COLORADO, Olney Boone CD — Joe Pope was named Conservationist of the Year by members of the Olney Boone Conservation District at its annual meeting in October.
Pope and Bar Twenty Ranch go back to the Homestead Act of 1882. Under the law, a U.S. Citizen could get 160 acres of unoccupied land west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains. They could keep the land if they lived on it for five years and made improvements. Pope’s great-great-grandfather, Joseph Asbridge, took advantage of the offer. He moved from Missouri in the early 1900s to farm and raise cattle in the Olney Boone area, when everything was done by hand, including hauling water from two ponds.
