The story begins in the fall of 1883, Utah. William B. Loring, a back East gent, sent an outfit of cowboys to Utah to bring back 3,300 head of cattle. The crew took time to brand all of them with the new brand of LO7. The brand was the left side. The inspiration for the brand is not recorded anywhere. My guess was the first two letters of Mr. Loring’s name and the lucky number 7. The cattle were accompanied by Elbert Owen Lloyd, a cowboy who later bought the ranch. Ed P. Wilbur, in the “This is What I Remember” book, relates how he and Jim Kendall and three others left Meeker on the 12th of May [1884?] to receive 3,300 cattle near Cedar City, Utah. There the cattle were all branded LO7 before the drive back to Meeker. When the cattle arrived in the White River Valley, they were all “turned loose” on a hill south of Meeker.
The first mention that I can find using LO7 mountain is in the Meeker Herald, 1891. The newspaper was referring to the arrival of spring in Meeker “when the snow is all gone off LO7.” That is apparently when the unnamed hill became LO7. Legends always start somewhere!
The LO7 cattle were bought with money from W.B. Loring and Company with James C. Kendall as manager. Mr. Kendall went on to be elected Garfeild County Sheriff in 1887 at a time when there was considerable friction between Utes and the new settlers who had taken possession of the former Ute Reservation. The Utes still had hunting rights in the White River area. This was after the 1879 Meeker Massacre and removal of Utes from the White River Valley.
Brand registration was then not a function of the state. Each county registered brands. Duplicate brands could belong to different outfits, usually not known to each other. The White River Stock Growers Association had 41 members with about 100 brands for cattle and horses. One of the major functions of a cattlemen’s association in the Northwest of Colorado was to discourage rustlers on the open range. Cash rewards leading to the conviction of cattle thieves were offered by the association. Old West justice on the open range was often swift and harsh. The associations often coordinated the roundups needed to move cattle from summer range to winter range and back again.
William B. Loring didn’t do well as a businessman. By November 1890, Calvin Kingman, the senior partner of W.B. Loring and company, had taken possession of all assets. In January of 1891, Loring deeded the ranch homestead by Loring to Calvin D Kingman. In May of 1904 there is recorded a mortgage in which Elbert Owen Lloyd owned Calvin Kingman $4,000. The mortgage was for the LO7 ranch built in Loring’s homestead. According to Helen Lloyd Bailey Cox, in the This is What I Remember Book, Elbert “Al ” Owen Lloyd was foremen of the LO7 and Kingman owed him back wages in excess of half the value of the ranch. Kingman then sold him the remnant. That would have been about 1893. E.O. Lloyd and his wife, Annie Thomas (married Dec. 1890) did well with the ranch in Powell Park. In October 1899, the Meeker Herald reported that it was irrigated and produced 1,500 tons of hay and 1,000 bushels of grain.
As a footnote, W.H Loring died on Feb. 8, 1902, at his home in Boston. His obituary mentioned him losing a fortune in the White River area.
In October of 1914, the Meeker Herald reported that the Lloyd Ranch had been sold to a party of the eastern capitalists, headed by Henry Goldman, a New York banker. The party consisted of Messrs. Henry Goldman; Paul J. Sachs; M.Y. and W.S. Bowers, Chicago; and E.E. Mann, private secretary to Mr. Goldman. Henry Goldman was in search of a ranch and cattle proposition for his son, Robert Goldman. The article praised Elbert O. Lloyd as a pioneer in the White River Valley. Failing health caused him to dispose of this business.
After some digging around, I discovered that Henry Goldman and Paul Sachs were indeed the powerful investment bankers who inherited the Goldman-Sachs firm when Marcus Goldman died in 1904. There were some newspaper scandal sheets who claimed Robert, son of Henry, had changed career paths from banker to rancher due to short marriage to a chorus girl. Daddy may have affected the divorce and relocation of errant son. In any case, Robert’s involvement with the ranch was brief. The LO7 Land and Livestock company dissolved on April 20, 1916. Henry S. Bowers was listed as president and Chester E. Mann was listed as secretary. In the 1920 census, Robert was back in Manhattan with his new wife and child.
In February 1916, before dissolving the LO7 company, the ranch was sold to E.J. Wilson, who seems to have been managing the ranch for the Goldmans. In July of 1920, Edgar Justin Wilson and his wife, Buena Vista Holman sold the ranch in Powell Park to Alanson H. Williams. The Powell Park lands has changed hands several times and according to the RBC Assessor’s office, is owned (2023) by the BW Ranches LLC.
At this point in time, things get fuzzy for the brand LO7 ownership. In the 1914 Colorado Brand Book, E.O. Lloyd was still the registered owner of the brand. In the 1920 Brand Book, brothers Bruce and Wilfred Baker are owners of the brand. As far as my research goes, the Baker family never owned the ranch in Powell Park before acquiring land on Flag Creek, at the base of LO7 mountain. Keep in mind, the naming of LO7 mountain predates the Baker LO7 ranch.
Anyway, the new Baker/LO7 Ranch on Flag Creek thrived from the early 1920s to 1957 when Bruce Baker died and John R. Barney bought the ranch and brand from Baker’s estate. If you want more details into the Barney family during the 20 years of ranch ownership, read John Rodney Barney’s book: “Looking Back: My True Memories.” According to the 1957 Colorado Brand Book, the brand owners were John R. Barney and wife Syble Barney. In 1977, the Barneys sold most of the LO7 ranch to Lowell and Loann Klinglesmith. The Barney family retained the LO7 brand and it is now registered to Michelle Barney-Mobley and her mother, Debra Barney of Meeker. Michelle bought the brand from her grandparents, John and Syble Barney when Michelle was still in middle school. She used part of the money given to her from an FSA grant.
By ED PECK | Special to the Herald Times
