas H., “Historic Ranching Resources of South Park, Colorado,” National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1999).  https://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/media/document/2017/630.pdf.
[2] Encyclopedia Staff, "Colorado Salt Works," Colorado Encyclopedia, last modified December 2, 2015, https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-salt-works.
[3] Jennings, Dan, “Tales from the South Park Salt Works,” Stories from Park County, last modified July 1996. https://sites.google.com/site/parkcountyhistorystories/tales-from-the-salt-works-ranch.
[4] Jennings, Dan, “Tales from the South Park Salt Works.”