Cascade near Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado — The American Mountains (Southwest)

A New Home in the Hills

Photographed by Charles T. Harrell, July 1, 2011

1. A New Home in the Hills Marker

Inscription. Soon after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act in 1862, homesteaders moved west across the prairies and spread into the hills of Pikes Peak. In the 1870s, the Crowe family claimed 160 acres in this valley that later came to be known as Crowe Gulch.

At high elevations, the difficulty of satisfying the Homestead requirement of living on the land five years and cultivating and harvesting a crop could be overwhelming. Meager livelihoods were made cutting timber, grazing cattle, and struggling to raise a stalk or two of corn or beans in the decomposed granite soil.

Most of the homesteads on the south side of Pikes Peak were eventually sold and developed into rustic hotel sites along hiking trails to the summit. They were abandoned when the Carriage Road and Cog Train were built. Public land on this, the north side of the mountain was purchased for the road right-of-way and reservoirs.

Homesteading on the slopes of Pikes Peak came to a halt in 1892 when Congress established timber reservations on public lands. The Pikes Peak timberland Reservation included almost all of Pikes Peak and was withdrawn from settlement

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(caption: Cusack Family at Catamount Hay Ranch circa 1890, located under present Catamount Reservoir. Photo courtesy Ute Pass Historical Society)

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Settlements & Settlers. A significant historical year for this entry is 1862.

Location. 38° 54.034′ N, 104° 59.495′ W. Marker is near Colorado Springs, Colorado, in El Paso County. It is in Cascade. It is on Pike's Peak Toll Road. Marker is located at the Crowe Gulch turnout. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Cascade CO 80809, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Colorado’s Front Range and in Pikes Peak Region. It is also in the American Mountain West. Globally, it is in North America, the Rocky Mountains, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Comanchería.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Welcome to America’s Mountain (here, next to this marker); Forests Without Fire (here, next to this marker);

Cusack Family at Catamount Hay Ranch circa 1890, located under present Catamount Reservoir image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Charles T. Harrell, July 1, 2011

2. Cusack Family at Catamount Hay Ranch circa 1890, located under present Catamount Reservoir

Photo courtesy Ute Pass Historical Society

Ute Pass (approx. 0.7 miles away); Well-traveled Water (approx. 2.4 miles away); Test Your Bird I.Q. (approx. 2.4 miles away); The Making of America's Mountain (approx. 2.4 miles away); A Mountain of Many Names (approx. 2.4 miles away); Take a Closer Look...Foothills Life Zone (approx. 2.4 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Colorado Springs.

Pikes Peak Settlement image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Charles T. Harrell, July 1, 2011

3. Pikes Peak Settlement

In the late 1870s, settlers by the thousands came to the west traveling through Ute Pass and the Pikes Peak region in search of a new home. Photo courtesy Ute Pass Historical Society.

Credits. This page was last revised on February 7, 2023. It was originally submitted on August 10, 2011, by Charles T. Harrell of Woodford, Virginia. This page has been viewed 1,208 times since then and 19 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on August 10, 2011, by Charles T. Harrell of Woodford, Virginia. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.