Rim Ranch Leather
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Rim Ranch History
High on the rim of the Peetz plateau.........
Tradition runs deep on the Gillham's Rim Ranch, home of Rim Ranch Leather. Richard Gillham is descended from a Nebraska cowboy, Frank Gillham who spent his early manhood working as a cowboy for the Spade Ranch, a large outfit covering a good portion of Cherry County Nebraska. Frank's 1870's powder horn still hangs in a special place on the ranch headquarters. After his marriage to Alice, the couple went to Oklahoma for the excitement of the Cherokee Strip land run. After a few years in Oklahoma, they returned to Nebraska with their children.
When their son Roy was married, however, he began looking for land for himself and journeyed to Colorado, where he purchased land from the Union Pacific Railroad in 1916. In 1918, Roy and Orpha's second son, Dean, was born right in the ranch home.
Following World War II, Dean married Mary Adele Danielson from Brush, Colorado, and they began ranching and raising two children, Jane and Richard. In the late 1940's, the Cole ranch was purchased to extend the ranch's borders. This land on the south side of the ranch belonged to the family of Welles Cole, an early settler of Logan County who came from Texas on a trail drive and returned to lay claim to land in a valley north of the South Platte river.
Currently, Richard runs 400 cows in a commercial cow-calf operation. We do most of our work on horseback, much as it would have been done in Frank's day. We try to carry on the old traditions as best we can because it is a life we love and because it makes for good "cow horses"! While Nita's career in education has lead her into school administration, son Daniel has become an water engineer helping deal with important issues in our great state, and son Roy, supported by Brandee, his new bride, has left teaching high school to continue his education in graduate school at Colorado State University, we continue to hope the agriculture economy will allow another generation to make their own mark on this life we prize.
Contact us at rimranchleather@yahoo.com