By Dr. Scott White
Becoming one of the oldest family-owned continuously operating ranches in Colorado comes with its fair share of trials and changes over time. The S.L.W. Ranch in Greeley, Colorado owes much of its survival to America’s fascination with the “Wild West.”
The S.L.W. Ranch is named for the three initial partners: S for John Studebaker of the famous Studebaker wagons and automobiles, L for Lafayette Lamb, a lumber company executive, and W for Harvey E Witwer, former manager of the Percheron-Norman Ranch and Nephew of Studebaker.
Established as the Crow Creek Ranch in 1885 by Lyluph “Lord” Ogilvy, son of the Earl of Airlie of Scotland, the ranch was bought out in 1888 by Franklin Murphey, who ran the Percheron-Norman Horse Company. Murphey partnered with Lafayette Lamb and John M. Studebaker (of the Studebaker Wagon Corp.) for the next 10 years promoting the breeding and use of draft horses to pull the famous Studebaker Wagons.
Studebaker, Lamb and Witwer branding.
At one point, the ranch was one of the largest horse operations in America with 2,600 broodmares and was approximately 22,000 acres.
By 1899, automobiles gained popularity over the traditional horse-drawn wagons, inspiring the partners to explore other opportunities. Witwer told Studebaker of his interest in raising cattle, prompting the formal partnership between the three men that resulted in the name change to the S.L.W. Ranch.
In addition to draft horses, Witwer began purchasing Hereford cattle from various ranches back East until he had around 1,500 head. He registered the herd and began a pedigree breeding operation. Witwer eventually bought Studebaker and Lafayette’s shares of the ranch in 1913 and operations switched exclusively to cattle operations.
Image courtesy Library of Congress.
Not all years were profitable. In 1922, Witwer and his son, Stow Witwer, opened a dude ranch on the S.L.W. offering visitors from all across America a taste of western life on a real working ranch, which ended up saving his cattle ranch. The 12-room ranch house was converted to accommodate up to 15 guests per week during the summer months. By the 1930s, guests were paying $35 a week for room, board and activities.
Due to outstanding debts, in 1932 Witwer’s sons ” Stow Sr. and Harvey Jr. ” were forced to recover only part of the property, continuing to operate the dude ranch until 1944 and thereafter a registered Hereford operation, with Stow Sr. becoming sole owner in 1960.
The S.L.W. Ranch is still in operation today and is home to one of the oldest, continuously operating Hereford ranches in the country and the oldest registered Hereford herd in Colorado. The ranch is owned by Stow Witwer Jr., and his sisters, Joy Thomson and Carol Worth. It appears on the National Register of Historic Places, and is honored as a Centennial Ranch by the Colorado Historical Society. All cattle sill carry the original brands—the “S.L.W.” and the shape of an acorn.
Sources:
https://www.greeleytribune.com/2012/03/22/s-l-w-is-one-of-colorados-oldest-family-owned-ranches
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SLW_Ranch
