An Attempt to Save An Important Building in Farisita's History
This video features Jim Gerken discussing his acquisition of a historic adobe building in danger of being replaced by modern structures. The building, dating back to 1851, marks a significant part of the Montoya family's sheep ranch and stands at a cultural crossroads in Colorado history. It uniquely features a fully excavated adobe basement, a rarity that may be the only one of its kind in the United States. The video explores the building’s evolution through the American and Mexican periods, its architectural transformations, and the current efforts to preserve its deteriorating structure for future educational purposes. Another happy surprise, Mrs. Newman was interviewed in this video. She was one of my favorite high school teachers in Walsenburg, Colorado at John Mall High!
Montoya Ranch - YouTube Video
The Montoya Ranch dates from the 1860s, at a time when Southern Colorado was undergoing a change from Spanish colonial control to Mexican control, ultimately to US control. Woven inbetween this cultural shift was the influence of the Native American presence in the region. Trade and agriculture were key. The Montoya family built this Adobe structure to serve their 50,000 head sheep ranch. It's believed to be the only Adobe building in the US with a full adobe basement.
Video Transcript
# 2014 Montoya Ranch (Huerfano County, CO)
00:00:00.000 I heard a rumor that the owner was going
00:00:04.080 to tear this old Adobe down and put up a
00:00:07.770 double-wide so I found him and I asked
00:00:10.769 to buy the property and I bought it Jim
00:00:13.980 Kirk had knew he was buying a piece of
00:00:15.630 history so these are all original
00:00:18.050 finishes on the interior he didn't
00:00:20.520 realize at the time how historic this
00:00:22.590 building was in 1851 the settlers came
00:00:26.070 up from New Mexico and founded San Luis
00:00:28.170 Colorado and then Fort Garland and then
00:00:31.650 further up this place this place is a
00:00:34.530 large sheep branch started by the
00:00:36.600 Montoya family but at the same time the
00:00:38.700 mexican-american war was ending the
00:00:40.860 people who lived in this area went from
00:00:42.719 Spanish rule to Mexican citizens to
00:00:45.350 American citizens all in a period less
00:00:48.719 than 30 years and so the Montoya ranch
00:00:51.120 really is located at the heart of a
00:00:54.090 cultural crossroads and a historic
00:00:56.550 landscape that is significant to
00:00:58.559 Colorado to the American West to the
00:01:00.960 nation settle along the banks of the
00:01:02.730 where for no River around 1860 the
00:01:05.459 Montoya sheep ranch was just one of many
00:01:07.979 successful enterprises to operate here
00:01:10.290 and I think these walls talk sometimes
00:01:12.869 about how prosperous some years were
00:01:15.270 with the Sheep and the fruit and the
00:01:18.960 crops but the significance of this house
00:01:21.180 is more than cultural the most unique
00:01:23.369 part of its story lies beneath very
00:01:25.979 rarely if ever was an adobe built with a
00:01:29.130 fully excavated basement it's considered
00:01:32.180 maybe the only one of its kind in the
00:01:34.860 United States and this was all excavated
00:01:38.430 out before construction began and all
00:01:41.610 this dirt would have been used to make
00:01:43.530 the adobe bricks a fully excavated adobe
00:01:46.770 basement
00:01:47.520 historians couldn't believe it believe
00:01:49.740 me I just in photo documentation two
00:01:51.780 people to prove this is what we had here
00:01:53.820 if you notice there are bars on that
00:01:56.460 window and there are accounts of this
00:01:59.729 room in the basement being a jail it's
00:02:02.729 believed the structure started out it's
00:02:04.439 just a below grade dwelling there was a
00:02:06.509 lot of Native American activity in the
00:02:08.610 area so we believe they wanted a
00:02:10.970 defensible below ground
00:02:13.140 and space there's a grain shoot coming
00:02:16.860 into the basement they would have poured
00:02:19.200 their grain down here
00:02:20.490 the above-grade portion was a later
00:02:22.560 addition and then the vigas that hold up
00:02:25.230 the roof the building change as the
00:02:27.180 years progressed and ownership changed
00:02:29.130 and then about 1910 1911 they sold it to
00:02:33.209 the Ferriss family emigrants from
00:02:35.370 Lebanon who were also in the sheep
00:02:38.430 business they punched some windows and
00:02:40.920 added on the the pitched roof that we
00:02:43.170 see now and gave it European
00:02:45.750 architectural features they also saw
00:02:48.330 other possibilities for making a little
00:02:51.480 money by opening a store for example for
00:02:54.720 as many cultures as the building may
00:02:56.250 have brought together its walls are now
00:02:58.530 falling apart its crumbling and the
00:03:01.440 sunlight and the rain and the wind are
00:03:04.019 coming in and it's the worst enemy there
00:03:06.780 is for an Adobe it is possible that if
00:03:10.500 this wall fails the entire structure
00:03:13.920 could collapse the highest priority is
00:03:16.890 to repair the roof to keep water from
00:03:19.049 getting into the adobe bricks then the
00:03:21.150 hope is to rebuild the deteriorating
00:03:23.190 walls by recycling the bricks might not
00:03:25.829 be the same as a wall but we're using
00:03:27.570 the same materials Jim gherkin is
00:03:29.519 hopeful for the future of this building
00:03:31.230 I envision having graduate students come
00:03:35.040 here and do graduate work in southwest
00:03:39.000 studies as Jim stirs the fire to heat
00:03:42.989 the home he hopes also to stir the fires
00:03:45.870 of restoration
00:03:47.310 I think someone who's studying history
00:03:49.310 that could come here for a summer and
00:03:51.780 walk inside and almost feel as though it
00:03:55.500 was 1860 again
