Ranch Life

Tradition runs deep on Gillham's Rim Ranch, home of Cross I Cattle Company & Cross I Quarter Horses. My husband, Roy 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 just south of Peetz in 1916. In a letter he wrote, he stated he had been looking for land that was “wild and quiet… I guess I found it.” 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. 
 
After college, Richard married Nita Pfaltzgraff and they came home and experienced life within a partnership. Richard worked alongside his dad, Dean as well as his uncle, Bob. After the resolution of that partnership, Richard worked hard to purchase more cows and kept the ranch viable during the droughts of 2000 – 2008. Richard developed his talent of leatherwork into a business, Rim Ranch Leather and we are continuing the legacy of that handcrafted enterprise.

 

In 1999 my cowboy and I met at Colorado State University, began dating, and were married in 2003. We spent one very long year of teaching public high school and then Roy pursued his dream of working on a large ranch in northern Wyoming. We spent four years enjoying wide open country, training great horses, and living the dream.
 
In 2009, Roy (a namesake of  his great-grandfather), and I transitioned onto the family ranch. We have four sons: Jake, Matt, Waitley & Ben.

 

My cowboy and I took over management of the family ranch in January 2021 and the Lord has given us remarkable challenges as we walk in faith through this journey.
 
Currently, we run 350 cows in a commercial cow-calf operation, about 50 horses, 100 chickens, 15 turkeys, 3 jersey cows, and a few beehives.  We do most of our cattle work on horseback, much like 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.