The Slash 07 Ranch is located in the beautiful Ohio Creek Valley 14 miles north of Gunnison, Colorado. Snow-capped peaks, the Gunnison National Forest and the West Elk Wilderness surround the Ohio Creek Valley. The upper end of the valley contains several undeveloped ranches and is one of the last valleys to maintain its pristine beauty. The Slash 07 ranch has been in the same family since the early 1940’s and has been operated and cared for by its owner during that time. The ranch contains 3,800 acres with Ohio Creek, a fishing river, and Willow Creek flowing through the property. The ranch borders National Forest lands and two other pristine ranches. While noted for its high quality meadows, the Slash 07 ranch also is well balanced with critical spring grazing from the upland sage lands, which also provide habitat for elk calving grounds and critical habitat for the Gunnison Sage Grouse. Numerous other wildlife species are found on the ranch. The property grades to higher elevation and into Aspen and Pine forest where it adjoins the Gunnison National Forest.
The Slash 07 Ranch offers excellent access on an all weather paved county road within 20 minutes of Gunnison’s commercial airport and 10,000 feet of runway. Excellent skiing is 45 minutes away at Crested Butte and Monarch Ski Areas. Blue Mesa Reservoir is the largest body of water in Colorado and is only 30 minutes from the ranch. The resevoir provides ample boating and fishing opportunities.
LOCATION
The Slash 07 Ranch is located 14 miles north of Gunnison via paved County Road 730, locally known as the Ohio Creek Road. Gunnison lies between Pueblo and Grand Junction and is readily accessible via US Highway 50. Gunnison by highway is 200 miles southwest from Denver, 165 miles west from Colorado Springs and 125 miles southeast from Grand Junction, Colorado. Gunnison’s commercial air service is provided by United and United Express from Denver Continental Airlines offers service from Houston. The airport also provides charter service, fueling and hanger facilities.
During the summer months, mountain roads lead in from Glenwood Springs via Colorado Hwy 133 and Ohio/Kebler Pass and from Del Norte and Pagosa Springs via Colorado Hwy 149 via Lake City.
While easily accessible, the Slash 07 Ranch and Ohio Creek Valley are secluded, and relatively undeveloped at the upper end of the Valley. The setting makes one feel like "they have gotten away from it all".
AREA AND CLIMATE
The Ohio Creek Valley is surrounded by the Gunnison National Forest. From the ranch, lying west or northwest is the West Elk Wilderness along with West Elk Peak, the Castles and the Anthracite Range (Ohio Peak); to the north are Kebler and Ohio Pass, Carbon Peak, Mount Axtel, and Whetstone Mountain; to the east is Red Mountain and Flat Top. These snowcapped, towering sentinels provide the inexhaustible beauty, abounding recreation opportunity and vital irrigation waters, which make the Slash 07 Ranch such a unique property. The ranch lies at an elevation of 8,300 feet and grades up to 9,400 feet offering outstanding views of the surrounding peaks that range from 12,000 to 13,000 feet.
Gunnison, founded in 1874, is steeped in history of early day trappers and miners. Remnants of the old days are found at places like Pitkin, Baldwin, Ohio City and Crested Butte. Crested Butte made the transition from glory day mining town to a very special year round recreation town due in large part to its fascinating beauty and skiing at Mt. Crested Butte. Gunnison provides a host of recreation activity including skiing, packing, rafting, sail-boarding, fishing and hunting, golfing, and jeep tours among others.
Gunnison and Crested Butte are served by six banks, three libraries, one hospital with 24-hour emergency service, 18 churches, four newspapers and four radio stations not to mention excellent retail shopping, lodging and restaurants. The 2000 census indicated the population of Gunnison County at 13,500 with 5,500 people in the city of Gunnison and 2000 inhabitants in the town of Crested Butte. Gunnison is home to Western State College, offering four year programs, with attendance of 2,500.
