The Earl of Dunraven's Land Grab
Near Estes Park, Colorado
In the winter of eighteen seventy two, an Irish nobleman arrived in this valley and decided he wanted the whole thing. He was Windham Thomas Wyndham Quin, the fourth Earl of Dunraven, a wealthy sportsman who came to hunt elk and deer and was so enchanted by the abundant game that he resolved to make the entire valley his private hunting preserve. There was a problem.
As a foreigner, the Earl could not legally claim western land for himself under the Homestead Act. So his agents devised a scheme. They marched drifters and saloon toughs through the land office in Denver to file fraudulent claims on dozens of one hundred sixty acre parcels, which were then quietly transferred to the Earl's company.
Between roughly eighteen seventy four and eighteen eighty, he assembled several thousand acres, and effectively controlled thousands more by owning the springs and streams. Coloradans called it one of the most gigantic land steals in the history of the state. But the scheme unraveled.
Homesteaders and tourists kept arriving, disputing claims and refusing to leave. Tangled in lawsuits and mounting taxes, the Earl eventually gave up. Around nineteen oh seven he sold his holdings to the automobile maker Freelan Oscar Stanley and his partner, and the valley stayed open to everyone.
