The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The railroad stockyards in Steamboat Springs were once one of the biggest shipping points for livestock in the western United States. In the first decade of the 20th century, the only way to get cattle from the mountain pastures of North Routt County to the railroad depot was to push them across a little bridge over the Yampa River.

Those days are long gone, but a dedicated group of residents have formed the Western Heritage Partnership to ensure the Stock Bridge and its role in local history won’t be forgotten.

The partnership, led by Realtor Harry Thompson, are launching a campaign to raise more than $175,000 needed to place a large bronze sculpture of a cowboy driving steers.

A previous Steamboat Springs City Council authorized the group to place the statue near the Stock Bridge Transit Center.

The theme for the fund-raising effort is, “The Spirit Endures.”

The sculpture by noted Routt County artist Curtis Zabel would be 125 percent of life size. But the partnership is busy selling the first dozen of 50 scaled-down versions of the sculpture for $7,500. They are about 20 inches tall.

Of the total receipts, one third would go to the sculptor, one third to the foundry and one third to the fund to build the full-sized bronze.

The partnership enjoys nonprofit status under the umbrella of the Yampa Valley Community Foundation.

Cowboy spirit

Zabel’s work is in collections throughout the West, but he is best known locally for his sculpture of a large bull elk in West Lincoln Park. He and his family ranch on the lower Elk River Valley.

Routt County historian Jo Semotan said that in the early 1900s, large cattle outfits in Texas drove their herds hundreds of miles north to gain weight on the tall grass that grows on the nutrient-rich soils of North Routt. Semotan said that before the railroad arrived in Steamboat, some of the cattle were ultimately driven farther north to the Union Pacific Railroad in southern Wyoming to ship them to Midwestern markets.

Marsha Daughenbaugh of the Community Agriculture Alliance added that it wasn’t uncommon to sell yearlings along the trail, but many of the cows were driven back to Texas each fall for the winter.

After 1913, and after the arrival of the railroad in 1909, the stock pens in Steamboat became the focal point for shipping the thousands of head of cattle that grazed in the region.

Thompson, who grew up in a ranching family here, said the goals of the partnership go beyond the completion of the large bronze statue.

“We’re very fortunate to have an artist of Curtis Zabel’s stature in the valley, and we have many more things we want to do in the future,” Thompson said.

The group hopes to create a large display board detailing the history of the cattle drives for installation in the Stock Bridge Transit Center. The members see their role as continually educating the public about the role of cattle ranching in the region.

“We’ll do a variety of projects to help continue the cowboy spirit,” partnership member Jim Dildine said.

Other members of the partnership include John and Wanda Busch and Ren and Heather Martyn.

Thompson said the effort is intended to remind the agricultural community that they continue to play an important role in the valley.

“We want to let ranchers know we appreciate them and we want them to stay,” he said.

— To reach Tom Ross, call 871-4205

or e-mail tross@steamboatpilot.com