RESTORATION

The Cramer House

In 2010, Pine Canyon Ranch acquired the original Cramer family homestead and 25 surrounding acres. The homestead was built in 1912, and was acquired by Ivan Cramer and his family in 1940. The Cramer’s ran the ranch directly adjacent to Ida and Walter Scott’s cattle ranch.

The site included the historic Cramer house, Ivan’s original blacksmith shop (find out more about Ivan’s blacksmithing tools in Douglas County’s virtual museum), an active horse corral, a chicken coop, and three additional buildings for various ranching operations.

In late 2017, we decided that the best option for the Cramer homestead was a thorough restoration. The residence had begun to decay from years of neglect, and we wanted to bring the buildings back to working order while honoring their historic nature. The house holds some sentimental, as well as historic, value to our family. When the bank required a co-singer for Ivan Cramer to get the original loan for the house, Cramer reached out to his most reliable friend: Walter Scott.

The historic Cramer House when PCR acquired it

Ivan’s blacksmith workshop was in particularly poor shape. We took extra care to maintain the original structure as we restored the shop.

The ground around the homestead were also significantly deteriorated. Previous owners and tenants on the site used the area around the buildings for heavy industrial activity and equipment storage. We have spent the last few years restoring the acreage around the buildings to their original, arable state. This restoration has involved removing old abandoned machinery and debris, clearing out dead and destroyed foliage, removing old roadbase and rocks, and then treating the land for farming. We have been very pleased with the results so far, and look forward to more excellent crops in the future.

The rocky, deteriorated area around the homestead before our restoration.

The same area after our restoration, yielding a great crop.

Ranch Manager Kurt Walker (and Walter Scott’s great-grandson), with Kyle Cramer, Ivan’s great-grandson, holding Ivan’s original blacksmith sign.

We are overjoyed to have reconnected with the Cramer family and to have gained their support for the stewardship of their family’s old homesite. We are proud to have such a fantastic historic landmark to serve as Pine Canyon Ranch’s base of operations. Come on by and see the progress we are making as we restore this important piece of Douglas County’s history.