The climate in Gunnison is typical for the central Rocky Mountains with a noticeable “four season” experience. For the month of July the average maximum High temperature is 81 degrees and the low is 42 degrees. Temperatures in January average from a high of 26 to a low of –8 degrees. The temperature for Crested Butte is slightly less in the summer and slightly higher in the winter than Gunnison. This is a result of Gunnison’s lower elevation resulting in warmer summer temperatures and the fact that it lies in a low pocket allowing cool air to settle there in the winter. Total annual precipitation varies greatly between the two mountain towns with 10.5 inches in Gunnison and 26.8 inches in Crested Butte. Snowfall accumulation is 54 inches in Gunnison and 209 inches in Crested Butte. The climate at Slash 07 Ranch would tend to be between that of Gunnison and Crested Butte, yet closer to that of Gunnison.
ACREAGE
The Slash 07 Ranch consists of approximately 3,800 acres. The lower portion of the ranch consists of beautiful and productive native meadows, which produce timothy and clover hay and pastures. Irrigated acreage is estimated at 718 acres served by 8 ditch rights with 72.05 cfs of water right. The irrigated land has a capacity to produce 800 tons of hay. Ohio Creek and Willow Creek meander through the property for about three miles. The land grades upward out of the valley floor into upland grass and sage pastures. The sage pastures are a blessing of nature in that they provide early grazing for livestock as well as an abundance of habitat that support a host of wild plants and animals including deer, elk and the Gunnison Sage Grouse. The land grades higher to the northeast into Aspen and Pine Forests where it borders National Forest. The Slash 07 Ranch will carry 400 cow/calf pairs plus replacement heifers during the grazing season. Ample hay production will balance the summer grazing creating a strong 400 animal unit operation. The pastures are cross-fenced into 12 pastures and numerous miles of fencing for rotational grazing. The ranch borders the Gunnison National Forest for over five miles on its east side. This access control is significant and has allowed the owner to provide a game preserve for wildlife. The owner has not allowed hunting and only limited fishing for nearly 30 years.
WATER
The Slash 07 Ranch has plentiful water and valuable water rights. The irrigated lands are supplied with 72.05 cubic feet per second (cfs) of water rights. The water is sourced from eight ditches that originate in Ohio Creek, Carbon Creek and Willow Creek. A detailed list of water rights is available in our office. In addition to stream flows, the ranch has 15 ponds and numerous springs on the property.
The first generation of Stratmans’ found this ranch after "droughting out" on ranches in South Dakota and Utah. The area has experienced dry years, yet it has always managed to put up a strong hay crop. Even during the worst drought year since records began, 2002, the Slash 07 Ranch put up over 500 tons of high quality hay. The meadows are lush with timothy and clover and widely renown for its "horse-quality" hay that commands a premium ($200/ton in 2002).
Additional water rights are provided by underground domestic wells at the improvement sites.
IMPROVEMENTS
The Slash 07 Ranch has three building sites in close proximity to each other. The main ranch headquarters include a completely re-modeled two-story concrete block home with metal roof. The home contains 1,880 square feet with 3 bedrooms, two baths, office, and a living, dining and kitchen area. An enclosed porch and utility room is part of the home with an attached one-car garage. A 100-year old barn is the centerpiece of the building site, complete with tack room, stalls, stanchion and hayloft. A metal building with three large overhead doors provides an insulated shop with concrete floor in one bay. Equipment storage is provided in the two other bays. Covered hay storage, several miscellaneous log and wooden buildings and livestock sheds round out the structures along with a full set of livestock working facilities.
The second building site includes a 1,888 square foot home on 1.5 levels, which has been remodeled and has metal roof and siding. A third home is 1,127 square foot, wood frame, log sided, two bedrooms with one bath. This home is modern and has a metal roof. An old barn, shed and corrals complete this set of improvements.
A third set of improvements includes a set of shipping corrals with livestock scale and scale house.
