Many of the families who live on and work the land in southeastern Colorado have been here for many generations, since their ancestors homesteaded in the 1800s, The ranching communities of this region represent a unique and endangered culture; the culture of the American Cowboy.
THE BAR STAR - THIRTY THREE BAR RANCH
has been HOME TO THE MING FAMILY FOR SEVENTY-FOUR YEARS!
THE FIRST GENERATION - CLYDE AND MARGIE MING
Clyde Ming came to Baca County to visit kinfolk in 1930.
He said, “I fell in love with all this grass land and wanted to live
here,
so I went back to Texas and told Margie,
"We just got to move up there!’ I made an ol’ covered
wagon
on the frame of an old car and we sold everything we
owned, except what we could put in that wagon. Pulled it
up here with a team of horses and trailed a saddle horse.
Got here in the spring of 1932 after a wet winter with less
than forty dollars in our pockets. The water was running
down the draws and the grass was green and I thought this
was the grandest country ever!”
Clyde and Margie started their Bar Star ranch with the
purchase of forty acres and continued to add to it until they
had a large ranch where they lived until their deaths, Clyde
in1991 and Margie in 2004. The ranch then passed to their
sons, Don and Eddie, who continue to ranch.
