Scroll down past the pictures for an excellent written  history of the ranch.

Click on thumbnailed photos to see full sized pictures.

 Photos on this page are courtesy of John and Dorothy Hall and Dave Killian.

EVERHARDT/HERZMAN RANCH, circa 1861

A Designated National Historic Site on the National Register  

“The Cabin in the Sun” from Mary Helen Crain’s book, Evergreen

 “The homes the early settlers of the Evergreen area built were primarily of handhewn logs, heavy and square cut.  The homesteader cut the timber from his own land and set up a sawmill right there to handle it.  The houses were similar to each other.  Only a few remain today.  

One which we like to call ‘the Cabin in the Sun’ is one of the best preserved.  Between North Turkey Creek Road and Stanley Park , it stands in an open meadow at the top of a gentle hill, reached by a narrow wagon road through first one old wooden gate and then another [now gone].  It stands in the sun, hollyhocks around its door, and the deep brown of the logs contrasting with the very white chinking.  

A man named John Everhardt homesteaded the land before the Civil War. This cabin in the sun was his home.  Mr. Everhardt fashioned it carefully.  He put it together with wooden pegs and very few nails.  The nails that have been found are square ones. There were, and still are, no closets, no cupboards and but one small shelf above a native stone fireplace.  

Outside on the north wall are wooden pegs.  Could they speak, they would have quite a story to tell.  Mr. Everhardt made friends of the Indians who had their tepees near him.  Sioux and Arapahoes they are said to have been.  He taught them about dishes, china, knives and forks, a few niceties of the white man’s way of life.  The Indians appreciated his interest and often brought him gifts.  Many a morning he would step outside to find the carcass of a buffalo, deer, or elk hanging on the pegs [they are still there on the north wall inside the cabin].  The Indians had put it there during the night.  

Near the cabin, Mr. Eberhardt built a root house, [the foundation of which is just to the left of the driveway entry off Lone Peak Drive ]  Here he stored potatoes from his land.  Legend has it that he stored as many as one hundred bushels, considered an amazing amount.  

No one is sure what became of John Everhardt.  It is known that he always remained a bachelor and lived in the cabin alone.  In 1888 Charlie Herzman and his wife Matilda homesteaded nearby and then bought three pieces of land adjoining theirs, including the Everhardt property.  It was fine farm land and excellent for cattle.  

Mrs. Edna Marie Herzman, widow of Gustave [“G.O. as his friends called him] loves to tell the story of the cabin.  It was G.O. who chose to stay on the homesite.  He and Edna Marie Runquist of Kingsburg , California were married in 1906 having met five years earlier when Edna Marie was a visitor to Colorado .  Following the death of his parents, G.O. sent for his bride.  Together, they worked the land, cared for cattle, raised one daughter.  Edna Marie, a widow since 1950, spends the winters with her daughter in California , but returns each spring to her little cabin, one of the oldest in Evergreen.  She has electricity now and a telephone, but otherwise the home stands almost exactly as it was a century ago.” 

Additional Information on the Everhardt/Herzman Ranch  

John Eberhardt also built the two log barns by himself on the property in the 1860s from round logs.  One can still see the large wooden pegs he carved and used to put the logs together.  Around 1870, he joined the two wooden barns together at ground level.  The two barns had a common hayloft that extended the entire length of the two barns and spanned the “dog run” between them.  An additional log building was added some time later.  

John Eberhardt lost his arm in a logging accident down the valley while cutting trees.  A tree he was cutting fell on him and pinned him to the ground.  After a period of time waiting for someone to come along to free him, he took matters into his own hands.

He put a tourniquet on the pinned arm and with a double bit ax he was able to reach with his free arm, he took the pinned arm off.  

He dragged himself up the valley to the Blakeslee’s cabin just over the pass at the north end of the valley where he was ministered to by Herman and Angie Blakeslee who lived in a log cabin of slightly younger vintage.  That cabin stood until recently and was occupied by Hubert and Gertrude Blakeslee, son and daughter-in-law of Herman and Angie.  

After the accident, John Eberhardt, was about to lose the ranch and go to the “Poor House” when the Herzman’s bought the ranch.  They built the small bunk house out back of the “Cabin in the Sun” where Eberhardt lived out his years.  

In a dispute that arose one morning between the Herzman’s hired hand and “Old Man Gloss” who lived up on Gloss Peak in a shack with his son [now Lone Peak], the hired hand shot “Old Man Gloss” out of the saddle at the front of the Grainery still located  just to the east of the ranch.  Gloss was laid out on the floor of the cabin and died there three days later.  

Looking east from the Ranch House, you can still see the grade of the old wagon/stage coach road that came up the valley as well as the old logs that served as a bridge across

the intermittent creek that courses down the valley.  Log hay sheds were located above and below the ranch house in the valley.  To this day, you can see the shadows of the irrigation channels dug on west side of the valley to bring s now melt down to the fields.  

In the 1970s, living in a tipi through the winter with their two pre-school daughters, Bruce and Chris Nussbaum began the restoration of the ranch house.  In 1988 John and Dorothy Hall purchased the property continuing the restoration of the ranch house and other buildings.  Restoration of the barn will begin in 2004 with assistance from Colorado Preservation, Inc. and the Colorado Historical Society.

RULES OF THE EVERHARDT/HERZMAN RANCH  

It is important to note that there were, and continue to be, important guidelines by which life was lived in the west, on the trail and at the ranch.  There guidelines were understood by all and seldom posted.  For the uninitiated, we have put them to paper for your information and observation when you’re at the ranch.  Here they are:  

The Ranch Marm’s word is law!!!   All hands follow her words happily.  

All hands help the Ranch Marm with the chores.  

A cowhand is cheerful, even when sick and tired.  Complaining is what quitter do and cowhands hate quitters.  

Cuss all you want . . . but only around the men, horses, mules, dogs and cows.  

A cowhand always helps someone in need, even a stranger or an enemy.  

Real cowhands are modest.  A braggart who is all gurgle and no guts is not tolerated.  A real cowhand doesn’t talk all that much; he saves his breath for breathing.  

Never, ever, try on another man’s hat . . .  . or his horse.  

Always be courageous.  Cowards aren’t tolerated in any outfit worth its salt.  

Never ever shoot an unarmed man . . . or woman.

 After you pass someone on the trail, don’t look back.  It implies you don’t trust him.

 Don’t wave at a man on a horse, merely nod “Howdy.”  Waving will spook his horse and the man will think you a confirmed idiot.  A nod is a completely proper greeting.

 Never pass anyone on the trail without nodding and saying “Howdy.”  When approaching someone     from behind, give a loud greeting before you get within pistol shot.  Proper hailing phrases from behind are:  “Hulloa Stranger” and “Whoo-up.”

 Riding another man’s horse without his permission is nearly as bad as making love to his wife.  Don’t ever bother that man’s horse!!!

 When you leave town after a weekend of carousing with your “tail hanging over the dashboard of the wagon” and “tryin to buck the tiger” at the Faro table down in Denver . It’s perfectly alright to shoot your six guns in the air, whoop like crazy, and ride your horse as fast as you can . . . . it’s called “hurrahing a town.”  But . . . don’t ever do it when entering the ranch.  Ifn you do, the Ranch Boss will hand you “your ticket.”

 Most importantly, the latch string to the front door is always on the outside, come on in!