In 1862, heirs sold Colorado’s Baca land for 30 cents an acre; 140 years later its 97,000-acre ranch sold for $31.28 million and helped create a national park nearly four times the monument’s original size
Photo: Baca Ranch House (clicked in 1920)Photo credit: Denver Public Library Collection via NPS A piece of land can begin as a forgotten investment and end as part of a national treasure. That is the remarkable story of Colorado’s Baca Ranch, a vast property at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. In 1862,…