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• fee: of the houses. Finally, a limited amount of colonial revival inrluerce could be seen at cne <br />time. Again, it appears as if pattern books and other popular media had g: eat impacts on the <br />Western Slope. Beyond the[ the availabili[y of mail order and rural free delivery made pz_*-s, <br />millwork, decorative items and even whole houses available to farmers and ranchers. T'-ese <br />tools of mass marketing acted to increase the diversity of the region's built environment, bet at <br />the same rime made much of the area look like iar^s and ranches from Ohio to the Ra:4ies. <br />Outbuildings that appear to have been fairly common were pump houses for domestic anWor <br />a;ricultural water supply, animal sheds either attached to the barn or separate, chicken ccops <br />and gr,.na.^:es. The one common denominator, the barn, oriQi^ally served three basic functions, <br />storage of hay, an area for intensive livestock husbandr/ such as milking or draft animal c2-e, <br />and storage for some machinery. Beyond those fairly common buildings the diversity grew. <br />At approximately the same time the automobile caused rancho:s to construct garages or convert <br />carriage houses. The garages generally were separate from the house, sometimes connecter by <br />a breezeway. <br />Sienificance: The significance of the ranches in the study area is rooted in the association of <br />these properties with the rapid settlement of Colorado's Western Slope at the close of the <br />nineteenth century followed by attempts of the residents to find economically viable uses for <br />their properties. The popularity of the area as a place to settle and ranch is directly tied to the <br />opening of the Ute Reservation for settlement after 1881 and the beef bonanza of the same <br />period. The end of the period of significance is marked by the changes that took place in the <br />area as a result of World Waz R and the adjustments azea residents and ranchers made to the <br />changed economy of the United States that followed the Waz. Properties in this type are <br />associated either with National Resister Criteria a, c or d under the area of significance of <br />agriculture at the local level, or representative of discernable types and methods of construc7on <br />associated with the three stages of architecture! development discussed above (for Criterion c <br />eligibility). To be considered significant under Criterion d the resource must have the ab:li[y <br />to offer significant information pertinent to one or more of the research topics discussed below. <br />These Criterion d research concerns aze based on research topics which aze found in the <br />Colorado Historical Society's RP3 Colorado Historical Archaeology Context by Buckles and <br />Buckles (1984: 8). <br />The reseazch concerns identified are: <br />Can technological or stylistic changes be found that can be used to explain changes in <br />ranching techniques and practices that the local residents made in their efforts to adapt <br />to the local aridity, soils and changing market conditions? <br />Are there identifiable differences in the consumption habits, building techniques, or the <br />spatial patterning of activities that can be found to reflect the cyclic nature of prosperity <br />experienced by ranchers in the area between 1890 and 194?? Can changes in [,hose <br />• <br />13 <br />