By the 1880s, the best farming land in the lower elevations had been claimed. What was left included the snowy 9,000-foot-high valleys along the spine of the Wet Mountains. Edwin Drake was appointed as the first postmaster of Augusta in 1889. The post office was a room attached to the front of Drake’s house. Residents exchanged news and gossip at the post office until 1902. It was reestablished in 1914, but was renamed “Keating.” The original Drake Homestead which served as the Augusta and Keating post offices still stands
on Highway 165 several miles south of McKenzie Junction.

A Scandinavian master builder constructed this enduring homestead, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in 1908. The tight dove-tailed corners show his excellent workmanship. The building was home to Al Mingus, his wife and 2 daughters. The homestead is south of the Bigelow Divide. Turn east on the gravel Forest Service Road 383 near mile marker 11. Stay to the right when the road forks. The weathered, gray buildings are 1 mile off Highway 165. The homestead is owned by the U.S. Forest Service. Currently, visitors may only look at and photograph the barn and house from the outside.

The carpenter who built the Mingus Homestead also built James Clarkson’s house and barn. Clarkson ran a general store and post office and farmed. The Clarkson Homestead is easily visible just off Highway 165, one-half mile north of Ophir Creek Campground.

Many travelers are surprised to find a castle in the Colorado mountains. This one-man project was started by Jim Bishop in 1969. All of the work has been done with a wheel barrow and shovel. The castle is part of a non-profit organization. This free attraction is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year-round. A gift shop is open Monday - Saturday from 10 am-6 p.m.

In 1919, the Forest Service’s first landscape architect, Arthur Carhart, proposed some radical changes using the San Isabel area as a model for the
rest of the nation. They included the concept of integrated planning of new automobile roads to auto camps, tent camps, planned campsites, and look-
out points. In addition, several recreational cabins were built in the 1920s near what is now Lake Isabel. Visitors can see several of the cabins behind The Lodge at San Isabel, which was once a mess hall for Civilian Conservation Corps workers. Civilian Conservation Corps workers built the Lake Isabel dam in 1936. On opening day, 500 automobiles drove up for the festivities. Just as in the past, people today enjoy fishing and boating in Lake Isabel.

This small foothills community, established around 1870, was first named Table Top Mountain. The name was changed to Rye after the post office department in Washington complained that Table Top Mountain was too long. At one time, the Rye area was renowned for its dairies and numerous sawmills. Just southeast of Rye, in the late 1960s, on a small stream south of the old fish hatchery, the last surviving population of the Arkansas River Colorado Greenback Cutthroat Trout was discovered. Until then, this native trout had been thought to be extinct. The fish found in Apache Creek were nurtured. They have now been reintroduced into 19 creeks in Colorado. In 1994, the state legislature designated the Colorado Greenback Cutthroat Trout as the official state fish.

Holland Duell, a local rancher, introduced Colorado’s first planned development concept at Colorado City. It began in 1963. Roads were carefully laid out and planning was done for future growth. Colorado City today includes a golf course, shopping center, and opportunities for swimming, boating and fishing in Lake Beckwith.

The name Cuerno Verde, or Greenhorn, honors a Comanche chief of the 1700s. His Jupe band attacked many Spanish settlements in retaliation for his father’s death. To stop the raids, Spanish Governor Juan Bautista de Anza led an expedition against the Comanches. In August of 1779, 600 men left Santa Fe, to be joined by 200 Utes. The force successfully attacked a Comanche camp south of Colorado Springs. Later, at the base of Greenhorn Mountain, and possibly near present-day Greenhorn Meadows Park, de Anza encountered Cuerno Verde and 50 warriors.The chief and his warriors put up a brave defense, but the Spanish killed their foe.