Brush Creek: A ranching history

George Wilkinson, John W. Love and Webb Frost are credited with being the first to bring domestic cattle into the Brush Creek valley from South Park in November of 1880. The cattle arrived at the start of a harsh snowstorm. Reports of that first cattle venture vary. Some sources suggest that only 30 of 400 animals survived until spring. Other sources report that although the cattle scattered for miles from the mouth of Brush Creek to Dotsero, all but one were recovered when the cowboys gathered the animals in the spring. Regardless, cattle ranching was here to stay. Wilkinson and Love eventually established large ranches on lower Brush Creek. Frost, credited with being “the real cowboy” of the trio, was a restless rancher. He homesteaded several parcels on East and West Brush Creeks, selling out and moving to a more remote location each time neighbors settled in. A rickety log wall below the switchbacks on East Brush Creek is the last remaining remnant of a parcel Frost homesteaded in 1913. Frost couldn't quit this country. In 1918, at the age of 62, he decided to seek new ground. He sold all of his property holdings, loaded his personal belongings into a wagon and headed west. He had barely crossed the Utah desert when his longing for the Brush Creek country drew him back. He purchased an unimproved ranch on lower Brush Creek and began establishing a new ranch. Some blame hard physical work for his sudden death in 1920. The tributary creek that runs through the property still bears his name...more