Comanche National Grassland
Rourke Ranch Volunteer WorkdaysColorado
Volunteers lay adobe brick to repair deteriorated historic doghouse.
Pinon Canyon in Southeastern Colorado is home to the Rourke Ranch, a cattle and horse ranch founded by Eugene Rourke in 1871. Three generations of the Rourke family lived and worked on the ranch for over 100 years. It was known throughout the area as one of the oldest and most successful local enterprises, comprising over 52,000 acres. The Ranch is now part of the US Forest Service Comanche National Grasslands which is rehabilitating the ranch buildings for overnight rental. Today, the complex includes a house, barn, bunkhouse, stable and adobe doghouse.
Handy carpenters repair the garage doors at the ranch.
Mountains/Plains Office staff worked with the Forest Service, National Park Service and Colorado Preservation, Inc. to hold three volunteer workdays there in early September. Fifteen volunteers organized by Mountains/Plains staff convened at the remote ranch site to do carpentry, make and use adobe brick in the repair of several walls in the ranch house and doghouse, and plaster the jacal walls of the barn. They also learned about the history of the area and had a chance to view nearby rock art and dinosaur trackways preserved in the rock of the Purgatory River bed.