RECREATION
The Gunnison area provides a number of recreation opportunities. Skiing is found 35 miles north of Gunnison at the famous Mt. Crested Butte and also at Monarch Pass, 30 miles to the east. The area offers two top rated 18-hole golf courses, Dos Rios Country Club, in Gunnison, and the Crested Butte Country Club. Blue Mesa Reservoir, the largest reservoir in Colorado is located 10 miles west Gunnison and beyond that is the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Curecanti National Recreation Area.
The ranch, surrounding national forests and West Elk Wilderness provide nearly every species of animals known to the central Rocky Mountains. The ranch is home to deer and elk and is a major transition area for herds moving from wintering grounds at lower elevations to summer habitat in the National Forest. The sagebrush pastures are home and sanctuary to some of the largest mule deer in the area. Gunnison Sage Grouse, Blue Grouse, coyote, fox, beaver, eagles, hawks, weasels and other small animals are ever present. Fishing is considered excellent on Ohio Creek and for the serious angler, Gunnison is home to a number of blue-ribbon fisheries including the Taylor, Lake Fork, East and Gunnison River not to mention other smaller tributaries such as Carbon Creek just above the ranch.
SUMMARY
The Slash 07 Ranch offers a unique, well-maintained working ranch located in one of the last unspoiled mountain valleys in Colorado. The property has everything that a trophy mountain ranch should offer; good improvements and access, live water with fishery, valuable water rights, alpine scenery, contiguous acreage, National Forest access, abundant wildlife and an area that has plentiful recreation opportunity and easily accessible from anywhere in the country. The ranch is a prize for personal enjoyment, western lifestyle, privacy and conservation potential.
A RANCHER'S THOUGHTS
What about the people who have lived here before, what do they say? This question is best answered by the current owner and described in a brief essay by Barbara Stratman entitled "THIS LAND, WHICH WE SO BRIEFLY INHABIT, A Rancher’s thoughts."
A wonderful ranch it is! Excellent grazing, beautiful scenery, easy accessibility, lush hay meadows, and clear ponds and streams. Strong native grasses beget the miracle of bright eyes and shiny, sleek coats on fat cattle, deer and elk.
Water flows clear and cold in the creeks and trout have secret havens in deep eddies. Graceful hawks circle summer meadows. Often a coyote will follow my tractor during haying, lazily catching a field mice. Fox run with impossibly lush tails, beaver work diligently and effectively, channeling new irrigation. Sage grouse noisily take flight in high mountain pastures, startling the unsuspecting horse and rider. Coyotes harmonize at night. The magnificent cow elk and the beautiful doe give birth in our high sagebrush pastures in early spring when the snow still clings to the hillsides.
It is a magic, bountiful, albeit rugged land. It challenges but it rewards. Winter snows, glistening white, always fall to give respite to the land, to soak the hills of spring for each new season’s life-giving grass, to replenish the streams of summer. Migrating waterfowl appear in spring, wildflowers blossom with the sunshine and bloom of the aspen proudly signals the high pasture grass is ready for cattle. The creeks’ fresh, cold water is always ready to spread upon the meadows and nourish the growing hay.
Green turns autumn gold right on schedule. The Aspen leaves turn yellow, orange and reddish before they fall to blanket the forest. Snows arrive to cover the ground, resting and protecting the Earth and the little living creatures who sleep warmly beneath it. A perfect, predictable world.
When the snows of winter seem overly long, the red winged blackbird surprises us one morning with lovely trill, announcing that Spring has arrived. Each wondrous day brings new arrivals of waterfowl, birds and wildlife. The air becomes alive with Nature’s busy sounds. And this Valley of the Castles awakens turning lush and green.
These miracles occur each day of each and every season, all contributing to the harmony of life. We hold a vast respect for Nature’s wondrous order and live in peace with it. We believe we are all but brief caretakers of the land, our Mother Earth.