5 Generations

In 1910 our family established the Bellgardt Homestead Ranch. Where we still live and farm today! Albert and Matilda Bellgardt and their 5 children immigrated from Germany to America in 1906. Albert made the trip alone first to secure a job and sent money back to Matilda and the children in Germany (4 more of their children would be born on the farm!) The cross country trip had been especially difficult since the family did not speak a word of English. Albert, a former coal miner in the Ruhr Valley of central Germany found employment on the Bureau of Reclamation’s Gunnison Tunnel project near Montrose. The historic 6 mile long tunnel and additional canal system brought much needed irrigation water from the Gunnison River of the Black Canyon to thousands of acres of fertile farmland in the Uncompahgre Valley. During tunnel construction (1904-1909), the family lived in government housing at the mostly immigrant town of Lujane (located near the present-day intersection of US 50 and Colo 347). After most of the work on the tunnel was complete in 1910 the Bellgardts settled on a piece of land up the hill from Lujane on an area called Bostwick Park. The land was suitable for farming and raising livestock. During the notably bitter cold winters of 1910 and 1911 the family lived in a tar paper shack built in an open clearing, a broad view of the Uncompahgre Valley below them. Domestic water was carried half a mile from the gulch below where it took all night to fill a bucket of water at the only natural spring in the area. The family lived on a diet of jack rabbits and sage-grouse in those early years (deer were not nearly as plentiful as they are today). They constructed a dutch oven outside the cabin made of stones and mortar. Over the next decade, land that was originally forested by pinyon and juniper trees, oak and sagebrush, was gradually cleared acre by acre, with only the only the use of horse and man powered equipment. Around 1916 the Bellgardts began construction on a new home located just a few hundred yards north of the original homestead site. The two-story, concrete block, frame house (pictured above) was built entirely by hand by family members. The 54-pound blocks were cast on site using gravel hauled from the main irrigation ditch. Robert Hale, a 5th generation descendant of Albert and Matilda lives in it and farms the land today with his father Steve Hale and family. The western slope of Colorado offered freedom and opportunity for our ancestors. They built a wagon road up a 7% grade to their property using a team of horses and fresno (bucket scraper). A trip to Montrose to buy essentials was typically an all day affair by horse and wagon. The road became the current N 74 county road. Farming and ranching became the major source of income on the park. Alfalfa and potatoes did exceptionally well at at the 7,300 ft altitude and it was not uncommon to find potatoes weighing 5-6 pounds (according to Grandpa). In addition to alfalfa and potatoes, the Bellgardts harvested grain, raised cattle, sheep, hogs, and chickens. Today we aspire to approach each day and task on the farm with the same “can do” spirit of our forbearers.